Friday, October 31, 2003

There's a Blog for Everything Check out the Open Source Software Law Blog. Or Unsecure Privacy.
Lessig Has a New Guest Blogger Presidential candidate Senator Edwards will be taking over blogging duties at Lessig's Blog next week.
UK Cracks Down on P2P Reuters has this report about a new copyright law that has taken effect in the UK, designed to curb the exchange of copyrighted files on the Internet.
Here We Go Again The AP is reporting that the RIAA has filed an additional 80 lawsuits against P2P music downloaders.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

Copyright Office Issues Rulemaking in Lexmark DMCA Case The Globe and Mail has this report on the Copyright Office's recent rulemaking on Lexmark's suit against Static Control Components, which alleged that SCC violated the DMCA by making components for use in remanufactured laser printer toner cartridges. C-Net has this report. Bag and Baggage has a pretty good rundown of the opinion.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Library of Congress Grants DMCA Exemptions C-Net is reporting that the Library of Congress has approved four exemptions to the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA:
• Lists of sites blocked by commercial Internet filtering software, but not spam-fighting lists.
• Computer programs protected by hardware dongles that are broken or obsolete.
• Computer programs or video games that use obsolete formats or hardware.
• E-books that prevent read-aloud or other handicapped access formats from functioning.
Alphabet Soup: SCO Challenges GPL in IBM Suit C-Net is reporting that SCO has launched a broadside attack against the General Public License ("GPL") in its lawsuit against IBM, claiming that the "GPL violates the U.S. Constitution, together with copyright, antitrust and export control laws."
Disney Gets Chance to Keep Pooh Rights Reuters is reporting that the federal district judge presiding over Clare Milne's attempts to regain rights to the Winnie the Pooh franchise, based on the character created by her grandfather, has agreed to certify her adverse May ruling for interlocutory appeal. Milne has struck a deal with Disney whereby Disney will be allowed to continue selling Pooh merchandise if Milne's appeal is successful.
Attention Patent Practitioners The FTC has presented Congress with a proposal that would lower the standard for proving patent invalidity from "clear and convincing" evidence to a preponderance of the evidence.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Get Your Copies of Ghettopoly While You Can... The AP is reporting that Hasbro, makers of Monopoly, have sued the maker of Ghettopoly, claiming trademark and copyright infringement. Somehow, I think they'll have more luck getting a preliminary injunction than Caterpillar did...
It's Raining... Copyright Infringement Lawsuits? Launch is reporting that a lawsuit has been filed against Enrique Iglesias, alleging that he copied the music for his song "Escape" from a song by Henry Lorenzo Haynes called "Remind Me." And E! Online is reporting that Miami-based producer Terrence "T-Robb" Robinson is suing Destiny's Child, claiming that the music to the group's hit "Survivor" is a rip off of Robinson's song "Glorious."

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

If it Looks too Good to be True... The New York Times is reporting on a disappointed group of customers that thought they were buying Tiffany heart-shaped pendant necklaces for half the usual price from the bargain Web site Overstock.com, only to find out the necklaces were fake. Tiffany plans to sue.
George of the Jungle 2 to Move Ahead as Planned The AP is reporting that a federal district court has rejected Caterpillar's request for a preliminary injunction against distribution of the new Disney movie George of the Jungle 2.

Monday, October 20, 2003

Hope You Didn't Buy the DVD for the Music... Reuters has an interesting story about the problems facing studios trying to release popular television shows on DVD. Apparently, the cost of licensing many of the songs that appeared on the television shows is cost prohibitive, requiring studios to replace the music before release. Which is too bad. I, for one, found several new bands by watching Felicity and Dawson's Creek. And yes, I actually bought the CDs.
3rd Circuit Upholds Webcasting Royalties The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with the RIAA, holding that the Copyright Office correctly determined that radio stations are required to pay a digital recording license when they stream their AM/FM broadcasts over the Internet.
Google Hit with Trademark Infringement Fine in France Reuters is reporting that a French judge has fined Google over the practice of allowing advertisers to link text Internet advertisements to trademarked search terms, and has ordered Google to cease the practice within 30 days.

Friday, October 17, 2003

Do They Actually Expect Anyone to See the Movie? Looks like Caterpillar didn't learn anything from the Fox and Slip 'n' Slide suits. Reuters is reporting that the construction equipment manufacturer has filed a trademark infringement suit against Disney over the made-for-video movie George of the Jungle2, alleging that the movie's depiction of "bulldozing bullies" riding Caterpillar equipment will create a negative image of the manufacturer in the minds of the children that view the movie. All 10 of them.

Friday, October 10, 2003

If You Don't Like Their Review, Sue
SunnComm Technologies Inc. (not to be confused with SunCom, the cell phone carrier) is suing Princeton graduate student Alex Halderman over an article he posted of a digitally protected CD, in which Halderman asserted that SunnComm's MediaMax CD-3 software could be defeated by pressing "Shift" while the disc was inserted into the computer. SunnComm alleges that Halderman violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act when he disclosed the existence of driver files loaded by SunnComm's software onto the user's computer, the deletion of which prevents SunnComm's software from protecting the contents of the CD from copying.

Not So Fast C-Net is reporting that SunnComm has decided not to sue.

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Another Company Stands Up to the RIAA Reuters is reporting that Charter Communications, a broadband service provider, has sued the RIAA, seeking to block it from gaining access to the names of Charter customers accused to illegally trading copyrighted music. Anyone betting on whether it will be more successful than Verizon's challenge?
Talking Book Wars The AP is reporting that LeapFrog Enterprises has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price, alleging that Fisher-Price's new PowerTouch Learning System infringes on a 1998 patent on interactive learning books for toddlers and preschoolers. Who knew talking books were such a big industry?
I'm Back! After moving a few hours north and changing jobs, I finally have Internet access again. So I'll try to catch up on some of the stuff I missed.