Friday, February 28, 2003

Injunction Issued in DMCA Case Wired is reporting that the judge in the Lexmark case has entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting Static Control from continuing to sell replacement printer cartridges that contain computer chips engineered to work with Lexmark printers.

Thursday, February 27, 2003

Who Knew There Were Such Barbed Wire Connoisseurs? The Trademark Blog has a write-up about a recent Central District of Illinois case in which the District Court found that a plaintiff had a "better than negligible chance" of establishing that use of any color on the top of barbed wire is likely to cause confusion with plaintiff's mark, for red top wire fencing. I would love to see the analysis on this one. Why can't we ever get a judge like this?
Violate the DMCA, Forfeit Your Domain Name CNet is reporting that the U.S. DOJ has taken over the domain name of a website owned by an individual who recently plead guilty to violation of the DMCA. Likewise, the DEA has begun redirecting the URLs of various websites accused of selling drug paraphernalia. So I guess it probably wouldn't be a good idea to start an on-line gallery of images of collectible bongs. Follow-up: Wired has an article about the same incident, noting that the DOJ's efforts to take over the website weren't entirely successful.

Sunday, February 23, 2003

Even More Radical than Lessig? The Legal Theory Blog has an interesting post about the new book by economists Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, entitled The Case Against Intellectual Monopoly.

Saturday, February 22, 2003

Privacy: 1, Patriot Act: 0 The Washington Post has an article about a bookstore in Montpelier, Vermont that has chosen to purge customers' purchase records, rather than retain them and risk having to turn them over to law enforcement under the Patriot Act.

Friday, February 21, 2003

UDRP Proceedings Not Entitled to Traditional Arbitration Deference Law.com has a report on a recent Third Circuit decision holding that, because UDRP decisions do not fall under the Federal Arbitration Act, domain name decisions are not entitled to "extremely deferential" review.

Thursday, February 20, 2003

In the News Again, Just Can't Wait to Get in the News Again Larry Lessig is in the news again. Wired has a brief summary of Lessig's remarks at the Digital Rights Summit.

Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Life After Eldred Peter Yu gives his view on the Four Remaining Questions About Copyright Law After Eldred on Gigalaw.com. Mr. Yu predicts, as have Jack Balkin and others, further tests of the constitutionality of the DMCA.

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Third Circuit Finds Way Around Retroactivity Problem in Cybersquatting Law Law.com is reporting on a recent decision by the Third Circuit holding that reregistration of a domain name brings it within the purview of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.

Friday, February 07, 2003

Later, Gator CNet is reporting that publishers have reached a settlement with Gator over their claims of copyright infringement.
Verizon Part 2 CNet has an article reporting on the RIAA's brief filed in opposition to Verizon's motion to stay the January 21 order requiring Verizon to divulge the identity of a subscriber.
Webcasters Face New Hurdle The LA Times has an article about a new threat to webcasters: Acacia Research Corp. is claiming patent rights to the online transmission of digital music and other media.

Monday, February 03, 2003

Would This Mean Fewer Citizen Kane Reruns? CNN is reporting that Orson Welles' daughter is suing Turner Entertainment Co. and RKO Pictures, claiming that a 1944 agreement between RKO and Welles restored copyrights in the classic to Welles.
USOC Goes After the Rats It seems that the folks over at the U.S. Olympic Committee are taking themselves a bit too seriously. The USOC has threatened to sue Nebraska Wesleyan University if they don't change the name of a 28-year old annual event, called the "Rat Olympics," in which the Behavioral Learning Principles class attempts to teach rats to perform in various competitive events. Latches, anyone?
CNN Fails to See the Humor Wired has an article about a CNN-spoof site that was recently taken down in the wake of demand letters from the news giant, accusing the site of copyright and trademark infringement.
More Hip Hop Sampling Woes Reuters is reporting that a federal judge in Los Angeles has granted Indian composer Bappi Lahiri a preliminary injunction prohibiting further sale of the song "Addictive" by Truth Hurts. Lahiri claims that Truth Hurts' song sampled heavily from his song "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai," without proper attribution. Lahiri termed the copying an act of "cultural imperialism."