October, 2023

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9 Spooky Copyright Stories for Halloween

Plagiarism Today

It's Halloween, so let's take a look at 9 copyright stories that show how intellectual property has shaped the spookiest holiday. The post 9 Spooky Copyright Stories for Halloween appeared first on Plagiarism Today.

Copyright 325
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Copyright Developments in Taiwan: Fighting Piracy and Coming to Grips with AI

Hugh Stephens Blog

Image: Shutterstock I had the opportunity to visit Taiwan in August, where I once (in the last century) served as Director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, aka the Canadian Representative to Taiwan. (The word “Ambassador” cannot and shall not be used for obvious diplomatic reasons).

Copyright 298
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Russia Blocks 167 VPNs, Steps Up OpenVPN & WireGuard Disruption

TorrentFreak

Late March 2023, Russia augmented its long-burning VPN crackdown with a series of PSAs claiming that using a VPN for security is actually much worse than not using a VPN at all. One of the ads warned that VPNs somehow obtain users’ passport details, plus their names, addresses, and dates of birth. Another suggested that since VPNs in Russia know everything about their users, spouses might learn about secret affairs, a high price for accessing a social network blocked in Russia, the PSA add

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Sisvel International S.A. v. Sierra Wireless, Inc., No. 2022-1387, 2022-1492 (Fed. Cir. Sept 1, 2023)

Intellectual Property Law Blog

This case addresses the validity of two patents asserted against wireless communications technologies. In particular, this case discusses claim construction and post-issuance claim amendments that broaden the scope of challenged claims. Background Sierra Wireless, along with several other defendants, filed petitions seeking inter partes review of U.S.

Art 162
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Software Composition Analysis: The New Armor for Your Cybersecurity

Speaker: Blackberry, OSS Consultants, & Revenera

Software is complex, which makes threats to the software supply chain more real every day. 64% of organizations have been impacted by a software supply chain attack and 60% of data breaches are due to unpatched software vulnerabilities. In the U.S. alone, cyber losses totaled $10.3 billion in 2022. All of these stats beg the question, “Do you know what’s in your software?

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Trademark lessons from The Bear

Erik K Pelton

What can the stories of Carmy and the crew in the hit television show THE BEAR teach us about trademarks? More than you think, as Erik explains in this video. The post Trademark lessons from The Bear appeared first on Erik M Pelton & Associates, PLLC. What can the stories of Carmy and the crew in the hit television show THE BEAR teach us about trademarks?

Trademark 162
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The Broadcasters’ Online News Act Submission: Demanding An Even Bigger Piece of the Bill C-18 Pie for Bell, Rogers and the CBC

Michael Geist

The government has yet to release its final regulations for the Online News Act , but recent comments from News Media Canada seemed to suggest that it is hoping to find common ground with Google , stating that it supports the company’s proposed amendments to Bill C-18 draft regulations. While that may be a long shot – I posted that Google’s call for legislative changes signals that it has arrived at the conclusion that regulations alone cannot fix the foundational flaws in the law –

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Canada Gets the Memo: It’s Time to Come to Grips with the AI/Copyright Conundrum

Hugh Stephens Blog

Warning: this blog post has a long opening sentence, so take a deep breath.

Copyright 182
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Popular “AI Hub” Discord Taken Down Following Copyright Complaints

TorrentFreak

Artificial intelligence is booming. Dozens of companies are enthusiastic about its potential and many regular people are tinkering with it too. The ‘AI Hub’ Discord server was the place to be for true AI enthusiasts. In just a matter of months, it grew from zero to a thriving community of more than 500,000 members. Through the server, people shared the latest tips and tricks, new developments, but also complete models.

Copyright 145
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SNIPR Tech. Ltd. v. Rockefeller Univ., No. 22-1260 (Fed. Cir. July 14, 2023)

Intellectual Property Law Blog

This case addresses certain implications of the Laehy-Smith America Invests Act (AIA), namely whether patents with a filing date after March 16, 2013 (pure AIA patents) may be part of an interference proceeding under pre-AIA, 35 U.S.C. § 135, and specifically whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) has the authority to cancel SNIPR’s pure AIA claims through an interference for lack of invention priority under pre-AIA § 102(g).

Invention 162
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Generative AI and Copyright – Some Recent Denials and Unanswered Questions

JD Supra Law

The growth of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and generative AI is moving copyright law into unprecedented territory. While US copyright law continues to develop around AI, one boundary has been set: the bedrock requirement of copyright is human authorship. Given this, it is clear in the US, AI alone cannot be an author. This bedrock principle was reinforced in two recent copyright decisions.

Copyright 142
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IPO Diversity in Innovation Toolkit

Women and diverse employees have the technical skill and knowledge, yet their contributions are not patented at the same rate as those of their male counterparts.This toolkit can help organizations move the needle on achieving gender parity in innovation.

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Limiting Public Participation: Why No One Should Be Surprised at the CRTC’s Internet Services Registration Requirement Ruling

Michael Geist

The CRTC’s decision to require registration for a wide range of Internet sites and services that meet a $10 million revenue threshold, including podcasters, adult sites, and news sites, appears to have taken many Canadians by surprise. For anyone who closely followed Bill C-11, this was entirely expected given that the bill adopts an approach in which all audio and video content anywhere in the world is subject to Canada’s Broadcasting Act.

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Copyright and The Bizarre World of Obituary Piracy

Plagiarism Today

Obituary piracy sites have long been a thing, but now YouTube channels are getting on the act. What is obituary piracy, and how can stop it? The post Copyright and The Bizarre World of Obituary Piracy appeared first on Plagiarism Today.

Copyright 312
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Are Canadians Born Pirates?

Hugh Stephens Blog

Credit: Pixabay.com This is the question that Peter Grant chose to highlight when reviewing my book, In Defence of Copyright (see below). It is a question rooted in both our history and current practices. Sometimes when I look at the efforts of creators and rights-holders in Canada to protect, manage and exploit their works, I … Continue reading "Are Canadians Born Pirates?

Copyright 162
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Anna’s Archive Scraped WorldCat to Help Preserve ‘All’ Books in the World

TorrentFreak

A few years ago, book piracy was considered a fringe activity that rarely made the news, but times have changed. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice targeted popular shadow library Z-Library, accusing it of mass copyright infringement. Two of the site’s alleged operators were arrested and their prosecution is still pending. In recent months, shadow libraries have also been named in other lawsuits.

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In Re: Cellect, LLC No. 2022-1293 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 28, 2023)

Intellectual Property Law Blog

This case addresses how Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) interacts with obviousness-type double patenting (ODP). Background Cellect sued Samsung Electronics, Co. for infringement of four patents. Subsequently, Samsung requested four ex parte reexaminations asserting that the patents were unpatentable based on ODP, which was not raised by the examiner during prosecution.

Designs 147
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Geoblocking of videogames and competition law: General Court confirms that Steam and videogame publishers breached Article 101 TFEU

The IPKat

IPKat-approved game on Steam For those interested in the interplay between IP rights's territorial character and free competition, the judgment issued by the General Court (GC) in Valve Corporation , T-172/21 earlier this week is a must-read. Not only did the Court tackle the vexed issue of the applicability of Article 101 TFEU in the copyright context, but also touched upon the relevance and treatment, under the latter, of technological protection measures (TPMs) and the doctrine of exhaustion.

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Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s Internet Regulation Misinformation Problem

Michael Geist

The temperature over the government’s Internet legislation has increased this week as many Canadians wake up to the consequences of Bills C-11 and C-18. CRTC regulations on mandated registration requirements arising from the Online Streaming Act and the possibility that Google will follow Meta’s lead and remove news links for search results in Canada due to the Online News Act have placed the spotlight on harmful effects of the government’s approach.

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SCOTUS to Test the Limit of Copyright Liability

Plagiarism Today

The Supreme Court has taken up a case that will determine how far back copyright damages can go. Here's why the case is important to watch. The post SCOTUS to Test the Limit of Copyright Liability appeared first on Plagiarism Today.

Copyright 306
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Cold Open: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Authorship in Film and Television Writing

IP Watchdog

Last week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) reached a tentative three-year deal to resolve a writer’s strike following a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The deal was reached on September 27, 2023, after a 148-day strike, which was the second-longest in the union’s history. According to USA Today, the WGA’s leadership board has lifted the restraining order barring writers from returning to work, and its members will vote to officially ratify t

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Shopify Files Lawsuit over Illegal DMCA Takedown Abuse

TorrentFreak

The DMCA takedown process gives copyright holders the option to remove infringing content from the web. It’s a powerful, widely-used tool that takes millions of URLs and links offline every day. This often happens for a good reason, but some takedown efforts are questionable. Takedown Abuse Shopify was targeted by a series of problematic DMCA requests earlier this month.

Copyright 142
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United Cannabis Corporation v. Pure Hemp Collective Inc.

Intellectual Property Law Blog

This case addresses whether attorney’s fees are warranted due to an inequitable conduct and conflict of interest defense. Background UCANN filed suit in the District of Colorado in July 2018, accusing Pure Hemp of infringing the ’911 patent, entitled “ Cannabis Extracts and Methods of Preparing and Using the Same.” The parties stipulated to the dismissal of this case in 2021.

Art 147
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Generative AI: the US class action against Google Bard (and other AI tools) for web scraping

Kluwer Copyright Blog

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay The US class action against Google Bard ( J.L. v. Alphabet Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-03440 ) In a recent post we analysed a class action filed in the US against Open AI for unauthorized use of copyright works for training of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT ( here ) (“Generative AI” or “Gen AI”).

Fair Use 137
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What the CRTC’s New Registration Requirements Mean for Regulating Everything from Online News Services to Podcast Providers

Michael Geist

The CRTC last week released the first two of what is likely to become at least a dozen decisions involving the Online Streaming Act (aka Bill C-11). The decision, which attracted considerable commentary over the weekend, involves mandatory registration rules for audio and visual services that include far more than the large streaming services. The Commission says the registrations would give it “ de minimis information about online undertakings and their activities in Canada, which would give th

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Study Highlights AI Systems Printing Copyrighted Work Verbatim

Plagiarism Today

A new study claims that AI systems can trivially reproduce hundreds of words from copyrighted works. Here's what it means. The post Study Highlights AI Systems Printing Copyrighted Work Verbatim appeared first on Plagiarism Today.

Copyright 299
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What the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act Means for Artificial Intelligence Inventions

IP Watchdog

PERA is no doubt an ambitious bill. In terms of its design, the proposed legislation attempts to deal with each of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Alice, Mayo and Myriad, plus all of their progeny applications thereafter engendered by the Federal Circuit, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), all the way down to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examining corp.

Invention 137
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Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) Effectively Defeats Pirate Site Blocking

TorrentFreak

Website blocking has become the go-to anti-piracy measure for the entertainment industries when tackling pirate sites on the internet. The practice has been around for well over 15 years and has gradually expanded to more than forty countries around the world. The actual blocking is done by Internet providers, often following a court order. These measures can range from simple DNS blocks to more elaborate schemes involving Server Name Indication (SNI) eavesdropping, or a combination of both.

Privacy 137
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Trinity Info Media, LLC, fka Trinity Intel Media, LLC, v. Covalent, Inc., No. 2022-1308 (Fed. Cir. July 14, 2023) (“Opinion”)

Intellectual Property Law Blog

This case addresses whether patents relating to methods and systems for connecting users based on their answers to polling questions claim patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Background Trinity sued Covalent for patent infringement of U.S. Patent 9,087,321 (“the ’321 patent”) and U.S. Patent 10,936,685 (“the ’685 patent”) (collectively, “the challenged patents”).

Invention 147
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5-year imprisonment for trade mark infringement disproportionate and contrary to EU law, says CJEU

The IPKat

This week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a preliminary ruling on enforcement of IP rights ( case C-655/21 ). In its request to the CJEU, the referring Bulgarian court had asked whether Bulgarian criminal penalties for trade mark infringement comply with Directive 2004/48/EC and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Charter).

Law 133
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Canada Plans to Regulate Search and Social Media Use of Artificial Intelligence for Content Moderation and Discoverability

Michael Geist

The Canadian government plans to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in search results and when used to prioritize the display of content on search engines and social media services. AI is widely used by both search and social media for a range of purpose that do not involve ChatGPT-style generative AI. For example, Google has identified multiple ways that it uses AI to generate search results, provide translation, and other features, while TikTok uses AI to identify the interests of its

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Professor Blames Ghostwriter for Review Plagiarism

Plagiarism Today

A French professor is accused of plagiarism in a journal review article. However, he's blaming his ghostwriter for the issue. The post Professor Blames Ghostwriter for Review Plagiarism appeared first on Plagiarism Today.

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In a SAD Scheme Case, Court Rejects Injunction Over “Emoji” Trademark

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

This is a SAD Scheme case from one of my least-favorite rightsowners, Emojico. (I wrote an expert declaration about them in 2021). Emojico has trademark registrations in the word “emoji” for a ridiculously broad range of product categories–from (I’m not making this up) ship hulls to penis enlargers–and it then licenses the word to product manufacturers and defendants ensnared in its enforcement net.

Trademark 133
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Some Pirate Sites Received More Visitors After Being Blocked

TorrentFreak

In recent years, website blocking has become one of the most widely-used anti-piracy enforcement mechanisms in the world. ISPs in several dozen countries prevent subscribers from accessing a variety of ‘pirate’ sites. While new blocks are added every month, research on the effectiveness of these efforts is rather limited. Piracy Blocking Research One of the earliest pieces of academic research, based on UK data, showed that the local Pirate Bay blockade had little effect on legal consumption.

Reporting 133
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Generative AI and Copyright – Some Recent Denials and Unanswered Questions

Intellectual Property Law Blog

The growth of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and generative AI is moving copyright law into unprecedented territory. While US copyright law continues to develop around AI, one boundary has been set: the bedrock requirement of copyright is human authorship. Given this, it is clear in the US, AI alone cannot be an author. This bedrock principle was reinforced in two recent copyright decisions.

Copyright 147
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Generative AI, Digital Constitutionalism and Copyright: Towards a Statutory Remuneration Right grounded in Fundamental Rights – Part 2

Kluwer Copyright Blog

Image from DALL-E 3 Part 1 of this post introduced the challenges for copyright associated with generative IP and the legislative developments in this field. This part 2 explores the idea of introducing a statutory license for machine learning purposes for generative AI as a compromise solution to secure a vibrant environment for AI development while preserving the central role played by human creators.

Copyright 131
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“A Lack of Commitment to Transparency and a Failure of Leadership”: Melanie Joly and Global Affairs Ignore Information Commissioner Ruling in My Request for Decades-Old Copyright Records

Michael Geist

In 2017, I filed an access to information request with Global Affairs Canada seeking records related to the creation of the WIPO Internet Treaties more than 20 years earlier. The timing of the request was not accidental. The exception for cabinet confidences in the Access to Information Act no longer applies after 20 years and my hope was to gain insights into the government’s thinking during the negotiation process that might have previously been publicly unavailable.

Copyright 142