Bruce Berman

Sharing information about an invention is not an option. With patents, disclosure is a requirement which benefits the inventor, other inventors and society. When and how an invention is shared makes a huge difference. Disclosing information and sharing the right to practice it are not the same. The Patent Bay, a new patent platform from a Swedish company that believes some patent owners are hoarders, is looking to change how patents are shared and used.

Sinners looks to be little more than a gothic horror movie set in the John Brown South with incredible box office appeal. Its storyline, however, reflects a subtler narrative about ownership and the bold agreement involving intellectual property rights that the film’s celebrated writer-director, Ryan Coogler, was able to secure from Warner Bros, which has some studio executives running for their wooden stakes.  

An important new book about the impaired U.S. intellectual property (IP) system, The Big Steal – Ideology, Interest, and the Undoing of Intellectual Property, by Jonathan M. Barnett, reveals the deepening failure of IP rights to retain their property status and the weaknesses – seen and unseen – that have accompanied it. The focus of The Big Steal is on what the IP system’s recent failures impact, who they benefit, and what can be done to repair the damage.

Jockeying for position among the leading generative AI large language models (LLMs) has amplified their differences. Training models and code access are the source of some of the biggest disagreements. Should code for generative and other forms of AI be open or proprietary, protected under copyright, trade secret or even patent? There is a lot riding financially on the outcome, and there are good arguments for and against.

Few, if any, artists own the master recordings to their early albums. Not the Beatles, not Dylan, not Springsteen. Taylor Swift is no different. Labels gamble on acts and part of the upside if they hit—the quid pro quo, if you will—is owning valuable master recordings. Without control of these potential assets, they would likely walk away from most deals.