The Future of Big Data and Intellectual Property; Inside Counsel, June 13, 2017

Amanda Ciccatelli, Inside Counsel; The Future of Big Data and Intellectual Property

"Simon Webster, CEO at CPA Global, recently sat down with Inside Counsel to discuss how big data tools and technologies can be used in the patent world to drastically improve patent analysis – from how behavioural analysis can reveal the likelihood of patent issuance during prosecution to international IP portfolio management.

Today, big data is important when it comes to IP because it can help better decision making. In fact, up to 85 percent of a company’s value lies in its IP portfolio and it is often a key driver in the most high-profile acquisitions and mergers. Almost every company can improve its efficiency through modern technologies to drive increased insight through big data. 

“Companies used to struggle to gain the required insight from data that helped them make better strategic decisions,” he said. “With the availability of on demand computing and storage and the application of artificial intelligence to process vast volumes of data quickly, all businesses are now looking for insight that can help shape company direction.”...

He added, “The argument for IP Officers to be an integral part of the entire business planning and development process has never been stronger. Armed with insight, driven from internal and external data, analysed effectively, IP professionals can extend their reach beyond the IP department and more fully shape boardroom strategy.”"

Intellectual Property (IP) Through Stories; BananaIP.com, May 2017

BananaIP.com; Intellectual Property (IP) Through Stories

"Storytelling Based Corporate IP Training and Knowledge Development Program

“You may forget a concept or a principle, but you will never forget a well told story.”

BananaIP offers story based intellectual property training and knowledge development programs for corporates and businesses. Unlike the standard IP training programs, which are typically delivered through talks, presentations and cases, BananaIP’s IP through Stories Program teaches IP concepts and skills through creative and interactive storytelling. Program participants will learn basic and advanced concepts of IP through entertaining, educative and imaginative stories told by some of the leading experts in the field.

Over the years, BananaIP’s Team of experts and Trainers have taught more than ten thousand corporates at different levels in the organization structure from CEOs to Fresh Recruits. The IP through Stories Program takes that experience a step forward by integrating innovative IP teaching techniques with storytelling."

SCORE: Trademark basics for small business owners; Traverse City Record-Eagle, May 21, 2017

Ed Ketterer, Traverse City Record-Eagle; 

SCORE: Trademark basics for small business owners

"To learn more about trademarks, visit the USPTO website (www.uspto.gov) where you’ll find detailed information and links to helpful resources. You’ll also want to attend SCORE’s free workshop “Intellectual Property 101: Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents and Internet Law” on Tuesday, June 13, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Traverse Area District Library Woodmere branch. To reserve your seat, visit www.upnorthscore.com"

U.S. Judge Demands Uber Return Downloaded Documents to Waymo; New York Times, May 15, 2017

Reuters via New York Times; 

U.S. Judge Demands Uber Return Downloaded Documents to Waymo

"A U.S. judge ordered Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] to promptly return any files that had been downloaded and taken from Alphabet Inc's Waymo self-driving car unit but said the ride-services company could continue work on its autonomous car technology.

The latest court ruling in a high-profile trade secrets case from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, made public on Monday, granted a partial injunction against Uber, which Waymo has accused of using stolen information to accelerate the building of its autonomous cars.

Alsup said in the ruling that Uber "likely knew" or should have known that the former Waymo engineer, Anthony Levandowski, who now works at Uber, took Waymo materials.

The case hinges on more than 14,000 confidential files that Waymo alleges Levandowski stole before he left the company."

McGill institute takes open science to a new level; University Affairs/Affaires universitaires, April 19, 2017

Tim Lougheed, University Affairs/Affaires universitaires; 

McGill institute takes open science to a new level

"According to Richard Gold, a professor in McGill’s faculty of law, that steep price tag should not surprise advocates of what has been dubbed the open science initiative. These advocates regularly invoke the mantra that “knowledge wants to be free,” but such freedom comes with a daunting checklist that can only be completed by paying for a great deal of time, talent and physical resources.

“The data has to be collected, you have to make sense of it, curate it, you have to build the software, you have to have the hardware to deliver it, you have to make sure the format of the data is what people want, that it’s precise enough, that we’re transparent about how the data was collected,” says Dr. Gold...

For his part, Dr. Rouleau has seen little to suggest that the effect will be anything but positive for all concerned. During early consultations with the research community, he was greeted by a range of responses to this attempt to resolve what he calls the “perverse effect” of intellectual property."

Why The US Can't Afford To Fall Behind In Intellectual Property Enforcement; Forbes, April 17, 2017

Mark Elliot, Forbes; 

Why The US Can't Afford To Fall Behind In Intellectual Property Enforcement

"It’s not hard to see that the U.S. has more skin in the game when it comes to intellectual property. But that is why it might come as a surprise to some that America no longer leads the world when it comes to IP enforcement: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2017 International IP Index shows that the U.S. now ranks fifth, behind the U.K., Sweden, France and Germany. Given the high stakes, this is certainly not a new normal we should embrace.

So, how did we get here? The Chamber’s Index identified as a key weakness our: “inconsistent enforcement against counterfeit and pirated goods.”"

Wikileaks release of TPP deal text stokes 'freedom of expression' fears; Guardian, 10/9/15

Sam Thielman, Guardian; Wikileaks release of TPP deal text stokes 'freedom of expression' fears:

"Among the provisions in the chapter (which may or may not be the most recent version) are rules that say that each country in the agreement has the authority to compel anyone accused of violating intellectual property law to provide “relevant information [...] that the infringer or alleged infringer possesses or controls” as provided for in that country’s own laws.

The rules also state that every country has the authority to immediately give the name and address of anyone importing detained goods to whoever owns the intellectual property.

That information can be very broad, too: “Such information may include information regarding any person involved in any aspect of the infringement or alleged infringement,” the document continues, “and regarding the means of production or the channels of distribution of the infringing or allegedly infringing goods or services, including the identification of third persons alleged to be involved in the production and distribution of such goods or services and of their channels of distribution.”"

Flooding Threatens The Times’s Picture Archive; New York Times, 10/12/15

David W. Dunlap, New York Times; Flooding Threatens The Times’s Picture Archive:

"A broken pipe on Saturday morning sent water cascading into the morgue — the storage area where The Times keeps its immense collection of historical photos, along with newspaper clippings, microfilm records, books and other archival material — causing minor damage and raising significant alarm.

And it raised the question of how in the digital age — and in the prohibitive Midtown Manhattan real estate market — can some of the company’s most precious physical assets and intellectual property be safely and reasonably stored?

Jeff Roth, the morgue manager, said it appeared that about 90 percent of the affected photos would be salvageable, but it is too early to say with any certainty how many were lost.

Though he stood undaunted among rubber drums and wastebaskets catching the residual water dripping from the ceiling, Mr. Roth made it clear that this was the stuff of nightmares."

Bluebeard as a Geek: Plundering in High-Tech: On ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ It’s Imitation vs. Invention; New York Times, 5/30/14

Alessandra Stanley, New York Times; Bluebeard as a Geek: Plundering in High-Tech: On ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ It’s Imitation vs. Invention:

"There are absolutists who still believe that everything on the Internet should be free and see themselves as partisans, not parasites. Their motto might as well be “intellectual property is theft.”

Some of those true believers may enjoy a new AMC drama, “Halt and Catch Fire,” which begins on Sunday and is set in Texas in the early 1980s, when PCs were still in their infancy, and IBM dominated the industry.

But it’s an odd show for most viewers to accept at face value. And not just because it’s hard to construct thrilling action sequences out of microchips, floppy disks and coffee breaks. In today’s era of high-tech billionaires and the cult of the start-up, this series goes back in time to glorify imitation, not innovation...

Even the title is so abstruse that an explanation is spelled out in block print at the beginning:

“HALT AND CATCH FIRE (HCF): An early computer command that sent the machine into a race condition, forcing all instructions to compete for superiority at once. Control of the computer could not be regained.”...

Buccaneering on the high seas, the kind that involves daggers, planks and rum, is romantic partly because it remains safely in the past. Copyright piracy, on the other hand, may be too close for comfort."

Copyrighting Fashion: Who Gains?; New York Times, 8/30/10

Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman, Freakonomics, New York Times; Copyrighting Fashion: Who Gains?:

"Kal Raustiala, a professor at UCLA Law School and the UCLA International Institute, and Chris Sprigman, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School, are experts in counterfeiting and intellectual property. They have been guest-blogging for us about copyright issues. Today, they write about new efforts to extend copyright law to the fashion industry."

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/copyrighting-fashion-who-gains/?src=twr&scp=2&sq=copyright&st=cse

[Book Review] A Republic of Letters; New York Times Book Review, 8/22/10

[Book Review] Robert Darnton, New York Times Book Review; A Republic of Letters:

"Intellectual property has become such a hot topic that it needs to be doused with some history. Strange as it may sound, this is an argument developed convincingly in Lewis Hyde’s “Common as Air,” an eloquent and erudite plea for protecting our cultural patrimony from appropriation by commercial interests."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/books/review/Darnton-t.html

Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age; New York Times, 8/2/10

Trip Gabriel, New York Times; Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age:

"“This generation has always existed in a world where media and intellectual property don’t have the same gravity,” said Ms. Brookover, who at 31 is older than most undergraduates. “When you’re sitting at your computer, it’s the same machine you’ve downloaded music with, possibly illegally, the same machine you streamed videos for free that showed on HBO last night.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=copy%20paste&st=cse

Podcast: Lawrence Lessing's 'Remix' For The Hybrid Economy, NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, 12/22/08

Podcast [37 min. 51 sec.] : Via NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Lawrence Lessing's 'Remix' For The Hybrid Economy:

Blurb: In his new book Remix, law professor Lawrence Lessig explores the changing landscape of intellectual property in the digital age — and argues that antiquated copyright laws should be updated.

Lessing is a columnist for Wired and the chair of Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that promotes the legal sharing, repurposing and remixing of creative work.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98591002

Laptop searches at border might get restricted, Wired.com, 12/8/08

Via Wired.com: Laptop searches at border might get restricted:

"Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, asserts that it has constitutional authority to conduct routine searches at the border - without suspicion of wrongdoing - to prevent dangerous people and property from entering the country. This authority, the government maintains, applies not only to suitcases and bags, but also to books, documents and other printed materials - as well as to electronic devices.

Such searches, the government notes, have uncovered everything from martyrdom videos and other violent jihadist materials to child pornography and stolen intellectual property...

While Homeland Security points out that these procedures predate the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, civil liberties groups have seen an uptick in complaints about border searches of electronic devices in the past two years, according to Shirin Sinnar, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus. In some cases, travelers suspected border agents were copying their files after taking their laptops and cell phones away for anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks or longer.

Now Congress is getting involved. A handful of bills have been introduced that could pass next year.

One measure, sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., chairman of the Constitution subcommittee, would require reasonable suspicion of illegal activity to search the contents of electronic devices carried by U.S. citizens and legal residents. It would also require probable cause and a warrant or court order to detain a device for more than 24 hours.

And it would prohibit profiling of travelers based on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.
Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is sponsoring a bill in the House that would also require suspicion to inspect electronic devices. Engel said he is not trying to impede legitimate searches to protect national security. But, he said, it is just as important to protect civil liberties."

http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/T/TEC_LAPTOP_SEARCHES?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-08-07-08-40

Dear Bands: No Matter How Much You Dislike John McCain, He Can Most Likely Use Your Song - Techdirt, 10/9/08

Dear Bands: No Matter How Much You Dislike John McCain, He Can Most Likely Use Your Song:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081009/0139482501.shtml

Fiction or Fiction: 750,000 American Jobs Lost to IP Piracy - Wired.com, 10/3/08

Fiction or Fiction: 750,000 American Jobs Lost to IP Piracy:
"Declaring that 750,000 Americans are out of work because of intellectual property piracy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging President Bush to sign legislation creating a cabinet-level copyright czar to oversee expanded IP enforcement efforts.
Those are eye-popping numbers, equaling 8 percent of the official number of 9.4 million unemployed Americans.
But the origin of that 750,000 number -- which was included Thursday in a Chamber of Commerce lobbying letter (.pdf) to the president -- is a mystery."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/fiction-or-fict.html

Tech-Policy Positions of McCain & Obama - Washington Post, 9/26/08

Re-Computing Your Presidential Choices, Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro:
"Both Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Az.) provide lengthy position papers on their Web sites. Let's dig through McCain's first, then Obama's. But let's also set aside verbiage covering broader economic topics, such as upgrading the educational system or reforming research-and-development tax credits, to focus on each candidate's stances on five key consumer-tech topics: broadband availability, "net neutrality," copyright policy, the patent system and electronic privacy...

McCain's roughly 2,700-word statement doesn't get to any of those issues until about halfway down the page. There, we have a statement that might not exactly thrill the folks at the RIAA and the MPAA:

Protecting intellectual property creates the incentives for invention and investment in commercial innovations. Yet too much protection can stifle the proliferation of important ideas and impair legitimate commerce in new products to the detriment of our entire economy.

But there's little substance following it, aside from the goals of hiring more patent examiners and setting up a faster mediation process to resolve patent disputes...

On intellectual-property policies, Obama "believes we need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated." But how? I was looking for more info on that this spring and I still am now. (For what it's worth, the Copyright Alliance, a group advocating stronger copyright enforcement, seems slightly nervous about Obama's views in this blog post.)
Obama, like McCain, wants to hire more patent examiners but, in addition, endorses "opening up the patent process to citizen review."
People who read Obama's tech-policy statement this spring may notice that the current version is shorter and less detailed, but it links to a roughly 5,200-word PDF that fills in some of those blanks. "
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2008/09/re-computing_your_presidential.html

The ACTA Hearing: USTR Claims There's Nothing To See Here... Move Along - Techdirt, 9/25/08

The ACTA Hearing: USTR Claims There's Nothing To See Here... Move Along:
"Earlier this week, the US Trade Representative held an open hearing on the international intellectual property agreement currently being negotiated in secret, ACTA."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080924/1732262362.shtml