Digital Discourse / Policy / Policy - Intellectual Property

This Week in IP Enforcement

February 15, 2012 By Keith Kupferschmid Leave a Comment

Google Books Lawsuit Lurches Forward (paidContent)
The Authors Guild revived a class-action lawsuit over Google’s massive book scanning project in new filings this week demanding Google pay authors for scanning their works without permission.

AP Sues Meltwater News Claiming Copyright Offense (Bloomberg)
The Associated Press is suing digital news distributor, Meltwater News, for infringing on AP copyrights by illegally selling and distributing content created by the AP.

Copyright Tribunal Says Businesses Need License to Use Google News (Wired)
In a long running case between the Newspaper Licensing Association and media-monitoring service Meltwater, the Copyright Tribunal ruled that Meltwater must hold a license to use media aggregators like Google News and Alerts. In the same trial, the Tribunal also decreased the NLA’s proposed fee increases.

Pinterest: Is it a Facebook or a Grokster? (paidContent)
While Pinterest’s soaring popularity has led it to be dubbed the “next Facebook,” all the hype has also brought attention from angry copyright owners who are complaining that their images are being used without permission by users on Pinterest’s site.

Pirate Bay to Replace All Torrent Files with Magnet Links (Herald Sun)
The Pirate Bay announced it will be deleting all torrent files (but they would remain available through magnet links) in order to become more resistant to being shut down, since the content would no longer be downloaded directly from the Pirate Bay’s servers.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.

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This Week in IP Enforcement

February 8, 2012 By Keith Kupferschmid Leave a Comment

Patent Office: Inventors Don’t Have to Pay Copyright on Science Submissions (paidContent)
The U.S. Patent Office has issued a memo suggesting that inventors do not have to pay publishers for articles copied and included in patent applications.

Media Groups Propose Anti-Piracy ‘Code of Practice’ For UK Search (The Register)
Media groups are proposing that “search engines should vet ad partners, stop all advertising on “substantially infringing sites and on search results pages that contain links to substantially infringing sites” and stop selling key words terms that are “are closely associated with piracy,” among other proposals.

‘Hot News’ Returns in Hollywood Publisher Catfight (paidContent)
Penske Media raised the hot news claim again in a new filing last week in the latest twist in its spat with The Hollywood Reporter, whose parent company Penske initially sued last fall over allegations it lifted website code and copied stories.

U.S. Shuts 16 Sports Piracy Websites Pre-Super Bowl (Reuters)
U.S. prosecutors seized 16 websites that illegally streamed live sports and pay-per-view events over the Internet, and charged a Michigan man with running nine of those websites.

Oracle Seeks New Trial in SAP Case (The Wall Street Journal)
Oracle rejected a $272 million award in its intellectual property theft case against SAP, stating in its filing it was opting for a new trial in order to vindicate the original 2010 verdict in which the jury awarded Oracle $1.3 billion.

Man Indicted on Software Copyright Charge Arrested (Washington Post)
A former Baltimore man was arrested at Dulles Airport after fleeing to Pakistan before he was indicted for reproducing and distributing more than 100 copyrighted software programs, including Adobe, Intuit, and Microsoft products.

Judge Refuses to Shut Down Online Market for Used MP3s (Wired)
A federal judge denied EMI’s request to shut down ReDigi, an online marketplace for used digital music.

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This Week in IP Enforcement

February 3, 2012 By Keith Kupferschmid Leave a Comment

Stolen Software: Piracy Hits More Than Movies and Music (PCMag)
SIIA’s anti-piracy program featured in article that recognizes the negative impact piracy has on the software industry.

Entertainment Lobby Claims Google, Bing Send Users to Illegal Music Files (paidContent)
Google and other search engines “overwhelmingly” direct music fans to illegal copies of copyrighted tracks online, a coalition of entertainment industry groups has told the government.


Ukraine Shuts Down Leading File-Sharing Site (Associated Press)
Ukrainian authorities have shut down a popular file-sharing website saying it violates copyright laws, officials said Wednesday.

Next Frontier in Piracy: Downloading Physical Objects to Your 3D Printer (Time)
Pirate Bay has announced a new category called “Physibles” that houses digital files that can be downloaded and used in conjunction with 3D printers to print out actual, physical objects.


mophie Awarded Significant Judgment in Piracy Case (PRNewswire)
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Company and Against Counterfeit Seller

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As Application Period Begins Today, ICANN gTLD Program Represents Significant Challenge to Trademark & Copyright Owners

January 12, 2012 By Laura Greenback Leave a Comment

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) today began accepting applications for new generic top level domains (gTLDs) to the Internet, part of a proposal the ICANN Board adopted in June 2011. 

SIIA supports, respects, and has participated in the ICANN multi-stakeholder process, and acknowledges that new gTLDs will be introduced. But once the scope and content of applications becomes apparent, ICANN will have another opportunity to address stakeholder concerns, and must do so. The introduction of new gTLDs will require even more of ICANN’s focus on previously-neglected, critical tasks such as reform of the Whois system, improvement of registrar contracts, and contract compliance and enforcement.

The highly controversial proposal has been years in the making, and potentially opens up the Internet to hundreds if not thousands of new gTLDs (and second-level registrations within each of them). The application period will run from January to April, and applications are expected to be publicized in May. It is anticipated that new gTLDs will be approved (and begin appearing on the Internet) sometime in 2013. 

The new gTLD program, as currently formulated, represents a significant challenge to trademark and copyright owners. ICANN’s program opens up a whole new frontier of potential –and likely—abuse by those seeking to profit from the name, reputation, and content of others. 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.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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This Week’s Top IP Enforcement Headlines

December 22, 2011 By Keith Kupferschmid Leave a Comment

USTR: Piracy, Counterfeiting Abroad is Thriving (National Journal)
USTR released a new report outlining the most notorious intellectual property infringers based outside the United States.

Gripe Site PissedConsumer.com Wins Round in Lawsuit (MediaPost News)
Two companies are claiming trademark violations and are attempting to force a gripe site to change the way it encodes reviews in order to make them less prominent in search engine results.

RIAA ‘Report Card’ Gives Google Low Marks for Anti-Piracy Efforts (Wired)
The Recording Industry Association of America claims Google is not keeping its promises and doing enough to fight online piracy.

Yahoo Denies Infringing Singapore Press Holdings’ Copyright, Countersues (Bloomberg)
Yahoo, Inc., accused by Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. of reproducing news content without its permission, denied infringing copyright laws and countersued the newspaper publisher.

Trade Body Says HTC is Violating Apple Patent, Bans Some Imports (All Things D)
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Taiwanese cellphone maker HTC infringed on two claims related to an Apple patent, and ordered an import ban on some of the company’s products.

British Telecom Sues Google Over Android (and Almost Everything Else) (ZDNet)
The world’s oldest telecoms company, BT, is suing Google over a patent violation that affects a wide array of Google’s services.

‘Wolverine’ Pirate Gets One Year in Prison (Reuters)
Gilberto Sanchez was sentenced to one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to uploading a workprint copy of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” to Megaupload.com approximately a month before the film’s theatrical release.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.

 

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This Week’s Top IP Enforcement Headlines

December 2, 2011 By Keith Kupferschmid Leave a Comment

White House Unveils New Piracy Awareness Campaign (Reuters)
Attorney General Eric Holder announced a new campaign to raise public awareness about the damaging consequences of intellectual property theft. The campaign will consist of TV public service announcements and print ads and will target everything from illegal music and movie downloads to counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

Grooveshark Responds to Universal’s Copyright Lawsuit (CNET)
Following a lawsuit filed by Universal, in which Universal claims Grooveshark execs led an effort to post more than 100,000 pirated songs onto the music service (previously reported here), Grooveshark responded, stating the lawsuit is based on a “gross mischaracterization of information.”

Judge Orders Google, Facebook to Remove Fake Sites (BBC)
In a case brought by luxury goods maker Chanel against 600 websites, a Nevada judge ordered Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter and others to delist domain names linked to websites selling counterfeit goods.

John Wiley Expands Lawsuit Against File-Sharing ‘Dummies’ (paidContent)
John Wiley filed a new lawsuit against 46 more John Does who were allegedly participating in unauthorized file-sharing of the “For Dummies” series online.

Authorities Seize 131 Domains Associated With Piracy and Counterfeiting (VentureBeat)
Leading up to Cyber Monday, the U.S. government seized 131 domains allegedly associated with counterfeiting and piracy-related websites, signaling authorities have resumed “Operation in Our Sites.”

Hartford Courant Settles Copyright and Hot News Claims (paidContent)
The Hartford Courant quietly settled with the small newspaper that sued it over its news aggregation editor, which means media outlets will not get a further chance to test-drive the controversial “hot news” doctrine in court.

Google Adds More Words to List of Piracy Related Terms (Ubergizmo)
Google has added more words and websites to its list of piracy-related terms, including uTorrent, Bitorrent, and combinations of the word torrent.

Apple Wins Control Over ‘iPhone’ Porn Domain Names (CNET)
Apple has won its dispute with a domain name squatter and dropped the case after the domain name owner agreed to turn over the seven iPhone porn domain names.

Porn Company Sues ICANN Over .xxx Domain (The Wall Street Journal)
Manwin Licensing International, one of the largest purveyors of pornography on the web, filed suit against ICANN to block the new dot-xxx suffix on web addresses, alleging “monopolistic conduct, price gouging, and anticompetitive and unfair practices.”

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APEC Makes Progress on Trans-Pacific Partnership

November 15, 2011 By Mark MacCarthy Leave a Comment

Over the weekend, the U.S. worked with its Pacific partners at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Honolulu to provide significant support for a new Pacific Rim trade agreement.  The leaders announced their acceptance of a framework for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional free trade agreement comprising the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.  Another important development over the weekend was the announcements by Japan, Mexico and Canada that they were interested in the negotiations. USTR released a fact sheet outlining the negotiating framework.

The agreement would coordinate regulations in the Pacific region and would be the basis for building the rules for international trade and investment in the region for years to come.  This endorsement by the region’s high-level leaders commits them to the success of the TPP initiative. It gives political momentum to the effort to craft a 21st century trade agreement for the region, and raises the hope for a final agreement in 2012.

SIIA members are particularly interested in forward movement on the provisions the U.S. has tabled regarding intellectual property protection and cross-border data flows. SIIA looks favorably at the agreement the U.S. reached with the EU in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT). In particular, SIIA supports the principles on cross-border data flows and local infrastructure and recommends that similar provisions be included in the TPP.

Under the principle on cross-border data flows, governments should not prevent service suppliers of other countries, or customers of those suppliers, from electronically transferring information internally or across borders, accessing publicly available information, or accessing their own information stored in other countries. According to the local infrastructure provision, governments should not require ICT service suppliers to use local infrastructure, or establish a local presence, as a condition of supplying services.

These principles are similar to the ones SIIA, NFTC and other associations recently endorsed on cross-border data flows.  They are needed to ensure that content companies can reach customers and subscribers in different jurisdictions and that the benefits of economic growth, innovation and job creation from ICT services such as cloud computing are fully realized.

SIIA looks forward to working with negotiators from the U.S. and our trading partners to craft a workable agreement on these provisions that will boost trade, investment and jobs in the region.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology.

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