SI 519/PubPol 688

Intellectual Property and Information Law

Clippings

Look here for links to news articles, blog posts, and other reports of interest:

• Libby Copeland, Looking for Meister Bräu, Slate, 12/7/10 (thanks to Kate Keith-Fitzgerald for the link!)
• Jacqui Cheng, MPAA to universities: curb piracy or lose federal funding, Ars Technica, 12/6/10
• Apachepics, Wiley Vs. Rhodes, YouTube, 10/25/10
• History for Music Lovers, The French Revolution, YouTube, 9/14/10
• Chris Foresman, Apple ups ante on Motorola patent infringement suit, Ars Technica 12/6/10
• Victor Agreda, Jr., Fake iPhones at JC Penney let you text away your dignity (Thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Vanessa O’Connell, Project Copyright! Bill Giving IP Protection to Fashion Moves Forward, Wall Street Journal Law Blog, 12/1/10
• AP, Court Won't Review EBay Win In Tiffany Lawsuit, NPR, 11/29/10 (Thanks to Sarah Pipes for the link!)
• Steve Jobs action figure discontinued due to legal request from Apple, Edible Apple, 11/29/10 (Thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Jolie O’Dell, Homeland Security Seizes 70+ Websites for Copyright and Trademark Violations, Mashable, 11/10 (Thanks to Ryan Clement for the link!)
• Adam Himmelsbach, Colleges Tell High Schools Logos Are Off Limits, NY Times 11/27/10
• Randall Stross, When the Software is the Sportswriter, NY Times 11/27/10
• Brooks Barnes, Scene Stealer: A Casting Call for Hollywood’s Chef Lobbyist, NY Times 11/27/10
• Jacqui Cheng, YouTube to pay royalties to filmmakers in France, Ars Technica, 11/26/10
• Jacqui Cheng, Appeals court: Pirate Bay admins still guilty, now with higher fines, Ars Technica, 11/26/10
• Evan Brown, Class action lawsuit challenges Bittorent lawsuit factory’s business model, Internet Cases, 11/25/10
• Sam Gustin, EMI Seeks to Bar EFF from Cloud-Music Case, WIRED, 11/24/10
• Karen Gullow, Oracle Wins $1.3 Billion Verdict for Closed SAP Unit's Illegal Downloading, Bloomberg, 11/24/10
• Dave Itzkoff, Welcome to the Courtroom: Axl Rose Sues Over Guitar Hero Game, NY Times, 11/24/10
• Disney’s Playdom Settles Legal Battle with Zynga, LA Times, 11/23/10
• Dave Itzkoff, Adrien Bordy Prevails in Horror Film Lawsuit, NY Times, 11/23/10
• Rachel Slajda, Congressional Report Denying Climate Change Was Likely Plagiarized, Talking Points Memo, 1122/10
• Shushannah Walsh, The Legal Brawl Over Palin's Book, The Daily Beast, 11/22/10 (thanks to Sara Wycoff for the link!)
• Nate Anderson, Lawyer Wants "Goliath Verdict" Against RIAA in Abuse Trial, Ars Technioca, 11/21/10
• AP, NY judge orders Gawker to pull Palin book pages, Washington Post, 11/21/10 (Thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, Nintendo Wants to Trademark ‘It's On Like Donkey Kong’, PC World 11/11/10 (Thanks to Eric Paradis for the link!)
• Rick Broida, Bluefire Reader brings free public-library e-books to iOS, Ars Technica 11/17/10
• Tom Holwerda, US Library of Congress: Copyright is Destroying Historic Audio, OS News, 10/8/10 (Thanks to Ryan Clement for the link!)
• Matthew Lasar, Hollywood studios sue over "bowdlerized" DVDs, Ars Technica, 11/15/10
• Katie Thomas, Image Rights vs. Free Speech in Video Game Suit, NY Times 11/15/10
• Suzanne Mozes, James Frey’s Fiction Factory and Read The Brutal Contract from James Frey’s Fiction Factory, New York Magazine, 11/12/10 (Thanks to Gautam Hans for the link!)
• Warren Riddle, New 'Sesame Street' App Tune May Provoke Apple's Inner Grouch, Switched.com, 11/2/10
• Eric Engleman, Amazon patents bad gift defense system: "gift conversions", TechFlash 11/9/10 (thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Nate Anderson, A New Revord: 9,729 P2P porn pushers sued at once, Ars Technica 11/9/10
• Corinne McSherry, Thomas-Rasset Damage Award: The Strange, Unpredictable World of Copyright Damages, EFF Deeplinks, 11/5/10
• Susan Decker, Facebook Accuses Boston Phoenix Publisher of Patent Breach, Bloomberg News, 11/8/10
• Adrien Chen, Facebook Parody Site Spoofs Facebook with Lawsuit, Gawker 11/5/10 (Thanks to Suzy Salib for the link!)
• Kaitlin Mara, Lessig Calls For WIPO To Lead Overhaul Of Copyright System, Intellectual Property Watch 11/5/10
• John Scalzi, The Stupidest Thing an Editor With Three Decades of Experience Has Said About the Web Today, Whatever, 11/4/10 (Thanks to Meg Hixon for the link!)
      ...and check out Gawker.com’s followup story here, and NPR’s followup to the followup, here.
• James Montgomery, Wu-Tang Clan And Ja Rule's Failed Holy Grail Quest: Why Couldn't They Clear Beatles Samples? Rappers had to resort to interpolations instead of original master samples, MTV, 10/9/07 (Thanks to Ryan Clement for the link!)
• Steven Musil, Jammie Thomas hit with $1.5 million verdict, c|net News.com, 11/3/10
• Greg Sandoval, MP3tunes: iTunes will benefit if we win copyright case, c|net News.com 11/2/10
• Nate Anderson, It is Groundhog Day": Third Jammie Thomas P2P trial begins, Ars Technica 11/2/10
• Andrew Pollack, Gene Patent Ruling Raises Questions for Industry, NY Times 11/2/10
• David Kravets, EFF defends Former Proescutor from Righthaven Copyright Suit, WIRED 11/1/10
• Eric Bangeman, Apple tries short-circuiting Droid with patent lawsuit, Ars Technica 10/31/10
• Andrew Pollack, U.S. Says Genes Should Not Be Eligible for Patents, New York Times 10/30/10
• Carl Malamud, Welcome to Code City!, 10/22/10
• Caroline McCarthy, Etsy's crafty balance: Fans vs. trademark holders, c|net News.com 10/27/10
• Matthew Lasar, Smartphone makers ready to wage war on radio over FM chip mandate, Ars Technica, 10/27/10
• Max Colchester, All Eyes on France as Officials Enforce New Antipiracy Law, Wall Street Journal, 10/27/10
• Eric Bangeman, Sour Ruling for Limewire as court says to turn off P2P functionality, Ars Technica, 10/26/10
• Nina Paley, Creative Commons’ Branding Confusion, QuestionCopyright.org, 10/20/10
• Nate Anderson, Vatican to rich countries: stop "excessive zeal" for IP rights , Ars Technica 10/26/10
• J. David Goodman, A Florida Battle over ‘Brooklynized’ Water, NY Times 10/25/10
• Nate Anderson, Porn pros hope to squelch online piracy by 2012, Ars Technica 10/25/10
• Carmen Dixon, Record Companies Could Lose Music Copyrights in 2013, BV Blackspin 11/23/09 (thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Robert MacMillan, Facebook sues Faceporn, claiming trademark infringement, Computer World, 10/22/10
• Nick Wing, CAGW Campaign Ad Imagines China-Dominated Future, Huffington Post, 10/22/10
• Greg Sandoval, EFF’s Cindy Cohn Fights Copyright’s ‘Underbelly’, c|net News.com, 10/19/10
• Matthew Lasar, Rollover image on your website? That will be $80,000 (please), Ars Technica 10/14/10
• Mark Schlueb, Sopranos, Dan Webster, toll hikes in new Alan Grayson ad, Orlando Sentinel Central Florida Political Pulse 10/11/10 (and see Ben Sheffner’s comments on a for-now-hypothetical copyright infringement suit here)
• Greg Sandoval, Big media wants more piracy busting from Google, c|net News.com 10/13/10
• Mike Masnick, Media Copyright Group Sues US Copyright Group Over Trademark Threat, TechDirt 10/12/10
• Mike Masnick, Sesame Street Recognizes That Advertising Is Content... On A Horse... Cow, TechDirt 10/12/10
• Brian X. Chen, Apple Wins Trademark for "There’s an App for That", WIRED 10/11/10
• Erica Ogg, Apple complaint halts sales of iPhone lookalike, c|net News.com 10/11/10
• Nate Harrison, Can I Get an Amen? (18 minutes) 2/21/06 (thanks to Sarah Pipes for the link!)
• kinobserver, Citizen 3.0 Trailer 9/26/10
• AFP, Anti-McDonald's ad angers fast food chain, Perth Now (9/15/10) (thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Nate Anderson, US anti-P2P law firms sue more in 2010 than RIAA ever did, Ars Technica 10/7/10
• Kurt Opsahl, Copyright Abuse in Ohio Governor Election, EFF Deeplinks 10/7/10
• Mike Masnick, Astronaut Sues Dido For Using His Photo In Album Cover, TechDirt 10/6/10
• Bill Bush, OSU sues publisher of football magazine, Buckeye Extra 10/5/10 (thanks to Meg Hixon for the link!)
• Eric Schonfeld, Oops! That Facebook Location Patent Forgot To Mention Crowley’s Earlier Dodgeball Patent, TechCrunch 10/7/10 (thanks to Stephen Flynn & Steven Grady for the link!)
• Brian, Unverified Voracity Gets Served, MGoBlog 9/17/10 (thanks to Meg Hixon for the link!)
• Eric Goldman, Tip for Clean Living: Don't Use a 14 Year Old's Self-Portrait in Advertising for Porn--Lara Jade Coton v. TVX, Tech Law & Marketing Blog, 10/6/10
• Evan Brown, Hiring subscribers to access competitor’s database gives rise to misappropriation claim, Internet Cases Blog 10/1/10
• Chris Foresman, Motorola asks ITC, two federal courts to throw book at Apple 10/6/10
• Center for Democracy & Technology, Campaign Takedown Troubles: How Mertiless Copyright Claims Threaten Political Speech, 9/10
• Jacqui Cheng, Cover Flow may cost Apple $ 208.5 million in damages, Ars Technica 10/4/10
• Matthew Lasar, Historic Audio at risk, Thanks to Bad Copyright Laws, Ars Technica 10/4/10
• Nate Anderson, The ‘Legal Blackmail’ Business: Inside a P2P-Settlement Factory, WIRED 10/2/10 (Thanks to Kate Keith-Fitzgerald for the link!)
• Reuters, Microsoft sues Motorola over Android phones 10/1/10 (Thanks to Ryan Clement for the link!)
• Arthur S Brisbane, Scholarly Work, Without All the Footnotes, New York Times, 10/2/10
• Larry Lessig, Sorkin vs. Zuckerberg —‘The Social Network’ is wonderful entertainment, but its message is actually kind of evil, The New Republic 10/1/10
• Mike Masnick, DMCA As Censorship: Citibank Doesn't Want You To Remember What It Said About Obama's Bank Reform Policy, TechDirt 9/27/10 (Thanks to Ryan Clement for the link!)
• Jasmine Zhu, Turntable Titans: Ann Arbor DJs Mix it Up,Michigan Daily 9/30/10
• Daniel Fisher, Supreme Court to Decide if Corporations have Privacy Rights. Forbes 9/28/10
• Christopher Beam, Copywrong, Slate 9/24/10 (thanks to Meg Hixon for the link!)
• Mike Masnick, Vast Majority Of Software Patents In Lawsuits Lose, TechDirt 9/24/10
• Sonia Katyal & Eduardo Penalver, Why the Fox News Suit Against Robin Carnahan's Campaign Is Bogus, Slate 9/24/10 (thanks to Meg Hixon for the link!)
• Brian X. Chen, Apple, startup go to trial over "Pod" trademark, Ars Technica 9/24/10
• Hugh Hart, Artists Grab 5,000 Web Images for 1 Massive Collage, WIRED News 9/23/10
• Kal Rustiala & Chris Sprigman, Freakonomics — Copyright and Football: A Guest Post, NY Times, 9/17/1o (Thanks to Sarah Pipes for the link!)
• Nate Anderson, "A stab in the back": Europe tackles online piracy, Ars Technica 9/23/10
• Mark B. Artist + Record Label + YouTube + UGC + Promotion + Copyright Law = …Confusion?, Yale Law & Technology blog, 9/20/10
• Tony Mauro, Supreme Court May Tune In To Music Download Case, The BLT 9/21/10
• Adrien Chen, 4chan Attack Brings Down MPAA Website, Gawker 9/18/10 (thanks to Megan Hixon for the link!)
• Laura Petrecca, Watch out for copycats that can steal your business idea, USA Today 9/22/10 (thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Jacqui Cheng, Apple's MagSafe Lwsuit Tests Limits of First Sale Doctrine, Ars Technica 9/21/10 (thanks to Stephen Flynn for the link!)
• Larry Downes, The end of software ownership--and why to smile, c|net News.com 9/20/10
• Justin Scheck & Stu Woo, Lars Johnson Has Goats on His Roof and a Stable of Lawyers to Prove It — Having Trademarked the Ungulate Look, Restaurateur Butts Heads With Imitators, Wall Street Journal, 9/20/10
• David Krevets, Intel Threatens to Sue Anyone Who Uses HDCP Crack, WIRED 9/17/10
• Mike Masnick, Woman Trademarks Her Name, Says No One Can Use It Without Her Permission, TechDirt, 9/16/10
• Noam Cohen, Spoiler Alert: Wikipedia Will tell You, New York Times, 9/18/10
• Ryan J. Reilly, Fox News Took 'Dramatic Step' In Suing Political Campaign, Says Copyright Expert, Talking Points Memo 9/16/10
• Emil Protalinski, Microsoft antipiracy fight caught in Russian political crackdown, Ars Technica 9/13/10
• Nate Anderson, Disruption: how one webcomic welcomes the future that so many fear, Ars Technica 9/12/10
• Susan Decker, Martha Stewart Living Sued Over Bedbug Mattress Pad Patent, Bloomber, 9/10/10
• David, Kravets, Guess What? You Don't Own that Software You Bought, WIRED 9/10/10
• Erik Sherman, Patent Office Admits the Truth: Things Are a Disaster, CBS BNET 9/10/10
• Robert Guth, Ben Worthen, & Joann Lublin, H-P Sues to Stop Ex-Chief’s Job, Wall Street Journal 9/8/10
• Andrew Fowler, Body Corporate: The story of the battle that will decide who owns your body and the biological building blocks that make you the person that you are, Four Corners 9/6/10
• Cory Doctorow,Proprietary Interest, Locus 9/2/10
• Cory Doctorow, Doctorow's First Law, Pub;ishers' Weekly 8/2/10
• Matthew Lasar, Thomas Edison's plot to hijack the movie industry, Ars Technica 9/2/10
• Dionne Searcy, New Breed of Patent Claim Bedevils Product Makers, Wall Street Journal 9/1/10
• Charlie Sorrel, Nike Patents Marty McFly’s Self-Lacing Sneaker, WIRED Gadget Lab 8/22/10
• David Kravets, Facebook Lawsuit Throws the -book at Social Networking Site for Teachers, WIRED 8/24/10 (You can find Teachbook.com here)
• Declan McCullagh, RIAA: U.S. copyright law 'isn't working', c|net News.com 8/23/10
• Steven Musil, Apple applies for patent to kill jailbroken devices, c|Net News.com 8/22/10
• Emily Wax, 'Yoga wars' spoil spirit of ancient practice, Indian agency says, Washington Post 8/23/10
• Karen Robinson-Jacobs, Frito-Lay plays tough cookie in court over Grandma's brand, Dallas Morning News 8/19/10
• Matthew Humphries, Blizzard wins $88 million from Scapegaming over illegal WoW servers, Geek.com 8/17/10
• David Kravets, Newspaper Chain’s New Business Plan: Copyright Suits. WIRED News 7/22/10