Sat.May 14, 2022 - Fri.May 20, 2022

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Is it Dangerous to Use Free Stock Photo Websites?

Plagiarism Today

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and nothing in this post is intended to function as legal advice. If you have specific questions to your situation, please consult an attorney. On the internet, there are a variety of free stock photography websites (both royalty free and free of cost). They include Unsplash , Pixabay , Pexels and many, many more. However, for every site that offers free stock photography, there are dozens of articles saying why you shouldn’t use them.

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Court: Foreign Torrent Site Operator Can Be Sued in the US

TorrentFreak

In 2019, the makers of the superhero film “Hellboy” (HB Productions) filed a lawsuit against torrent site MKVCage at a Hawaii federal court. The movie company accused the site and its operator of promoting and distributing pirated copies of the movie, demanding to put an end to the activity. The lawsuit had an almost immediate effect as MKVCage became unreachable soon after the case went public.

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Is the Government Seeking to Short Circuit the Senate Review of Bill C-11?

Michael Geist

The review of the Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11) heads to committee next week as the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage plans to devote roughly 20 hours to hearing over the next two weeks. I have received an invitation and may appear as soon as next week. While the House of Commons committee study is just getting underway, the Senate has been debating the possibility of conducting a “pre-study” of the bill at its own committee.

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Quantum computing just might save the planet

McKinsey Operations

Exponentially more powerful machines could make possible major reductions in emissions, putting the goal of limiting global warming within reach.

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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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TikTok Announces New Video Citation Tools

Plagiarism Today

Yesterday, TikTok announced that it has launched new tools that it says will help creators better attribute original creators , including a tool that enables users to tag creators in the video’s caption, rather than just in the comments or description. . The idea is simple. TikTok users, when uploading a video, can tap the “Videos” button to give credit to another video on the site.

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U.S. Megaupload Judge Was Replaced Due to Disney Stake, Dotcom Says

TorrentFreak

More than ten years after the shutdown of Megaupload, there have been some major developments relating to the criminal prosecution recently. Two of the three remaining defendants, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, signed an agreement with authorities to be charged in New Zealand instead of the United States. Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom wasn’t offered such a deal and is still wanted for extradition by the US Department of Justice.

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Justin Bieber’s 10,000 hours next song to be sued for copyright infringement

IPilogue

Pankhuri Malik is an IPilogue Writer, IP Innovation Clinic Fellow, and an LLM Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Justin Bieber and Dan + Shay are next in a line of artists to face allegations of copyright infringement — after Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa. A group of plaintiffs sued the musicians in the United States District Court in California over their 2019 release “ 10,000 Hours ,” alleging that they “ stole the core portion ” of the 1973 song “ The First Time Baby is a Holiday ” (“ First Time

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Some Final Thoughts on the Jumi Bello Case

Plagiarism Today

Last week was, undoubtedly, the craziest week I’ve had in the history of this site. For those who missed it, author Jumi Bello published an essay with the goal of explaining why her upcoming book was cancelled for plagiarism. However, that essay contained parts that were plagiarized (albeit with heavy rewriting) from a 2011 post on this site. Even though the plagiarism was far from the most egregious, the meta nature of someone plagiarizing a plagiarism atonement essay and pulling from a site na

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Is it Illegal to Use Pirate Streaming Sites?

TorrentFreak

There are many options for people to enjoy movies and TV shows legally but millions still choose to pirate content instead. Up until a decade ago, this piracy landscape was dominated by torrent sites and direct download portals. Today, the vast majority of pirates use streaming sites. The entertainment industries have swiftly adapted to this shift. At the moment, most anti-piracy initiatives are streaming-related, spearheaded by the Alliance of Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).

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UK Intellectual Property Office publishes strategy and priorities

The IPKat

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published documents outlining its main activities and targets, setting out how it will deliver on its ‘ambitions’ and ‘corporate priorities’. These documents include a refreshed corporate strategy outlining its ambitions up to 2026, as well as its corporate priorities for t 2022 - 2023, outlining its first steps towards achieving these priorities.

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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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If TOS Formation Fails, Bad Legal Outcomes Are Likely to Follow–Doe v. Roblox

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

This case involves Roblox, a virtual world. Allegedly, a majority of Roblox users are under 13. Roblox has an in-game currency, Robux. Users can manufacture virtual items in-game, and other users can buy those items using Robux, with Roblox taking a cut of the transactions. As I read the opinion, if Roblox discovers a virtual user-made item violates its TOS, Roblox nukes the item…but apparently didn’t refund the buyers’ money, so buyers lost both their money and the item.

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3 Count: Hey Mickey!

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: How Toni Basil Got the Rights to ‘Mickey’ Back. First off today, Pamela Chelin at Variety reports that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a significant victory so singer Toni Basil, granting her sole copyright in her 1981 debut album, which included the hit song Mickey.

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PrimeStreams IPTV Targeted in Multi-Million Dollar Piracy Lawsuit

TorrentFreak

Most suppliers, sellers and resellers in the pirate IPTV space face an interesting conundrum. On one hand, being unsuccessful dramatically reduces the odds of legal trouble but isn’t conducive to getting rich. On the other, a good product coupled with brand awareness can lead to commercial success, at least until that profile attracts the wrong type of attention.

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CAFC Dismisses Appeal of PTAB Determination Because it Partially Involved Time-Bar

IP Watchdog

On May 13, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed Bennett Regulator Guards, Inc.’s (Bennett) challenge of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision to vacate the institution of an inter partes review (IPR), citing a lack of jurisdiction, since the PTAB’s decision was based in part on its reconsideration of whether the petitioner was time barred from petitioning for IPR under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b).

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The tech transformation imperative in retail

McKinsey Operations

Organizations face an urgent need to overhaul their tech architecture and operating model to keep pace with the changing landscape. Five concrete actions can accelerate the transformation journey.

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DeivanArt Expanding System for Detecting Copied Images

Plagiarism Today

DeviantArt has announced that it is expanding its DeviantArt Protect service , making it available to all artists, not just those that use DeviantArt to share their work. Dubbed DeviantArt Protect and Launched in July 2021 , the system was originally designed to help artists detect duplicates or near-duplicates of their images on the internet. The system would scan the internet for potential infringements, inform artists of any that are detected, and allow the artist to file takedown notices of

Copying 225
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Watch Tower’s DMCA Warfare Collapses After Big Guns Defend Apostate

TorrentFreak

After researching thousands of DMCA notices and reporting on hundreds of copyright lawsuits, more often than not it takes just a few seconds or minutes to broadly establish the purpose of any action. In most cases rightsholders want alleged infringement to stop and in some, they also seek compensation for their losses. When cases deviate from this format they tend to stick out.

Fair Use 131
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Nike’s Trademark Fight Against StockX Moves Offline

IP Watchdog

StockX, which describes its e-commerce resale platform as “[t]he current culture marketplace,” is primarily used by consumers to resell and buy sneakers, among other items. In January 2022, StockX announced its plans to launch The Vault, which uses non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to allow buyers to track ownership of physical products resold on its e-market and warrant their authenticity, including Nike shoes.

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My SCOTUS Amicus Brief on Texas HB20’s Unconstitutional Transparency Requirements

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved the existing injunction against Texas HB 20, the so-called social media censorship law, in a one-sentence order. The entire order says: “IT IS ORDERED that appellant’s opposed motion to stay preliminary injunction pending appeal is GRANTED.” This order shocked the world for several reasons.

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3 Count: Extra Element

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: GPL Legal Battle: Vizio Told by Judge it Will Have to Answer Breach-of-Contract Claims. First off today, Thomas Claburn at The Register reports that the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has won a key victory over Vizio as a judge has ruled that the open source GPL and LGPL licenses are not just copyright licenses, but contain an extra element covered by contract law rather than copyright law.

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Cloudflare: EU’s Piracy Watchlist Should Focus on Illegal Acts, Not Copyright Advocacy

TorrentFreak

Following the example set by United States, the EU started publishing its very own piracy watchlist in 2018. The biannual ‘Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List’ is put together by the European Commission. As in the US, it is based on submissions from copyright holder groups that report on problematic sites and services. Rightsholders are happy to contribute.

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Financial inclusion and sustainable, inclusive growth in action

McKinsey Operations

Access to financial services remains a significant barrier to prosperity for millions of Americans. How can businesses promote financial inclusion and support sustainable, inclusive growth more broadly?

Business 120
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Delhi High Court appoints an Academic Expert to aid the court in interpreting Section 52 (1) (za) of Copyright Act.

SpicyIP

Image from here. Some ten years ago, post Prof. Basheer’s intervention before the Supreme Court in the Novartis case, Prashant had commented “Academics in India are usually cloistered in their classrooms and conference rooms. I hope we have several more of such interventions, especially since we now have a breed of brilliant young academics in India”.

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3 Count: AI Challenges

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Watch Tower’s DMCA Warfare Collapses After Big Guns Defend Apostate. First off today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that the case of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society versus the pseudonymous critic Kevin McFree has come to an end as Watch Tower has abandoned their efforts to learn his identity.

Music 200
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CAFC Gives Google Second Shot at PTAB in Challenge of Communications Patents

IP Watchdog

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) today vacated and remanded three decisions of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that had found Google failed to prove the relevant claims of IPA Technologies, Inc.’s patents to be unpatentable. The CAFC found that the PTAB “failed to resolve fundamental testimonial conflicts in concluding that the relied-upon reference was not prior art.

Patent 119
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The net-zero transition in the wake of the war in Ukraine: A detour, a derailment, or a different path?

McKinsey Operations

The invasion of Ukraine will, at least initially, complicate the transition path to a net-zero economy, but this tragic development could still prove to be a turning point in accelerating progress in the medium run.

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Russian Cinemas Resort to Pirated Films to Stay Alive

IPilogue

Sally Yoon is an IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Russian theatres are turning to pirated films to stay alive during these trying times – and it may not be working. According to the New York Times , some theatres in Russia have resorted to screening pirated movies to offset the Hollywood sanctions while others are practicing more caution by renting out spaces to show the films to certain individuals, with or without a fee.

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3 Count: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Supreme Court Leaves in Place Circuit Split Regarding Approach for Assessing Substantial Similarity in Copyrighted Works. First off today, Massimo Capizza at the National Law Review reports that the Supreme Court of the United States has denied certiorari in a case over the 2003 Josh Groban song You Raise Me Up , leaving a circuit split in place over how to determine substantial similarity between two works.

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Patent Filings Roundup: Petitions on Key Dupe Patents Denied Under Fintiv; Taxidermy Patent Filings Stuffed

IP Watchdog

It was a slow week at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and a fast one in the district court, with 82 new patent complaints and 85 terminations, but just 18 patent filings at the PTAB. Those few filings were mostly a battery company challenging Maxell patents, a few bigger NPE cases, and Apple and Samsung filing against assertor Smart Mobile Technologies from the middle of last year.

Patent 119
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The Problem of Industry 4.0: Data! – Part 2

Christopher Roser

In my last post I started to look at the difficulties of handling data in Industry 4.0. I looked especially at the complexity and the often underestimated problem of merging data from different sources or machines. This second post of this two-post series finishes up this topic and will look at the also important and. Read more. The post The Problem of Industry 4.0: Data!

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The Secret’s Out: US Court dismisses Protégé Biomedical’s Trade Secret Lawsuit Again

IPilogue

Meena Alnajar is an IPilogue Senior Editor, IP Innovation Clinic Fellow, and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. It may be no secret that trade secrets contribute to a business’ economic value and confer a ‘competitive edge.’ However, when that secret is lost by insiders who had a duty of confidence, how can the law step in to help? On April 4, 2022 , biomedical company Protégé Biomedical LLC (“Protégé”) received no recourse or remedy for a revealed trade secret.

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Reddit-Born Torrent Tracker BaconBits Shuts Down

TorrentFreak

During the final stretches of the 2000s, a group of Reddit users decided that the community should have its own torrent tracker. The idea emerged during Christmas 2009 after some Redditors, in the spirit of ‘sharing’, posted pirated content on Dropbox and Amazon S3. When those services were swiftly targeted with takedown notices, a torrent-based solution was proposed.

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Hyatt Returns to SCOTUS with Request to Clarify Standard for Summary Judgment, APA Scope of Review Provisions

IP Watchdog

Gilbert Hyatt, an inventor who has been granted more than 70 patents and has filed more than 400 applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Justices to weigh in on his challenge of a policy he alleges the USPTO implemented in the 1990s to categorically deny him issuance of any additional patents.

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Trademarks and the Metaverse: Imaginary Rights or Real Wrongs?

SpicyIP

We’re pleased to bring to you this guest post by our former blogger Aparajita Lath. Aparajita is a lawyer based in Bangalore. She works in a law firm that advises technology companies. The views expressed in this post are personal. Her previous posts on the blog can be viewed here, here , here , here and here. Trademarks and the Metaverse: Imaginary Rights or Real Wrongs?

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Where’s the Beef: Patent Battle Over Artificial Meats

IPilogue

Andrew Masson is an IPilogue Writer and 2L JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The meat may be fake, but the beef is real between two artificial meat makers. The juggernaut artificial meat producer Impossible Foods is suing the start-up Motif FoodWorks for patent infringement. Impossible Foods claims that the heme technology used by Motif too closely imitates their artificial meat technologies.

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