Course:Legal Constraints on Digital Creativity/Course Notes/04. Business of IP
TRADEMARKS, PATENTS & the IP BUSINESS
A. RIDICULOUS IP CLAIMS:
Which only serves to prove the issues we really have with IP in the digital age, and the need to reconstitute.
- A most sobering reminder of an IP claim that could have been made, but thankfully was not: “What If Tim Berners-Lee Had Patented The Web?” -
- “Facebook asserts trademark on word “book” in new user agreement”
- http://arst.ch/t11
- “Faceporn wins battle against Facebook, a victory for all company names starting with “face””
- http://t.co/OK8sMV15
- Canada Post Claims Copyright Over Postal Codes, Meets Resistance
- Teller of Penn & Teller Breaks Silence To Sue for # Copyright Infringement Over Magic Trick
- The problem with curating games: “Why Preserving Video Games is Illegal”
- Techdirt: Men At Work Musician Found Dead; Ridiculous Copyright Ruling Against Band Blamed:
- 2 Lawyers Sue Over Use of Legal Papers by West and Lexis:
- Playmobil Is Upset That Its Pirate Figures Have Been Used To Illustrate The Pirate Party
- dlvr.it/1SdhgH
- Exhibit umpteen in the case for just how f’ed up copyright law is: James Joyce’s manuscripts:
- “Joyce collection published free on web” – The Irish Times – Thu, Apr 12, 2012
- http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0412/1224314641103.html
- “The library’s move comes in response to the publication by scholar Danis Rose of all the manuscripts, in editions priced between €75 and €250. Mr Rose has also claimed he is now the copyright holder in the EU of these manuscripts.”
- @THREsq: Hell’s Angels Sue MTV for Allegedly Stealing Membership Insignia http://t.co/10gbbfBz
- “We mean business, baby: Beyoncé and Jay-Z ‘trademark Blue Ivy’s name” | See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2099016/Beyonc-Jay-Z-trademark-Blue-Ivys-name.html#ixzz1uRJek0Gq
- “Furious judge decries “blizzard” of copyright troll lawsuits”
- @THREsq: “CBS Sues ABC Over ‘Big Brother’-Type Reality Show ‘Glass House‘” | http://t.co/wgvYfhMA &,
- “ABC Fires Back at CBS Lawsuit Over ‘Big Brother’-Type Reality Show” – Hollywood Reporter
- http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/big-brother-lawsuit-glass-house-abc-328920?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
- “Columbia Pictures Wins ‘Social Network’ Lawsuit Over Zuckerberg Classmate” - Hollywood Reporter
- A Massachusetts Judge has dismissed a lawsuit from Aaron Greenspan, one of Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard classmates who claimed damages because author Ben Mezrich changed his name in The Accidental Billionaires and Columbia Pictures omitted any reference to him in the film The Social Network. Greenspan alleged a tort “defamation by omission”, claiming that by being left out of the movie, the suggestion was that Greenspan was not relevant to the origin of Facebook. The Court found that even assuming Greenspan’s theories were plausible, it is not reasonable to infer he would be held up to scorn, hatred, ridicule or contempt as a result of not being mentioned: “Essentially, Greenspan contends that the harm resulting from the omissions was that he was robbed of his proper recognition for his role in the origins of Facebook; that is not a claim of defamation.”
- http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/columbia-social-network-lawsuit-mark-zuckerberg-323950
- @suffolkmedialaw: RT @HarvardLaw74: Court Finds Bloomberg’s Full Printing of Swatch Analyst Conference Call is Fair Use (where Swatch warned not to tape the call) | Chicago Tribune
- The Beastie Boys Lawsuit: An Existential Question About Intellectual Property « Freakonomics
- http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/05/10/the-beastie-boys-lawsuit-an-existential-question-about-intellectual-property/
- “The day before Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s untimely death from cancer, a lawsuit was filed in New York accusing him and his bandmates of illegal sampling. What’s unusual about this case is that the samples in question supposedly appeared on the 1989 album Paul’s Boutique. An obvious question is why almost 25 years went by before anyone decided to sue.
- The reason? The alleged samples can’t actually be heard by the ordinary listener. Which raises a kind of existential question about intellectual property. If no one can tell that something is copied, is it still illegal to copy it? And if so, why?”
- “Lindt Can’t Seek Trademark on Chocolate Bunnies, EU Court Says”- Bloomberg
- “Real estate photos: widespread copyright concerns” – AGBeat
- @techdirt: ‘Is Photographing A Meal ‘Taking Intellectual Property Away’ From A Chef?” http://t.co/rbGC6cEa
- “Canada Approves New Music Tariffs; Weddings Cost Double If You Dance”
- http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120604/08395219198/canada-approves-new-music-tariffs-weddings-cost-double-if-you-dance.shtml?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
- “For weddings, receptions, conventions, assemblies and fashion shows, the fee is $9.25 per day if fewer than 100 people are present and goes up to $39.33 for crowds of more than 500 people. If there’s dancing, the fees double.”
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/01/music-tariff-recorded-copyright-board.html
- “South Park’ Wins Appeals Court Ruling in ‘What What (In the Butt)’ Dispute” – The Hollywood Reporter
- “The episode is clearly a parody of the original ‘WWITB’ video, providing commentary on the ridiculousness of the original video and the viral nature of certain YouTube videos,” the 7th Circuit rules.
- “In 2008, South Park aired an episode called “Canada on Strike,” which satirized the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, viral videos and the difficulty of monetizing Internet fame. In the episode, the South Park characters create their version of “What What (In the Butt)” to accrue enough “Internet money” to buy off the striking Canadians, an episode that ironically led to the owners of a real-life Samwell video seeking their own compensation in a courtroom.
- A federal judge ruled that South Park’s producers made “transformative” use of the video by accomplishing “the seemingly impossible – making the ‘WWITB’ video even more absurd by replacing the African-American male singer with a naive and innocent 9-year-old boy dressed in adorable outfits.”
- http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/south-park-wins-appeals-court-what-what-butt-334786?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
- “10 Terrible Tech Laws That Have You in Their Bull’s-Eye: Think what Congress and state legislatures do is boring? Read on to see what Internet and/or privacy rights you might lose if some of this misguided legislation passes.” – Christina DesMarais, PCWorld; June 10, 2012