It's About Time. Google Watch reports that Google Sues Leo Stoller for Racketeering. From the article: "Google's lawsuit, which comes after several years of legal wrangling with Stoller, after Stoller declared bankruptcy, and after Google was granted relief by the courts to pursue litigation, alleges that Stoller and his businesses are falsely claiming trademark rights for the purpose of harassing and attempting to extort money."

Thomas v. Scalia. That's a new one. The AP reports that "Court Rules in Favor of MedImmune."From the article: "MedImmune 'assuredly did contend that it had no obligation under the license to pay royalties on an invalid patent,' Scalia wrote. 'Promising to pay royalties on patents that have not been held invalid does not amount to a promise' not to contest the matter."

One to Watch. Reuters reports that "U.S. group sues Nokia, Samsung over Bluetooth." From the article: "A U.S. research institute has sued Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Matsushita-owned Panasonic for violating a patent for Bluetooth technology, potentially putting the free wireless standard at risk."

But Does He Care About Black People? Reuters reports that "Evel Knievel sues rapper Kanye West over video." From the article: "The lawsuit claims West, his Roc-A-Fella Records label and the video's director infringed on Knievel's trademark-protected name and likeness by depicting West as a stunt performer named 'Evel Kanyevel,' who dresses in a star-spangled, 'V'-striped white jumpsuit like the one Knievel is famous for wearing."

RIM Back In Court. Reuters reports that "RIM sues for infringement over Samsung's BlackJack." From the article: "In the suit filed December 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, RIM alleges Samsung has decided to name one of its handheld devices the BlackJack to ride on the coattails of success enjoyed by RIM's BlackBerry line of smartphones."

Now That's a New One. The AP reports that "Andy Griffith sues Andy Griffith." From the article: "The lawsuit says the former Fenrick changed his name for the 'sole purpose of taking advantage of Griffith's notoriety in an attempt to gain votes' and asks the court to order Fenrick to go back to his original name." I must say, I can't imagine how there's any copyright infringement here, and this doesn't sound like true trademark usage...

It's All About IP. The National Journal reports on what we can expect under a Democratic Congress in "What If: Judiciary." From the article: "In the House, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., would take over the chairmanship of the Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. He would look to protect his nearby Hollywood interests by cracking down on piracy and protecting against copyright infringement of TV, music and movie productions."

Do People Still Use Palms? (And yes, that's a joke. No need for irate Treo users to write in.) InternetNews.com reports that "NTP Sues Palm Over Wireless Patents." From the article: "NTP, a Richmond, Va.-based owner of intellectual property patents concerning wireless e-mail and other technologies, filed suit alleging that the handheld devices and services Palm uses in its wireless e-mail systems infringes NTP patents in the United States."

Did their Lawyers Review the Press Release? Because language like this begs for a functionality claim. "Wenger Corp. Successful in Trade Dress Protection Lawsuit." From the release: "Because proper posture and a polished presentation are the foundations of good music rehearsal and performance, Wenger Corporation introduced its unique Posture Chair design in 1978, to comfortably support and encourage correct posture, and bring a uniform, attractive appearance to the music chair. The Wenger Posture Chairs are engineered to minimize fatigue and stand up to years of heavy use. In particular, the look and quality of the Student Posture Chair and the entire Wenger Posture Chair line are what music educators across North America have come to consider as the ‘industry standard’ for their programs for almost 30 years." HT Marty.

ARGH! Copyright is Not the Same as Trademark. CatererSearch reports that "Starbucks in copyright spat with Ethiopia." From the article: "According to charity Oxfam, the Ethiopian government last year filed copyright applications to trademark the coffee names in a move that would have increased its annual export earnings from coffee by 25%. However, the charity said that Starbucks blocked the country’s application, effectively denying it up to £47m of earnings a year."

Last Time... You Cannot Copyright a Slogan. (Ok, I'm going to stop this now.) The AP reports that "Candidate pulls endorsement letter in dispute over copyright." From the article: "A one-time national president of Western Kentucky University's Alumni Association said he will pull a political endorsement letter from nine alumni because of a dispute over using the university's registered trademark and copyrighted slogan." (Of course, if it *were* copyrighted, courts would likely consider this to be protected free speech.)

So What Material Would You Like to See Made Freely Available? PC World reports that "Wikipedia Mulls Copyright Purchase Plan." From the article: "Two weeks ago, the Wikipedia community received from Wales an e-mail called 'Dream a little...,' which asked users to send suggestions of copyright material that could be freely distributed after its purchase."

I've Never Seen Someone Interpret Filing a Patent as Being Worried About Competitiveness Before... TMCnet reports in"Apple Files iPod Patent: Fear of Competition or Exposure?" From the article: "The events that have led to the filing of a patent application still remain unknown; however it should give an indication that Apple fears its dominance in the market is threatened. This is interesting given the reasons for the iPod’s success in the first place." (While the article doesn't say this, I'm assuming they're basing the report on a patent application that has been recently published by the PTO, since I wouldn't expect Apple to issue a press release whenever they file a patent application. If I'm correct, that seems to pull the bottom out from under TMCnet's theory that the filing is a response to anticipated competitive pressure from Zune...)

Give me a Break. Sorry, but I'm firmly in Google's camp on this one, and I fully support efforts to demote sites that are nothing but link farms, even if such demotion sends the implicit message that such sites aren't worth visiting. After all, truth is a defense to a defamation claim. (Although it would be nice if Google removed link farms from its sponsored results program, as well.) Reuters reports that "Judge mulls if site demoted by Google was defamed." From the article: "KinderStart argues the site's sudden demotion in March 2005 to a 'zero' ranking in Google's search system has severely harmed its business. It seeks class action status on behalf of what is says are many other sites that have suffered the same fate as Google regularly fine-tunes its rankings."

This Ruling Has the Potential to be Quite Interesting... Reuters reports that "Cablevision sets up special litigation committee." From the article: "Cablevision, which has more than 3 million subscribers in the New York area, is involved in a dispute with several media companies including News Corp, CBS Corp, and Walt Disney Co. over its plans to launch a remote digital video recorder service. The case is to be heard on Monday at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan." (Full disclosure: News Corp and Walt Disney Co. are firm clients, and I do intellectual property work for News Corp, although I'm not involved in this case.)

This Barely Passes the Laugh Test. The AP reports that "Judge: 50 Cent no two-bit song stealer." From the article: "The lawsuit, filed by attorney Richard C. Wolfe, said 50 Cent only changed one word from the opening line of Campbell's song from 'It's Your Birthday.' After repeating the word 'go' several times, 'Sheila' becomes 'shorty' in the line, 'Go shorty, it's your birthday.'"

Supreme Court Stepping into the Patent Fray Again. Reuters reports that "Supreme Court to review Microsoft patent case." From the article: "At issue is a ruling last year which upheld a lower court decision that Microsoft was liable for infringing an AT&T patent for converting speech into computer code in copies of Windows sold overseas."

Sounds Familiar. Law.com reports that "Jimi Hendrix Steals Show at Ocean Tomo's IP Auction." From the article: "The air seemed to seep out of the room when the trademarks and brand names came up for sale. Only two of 16 lots were sold. One buyer paid $1.2 million for a group of trademarks to the term 1-800-YELLOWPAGES. Meanwhile, the term 'OTI.com,' sold by IBM, brought in a measly $15,000."

But are They as Cute as Wenty? The AP reports that "Brothers say Fox stole ‘Prison Break’ story." From the article: "“Prison Break,” in its second season, is set in contemporary time. But the Hughes brothers say they’ve noted more than 30 places, names or events that are strikingly similar to those of their manuscript."

Tables Turned on Amazon? The AP reports that "IBM sues Amazon for patent infringement." From the article: "Amazon is accused of infringing on five IBM patents, including technologies that govern how the site recommends products to customers, serves up advertising and stores data."