Google Lobbies Against Patent Privateering (CNET)
Google has banded together with BlackBerry, EarthLink, and Red Hat to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice in an effort to expose the industry-wide consequences of patent privateering, or the practice of companies outsourcing patent enforcement to independent entities with no technologies of their own.
Patent Trolls Launched Majority of U.S. Patent Cases in 2012 (CNET)
A new study has found that more than half of last year’s patent litigation cases in the U.S. were filed by companies that license patents but don’t have another business.
Did Anti-Piracy Laws Improve Revenue in New Zealand or Japan? (Billboard)
New Zealand and Japan, the two newest countries to adopt anti-piracy laws, had mixed results on the laws’ impact in 2012, according to data in the IFPI’s new Recording Industry in Numbers 2013 report.
Russia Says File-Sharers Will Not Be Held Liable for Piracy (TorrentFreak)
Russia says it will not proceed with holding Internet users liable for downloads, but it does intend to take a tougher stance with infringing sites.
Lawsuit Attempts to Use Six-Strikes Copyright System in Case Against Verizon Subscriber (SlashGear)
Malibu Media is pursuing a case against a Verizon subscriber over alleged sharing of copyrighted materials, and has subpoenaed Verizon for copies of the six-strike notices the subscriber received under the new Copyright Alert System.
Quarter of UK Adults Can’t Tell Piracy Websites Apart From the ‘Real Deal’ (The Drum)
A YouGov survey of over 2,000 British adults revealed that nearly a quarter were unable to tell the difference between piracy websites and de-branded legitimate pages.
Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.