Intellectual Property Law

Patent Office: Application Costs Could Increase by $100,000 or MorePatent Baristas

Posted on March 11, 2008
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is moving ever onward with its proposed revision to the rules of practice pertaining to any claim using alternative language to claim one or more species. That is, if the claims use Markush or other forms of alternative language...

minilinks for 2008-03-10The Electronic Frontier Foundation | Deeplinks Blogs

Posted on March 11, 2008
Net Neutrality: Internet Wrecking Ball?Andy Kessler argues that technical fixes won't keep the Internet free. A Wave of the Watch List, and Speech DisappearsA Treasury Department blacklist apparently has the power to shut down websites. (login may be required) International Crypto Law Made EasyA Google map that pinpoints the state of crypto law around the world...

MPAA clarifies stance against Net neutralityBit Player

Posted on March 11, 2008
MPAA chief Dan Glickman made it official today: Hollywood will fight Net neutrality regulations being considered by Congress and the FCC. Glickman's comments, which were in his annual "state of the industry" speech at ShoWest, weren't exactly surprising, given that the MPAA had urged the FCC last year not to adopt neutrality rules that would hurt anti-piracy efforts...

Do Employers Using Facebook for Background Checks Face Legal Risks?Legal Blog Watch

Posted on March 11, 2008
As employers increasingly turn to social networking sites like Facebook to conduct background checks on job applicants and employees, a potential face-off is brewing regarding the legality of this practice, according to reports from Financial Week and The New York...

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Monopoly Shuffle: A Remix ContestCreative Commons » CC News

Posted on March 11, 2008
On May 28-30, The Center for Intellectual Property at the University of Maryland University College will be hosting a symposium focused on U.S. copyright monopoly, technological innovation and higher education institutions titled ?Monopoly: Playing the Innovation Game?...

Upcoming CLE: Las Vegas!The Invent Blog®

Posted on March 10, 2008
I?ll be speaking in Las Vegas next month (April 11th) for Dunes, speaking at their Patent Drafting & Prosecution CLE on ?Tips and Tricks for Expediting Examination of Your Clients? Cases.? Summary of my presentation: Let?s face it, clients can be driven crazy by how long it takes these days to get a patent...

Google Shores Up Email Security With Contacts APITechdirt

Posted on March 10, 2008
Anyone who's visited more than a handful of "social networking" sites have come across one that asks you to give it the password to your GMail/HotMail/Yahoo! account in order to add everyone in your email address book to your list of friends. This kind of borderline spam request is questionable in the best of circumstances, but Ben Adida points out a frightening story in which one of these sites was emailing the username and password of every user to the author's personal GMail account...

"Don't Cite Me Bro!"Fairly Useful

Posted on March 10, 2008
Something strange is happening in the legal academy. Literally hundreds of law professors are posting their papers on the ssrn website where they can be accessed by the public, but at the same time publicly proclaiming ???DO NOT CITE OR CIRCULATE WITHOUT PERMISSION...

"Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal":The Volokh Conspiracy

Posted on March 10, 2008
WTVQ reports (thanks to Andy Banducci for the pointer); the bill text is here. Pretty clearly unconstitutional, see McIntyre v. Ohio Elec. Comm'n (1995) and the cases on...

Blawg Review #150: Trust Me, it's GoodChicago IP Litigation Blog

Posted on March 10, 2008
Blawg Review #150 is up at Trust Matters by Charlie Green, co-author of The Trusted Advisor and creator of the Carnival of Trust, which I will be hosting on the first Monday of May.  This week's review links to the Blog's follow-up post about whether photographs of copyrighted Thomas & Friends toy trains are derivative works -- click here for the post.

Don't Sell Ads on Your Blog:The Volokh Conspiracy

Posted on March 10, 2008
Just a friendly public service reminder, prompted by a brief conversation I had over the weekend: If you (1) make only a little money by selling ads on your blog (or...

Some books worth readingThe Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog

Posted on March 10, 2008
I used to be better about posting short reviews of the books I was reading, but I've gotten lazy and stopped doing so. I?m going to try to get back in that habit. For now, I?ll just post a few links for some interesting books I?ve read recently, or just started digging into: * The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, by Daniel J...

Orcas and Statutory DamagesThe Patry Copyright Blog

Posted on March 10, 2008
Jonathan Smith is the owner of an unusual copyright: During a performance at Sea World on March 4, 1987, two orcas attacked Smith, a trainer. An audience member, Mr. Chiang-Shek, recorded the performance (and thus the Attack) using a camcorder. The video is approximately five minutes long...

Viacom v. YouTube Order re Punitive DamagesThe Trademark Blog

Posted on March 10, 2008
Commentary here.

MediaSentry not licensed in Michigan according to letter from Mich. Dept. of Labor & Economic GrowthRecording Industry vs The People

Posted on March 10, 2008
According to a letter we have been provided by a reader, a complaint was filed by that reader with the Department of Labor and Economic Growth in Michigan that MediaSentry was unlicensed.The Department confirmed that MediaSentry was not licensed in Michigan, and that it would be sent a letter informing it of the need for a license to conduct regulated activities...

Beyond Trademark Law: What the Right of Publicity Can Learn From Cultural Studies, by David TanTarlton Law Library Current Trademark Literature

Posted on March 09, 2008
25 Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal 913 (2008)

My Trademark Fair Use ProjectInfo/Law

Posted on March 09, 2008
I have been relatively absent from the blog for a few weeks as I worked to complete two pieces of writing that have consumed all my time and brainpower. Both concern trademark ?fair use? ? the defenses available to those who use trademarks to facilitate their free expression...

Cal State U forced to re-hire Quaker math teacher who inserted "non-violently" into loyalty oathBoing Boing

Posted on March 09, 2008
Atonius sez, "Marianne Kearney-Brown, the Quaker math teacher who was fired by California State University for inserting the word 'non-violently' into her loyalty oath to the state, has been reinstated after Atty General Jerry Brown clarified that the oath doesn't require employees to take up arms...

Lessig Questions Pirate Party?s ExistenceTorrentFreak

Posted on March 08, 2008
At a preview of his new ?Change Congress? project, the Stanford professor took a swipe at the Pirate Party of the United States. Whilst expressing skepticism about it?s utility, his main criticism seemed to be the name. Lawrence Lessig appears to be in and out of the tech news recently - the will-he-won?t-he run for Congress, has caused a storm of blog-posts this last month alone...

Ricky Gervais Inspires Copyright OpinionThe Patry Copyright Blog

Posted on March 07, 2008
I am a huge fan of English comedian Ricky Gervais, the star and c-creator of The Office and Extras. Of these two, I prefer Extras: the episode with Kate Winslet, playing a nun in a Holocaust movie, who off the set gives one of the extras advice about phone sex, is delicious...

IP Think Tank Global Week in Review - 7 March 2008Duncan Bucknell's site updates

Posted on March 07, 2008
Here is IP Think Tank?s weekly selection of top intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet. Please join the discussion by adding your comments on any of these stories, and please do let me know if you think we?ve missed something important, or if there is a source you think should be monitored...

Las Vegas Creator of HAREM BODY CHAINS Files Trademark Infringement Lawsuit Against eBay CompetitorLas Vegas Trademark Attorney

Posted on March 07, 2008
On March 4, 2008, Trinity's Jewelry LLC filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada against Inquisition Tattoo, Inc. and its husband and wife owners, Tatiana Metaxa (aka Tatiana Eivin or Tatiana Metaxa-Rosenfeld) and Michael Metaxa (collectively, the "defendants")...

House IP Leader Endorses P2P BlockingSlashdot: Your Rights Online

Posted on March 07, 2008
Technical Writing Geek points out an Ars Technica report on comments from Representative Howard Coble (R-NC), who sits on the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. In a recent editorial, Coble attempts to discourage P2P file sharing among young people, and praises Ohio University for its ban on P2P applications last year...

Who Owns Your Emails, Blog Posts, or FaceBook Pages? How About You?madisonian.net

Posted on March 07, 2008
Dan Solove?s recent post about David Lat and Facebook and Bruce Boyden?s post about the possible destruction of Nabokov?s unpublished novel raise some questions. Who owns your emails, blog entries, FaceBook pages, and so on? What about when you die? Does your family get the material? What if you wanted it destroyed? What if one of your email accounts was one that you did not want your family to see? In general is there a theoretical explanation for whatever position one may take on these questions? Of course there is (this blog is run by law professors after all)...

Julie Hilden On the Wikileaks CaseMedia Law Prof Blog

Posted on March 06, 2008
FindLaw's Julie Hilden writes about the Wikileaks case in part one of a two part column.

Why Do They Do That Thing They Do?The MTTLR Blog

Posted on March 06, 2008
From original image by Rhett Redelings, with permission. (or How I Learned to Stop Hating the Mouse1) ?Don?t hate the player, hate the game?2 At one time, copyright law was to be a little-known discipline that few lawyers practiced, and one the general public knew (or cared) little about...

Eighth Tosses Most Deep Pockets from Blogging Sex Scandal SuitDecision of the Day

Posted on March 06, 2008
Steinbuch v. Cutler, 07-1509 (8th Cir., March 6, 2008) Once upon a time, Jessica Cutler was one of the biggest names in the blogging world. An intern to a Republican Senator by day, Cutler spent her nights engaged in all manner of sexual escapades - sometimes for money - with some of the dullest men in D...

Julius Baer Drops Case Against Wikileaks after EFF, ACLU Help Restore Wikileaks.org Domain NameThe Electronic Frontier Foundation | Deeplinks Blogs

Posted on March 05, 2008
Following a federal district court's reversal of its prior ruling that disabled one of the domain names of whistleblower site "Wikileaks," Swiss bank Julius Baer has decided that it has had enough. On Wednesday, Julius Baer filed a motion of voluntary dismissal, effectively ending the case...

Patently-O Bits and BytesPatent Law Blog (Patently-O)

Posted on March 05, 2008
March 6, 2008, I will be the keynote speaker at the Missouri Inventor of the Year award program sponsored by the Bar Association of Metro St. Louis (BAMSL).  I look forward to seeing my fellow Missourians there. 6:00 PM in Forest Park [LINK] April 11?13, 2008, I will be part of the annual Oregon/Washington Patent Conference ? This year at the Salishan Resort on the Oregon coast...

Important FRE 408 Discussion in Ralph Lauren v. US Polo Ass'n (2d Cir)The Trademark Blog

Posted on March 05, 2008
Plaintiff says to Defendant during settlement discussions "we have a problem with your trademark A but not your trademark B." Plaintiff goes on to sue for infringement on both A and B. Defendant seeks to enter plaintiff's statement to prove estoppel by acquiescence...

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