Digital Discourse / Patent

This Week’s Top 5 IP Headlines are…

June 29, 2011 By

1.) Hollywood in Court to Force Piracy Blocking on UK’s Largest ISP (paidContent:UK)
Hollywood film studios are taking their piracy battle to London’s high court in an attempt to get British ISP BT to block access to Newzbin2, a website that allegedly distributes pirated material.

2.) Top ISPs Poised to Adopt Graduated Response to Piracy (CNET)
Top ISPs, including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, are close to striking a deal with media and entertainment companies that would require the ISPs to take a tougher stance against customers who refuse to stop using the network to infringe on others’ intellectual property.

3.) Academic Publisher Steps Up Efforts to Stop Piracy of Its Online Products (The Chronicle)
After finding cheap, illegal access being sold to its online databases, academic publisher SciFinder is focusing its anti-piracy efforts on higher education, given a majority of the stolen or leaked SciFinder passwords are from accounts of college students and professors.

4.) Viacom Files Another iPad Streaming Lawsuit, This Time Against Cablevision (paidContent.org)
Similar to the dispute Viacom is having with TimeWarner, Viacom is now pursuing a claim against Cablevision over iPad streaming.

5.) Clark County Man Sentenced for Counterfeit Software Scheme (The Seattle Times)
Wayne Chih-Wei Shu of Clark County was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $687,633 in restitution for selling counterfeit Microsoft software and failing to file income tax returns.

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Filed Under: Copyright, Internet Piracy, Patent

Patent Reform makes tracks, Cybersecurity and Privacy

June 28, 2011 By

The patent reform train continued moving down the tracks last week, as the House passed the America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) by a vote of 304-117. As passed, the bill differs in several respects from the Senate version that passed several months ago, including how it deals with fee diversion, tax strategy patents, prior user rights, prior art, and some other issues. Despite the differences and a heavy debate about the fee diversion issue, discussions are ongoing about a strategy to reconcile the two versions or perhaps seek Senate passage of the House bill. Regardless, the strong bipartisan support for the legislation in both chambers make for good odds on enactment of patent reform.

On the cybersecurity front, last week House Speaker John Boehner appointed a 12-member Republican task force to assess the state of cybersecurity, including the Administration’s proposal, and provide recommendations by October. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), who was appointed to lead on this issue earlier this year, will lead the task force, joined by Reps. Aderholt (R-AL), Chaffetz (R-UT), Coffman (R-CO), Goodlatte (R-VA), Hurt (R-VA), Latta (R-OH), Lungren (R-CA), McCaul (R-TX), Murphy (R-PA), Stivers (R-OH) and Terry (R-NE).

Also last week, the Supreme Court decided a case that looks to be a major victory for data publishers. In the case Sorrell vs. IMS Health the Court confirmed an appeals court decision that a Vermont law prohibiting the use of physician prescribing data for marketing purposes. While Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion expressed concerns about the “serious and unresolved” issues with respect to personal privacy, the ruling confirmed that the law unfairly imposed a first Amendment burden “based on the content of speech and the identity” of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. In short, the ruling holds that such commercial speech is equally entitled to the protections of the First Amendment.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Copyright, Court Cases, Digital Policy Roundup, Government, Patent, Policy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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

Busy week in Washington: Cybersecurity, Privacy, Patent Reform – and ICANN

June 15, 2011 By

Cybersecurity / Data Security

The top news on the data security front is the upcoming Commerce Sbcmte. legislative hearing on Data Security/Data Breach scheduled for Wednesday morning. Earlier this week, Chairwoman Bono Mack (R-CA) released a discussion draft of the legislation, and a memo summarizing key differences from the legislation that passed the House in the 111th Congress.

On the Administration cyber front, the Dept. of Commerce last week released a report entitled, “Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy.” SIIA issued a statement in support of the effort to more clearly define the line between “covered critical infrastructure” and the other parts of the Internet economy, and expressing our commitment to work with the Department to refine this definition.

Also out of the Administration last week, NIST held a workshop in conjunction with a NOI seeking feedback on a governance structure to advance their Trusted Identities in Cyberspace Initiative (NSTIC). More about that here.

Privacy

There are two noteworthy privacy bills in the works in the Senate. Sen. Franken (D-MN) is drafting a mobile privacy bill, and Sen. Pryor (D-AR) is expected to introduce a bill regarding children’s privacy online prior to the July 4th recess. While there may be a Senate Commerce Committee  a legislative hearing on the Kerry-McCain privacy legislation, the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act (S. 799), as soon as next week, discussions are ongoing within the Committee regarding the official legislative vehicle for advancing Chairman Rockefeller’s (D-WV) priorities in this area, which also include a focus on “tracking” and children’s privacy.

Patent Reform

The House patent reform bill (H.R. 1249) is expected to be considered on the floor later this week. While support for the House bill is broad and bipartisan, budget issues and various amendments could cause the bill to be defeated or striped it of key elements, including the provision allowing the PTO to keep its user fees, and the “first to file” provision.

ICANN

ICANN is expected to vote on the new gTLD Applicant Guidebook on June 20. If the Guidebook is approved, the process for introducing hundreds of new gTLDs to the Internet will likely begin sometime next year. Also, the NTIA issued a Further Notice of Inquiry seeking comments on a Draft Statement of Work regarding the IANA functions (the contract for which currently is assigned to ICANN but is up for review). More about that here.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Copyright, Digital Policy Roundup, Patent Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

DOC Calls on Congress to Pass Patent Reform, ICANN

May 31, 2011 By

Today, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Leaders urging quick enactment of patent reform legislation (H.R. 1249). In the letter, Secretary Locke reiterated his support for the Senate passed legislation (S. 23) and outlining the administrations views on certain key provisions of H.R. 1249 that are “important to our goals of an appropriately funded and well-functioning USPTO and successful passage of a balanced bill.” Key areas of the bill addressed by the Secretary include First Inventor to File, USPTO Fee Setting and Funding, Post-Grant Review Proceedings, Pre-issuance Submissions and Prior User Defense.

Also today, in Global-Tech v. SEB, the Supreme Court appeared to raise the bar for proving claims of induced patent infringement. The Court held (8-1) that inducement requires knowledge that the induced conduct itself infringes, and that “deliberate indifference” is not enough to satisfy that standard. Rather, the knowledge element can be met by a showing of “willful blindness.”

In other IP news, the PROTECT IP Act was passed unanimously by the House Judiciary Committee last week, making this the second piece of major IP legislation ripe for full House consideration. SIIA submitted a statement congratulating the committee and urging quick enactment of the legislation.

And on the ICANN front, following further consultation with its Government Advisory Committee (GAC) and written comments by stakeholders including SIIA, ICANN published a revised Applicant Guidebook on May 30. While the ICANN Board and GAC have one more meeting scheduled prior to the June 20 vote on the gTLD roll-out, it is believed that the May 30 version is unlikely to change materially prior to that scheduled vote. SIIA is reviewing the May 30 draft, and next week SIIA and other content organizations are tentatively scheduled to meet with U.S. government representatives to the GAC to discuss concerns. In light of the recent Congressional hearing, other avenues also are being considered.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Court Cases, Legislation, Patent, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property, Uncategorized

SIIA hosts ed-tech summit; Committee passes patent bill

April 19, 2011 By

The U.S. Congress is on recess this week, following a budget dominated week that featured a shutdown-avoiding final FY2011 appropriations act, and a House-passed FY2012 budget proposal that cut trillions of entitlement spending over the next decade. The budget is likely to dominate the federal legislative calendar throughout the year.

Ed-Tech Government Forum held in Washington, DC
The averted government shutdown ensured that SIIA’s annual Ed Tech Government Forum took place as planned. SIIA brought more than 100 education division members to Washington, DC for discussions with key education leaders about the impact of public policies on the school software market. Attendees networked with more than 150 local and national education leaders, and took advocacy visits to dozens of Congressional offices.

Among the highlights were remarks by Senator Patty Murray, FCC Commissioner Clyburn and U.S. Education Secretary Duncan’s Chief of Staff Joanne Weiss. Session presentations and session summaries will be archived. While education (and education technology) was being cut, SIIA and Senator Patty Murray helped release a report profiling how federal school technology grants helped transform and improve education.

ICANN releases new Guidebook
In other news, ICANN released a new version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook yesterday, continuing the debate over the rollout of new generic top level domains (gTLDs). The Guidebook can be found here. The public comment period runs from April 15 to May 15, and SIIA is working on comments through its constituency group, the Coalition for Online Accountability.

Administration releases NSTIC
On Friday, April 15, the Administration released its National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). This “private sector-led effort to create a new infrastructure for the Internet, built on interoperable, privacy-enhancing, and secure identity credentials,” was released in conjunction with an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The lead Administration agency is the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which announced at the same time that it will be moving forward with a series of workshops on Trusted ID in the coming months.

Web Tracking and User Privacy Workshop to be held
On April 28 and 29, W3C will hold a workshop on Web Tracking and User Privacy at Princeton, New Jersey. Experts from academia, industry, civil society and government will discuss the role of anti-tracking technology to preserve use privacy on the Internet. The agenda can be found here. SIIA’s Director of Public Policy, David Leduc, will join a panel of experts on the first day of the workshop discussing the mechanisms that could be used to implement such a proposal. His submitted paper can be found here. 

House Judiciary Commitee passes patent bill
On patent reform, last week the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Copyright, Digital Policy Roundup, Education, Education Policies, Education Policy, Government, Patent, Policy, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Privacy bill is introduced; SIIA continues work on policy reform

April 12, 2011 By

After much anticipation, Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) today introduced the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011. The many drafts that led to this legislation have gone a long way to address many key concerns raised by industry. That said, the bill is still a work in progress and sure to continue undergoing further tweaks during consideration by the Committee and full Senate in the weeks/months ahead. In the House, Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Sbcmte. Chair Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) said Monday that she will continue to lead the charge on this issue.

Bono Mack also said that legislation in this area will only advance if there is a clear need, and if it takes an up-to-date regulatory approach. She expressed concern that government action must not hold back U.S. economic growth or competitiveness and identified regulatory certainty as the key variable. She did, however, note that businesses need to do more in the way of communicating with Internet users and responding to users needs.

Also this week, the train continues to move forward on patent reform, with the House Judiciary Committee scheduling a Markup for the America Invents Act on Thursday. SIIA strongly supports patent reform and will continue working closely with leaders in the House and Senate towards the goal of enacting legislation soon.

Last week, the 3rd NIST Cloud Computing Workshop provided an excellent overview of the opportunities for Federal cloud computing, particularly the key role that NIST is playing in facilitating this process. For more on this, view our post on the workshop.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Cloud Computing, Content, Copyright, Digital Policy Roundup, Government, Patent, Policy, Software
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