Digital Discourse / Policy / Policy - Intellectual Property

Director Kappos Announces His Departure

November 26, 2012 By

Earlier today Director David Kappos sent an email to USPTO employees, announced that his departure from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office around the end of January 2013. In the email he wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

It has been an immense privilege to lead the PTO, our nation’s innovation agency, over the last three and a half years-and it is with deep gratitude for your dedication and hard work that I write to inform you that I will be leaving the Agency around the end of January 2013.

I cannot thank you enough for your hard work over the years-and I wish you all the very best ahead.

Prior to joining the PTO in 2009, Director Kappos worked for SIIA-member IBM as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Intellectual Property Law. During his tenure with the PTO he oversaw enactment of the most significant reforms to the patent system this century. We are grateful to Director Kappos for all the improvements to the patent system that he spearheaded during his term as Director and all the hard work and leadership he provided as the “face of the patent system” in the U.S. and abroad.

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

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property

This Week in IP Enforcement

November 14, 2012 By

Google Presses Fair Use Case in Book Scanning Appeal (paidContent)
Google asked an appeals court to throw out a ruling that let the Authors Guild move forward with a long-running class action case over Google’s book scanning project. Google renewed its fair use argument and says the case should be decided on a book-by-book basis.

China Official Defends Record on Fighting IPR Thieves (Variety)
The head of China’s State Intellectual Property Office acknowledged a piracy problem in China, but says the Western media has ignored the government’s efforts to combat piracy, and instead has highlighted the negatives.

iOS Apps Hijack Twitter Accounts, Post False”Confessions” of Piracy (Ars Technica)
iOS application developer Enfour is fighting piracy by auto-posting tweets to users’ accounts to shame them for being pirates, but a “glitch in the anti-piracy measures” caused the auto-tweeting to affect a huge portion of its paid user base.

Man Sentenced to 36 Months for $2.5M in Software Piracy (Equities.com)
A Virginia man was sentenced to 36 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $2.5 million for selling thousands of units of counterfeit and pirated software.

D.C. Circuit Voids $743K Restitution Order in Pirated Software Case (LegalTimes)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously ruled to vacate a court order that required the defendant pay Adobe $743,098 (the amount equivalent to the sale of pirated software), because the government failed to show Adobe’s actual losses from the copyright infringement.

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

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property

This Week in IP Enforcement

November 7, 2012 By

High Court Hears Key Copyright Case

While Hurricane Sandy battered the region, the Supreme Court proceeded to hear arguments in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Co. on Monday, Oct. 29th. The issue in this hotly contested case is whether the copyright law’s “First Sale Doctrine” allows someone who purchased copyrighted works overseas may sell them here in the U.S. without authorization from the publisher. SIIA’s amicus brief in the case defended the view that these purchases violate U.S. copyright law, since the first sale doctrine does not apply to a work made and sold abroad. The Kirtsaeng case will likely be a monumental case for both the content publishing and software industries — it will affect the distribution, market segmenting, and licensing practices on which their businesses are significantly built. Within the Supreme Court, the Justices seem fairly split on the issues (see full transcript). SIIA has been actively pushing our position on this issue in the press, releasing press statements and publishing various blog posts on the topic. Additionally, SIIA’s Keith Kupferschmid participated in a panel discussion last week on HuffPo Live. Read more here.

IP News

Hosting Site Found Liable for SumoTorrent’s Infringement (PCMag)
A Dutch court found that hosting company XS Networks is liable for the activity of SumoTorrent, a torrent site it hosted.

New Twitter Policy Lets Users See Tweets Pulled Down for Copyright (GigaOM)
Twitter is changing the way it responds to DMCA copyright notices. Instead of removing tweets, it is “withdrawing” them in order to help show when and why tweets go missing, and bring transparency to the DMCA process.

Porn Downloader Ordered to Pay $1.5 Million Fine in BitTorrent Decision (Forbes)
A Virginia man was ordered by an Illinois federal court to pay $1.5 million to adult film company Flava Works. In the default judgment entered last week, the judge set the maximum penalty of ten times statutory damages, the biggest penalty to date in a BitTorrent case.

Donuts’ Grab for Domains Raises Fears of Cybersquatting (Bloomberg)
A little-known company called Donuts Inc. is making a grab for valuable new domain names, a move that opponents say could fuel the practice of stealing website identities. A lawyer representing TLD holders is asking ICANN to investigate the company.

Two Members of Piracy Group IMAGINE Get Prison Terms (CNET)
Two members of a group that wanted to be known for being first to release the latest Hollywood films to the Web were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay thousands in restitution.

Piracy Cuts Into Paid App Sales (Bloomberg)
Pirates are turning to apps and making a significant dent in mobile-app store sales, which researcher Yankee Group expects to generate $10.1 billion this year. While app stores are trying to beef up security, startups are also producing software to help developers thwart piracy.

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

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property

NYT Says: Don’t Let Importers Undercut U.S. Publishers’ Sales

November 6, 2012 By

The New York Times published an excellent editorial yesterday that explains how a landmark Supreme Court copyright case could undercut the U.S. information industry. The Times breaks down Kirtsaeng v. Wiley as follows:

At stake in this important and knotty case is whether copyright holders — publishers, filmmakers, musicians and creative artists of all sorts — can sell their copyrighted works abroad at prices different from what they charge in the American market and rely on copyright law to help maintain the separate pricing without having importers profit from the difference.

The case establishes whether the U.S. Copyright Act can be interpreted to allow copyright holders to use sensible market segmentation strategies. SIIA hopes the justices agree that publishers should be able to set lower prices in less-developed countries, without importers snatching their products up and using them to undercut American sales.

This isn’t a new notion–it’s already codified in the Copyright Act. The Times explains:

… the Copyright Act prohibits anyone from importing into the United States copyrighted works without the copyright holder’s approval. That provision would be seriously limited if copies of a work made abroad could be resold by importers in this country without constraint.

When importers exploit discounts that are meant for poor students in undeveloped nations, they aren’t just denying those students an education–they are threatening American publishers’ ability to do business abroad.

For more information, read SIIA’s amicus brief in the case, which defends the view that these purchases violate U.S. copyright law, since the first sale doctrine does not apply to a work made and sold abroad.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team at @SIIAPolicy.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property Tagged With: , ,

SIIA’s Keith Kupferschmid Weighs in on Kirtsaeng v. Wiley on HuffPo Live

October 30, 2012 By

SCOTUS was undeterred by Hurricane Sandy yesterday, holding arguments in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley while most of Washington hunkered down for the storm. The landmark case involves the legality of purchasing copyrighted works overseas and selling them here in the U.S. without authorization from the publisher. SIIA’s Keith Kupferschmid joined HuffPo Live to explain how the case threatens the U.S. information industry–wrapping up his segment just minutes before losing power.

Watch the full segment:

The justices seemed fairly split on the case during the argument. Wiley’s counsel, Ted Olson, reiterated a critical point made in SIIA’s amicus brief – that there are many of exceptions in the Copyright Act, including the Fair Use Defense, which can be used to prevent the concerns raised by the appellant.

We believe that the First Sale Doctrine should not apply to materials made and sold overseas. It threatens to severely undermine U.S. companies’ ability to compete in foreign markets. Ultimately, we hope that the Court will be convinced by the very real argument that both publishers and consumers will face direct harm if our markets are allowed to be flooded with copyrighted material that was intended for purchase overseas. American consumers will be defrauded into buying products that may be inferior or otherwise very different from those intended for U.S. markets, while confronting higher prices in the long run. Meanwhile, consumers and students abroad will lose access to valuable U.S. resources that were created for them.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team at @SIIAPolicy.

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Filed Under: Government, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property, Software Tagged With: , ,

SIIA Weighs in on Supreme Court Arguments in ‘First Sale’ Case – Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Co.

October 29, 2012 By

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court held arguments in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Co. – a hotly contested case that threatens the U.S. information industry. Last month, SIIA filed an amicus brief in the case, which involves the legality of purchasing copyrighted works overseas and selling them here in the U.S. without authorization from the publisher.

We believe that, if the First Sale Doctrine were to apply to materials made and sold overseas, it would severely undermine U.S. companies’ ability to compete in foreign markets. At today’s Supreme Court argument, the Justices seemed fairly split on the issues. Wiley’s counsel, Ted Olson, reiterated a critical point made in SIIA’s brief – that there are many of exceptions in the Copyright Act, including the Fair Use Defense, which can be used to prevent the concerns raised by the appellant.

Ultimately, we hope that the Court will be convinced by the very real argument that both publishers and consumers will face direct harm if our markets are allowed to be flooded with copyrighted material that was intended for purchase overseas. American consumers will be defrauded into buying products that may be inferior or otherwise very different from those intended for U.S. markets, while confronting higher prices in the long run. Meanwhile, consumers and students abroad will lose access to valuable U.S. resources that were created for them.

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

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Content, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property Tagged With: , ,

This Week in IP Enforcement

October 24, 2012 By

ISP Piracy Warnings Launching Within Weeks (PC Mag)
The Center for Copyright Information says participating ISPs expect to begin rolling out the new Copyright Alert System over the next two months, but exact launch dates will be up to each ISP.

Brands Cry Foul Over Unauthorized Sellers on Amazon (Reuters)
Amazon is grappling with a problem that eBay has struggled with for years – the proliferation of unauthorized third-party sellers that undercut the world’s top consumer brands.

Massachusetts Fines Thai Seafood Company Over Pirated Software (The Boston Globe)
Massachusetts’s fined the Narong Seafood Co. $10,000 over the use of pirated Microsoft software, marking the first time the state has ever used laws intended to combat unfair business practices against a company for illegally obtaining software.

BuzzFeed Lawsuit Over Celeb Photos Raises Copyright Questions (GigaOM)
At a time when online media is increasingly image-based, a $1.3 million lawsuit brought by a so-called “copyright troll” over BuzzFeed’s publication of nine celebrity photos raises questions about current copyright law.

Publishers Fight Back Against Schoolbook Piracy (The Village Voice)
With textbook piracy on the rise (spurred by rising costs of course materials and proliferation of tablets and e-readers), publishers have quickly embraced new technology to fight the growing piracy problem.

Cloud No Cover for Software Pirates, Claims FAST (CloudPro)
The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) denounced the Pirate Bay’s move to the cloud as useless, saying measures already exist for governments to access cloud data in cross-border criminal investigations.

Retailers, Libraries, and Internet Companies Join “Owners Rights” Coalition (Publishers Weekly)
With ownership rights at issue in the Kirtsaeng vs. Wiley case, a new coalition of businesses and libraries has formed to advocate for ownership rights while educating consumers, businesses, and policymakers.

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

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property
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