In “The Slow Death of the American Author,” Scott Turow decries the state of the country’s copyright system. He gets it wrong and hurts the Authors Guild’s standing among potential allies. Read more at paidContent »
Almost every tech company claims to hate patent trolls, but they certainly don’t always back up their words with actions. Recent patent activity around the Hadoop big data platform might show how companies can effectively battle trolls — if they really want to. Read more »
Grumpy Cat is the latest internet meme whose fame is growing by the day. The feline’s fame is valuable and her owners and lawyers have filed trademarks to protect it. Read more at paidContent »
Huge and expensive patent battles aren’t going away anytime soon– in fact, they’re likely to continue to pick up steam this year. Efrat Kasznik, of Foresight Valuation Group, lays out some of the intellectual property battlegrounds of tomorrow. Read more »
While Apple hammers Samsung on smartphone and tablet design, Ericsson is accusing the Korean vendor of infringing on its mobile networking and technology patents. The pair’s cross-licensing deal has expired so Ericsson is taking Samsung to court. Read more »
Google exists because, by and large, it is allowed to excerpt web pages without being held liable as a publisher. Now moves in Germany and Australia threaten both of those core facts. Read more at paidContent »
The European Commission wants to make it easier for digital services to offer content across the bloc’s national borders. Now research examines whether citizens want it as much as operators do. Read more at paidContent »
The publisher of one-time counter-culture icon The Village Voice is expanding its legal campaign to own the phrase “best of.” Popular user review site Yelp is its latest target. Read more at paidContent »
A study of 500 patent lawsuits found that those brought by patent trolls, which the study’s authors call “monetizers,” account for nearly 40 percent of the cases brought in 2011. Of course, their study doesn’t account for the untold thousands that never make it to court. Read more »
Research claims three billion songs were illegally downloaded via torrent between January and June. The problem may remain large, but it is likely shrinking. Read more at paidContent »
It’s becoming ever easier to copy and share not just computer files but physical objects too. An Economist article reports that the technology could inaugurate a technological revolution — but also give rise to massive new piracy problems. Read more »
South Africa’s government has been urged to get tough with ISPs that refuse to pay royalties and to introduce graduated-response piracy measures against freeloaders, by a report that decries a dysfunctional digital content market. Read more at paidContent »
Reports say the Apple-Samsung verdict is in. The case has large implications for the smartphone and mobile industry. We will be reporting shortly on whether the jury finds either side infringed the other’s intellectual property. Read more »
The jury is about to decide whether Apple and Samsung ripped off each other’s smartphones and tablets. Here’s an easy-to-read guide about how they will reach a verdict and what happens when they do. Read more »
Intellectual property is about assigning ownership of brands and ideas. Here are some highlights from a gathering of leading thinkers in the field — in an easy to skim format. Read more »
Companies have been scrambling to throw down billions of dollars to buy up patent portfolios. One expert warns the purchases reflect a market distortion while the impending Kodak sale suggests a bubble might be bursting. Read more »
Facing a lawsuit from major publishers, Boston-based free textbook startup Boundless Learning is now available for students at any university. Just in time for the new school year, the startup is opening to the public with an updated, more comprehensive platform. Read more »
Apple’s legal tactics are as carefully designed as its products. Here’s a look at Apple’s distinct efforts to wrap its gadgets in a legal forcefield and drive away competitors. Read more »
Despite its current decline, RIM is a different firm today than it was in 2007, with new management, a full awareness of its shaky position, an upcoming OS release and a number of lingering advantages that can still be leveraged. Here’s how it just might survive. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The judge in a highly-anticipated trial over smartphones and tablets sided with Apple on Friday over how a jury should look at four key patents. The ruling means the jury will act as “ordinary observers” instead of relying on detailed legal instructions to understand the patents. Read more »
The problem with paying a ransom is that the hostage takers can come back for more — as Apple can now attest. The company paid $60 million to settle a spurious trademark suit in China only to be confronted with another claim as fishy as the first. Read more »
Apple has ended a long-running trademark dispute in China by agreeing to pay $60 million to use the iPad brand name in the country. But will its settlement open the door to a sequence of ransom demands from trademark squatters? Read more »
Having learned a lesson from the backlash its peers in Congress endured recently, the White House is trying, presumably, to develop an anti-piracy strategy that’s actually sane. On Monday, it announced an open call for comments on a new IP strategy. Read more »
A global trade agreement on anti-piracy measures may need a re-think after the European Parliament was advised to vote against it. Read more »
InterDigital has been shopping its patent portfolio around for while, and on Monday it revealed it had a taker. Intel has scooped up 1700 of its patents for $375 million, bulking up the chipmaker’s intellectual property holdings in the increasingly critical mobile networking sector. Read more »
The world is safe for developers who use Java interfaces in designing Android smartphones. Read more »
The judge in the notorious trial between Oracle and Google over Java software declared at the outset that the case was the “World Series” of intellectual property. And no wonder. The two sides have already spent nearly the annual payroll of the San Diego Padres. Read more »
Russia’s government has commissioned the building of a system which would let copyright owners identify unauthorised use of their works online. Read more at paidContent »
The lawmaker leading Europe’s digital agenda initiatives is hoping France can liberalise its digital copyright regime, after it introduced a policy to warn and disconnect illegal content downloaders. Read more at paidContent »
Google, Apple and Samsung get all of the attention in the mobile patent wars, but only one of them is a true powerhouse in terms of mobile intellectual property. Samsung, along with Nokia, lead the overall mobile patent portfolio rankings, according to a new study. Read more »
It’s hard to be a web user, especially since the government has gotten so interested in what we’re doing online. It’s even worse when we can’t figure out who — if anyone — is actually on our side, and what terms we’re willing to live with. Read more »
The EFF and Anonymous might have overblown the ramifications of the proposed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 — calling it SOPA 2.0 — but that doesn’t mean the bill is well-written. However, strong support means it might be hard to stop. Read more »
In a sign the country’s intellectual property laws may be getting out of hand, copyright lawyers are suing patent lawyers for using scientif… Read more at paidContent »
Airvana is suing Ericsson for $330 million, claiming the wireless giant has reneged on its licensing deal and is instead selling a “knock-off” version of Airvana’s 3G technology to Verizon Wireless, Sprint and other CDMA operators. Read more »
SOPA and PIPA supporters still have faith in their shelved bills, citing the jobs they’ll save as making the bills worthy of salvage. However, the Internet economy is a potential job creator the likes of which Hollywood — already its own worst enemy — could ever be. Read more »
SOPA is too extreme to be a practical solution, according to Tom Gimbel of Austin City Limits, but he believes we need a policy that encourages online creativity and economic growth while also protecting intellectual property. It’s not as exciting to advocate for a compromise, but that’s what’s needed. Read more »
The FBI today unsealed an indictment that charges file-sharing site Megaupload and its executives with a list of criminal charges, including… Read more at paidContent »
One day after the International Trade Commission approved a formal ban on certain HTC products that infringe on an Apple patent, an ITC administrative law judge has issued an initial determination that Motorola has infringed on four claims of a Microsoft patent with its Android products. Read more »
Last week, a European court struck down a rule forcing a Belgian ISP to monitor traffic for copyright infringement. Experts believe the decision could help rein in the spread of SOPA-like laws throughout Europe. So why is the U.S. rushing headling into deeply flawed legislation? Read more »
The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, garners a lot of hatred from commentators and the Internet industry as whole, but it’s only the next logical step after the problematic Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the safe harbor of which is more like a plea bargain. Read more »
