German News Sites Opt For Google Exposure For Now (ABC News)
Major German publishers gave Google permission to keep using their content on its news page as tighter online copyright rules came into force, but insist their dispute over payment for content isn’t over.
Copyright Policy, Creativity and Innovation in the Digital Economy (U.S. Patent & Trademark Office)
The U.S. Department of Commerce released a green paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy. The paper is a comprehensive analysis of digital copyright policy intended to advance discussion on the issue. Read the full report here.
SOPA Died in 2012, But Obama Administration Wants to Revive Part of It (The Washington Post)
The report on digital copyright policy issued by the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force endorsed one piece of the controversial SOPA proposal – making the streaming of copyrighted works a felony.
Judge Says Patent Lawyers Have Right to Science Articles Under ‘Fair Use’ (GigaOM)
In a case between patent lawyers and copyright lawyers over the scientific articles submitted as part of most patent applications, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes sided with the patent lawyers, ruling that the reason they made unlicensed copies of the articles was to comply with the law for submitting applications to the patent office, not to compete within the market for scientific journals.
Search Engines Not Seen as a Major Player in Music Piracy (The Verge)
A new report from the nonprofit Computer and Communications Industry Association claims that “the solutions to online infringement have little to do with search,” and removing “undesirable” search results would not substantially alter or prevent piracy. Read the full report here.
‘Russian SOPA’ Anti-Piracy Law’s First Day Full of Protests and a Failed Lawsuit (International Business Times)
Russia’s new anti-piracy law went into effect on July 31, and was met with criticism and a failed lawsuit. More than 1,700 sites went dark in a SOPA-style protest.
First Content Ban Imposed Under Anti-Piracy Law (The Moscow Times)
TV channel TNT has become the first company to successfully file claims against illegal distributors of their content under new anti-piracy legislation in Russia.
Comcast Developing Anti-Piracy Alternative to ‘Six Strikes’ (Variety)
Comcast has begun preliminary discussions with both film and TV studios and other leading Internet service providers about employing technology that would provide offending users with opportunities to access legal versions of copyright-infringing videos as they’re being downloaded.
Music Publishers File Copyright Suit Against Big YouTube Channel Operator (The Verge)
A group of music publishers and songwriters have claimed in a copyright lawsuit that Fullscreen, which operates a network of popular YouTube channels, is including unlicensed music in its videos.
Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.2