Sat.Dec 11, 2021 - Fri.Dec 17, 2021

article thumbnail

We Need to Rethink YouTube

Plagiarism Today

The stories have become incredibly common. Last week, it was YouTuber Mark Fitzpatrick, better known as Totally Not Mark, who faced some 150 copyright claims on his channel from Toei Animation. Fitzpatrick, a prolific reviewer of anime, had gone from running a successful channel reviewing anime to, according to his video, finding himself without revenue and facing the loss of three years of his work.

article thumbnail

How Can News Publishers Best Protect Their Content? The US Copyright Office Explores Options

Hugh Stephens Blog

This past October, the US Copyright Office (USCO) announced it would be undertaking “a public study to evaluate the effectiveness of current copyright protections for publishers in the United States, with a focus on press publishers.” The study, announced in the Federal Register, included a request for written submissions along with inviting stakeholders to participate … Continue reading "How Can News Publishers Best Protect Their Content?

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Trademark protection is a brand’s best friend

Erik K Pelton

Dogs might be man’s best friend, but trademark protection is a brand’s best friend. Here are some fun canine themed trademarks we’ve helped protect: The post Trademark protection is a brand’s best friend appeared first on Erik M Pelton & Associates, PLLC.

Trademark 147
article thumbnail

Twitch Users Can Now ‘Stream’ Movies & TV Shows Without Fear of DMCA Strikes

TorrentFreak

The idea that regular internet users could find themselves regularly concerned at the thought of being targeted by a copyright complaint would’ve been dismissed as scare tactics just a few short years ago. But. In 2021, the reality is all too clear. With the rise of social media platforms and user-generated content sites, the lowliest of netizens can find themselves tripping over copyright law and with the potential to lose valuable accounts, it’s something to take seriously.

article thumbnail

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?

article thumbnail

3 Count: Keep Shaking

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Can’t Shake This: Taylor Swift to Face Copyright Lawsuit. First off today, Reuters reports that a lawsuit accusing Taylor Swift of copyright infringement in her 2014 hit single Shake it Off has been allowed to move ahead, setting the stage for a possible trial. The lawsuit pits Swift against songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler.

article thumbnail

Airbnb Uses Section 230 to Defeat a Personal Injury Claim–Smith v. Airbnb

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

I was a little surprised by this ruling. The Ninth Circuit’s HomeAway ruling seemingly eliminated Section 230 for any transactions that Airbnb booked, at least in the Ninth Circuit. Yet, this court finds that Section 230 fully protects Airbnb…amazingly without a single citation to HomeAway. The plaintiff in this case suffered personal injuries after using the hot tub at an Airbnb rental (the “Old Barn”) hosted by Dennis.

Blogging 142

More Trending

article thumbnail

‘Copyright Troll’ Must Pay $60k Extra to Compensate Wrongfully Accused ‘Pirate’

TorrentFreak

In recent years, adult entertainment outfit Malibu Media has often been described as a copyright-trolling operation. The company, known for its popular “X-Art” brand, has gone after thousands of alleged file-sharers in U.S. courts, collecting millions of dollars in settlements. Accused Pirate Fight Back. Most accused pirates don’t put up a fight, but occasionally one does.

Copyright 144
article thumbnail

3 Count: Hiding the Ball

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: YouTube Says Creators are ‘Hiding the Ball’ With Copyright Claims. First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that YouTube is accusing plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit of “hiding the ball” by failing to make event a single alleged infringement in their complaint.

Copyright 170
article thumbnail

Armslist Loses Two Section 230 Rulings, But Still Defeats Both Lawsuits

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Armslist has become a critical player for Section 230 jurisprudence in Wisconsin. It’s not going well for Armslist or Section 230. Due to the Seventh Circuit’s troubled Section 230 jurisprudence, two federal district judges in Wisconsin ruled that Armslist didn’t qualify for Section 230–even though the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

article thumbnail

[Opinion] Can an AI system be an inventor ?

The IPKat

The AmeriKat braces for the take over of the machines.or more likely not. There has been much headline ink spilled on the question of AI-inventorship in the IP press and beyond. Kat friends Professor Kelvin FK Low ( National University of Singapore ), Professor Wai Yee Wan ( City University of Hong Kong ) and Associate Professor Ying-Chieh Wu (Seoul National University) examine the recent Australian and UK cases and critical analyzes the arguments on both sides in an attempt to answer that quest

Inventor 134
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Sites With >100 Links to Pirated Content Will Be Banned From Search Engines

TorrentFreak

Despite receving criticism from international rightsholders, Russia’s efforts to prevent pirated content being accessed locally match and at times even exceed standards applied elsewhere. The country blocks pirate sites, sometimes permanently, and has a rightsholder-driven mechanism to automatically remove links to allegedly-infringing content from search engines.

article thumbnail

Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: what next for the UK?

JD Supra Law

There is still time to provide input to the UKIPO on copyright protection of computer-generated works, copyright exceptions for text and data mining and AI inventorship of patents as the government bids to make Britain a global AI superpower within the next ten years.

article thumbnail

The Year in Copyright: From Google v. Oracle to the Takings Clause

IP Watchdog

One of the greatest attributes of copyright law is the never-ending abundance of exciting new developments, including those in Congress, the courts, and at the Copyright Office. On the surface, copyright seems straightforward in that it advances the public good by securing property rights to authors. But underneath this simple veneer lies centuries of debate about how best to balance the rights of authors with the public interest, where each distinct issue presents a veritable rabbit hole of met

Copyright 130
article thumbnail

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 112: Aaron Perzanowski on the Right to Repair

Michael Geist

The right to repair, whether consumer electronics, farm machinery or even health and medical equipment, is an issue that affects everyone. Given the implications for consumer and property rights, the sustainability of the agricultural sector, and protecting the environment, ensuring a right to repair would seem like an obvious political winner. Yet the issue has lagged, not the least of which because of restrictive copyright laws that can limit the ability to repair personal property.

Law 129
article thumbnail

Major Manga Publishers Try to Identify Operators of Massive Pirate Sites

TorrentFreak

As we have reported on many occasions in recent years, the lowly DMCA subpoena can be a powerful tool to discover the identities of those running pirate sites. Cheap to file in court and rarely given much scrutiny, DMCA subpoenas are regularly served on third-party service providers such as Cloudflare and domain registries, requiring them to hand over customer data.

article thumbnail

A 512(f) Plaintiff Wins at Trial! ??–Alper Automotive v. Day to Day Imports

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Background. A refresher: in 1998, Congress created a notice-and-takedown scheme for user-submitted items that allegedly infringe copyright. Copyright owners send takedown notices, and service providers either remove the items or lose the safe harbor. Congress recognized how much power it was giving copyright owners in this scheme, so it tried to curb takedown notice abuse in a few ways.

article thumbnail

USPTO Imposes Sanctions on Flagrant Fraudulent Filer

IP Watchdog

On Friday, December 10, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a “Show Cause Order” imposing sanctions against Huanyee Intellectual Property Co., Ltd. and its Executive Director, Yusha Zhang, for violations of the USPTO’s trademark rules of practice relating to improper trademark submissions. The 198-page Order, comprised mostly of an exhibit listing all of the company’s trademark filings, indicates that the Respondents named in the Order “have filed more than 15,000 tradem

article thumbnail

Qatent – AI Generated Applications

Patently-O

I love this project that has the AI tech develop a detailed 20-30 page specification based upon a few claims and short description. [link]. I expect that most folks won’t be satisfied, but in many cases it might be sufficient. And, if the technology is sufficiently mainstream, it suggests that the patent document actually needs less disclosure.

article thumbnail

Faulty DMCA Takedown Notice Makes American TV Network Unfindable in Google

TorrentFreak

Regular readers will be familiar with the cloud storage platform Mega, but Mega.tv might not ring a bell right away. Mega.tv is a relatively small free-to-air TV station with headquarters in Miami and Puerto Rico. The company is owned by Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) and is available in several U.S. states. Mega.tv Disappeared. Trying to find information about the TV network through Google can be confusing as Mega TV shares its name with a Greek TV network.

Copyright 138
article thumbnail

An Ounce of Prevention: Preparing for Your Pre-Seed Financing Round

JD Supra Law

Benjamin Franklin famously cautioned that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Although Franklin was warning the people of Philadelphia that preventing a fire is better than fighting one, the same admonition holds true when seeking financing at any stage of your company’s life cycle.

123
123
article thumbnail

What You Need to Know About Trade Secrets in 2021

IP Watchdog

Last year at this time we thought we had been through the worst of it and, with the new vaccines arriving, that life would return to normal in 2021. Hahaha, how naïve we were! But take heart; some things hold steady through the storm, such as the popular sport of trade secret litigation. Unlike most patent and copyright cases, every dispute is guaranteed to unfold as a morality play—a story of good guys and bad guys.

article thumbnail

T-254/20: who owns the Soviet brands?

The IPKat

In October 2021, the General Court (GC) issued the ruling in T-254/20 , Roshen v EUIPO, which drew the attention of this Ukrainian Kat. Louis-Michel enjoys researching Soviet brands The dispute arose when “ Krasny Oktyabr ”, a Russian confectionary company, registered an EU trade mark (EUTM) in Class 30 for a figurative sign representing a lobster. In the Soviet Union (which included Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia after 1940), “Rakovye Shejki” (“red lobsters necks”) were cheap and popular candies

Branding 122
article thumbnail

Hosting Company Defeats Filmmakers’ “VPN Piracy” Lawsuit in Court

TorrentFreak

A group of independent film companies has taken the piracy liability issue to a new level this year. After targeting site operators and individual pirates, the makers of films such as “London Has Fallen”, “Outpost” and “Dallas Buyers Club” started going after VPN providers. They didn’t stop there either. Over the past few months, several hosting companies have been sued as well.

article thumbnail

End Of An Era: USPTO Proposes To Phase Out Hard Copy Patent And Trademark Certificates

JD Supra Law

As part of its plan to modernize the U.S. intellectual property registration system, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plans to stop issuing patent and trademark certificates in hard copy format.

Copying 115
article thumbnail

Trademarks in 2021: Recounting the Most High-Profile Trademark Developments of the Year

IP Watchdog

The past year has seen the implementation of brand-new trademark legislation, significant analysis of trademark liability for new technologies, renewed focus on the doctrine of initial interest confusion, the transformation of Nikes into “Satan Shoes,” the functionality of chocolate dipped cookies, and the end to a long-running case involving two multi-million dollar jury awards for willful infringement.

Trademark 124
article thumbnail

Around the IP Blogs

The IPKat

Another week, another review of the latest news from the surrounding IP blogs! TRADE MARKS The China National Intellectual Administration (CNIPA) recently published the new guidelines for trade mark examination procedures. The new guidelines cover topics such as formality examination and procedures for trade mark applications, oppositions, declarations of invalidity, cancellations, classification of goods and services, examination of applications for change of trade mark ownership, trade mark re

Blogging 113
article thumbnail

“The Witcher” Season 2 Premiere Leaks Early on Pirate Sites

TorrentFreak

The Witcher is one of Netflix’s undisputed hit series. The first season, which came out at the end of 2019, was viewed by over 76 million people within a month. That was a record-breaking number at the time. The series quickly amassed a loyal following eagerly awaiting the second season, a wait that lasted almost two years. This Friday is the big day as all eight episodes of the new season will appear on Netflix.

Copying 132
article thumbnail

The Controversial Tiffany Blue

IPilogue

Photo by Tommao Wang (Unsplash). Ariel Goldberg is a third-year undergraduate student at York University. For most, Tiffany’s robin’s-egg blue box immediately represents luxury jewelry. However, British artist Stuart Semple considers Tiffany Blue as being held captive through trademark law. To #freeTiffany , Semple created 150 ml tubes of matte acrylic paint named Tiff which replicates Tiffany & Co’s signature hue.

Trademark 111
article thumbnail

Warhol Foundation Tells SCOTUS Second Circuit’s Fair Use Ruling ‘Threatens a Sea-Change’ in Copyright Law

IP Watchdog

The Andy Warhol Foundation has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to review a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit holding that Andy Warhol’s Prince Series did not constitute fair use of Lynn Goldsmith’s photograph. The Second Circuit held in March that “the district court erred in its assessment and application of the fair-use factors and the works in question do not qualify as fair use.

Fair Use 124
article thumbnail

New York Court Is the Wrong Venue for UK GDPR Class Action–Finch v. Xandr

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Maybe I’ve missed other cases in this genre, but I don’t recall seeing them. Xandr self-describes as “the only open, end-to-end platform for scaled, sophisticated campaigns on premium inventory across screens on premium inventory from CTV to data-driven linear and much more.” “Xandr is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, Inc.

article thumbnail

Reddit Bans ‘No Way Home Leaks’ For Excessive Copyright Complaints

TorrentFreak

When it is released this Friday in the United States, the much anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home is almost guaranteed to become one of the highest grossing movies in recent years. To some, however, its many secrets will already be known. Since July this year, a dedicated discussion forum on Reddit called /r/NoWayHomeLeaks has been a hive of activity, with thousands of fans speculating on every tiny piece of available information that might give an early clue to what the movie has in store.

Copyright 129
article thumbnail

Miramax Files Lawsuit Against Quentin Tarantino For Sale Of Pulp Fiction NFTs

IPilogue

M. Imtiaz Karamat is an IP Osgoode Alumnus and Associate Lawyer at Deeth Williams Wall LLP. This article was originally posted on E-TIPS For Deeth Williams Wall LLP on December 8, 2021. On November 16, 2021, Miramax filed a lawsuit against Quentin Tarantino for his planned auction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on his original hand-written script of the film Pulp Fiction.

article thumbnail

As Policymakers Say They Want to Rein in Big Tech, Others Seek to Give It Even More Power

IP Watchdog

Over the past several years, Congress has raised a long overdue microscope to Big Tech and its worst practices and as a result, the relationship between Washington, DC and Silicon Valley has changed tremendously. Rather than being feted by policymakers, Big Tech is now being forced to answer tough questions. Elected officials are now more aware of Big Tech’s reach and impact on our elections, security, and data collection – and they are not liking what they see.

Invention 122
article thumbnail

Yearbook Defendants Lose Two More Section 230 Rulings

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

2021 has seen the emergence of a litigation genre against “yearbook” database vendors that publish old yearbooks online. I’ve blogged three yearbook cases so far this year ( Callahan v. Ancestry , Knapke v. Classmates , and Sessa v. Ancestry ), and today I’ll blog two more. In the wake of the 2020 Lukis v. Whitepages decision , a more significant decision than I initially thought, the plaintiffs are making progress in the early rounds of their cases.

article thumbnail

This Year’s ‘Anti-Piracy Award’ Goes to the EU Intellectual Property Office

TorrentFreak

Every year, the entertainment industries celebrate their stars in various award ceremonies. From the Oscars, through the Grammys, to the Emmys, there’s no shortage of spotlights for the finest performers. There is even an award for the best anti-piracy achievements. While it’s not as established as the aforementioned accolades, the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) praises those who protect the entertainment industries with its annual “Anti-Piracy Awards” The group, which