France Eliminates Threat to Cut Off Internet Pirates (Reuters)
The French government has published an official decree to erase the controversial provision in a copyright piracy law that allowed the courts to cut off Internet access of repeat offenders.
Where the Wild Things Are Sequel Pulled From Kickstarter for Infringing Copyright (paidContent)
A sequel to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are was pulled from Kickstarter after publisher HarperCollins issued a takedown notice. The incident suggests that book publishers are being more vigilant about monitoring new platforms for violations.
Intellectual Property Court Opens in Moscow (The Moscow Times)
The Intellectual Property Court, a specialized arbitration court, opened in Moscow after President Vladimir Putin approved the final list of judges. The court will deal with cases regarding patent rights, trademark violations and other intellectual property disputes.
Why Patent Litigation Was On the Upswing In 2012 (Information Today)
A recent study from PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that 2012 was a “banner year in patent litigation,” largely in part due to “patent trolls.”
Microsoft Settles Thousands of Software Piracy Cases (CNET)
Microsoft announced it settled 3,265 software piracy cases worldwide in the past year. Thirty-five of these cases were in the U.S., in 19 different states; and, 3,230 were international cases that took place in 42 different countries.
Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.