Digital Discourse / Enforcement Actions

Copyright protected through ISPs, media, and law this week

July 13, 2011 By

Internet Providers to Help Thwart Online Piracy (New York Times)
Internet providers have reached a deal with major entertainment media companies that creates a uniform procedure for notifying customers about repeated instances of digital copyright infringement on their accounts. The system provides for a graduated response of six warnings that start at simple emails and escalate to slowed connections or a block from web surfing.

Judge Rules “Locker” Site is Not Direct Copyright Infringer (Ars Technica)
A federal judge in Miami has dismissed direct copyright infringement charges against online locker service Hotfile, but is allowing the case to proceed over the secondary liability charge to determine whether Hotfile is guilty of inducing its users to infringe copyrights.

Entertainment Companies Create New Website to Promote Anti-Piracy Effort (Los Angeles Times)
A coalition of major media companies and entertainment labor unions has launched a new website called Creative America to educate the public about content theft and promote anti-piracy legislation.

SAP to Argue for New Trial in Oracle Lawsuit (Computerworld)
SAP is seeking a new trial and a reduction of the $1.3 billion jury award it was ordered to pay.

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Filed Under: Copyright, Court Cases, Enforcement Actions, Internet Piracy, Patent

ICANN and Top IP Headlines

June 22, 2011 By

As expected, Monday the Board of Directors of ICANN approved a proposal to add hundreds and possibly thousands of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) to the Internet. The proposal has been years in the making, and the 400-page Draft Applicant Guidebook that describes it has undergone seven major revisions. SIIA believes that the decision to approve the Guidebook represents a significant threat to copyright owners. Intellectual property owners will need to familiarize themselves quickly with the Rights Protection Mechanisms in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, and expend even more resources and time in enforcing their rights against cybersquatters and infringers.

 

Top Headlines:

1.) Video Head-to-Head: Newspapers vs. PRs & Meltwater (paidContent.org)
In November, a UK High Court held that operators and customers of paid digital news monitor services should pay newspapers for crawling their stories. Months later, the parties gathered at a debate to discuss the future of content.

2.) John Steinbeck Heirs Lose Bid for Supreme Court to Hear Copyright Dispute (Fox News)
The Supreme Court denied further review of a legal dispute over publication rights to many of Steinbeck’s legendary works in a case brought by Steinbeck’s only surviving son and sole grandchild.

3.) Barclay, BofA Can’t Block Flyonthewall.com Reports on Stocks, Court Rules (Bloomberg)
A federal appeals court in a ruling Monday clarified the law governing the publication of hot news, overturning a lower court ruling that blocked Theflyonthewall.com from reporting the upgrades or downgrades of stocks for two hours or until half an hour after the opening of the NYSE.

4.) Oracle Seeking Billions in Damages From Google in Android Patent Infringement Suit (paidContent.org)
Oracle announced it is seeking billions in damages from Google in a suit over whether the Android operating system infringes patents Oracle bought from Sun Microsystems.

5.) Bloggers Mull Legal Action Against Righthaven (Wired)
Former Righthaven defendants who settled with them are now mulling their legal options after a judge ruled that Righthaven did not have legal standing to bring such lawsuits.

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Filed Under: Copyright, Court Cases, Enforcement Actions, Patent