Posts in Copyright

The complaint alleges that in some cases the republication and distribution occurs within a minute or two after the article is published by Dow Jones. In just one two-week period, Briefing.com copied a substantial portion of at least 100 articles and republished more than 70 headlines within three minutes of the initial publication on Dow Jones Newswires. Dow Jones alleges that this conduct violates Dow Jones’ copyrights, amounts to “hot news” misappropriation, violates the DMCA and is otherwise unfair competition.

The victories selected represent a diverse array of wins, which a press release announcing the Top 10 list says is due to “the differing objectives of IP litigation today.” These victories range from multimillion-dollar jury verdicts, including the biggest patent award ever, which was won by Johnson & Johnson’s Centocor Ortho Biotech unit against Abbott Laboratories, to the i4i injunction win blocking the distribution of Microsoft Word editions having a popular XML feature.

In this patent Google gives us a glimpse at the possible future of Google Books, which can censor books it serves based on the copyright laws of the location from which you access the Internet. In one implementation the method disclosed includes a user requesting a document, the request being received, information being processed and the viewable portions of the document being determined based on the governing copyright laws. The governing copyright laws are determined based on information relating to the user, such as relying on the IP address of the requester, which can disclose the geographic location of the user, at least when it is not spoofed.

Last week a patent application on an energy efficient device that provides enhanced copyright protections was published, not surprisingly with Apple, Inc. as the assignee. On Thursday, February 4, 2010, US Patent Application 20100030928 published, titled Media processing method and device. Certainly not the most sexy title possible, but the thrust of the invention is a device that allows the…

Anyone who has spent any time at a political rally or watching video from such a rally on the evening news understands that music and politics go together.  Sometimes they mix well, for example when Bruce Springsteen is playing live for INSERT LIBERAL DEMOCRAT HERE, and sometimes they do not mix very well, almost like oil and water, for example…

Every modern country has copyright laws of some sort in place. The rationale behind them all is to motivate the creation of future works and to protect the works themselves after their creation. In our globally connected world it seems natural to desire a unified system of worldwide laws in every legal field, but particularly for copyrights because articles, music,…

The recent case of In re Lister is a painful reminder of the potential for “self-inflicted wounds” under the “printed publication” bar of 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) .  Fortunately, the patent applicant in Lister was able to skirt around this “hazard” of his own making. The patent applicant, Dr. Richard Lister, was a Ph.D. clinical psychologist and an avid sportsman.  Dr. Lister had grown…

The reason giant companies hate patent trolls is because they are not capable of being counter-sued. There is no deterrent effect because patent trolls do not make, use or sell anything, they just sue. So giant companies are targets in the same way that smaller companies without patents are targets of big companies with patents. No one should aspire to be a target. A simple truth is that a small business without patents might as well dress themselves up as a buck during hunting season complete with a bulls-eye pre-drawn. So here is the case for every business to get patents, particularly software patents. Ignore it if you like, but you do so at your own peril.

The United States Department of Justice on Friday filed papers with the United States Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the settlement reached by Google and the plaintiffs in the copyright litigation challenging how Google is digitizing books and offering them for free. The DOJ told the court in a 32 page filing that the…

This post may not be as off-topic as you think simply by reading the title.  Yes, I will be licking my wounds as a result of an opening day fantasy football loss, but what is really prompting this article is a discussion this morning on ESPN radio with host Eric Kuselias, who incidentally was managing partner of Goldblatt, Kuselias &…

I guess I have finally made the big time!  Earlier today Hal Wegner’s e-mail newsletter was passed along to me by someone who is a subscriber to his list.  If what I was sent was in fact his entire newsletter for September 12, 2009, I should be expecting a royalty check in the mail.  It would seem that Hal’s newsletter,…

Every once in a while we do an Internet search to find out what is out there quoting to IPWatchdog.com or me personally.  We also try and make sure that others are not infringing upon our works by republishing our content without permission.  It is flattering in one sense to have people want to steal your stuff and copy it…

It just came to my attention earlier today that someone had copied an entire article from IPWatchdog.com and posted it to their own website last week.  How is it possible that anyone doesn’t realize that you just cannot do that?  More likely, it is known that you cannot do that but people do it figuring they won’t get caught.  One…

By now you should have all heard about Michael Jackson’s death. Although it is tragic that such a pop icon could die at such a young age, so much of the news coverage seems to be focusing on the bizarre aspects of Michael Jackson’s life, what appears to be a serious drug addiction and his financial debts.  When Michael passed…

By now it is certain that anyone living in any civilization around the world knows that Michael Jackson, the acclaimed entertainer and eccentric cultural icon, passed away late yesterday afternoon reportedly from an as yet unexplained cardiac arrest.  Many will no doubt be focusing on Jackson’s contribution to the entertainment industry, and perhaps even his ownership of the copyrights to…