Issues and developments related to Intellectual Property (e.g. Copyright, Fair Use, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets) and Open Movements (e.g. Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources (OER)), examined in the "Intellectual Property and Open Movements" and "Ethics of Data, Information, and Emerging Technologies" graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. -- Kip Currier, PhD, JD
"Footwear makers Crocs(CROX.O)and rival Joybees have filed competing claims against each other in U.S. court in Colorado, as the companies clash over corporate trade secrets, intellectual property and competition in the market for casual shoes.
Crocs sued Joybees in federal court on Thursday, expanding on a separate lawsuit that the Colorado-based company filed in 2021. The newcomplaint, accusing Joybees and its chief executive of unfair competition, came a day after Joybees filed claims in the same court against Crocs."
"Twitter is threatening legal action against Meta over its new text-based “Twitter killer” platform, accusing the social media giant of poaching former employees to create a “copycat” application.
On Wednesday, Instagram parent company Meta introduced Threads, a text-based companion to Instagram that resembles Twitter and other text-based social platforms. Just hours later, a lawyer for Twitter, Alex Spiro, senta letterto Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accusing the company of engaging in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Spiro wrote in a letter obtained exclusively by Semafor. “Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta.”
Spiro accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.”
"In a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet examining the intersection of AI and copyright law, key players in Hollywood moved for guardrails to protect their work. “The rapid introduction of generative AI systems is seen as an existential threat to the livelihood and continuance of our creative professions unless immediate steps are taken on legal interpretive and economic fronts to address these emerging issues,” said Ashley Irwin, president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL), at the hearing on May 17. “It’s essential to prioritize policies and regulations to safeguard the intellectual property and copyright of creators and preserve the diverse and dynamic U.S cultural landscape.”"
"Walsh andAlexandra George, a patent law scholar at the University of New South Wales,suggestedfuture-proofing the patent system by sorting AI-generated inventions into a category they named “AI-IP.” Patents under AI-IP would last for less time than traditional patents and possibly give a share to AI model developers or training data owners.
But, especially in a future where AI becomes ubiqutious, any categorization method likely runs against a question, one with no consensus answer: What, if anything, separates a human creation from an AI creation?"
"Facial recognition technology is used to unlock phones, unlock doors of luxury homes and lock up criminals. It’s so powerful and rife with the potential to be misused that regulators should treat faces like trade secrets, says ProfessorElizabeth A. Roweon the season finale of “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law.
Rowe, one of the world’s leading experts on trade secrets and intellectual property, talks with hosts Dean Risa Goluboff and Professor Danielle Citron about her paper “Regulating Facial Recognition Technology in the Private Sector,” published recently in the Stanford Technology Law Review.
Rowe details not only how private corporations and governments are using facial recognition technology, but offers a glimpse at more extreme cases."
"Holzgartner, of 2SPL, likens the use of AI in intellectual property to a painting that has only just been started.
“So far, we have a white canvas, with maybe two or three lines drawn on it. We are far away from having a complete picture . . . on how to handle things."
"What Are the Kinds of IP You Should Be Creating For Hollywood?
When it comes to creating intellectual property for Hollywood, various types of stories and packages have historically been successful in the entertainment industry.
Spec Scripts: Well-written screenplays and scripts are the foundation of many successful films and television shows. Developing compelling stories with engaging characters and interesting dialogue is crucial.
Book Adaptations: Hollywood often looks to popular books and novels for source material. If you have a unique and captivating story that could be adapted into a screenplay, it could attract attention from producers and studios. Or maybe you can find lesser-known books that you can show to producers that might be easier to get.
Franchise Concepts: Do you have an idea for a franchise? Hollywood studios are always on the lookout for potential franchises that can span multiple movies or spin-off projects. Developing a rich and expansive world with the potential for sequels or spin-offs can be highly appealing. These could be pitches for huge worlds you could option together or written documents you make to show them a very lucrative avenue you want to be the voice behind.
Comic Books and Graphic Novels: The success of comic book adaptations in recent years has made this medium particularly attractive to Hollywood. Creating a captivating comic book series or graphic novel with strong characters and a compelling narrative can pique the interest of producers. You could work with an artist and make your own or just have ideas for when you do a general at DC, Marvel, or another spot.
Video Games: The boundaries between film and video games are becoming increasingly blurred. Developing a unique and immersive video game concept with a captivating storyline and engaging characters could attract interest from both the gaming and entertainment industries. Do you have games you loved that you want to adapt? Then reach out to those companies or have your reps do it for you. Always have a title a company makes to talk about if you get a general with them.
Short stories: So many writers I know have made the switch to developing and writing their own short stories. These can serve as ideas you try to get published and retain the rights to, and can also be easily shared and adapted.
True Stories, News Stories, and Biopics: Stories based on true events or the lives of real people often have a strong appeal to audiences. If you come across an untold story or a compelling biography, it could be worth exploring its potential for adaptation. If something is in the news or zeitgeist, it might be in the public domain or you have fair use of it, so you can adapt it or be inspired by something other people have heard of without paying a penny."
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled on Wednesday to host the first of several hearings on AI and intellectual property. This one will deal with "Patents, Innovation, and Competition." The hearing will feature professors from the University of California, Los Angeles and Laura Sheridan, Google's head of patent policy."
"Patents must also sufficiently describe the invention so as to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to carry out the invention. This is uniquely challenging for AI inventions, due to the “black box” nature of some AI engines. There is potential for near-term evolution in this area of patent law. How can businesses ensure that patent applications filed today will meet future standards? Companies should be aware of these potential shifts and adapt their IP strategies accordingly.
Copyrighting AI-generated content is also topical. Presently, whether AI-generated subject matter is copyrightable may bear on the level of human contribution. Moreover, determining who owns the copyright may depend on contractual provisions (e.g., website terms of service)."
"“Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Media Matters for America over its publication of leaked videos showing Tucker Carlson, a former host at the network, making crude and offensive comments off the air...
That unaired footage is Fox’s confidential intellectual property; Fox did not consent to its distribution or publication; and Fox does not consent to its further distribution or publication.”
The network’s lawyers said the videos were given to the liberal media watchdog group “without Fox’s authorization” and demanded it “cease and desist from distribution, publication, and misuse of Fox’s misappropriated proprietary footage, which you are now on notice was unlawfully obtained.”
In a statement to The Hill on Friday, Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters said “reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism. For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation.”"
"At theBureau of Economic and Business Affairs, we advocate against unfair trade practices and push for a level playing field for U.S. businesses, workers, goods, and services. Success is protecting innovators around the world, regardless of race, social standing, or gender.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland chooses a theme that allows us to view intellectual property through a different lens. The event takes place every April 26, the same date on which the United Nations Convention establishing WIPO entered into force in 1970. The United States is a member of WIPO, and we also promote World IP Day across all our U.S. Missions around the world.
This year’s theme is “Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity.”
Around the world, our embassies will host roundtables, panel discussions, events, lectures, forums with women innovators, debates on local TV and radio, and many other events highlighting the importance of intellectual property rights.
WIPO leaders chose this year’s theme to celebrate the “can do” attitude of women innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs around the world and their ground-breaking work. We’re also highlighting the role of IP rights in securing the new technologies, materials, and products patented by women."
"To help better understand the nuances of a copyright infringement trial, Variety revisits five of the most talked-about intellectual property lawsuits against musicians and songwriters that actually went all the way to a verdict… (and, in the case of appeals and judicial reversals, sometimes much further still)."
Women and IP: Accelerating innovation and creativity
"In 2023, we celebrate the “can do” attitude of women inventors, creators and entrepreneurs around the world and their ground-breaking work.
Women in all regions are shaping the world through their imagination, ingenuity and hard work, but often face significant challenges in accessing the knowledge, skills, resources and support they need to thrive."
"Intellectual property, such as inventions, creative content and brands, is created by people. These are people with amazing ideas, creative passions, and desires to improve communities around the world. But it often takes time, money, and personal sacrifices to move these ideas, passions, and desired impacts from conception to reality. When we see these finished products, creative works, or impactful companies, what is their value?
During this year's World Intellectual Property Day celebration, with a global theme of "Women in IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity", we will revisit this idea about how we value intellectual property. We will look through the eyes of the women who have made countless sacrifices, overcame hurdles others did not have to face, and yet succeeded and made their companies, inventions and creative works into a thriving reality. This month we will feature incredible women across the U.S. and learn about their years of education, hours spent calling new customers, late nights researching after a full day of work, and money spent for studio time, all so that they can bring their intellectual property to us. These important sacrifices together equals The Value of Her IP!
The Value of Her IP event
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will celebrate World IP Day 2023, centering on the theme of "The Value of Her IP" on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. ET., at the U.S. Capitol building's Senate Visitors Center. The focus of the program will be hearing from women business owners, creators and inventors about the financial, time, and personal sacrifices that were necessary for them to create their intellectual property. Their stories will illustrate why it was critical to protect their investments through IP protections such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. The program will also stress the importance of increasing women's participation in the IP eco-system."
"This isn’t the first time technology and copyright law have crashed into each other. Google successfully defended itself against alawsuitby arguing that transformative use allowed for the scraping of text from books to create its search engine, and for the time being, this decision remains precedential.
But there are other, non-technological cases that could shape how the products of generative AI are treated. A case before the U.S. Supreme Court against the Andy Warhol Foundation — brought by photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who had licensed an image of the late musician,Prince— could refine U.S. copyright law on the issue of when a piece of art is sufficiently different from its source material to become unequivocally “transformative,” and whether a court can consider the meaning of the derivative work when it evaluates that transformation. If the court finds that the Warhol piece is not a fair use, it could mean trouble for AI-generated works.
All this uncertainty presents a slew of challenges for companies that use generative AI. There are risks regarding infringement — direct or unintentional — in contracts that are silent on generative AI usage by their vendors and customers. If a business user is aware that training data might include unlicensed works or that an AI can generate unauthorized derivative works not covered by fair use, a business could be on the hook for willful infringement, which can include damages up to $150,000 for each instance of knowing use. There’s also the risk of accidentally sharing confidential trade secrets or business information by inputting data into generative AI tools."
"There is an urgent need for a new Canadian national security policy that considers new and emerging threats.
Such a policy should begin with a strong economic foundation that privileges the domestic development of intangible assets, IP, and the use and commercialization of data, as well as the strategic injection of Canadian technology into international markets. That, in turn, requires a better understanding of the relationship between IP and national security."
"Although China publicly denies engaging in economic espionage, Chinese officials will indirectly acknowledge behind closed doors that the theft of intellectual property from overseas is state policy. James Lewis, a former diplomat now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, recalls participating in a meeting in 2014 or so at which Chinese and American government representatives, including an officer from the People’s Liberation Army, discussed the subject. “An assistant secretary from the U.S. Department of Defense was explaining: Look, spying is OK — we spy, you spy, everybody spies, but it’s for political and military purposes,” Lewis recounted for me. “It’s for national security. What we object to is your economic espionage. And a senior P.L.A. colonel said: Well, wait. We don’t draw the line between national security and economic espionage the way you do. Anything that builds our economy is good for our national security.” The U.S. government’s response increasingly appears to be a mirror image of the Chinese perspective: In the view of U.S. officials, the threat posed to America’s economic interests by Chinese espionage is a threat to American national security.'
Like China’s economy, the spying carried out on its behalf is directed by the Chinese state. The Ministry of State Security, or M.S.S., which is responsible for gathering foreign intelligence, is tasked with collecting information in technologies that the Chinese government wants to build up. The current focus, according to U.S. counterintelligence experts, aligns with the “Made in China 2025” initiative announced in 2015. This industrial plan seeks to make China the world’s top manufacturer in 10 areas, including robotics, artificial intelligence, new synthetic materials and aerospace. In the words of one former U.S. national security official, the plan is a “road map for theft.”"
"Technology companies and start-ups are familiar with protecting inventions with patents, and protecting their secret formulas, source code, and algorithms as trade secrets. But tech companies may not be aware of another powerful form of IP protection in California known as “negative trade secrets,” which are intended to protect a company’s secret know-how gained from extensive research investment about what doesnotwork."
"A common type of intellectual property (IP) infringement involves copyright, which protects “creative” work. This includes literature (running the gamut from blog posts to newspapers to novels), music (both sound recordings and compositions), visual arts (photos, paintings, and illustrations), motion pictures, theatrical works (scripts, stage designs, and productions), and architecture.
For works made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is typically considered to be the author, though a few creators of work-for-hire properties have later sued the commissioning party for partial or full copyright ownership. For instance, there have been multiple suits filed against Marvel and DC Comics by original creators of Spider-Man and the X-Men, which resulted in out-of-court settlements with the creators or their estates.
