The Shrinking Mega-Journal; Inside Higher Ed, 1/5/17

Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed; 

The Shrinking Mega-Journal:

"The open-access mega-journal’s output, measured by how many articles it publishes a year, last year fell to 22,054 -- its lowest since 2012 and down about 30 percent since its peak in 2013. Last year brought the most precipitous drop yet. PLOS ONE published 6,052 fewer articles in 2016 than it did the year before -- a drop of about 22 percent.

The decline was first reported by Phil Davis, a consultant who specializes in scholarly publishing, in a blog post this morning.

Joerg Heber, who became PLOS ONE’s new editor in chief in September, addressed the decline in a blog post last month. Reflecting on the journal’s first 10 years, he noted that many other publishers are now using similar models for their own publications."

Open Access Trends 2017: Challenges and Opportunities; PR Newswire, Yahoo Finance, 1/10/17

PR Newswire, Yahoo Finance; 

Open Access Trends 2017: Challenges and Opportunities:

"Open access—the online digital delivery of scholarly research free of charge and without most copyright and licensing restrictions—has grown from a conceptual movement to transformational force in scientific, technical and medical (STM) publishing.

Media and publishing intelligence firm Simba Information has examined open access in two recent reports—Open Access Journal Publishing 2016-2020 and Open Access Book Publishing 2016-2020—and sees several trends developing in 2017."

After 15 Years In WTO, China Still Weak On Many IP Rights Rules, US Says; Intellectual Property Watch, 1/10/17

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; 

After 15 Years In WTO, China Still Weak On Many IP Rights Rules, US Says:

"Innovation and intellectual property rights have set the United States apart from competitors in recent history, and China seems intent on closing that gap any way it can. A US trade office report out this week on China’s compliance with World Trade Organization rules 15 years after accession show the magnitude of China’s continuing compliance problems related to intellectual property rights. 

“Serious concerns,” “problems,” “challenges,” “weakness,” “insufficient.” These and many other negative terms fill the 200-page report’s sections describing China’s treatment of intellectual property rights. There is plenty of progress cited too, but the report reads as an open to-do list with new issues arising all the time. One question is how much of this behaviour could be brought to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Another might be what the new US administration is going to do differently about this list.

The Office of the US Trade Representative’s 2016 Report to Congress on China’s WTO Compliance is available here [pdf]."

What does 2017 hold for open data initiatives?; Guardian, 1/6/17

Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Guardian; What does 2017 hold for open data initiatives?

"In 2016, open data was central to a growing number of projects across the globe. Throughout the year, data initiatives attempted to change the banking industry, took strides towards getting London fit, and fought “superbugs” through a real-time record of antibiotic resistance.

How will we see the open data ecosystem continue to grow in 2017? We asked the experts to tell us what the coming year will hold."

Marijuana brands can trademark almost anything, except marijuana; Los Angeles Times, 1/7/17

James Rufus Koren, Los Angeles Times; Marijuana brands can trademark almost anything, except marijuana:

"Though cannabis is legal for recreational or medicinal use in 28 states, it remains illegal under federal law. As a result, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will not register trademarks for marijuana retailers or for products that contain cannabis...

One popular strategy for cannabis companies that can’t trademark their core products is to seek protection for a host of ancillary products and services.

“I call it the ‘circle the wagons’ approach,” said Todd Winter, a Costa Mesa attorney who works with marijuana companies. “We get everything trademarked that we can, tangential to the actual cannabis product itself.”

The idea, one that is largely untested so far, is that if a cannabis company registers its trademark for other products it will scare off would-be copycats and allow the company to be first in line if the federal government eases its stance on pot."

Copyright in Klingon; Washington Post, 1/9/17

David Post, Washington Post; Copyright in Klingon:

"The court went awry, I believe, in holding additionally that the defendants “are not entitled to the fair use defense,” a holding that illustrates much that is wrong with copyright law these days.

To begin with, the fair use defense, involving a complicated balancing of defendant’s motives and purposes, the effect of the defendant’s use on the market for the original work and any number of other relevant factors, is hardly ever appropriate for disposition on summary judgment; there’s too much fact-finding required.

But more to the point, “Axanar” uses copyrighted material for a transformative purpose — creating a new and original work of art. It is not a substitute, in the market, for the original; if anything, it enhances the value of the original. This is precisely what our copyright law, through the fair use exception, should be encouraging — the production of new and original works of art that build on prior works to create something new and valuable."

Artificial Intelligence Keeps IBM Atop 2016 Patent List; CNet, 1/9/17

Stephen Shankland, CNET; Artificial Intelligence Keeps IBM Atop 2016 Patent List:

"Patents are an imperfect measure of prowess in research, development, innovation and ultimately business success. For one thing, it takes a mammoth staff and a lot of intellectual-property lawyers to rank high on the list, so startups won't make it up the list no matter how successful. For another, many patent ideas never see the light of day, or worse, emerge in a patent troll's sketchy legal action trying to extract licensing fees from big companies.

Nevertheless, patents remain an important reflection of how much a company is investing today into the technology of tomorrow. It's notable that IBM topped the list for the 24th year in a row."

Axanar isn’t fair use, judge finds, setting stage for Star Trek copyright trial; Ars Technica, 1/5/17

Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica; 

Axanar isn’t fair use, judge finds, setting stage for Star Trek copyright trial

"In additional court filings submitted on Wednesday, CBS, Paramount, and Axanar Productions all put forward their list of witnesses. CBS said it would put John Van Citters, an executive who has worked with Paramount and CBS on Star Trek for nearly 20 years, on the stand.

Van Citters, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, "knows the canon of Star Trek intimately as well as the history and personnel involved in the production of Star Trek in order to be able to efficiently assess whether or not material CBS is presenting to the public is accurate and fits with existing canon."

Axanar Productions, for its part, will counter with Christian Tregillis, a financial consultant who will "rebut Plaintiffs’ theory of lost profits that they claim resulted from Defendants’ alleged infringement, i.e., that funds donated to making of Defendants’ works have resulted in lost revenue or profits to Plaintiffs," according to its own filing.

The film company will also offer up Henry Jenkins, a professor of media studies at the University of Southern California, who is an expert on Star Trek’s historical relationship between its creators and its fans."

Bulgarians Listen to Classics Thanks to Copyright War; Balkan Insight, 1/5/17

Mariya Cheresheva, Balkan Insight; Bulgarians Listen to Classics Thanks to Copyright War

"At 00.01 am on January 1, 2017, instead of hearing the official Bulgarian anthem, as they do every year, listeners to Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, were surprised to hear an alternative version performed by BNR’s own choir and symphonic orchestra.

This was not an independent decision of the music editors of BNR. It turned out that they had been banned from playing the official national anthem owing to a decision of Musicautor, Bulgaria’s non-profit society of composers, lyricists and music publishers, which exists to collectively manage copyright issues.

Musicautor, which hold the copyright to over 14,000,000 songs of Bulgarian and worldwide artists, suspended its contract with BNR from the beginning of the new year, demanding higher fees.

It has banned BNR from playing much contemporary Bulgarian and foreign music until the fee issue is resolved."

Robert L. Hulseman, Inventor of the Solo Cup, Dies at 84; New York Times, 12/30/16

Richard Sandomir, New York Tines; Robert L. Hulseman, Inventor of the Solo Cup, Dies at 84:

"Robert L. Hulseman, a corporate executive who developed the sturdy red Solo cup that became indispensable at picnics, tailgate parties and barbecues and inspired a song by the country singer Toby Keith, died on Dec. 21 at his home in Northfield, Ill. He was 84...

Mr. Hulseman spent nearly all of his career at the Solo Cup Company in Lake Forest, Ill., a maker of disposable cups, plates and bowls. One of his other legacies was helping to create a coffee cup lid that may now be as prevalent as the Solo cup.

The company’s products might have been seen as unremarkable party essentials in a throwaway age if not for the creation of the Solo cup in the mid-1970s. It became a mainstay at beer keggers, where its size, typically 16 ounces, durability and opacity were prized attributes.

Mr. Hulseman preferred that his cups be used at family outings, not at rowdy, boozy blowouts.

“The cup’s design was for strength,” Paul Hulseman said in an interview. “Not for a shot, a wine and a beer.”"

How Ronda Rousey Clips Reveal Facebook’s Copyright Challenge; Fortune, 1/3/17

Jeff John Roberts, Fortune; 

How Ronda Rousey Clips Reveal Facebook’s Copyright Challenge:

"The copyright conundrum arose in early 2015 after Facebook (FB, +1.52%) faced a barrage of criticism over the phenomenon of "free-booting" in which people make copies of clips they see on YouTube (GOOG, +1.86%) and elsewhere, and then upload them as their own to Facebook, where the videos can be seen thousands or millions of times.

In response to the criticism—including an essay called "Theft, Lies, and Facebook Video"—the company in 2015 said it took the intellectual property issues seriously, and that it was expanding tools to help copyright owners protect their content.

Based on the latest proliferation of Rousey clips, though, it's hard to see how Facebook has made much progress. Unlike similar clips that appear on YouTube, the Facebook fight videos don't come with advertising, which means the copyright owner is not making any money from them. (YouTube has long had a system called Content ID that flags infringing clips and either remove them or place ads one them)."

Germany’s Latest Best Seller? A Critical Version of ‘Mein Kampf’; New York Times, 1/3/17

Melissa Eddy, New York Times; Germany’s Latest Best Seller? A Critical Version of ‘Mein Kampf’:

"The dual-volume doorstop of a meticulously historically annotated version of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was one of Germany’s best-selling works of nonfiction last year, its publisher said on Tuesday, announcing that it would bring out a sixth run at the end of the month.

Originally published in the 1920s and banned for seven decades in Germany, the new version, “Hitler, Mein Kampf, A Critical Edition,” spent 35 weeks on Der Spiegel’s best-seller list and sold about 85,000 copies, according to the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich.

The success of the critical and annotated version, it said, was proof that the attempt by a team of historians to annotate, criticize and contextualize the original much-reviled work was worth it. The project had been planned to follow the expiration at the end of 2015 of a 70-year copyright held by the state of Bavaria and stirred controversy during the three years it took to complete."

Amazon's Multi-Billion Dollar Patent Expires In 2017; Forbes, 1/2/17

Ian Morris, Forbes; Amazon's Multi-Billion Dollar Patent Expires In 2017:

"Amazon's 1-Click is responsible for making the firm a decent amount of money over the years. Certainly, it's produced enough revenue for Amazon to defend its exclusivity of it in the courts, at great cost. But the bad news for Amazon is that its patent on this technology expires in 2017, and it's likely we'll see a lot of online stores adopting similar.

Amazon first applied for a patent on 1-Click in 1997, and it was granted in 1999. The core of the proposition is that by storing your payment and address details you only need to click a single button to order something. This means that there are fewer steps to ordering, which is less time-consuming and what is termed "frictionless".

10 Things to Know About MOOCs in Online Education; U.S. News, 12/20/16

Jordan Friedman, U.S. News; 

10 Things to Know About MOOCs in Online Education

Fighting for Fair Use and Safer Harbors: 2016 in Review; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 12/29/16

Kerry Sheehan, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); 

Fighting for Fair Use and Safer Harbors: 2016 in Review:

"In 2016 we witnessed the latest stretch in an ongoing struggle over the shape of copyright law and who it serves - between a law that respects and promotes innovation and free expression, and one that only serves the interests of large copyright holders. This year we welcomed a run of victories for fair use and Internet safe harbors, while looking toward some important battles yet to come."

The Rum War; 60 Minutes, 1/1/17

Sharyn Alfonsi, 60 Minutes; The Rum War

"Who makes the real Havana Club rum? And who owns the rights to sell the liquor under that famous brand name?"

The 11 Stupidest Patents of 2016; Motherboard, 1/1/17

Daniel Oberhaus, Motherboard; 

The 11 Stupidest Patents of 2016:

[Kip Currier: Happy 2017! 1st post of the new year.]

"Last year, the US Patent and Trademark Office saw nearly 630,000 patent applications come through its doors, roughly half of which were granted a patent. Some of these patents were pretty incredible, such as Amazon’s patent for 3D printing products on demand or this “solar powered space weapon.” Unfortunately, for every patent filed for a game changing technology, several others are filed for utterly mundane inventions whose sole purpose is to be used as ‘Exhibit A’ in patent infringement lawsuits...

While Silicon Valley keeps waging its war against the patent trolls that are costing some companies millions of dollars a year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has taken a more humorous approach to the problem. In 2014, the EFF created its ‘Stupid Patent of the Month,’ a prestigious monthly award bestowed upon patent trolls who have the unique privilege of inventing really dumb stuff. While it seemed like it was going to be difficult to top last year’s bevy of stupid ideas, 2016 has not been a disappointment.

So without further ado, here are the dumbest inventions of 2016..."

How the Grinch Ended Up in Court!; New York Times, 12/29/16

Robin Pogrebin, New York Times; 

How the Grinch Ended Up in Court! :

"The Broadway playwright Matthew Lombardo has sued the owner of copyrights for Dr. Seuss’s works, arguing that his new play does not infringe on the classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in United States District Court in Manhattan, said Mr. Lombardo’s 75-minute one-woman play, “Who’s Holiday!,” is “highly transformative,” and therefore constitutes fair use. The play, Reuters reported, features a profane 45-year-old woman who recently served time in prison for murdering her husband, the Grinch, with whom she has a daughter."

Amazon’s Flying Warehouse Idea Isn’t Even Its Biggest Challenge; Huffington Post, 12/30/16

Kate Abbey-Lambertz, Huffington Post; 

Amazon’s Flying Warehouse Idea Isn’t Even Its Biggest Challenge:

"Delivering packages by drone at all seemed at first like “a loopy idea, far-fetched and the subject of instant mockery on Twitter,” as New York Times technology writer David Streitfeld wrote when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos first mentioned it in 2013.

Now it’s considered all but a certainty, even if the timeline is hazy. Other companies are exploring or testing drone package delivery, including Google, Walmart and the United Parcel Service. 

Amazon holds a separate patent for a system of light poles that would serve as miniature drone docking stations. There’s no indication it’s any more viable than airships, but it seems to show a company rigorously exploring drone delivery from every angle.

Considering how the company’s other out-there ideas have worked out ― like entirely upending the publishing industry ― it’s safe to say it’s too early to write off flying warehouses."

Summit Brewing sues two former employees, alleging sharing of trade secrets; Star Tribune, 12/30/16

Brandon Stahl, Star Tribune; 

Summit Brewing sues two former employees, alleging sharing of trade secrets:

"When Summit Brewing Company hired Jeffrey Spaeth in the summer of 1986, the fledgling St. Paul business was just getting on its feet as one of fewer than 20 craft brewers in the country.

Spaeth rose up through Summit’s ranks to reach vice president of sales, along the way helping the company become one of the largest microbrewers in the United States amid explosive growth in the industry.

But now Summit is suing Spaeth and another longtime employee, Timothy Daly, accusing both of conspiring to sell the company’s confidential trade secrets to high-level executives for “a direct competitor.”"

Washington Redskins: Recent Developments In The Team’s Trademark Case; Fansided via FoxSports.com, 12/30/16

Desmond Lee/FanSided via Riggo's Rag Fansided via FoxSports.com; 

Washington Redskins: Recent Developments In The Team’s Trademark Case:

"The once high-profile Washington Redskins trademark case has, for the time being, taken a back seat to another matter being heard in the United States Supreme Court. What will happen next and when will the Redskins matter get back on track?

For those of you waiting for a decision in the Redskins trademark case, you’ll need to wait somewhat longer. Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided to stay the team’s case pending the United States Supreme Court’s (“SCOTUS”) resolution of a matter brought by an Asian rock band."

The most dramatic patent and copyright cases of 2016; Ars Technica, 12/30/16

Joe Mullin, Ars Technica; 

The most dramatic patent and copyright cases of 2016:

"Many of the biggest legal disputes in technology relate to "intellectual property," a broad term used for laws relating to everything from copyrights to patents, trademarks to trade secrets. This year saw significant changes in the copyright and patent landscapes. "Patent trolls" who sue technologists for fun and profit got smacked down by courts more often—and harder—than ever before. At the same time, universities were filing patent lawsuits at an increased rate, and often winning.

In the copyright realm, the Oracle v. Google trial dominated the spring. A jury was left to decide the murky rules about when using an API could be "fair use." That legal uncertainty led to the two tech giants clashing over the ethics of each others' business practices and the history of the smartphone industry.

In two very different cases in 2016, copyright issues led to criminal charges being filed. US authorities are seeking to extradite and put on trial a man named Artem Vaulin, who they say made $16 million annually by running a massive online storehouse of pirated films and songs. And more than three years after they were condemned by a federal judge, lawyers behind a vast array of copyright lawsuits, a firm known as Prenda Law, were arrested and accused of fraud. Here's a look back at 2016's most dramatic IP cases."

Disney Wins ‘Cars’ Copyright Case in China; Variety, 12/30/16

Patrick Frater, Variety; 

Disney Wins ‘Cars’ Copyright Case in China:

"A Shanghai court has awarded damages to Disney and Pixar Animation in a copyright case over a Chinese-made film called “The Autobots.” The court ruled that the film was an illegal copy of Disney’s “Cars.”

The court said that the Chinese producer Bluemtv and distributor G-Point had been fined some $190,000 (RMB1.35 million) and ordered to cease their copyright infringement. “The Autobots” film was released in July 2015, and grossed some $863,000 (RMB6 million.)"

Like these beans? Don’t copy the photo, or you might get a hefty bil; Miami Herald, 12/30/16

David Ovalle, Miami Herald; Like these beans? Don’t copy the photo, or you might get a hefty bill:

"Porn. Poems. Pictures. The internet is awash in them. But more and more, people who download them, or use them on another website, are finding themselves targets of companies demanding money for illegally accessed copyrighted material.

Black bean soup — an innocuous snapshot of a tasty bowl, published on a South Florida health blog —has sparked the latest friction point between a media company and critics who believe these companies are “copyright trolls” unfairly shaking down online users...

Both cases, as well as several recent South Florida lawsuits over digital images, highlight the sometimes fuzzy line between outright trolls and companies genuinely needing to protect intellectual work.

“What makes these companies ‘trolls’ is they don’t seek fair value for the images,” said Oscar Michelen, a New York lawyer who specializes in helping people who receive letters demanding payments for photos. “They demand an excessive amount, threaten a lawsuit and scare you into settling for some lower amount.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article123838369.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article123838369.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article123838369.html#storylink=cpy

DEADPOOL IS THE MOST-PIRATED FILM OF 2016; Comic Book Resources, 12/30/16

Kevin Melrose, Comic Book Resources; DEADPOOL IS THE MOST-PIRATED FILM OF 2016:

"In its rundown of the most-pirated films of 2016, TorrentFreak reports the Ryan Reynolds action-comedy was the clear winner, outpacing the likes of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Suicide Squad” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” for the dubious honor."

Run-DMC Files $50 Million Trademark Infringement Suit Against Amazon, Walmart, and Other Retailers; Slate, 12/30/16

David Canfield, Slate; 

Run-DMC Files $50 Million Trademark Infringement Suit Against Amazon, Walmart, and Other Retailers:

"Billboard reports that Run-DMC has filed a lawsuit for more than $50 million against such entities as Walmart, Amazon, and Jet for trademark infringement. The hip-hop group is alleging that that these and other companies—in addition to about 20 unnamed individuals—continue to “trade on the goodwill of RUN-DMC,” using their name, their logo, and misleading products made in their “style” (such as fedora hats and square-frame sunglasses) without permission."

Getting a Drone as a Gift? Check Your Insurance; New York Times, 12/14/16

Ann Carrns, New York Times; 

Getting a Drone as a Gift? Check Your Insurance:

[Kip Currier: Amazon is getting buzz this week with widely-reported coverage of the ever-experimenting online retailer's 2016 patent for floating warehouse blimps--or in Amazon's own words "airborne fulfillment centers (AFCs)". AFCs would, in theory, serve as "motherships" for worker bee drones to transport purchased goods directly to Amazon customers.

Joanne Lipman, chief content officer for Gannett, predicts that though some crystal ball gazers declared 2016 as the year drones would take off and be the new "it" thing, 2017 will be "The Year of the Drone, Really".

Earlier this month I did a very informative American Bar Association (ABA) Continuing Legal Education (CLE) webinar, "U.S. Drone Law: Current Status, Future Direction", through the ABA Intellectual Property Law section. A panel of practitioners with drone expertise highlighted key cases (e.g. the so-called "Drone Slayer" case), current legal issues, and liability concerns for emerging drone technologies. (Aside: in addition to legal issues, drones implicate a whole slew of information ethics issues; most notably, privacy.)

The article excerpted below sheds useful light on insurance issues regarding drone ownership and usage, something most of us probably have not considered, but absolutely should know more about. Especially considering how many people gifted and received drones as holiday gifts this year! (See Drone sales soaring this Christmas, capping a record year for the industry)]

"MANY people will receive drones as gifts this holiday season. But before heading to the nearest field to fly the devices, recipients may want to check their insurance coverage.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of drones given as Christmas gifts, and we’ll start to see more drone-related claims,” said Chris Hackett, the senior director for personal lines at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, an industry group."

Amazon Is Considering Drone-Friendly Floating Warehouses; Fortune, 12/29/16

Don Reisinger, Fortune; Amazon Is Considering Drone-Friendly Floating Warehouses:

"The e-commerce giant has been awarded a patent that describes a logistics technology it calls "airborne fulfillment center (AFC)." The AFC is essentially in airship that's capable of flying at altitudes of 45,000 feet or more that would house items the company sells through its online marketplace. In the patent, Amazon describes a method by which drones would fly into the warehouse, pick up the items they need to deliver, and then deliver those items to the customer's home.

Amazon filed for the patent in 2014. While it was actually awarded in April, it wasn't discovered until Wednesday by CB Insights tech analyst Zoe Leavitt."

Amazon Has Patented Some Wild Drone Technologies; Discover, 12/29/16

Nathaniel Scharping, Discover; 

Amazon Has Patented Some Wild Drone Technologies:

"Earlier this month, a fully autonomous Amazon drone delivered its first package in the United Kingdom — an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn — in just 13 minutes. The company says it hopes to expand the program in coming months, allowing select customers to have their packages brought to them via drone, weather permitting of course.

Any such implementation in the U.S. will have to wait a little longer, as current FAA regulations do not permit drones to be flown out of a pilot’s line of sight. Amazon seems to anticipate that those rules will soon change, however, and has filed a bevy of patents over the past couple of years aimed at upgrading their drone technology to make it fast, safe and efficient.

These patents may never see the light of day, of course, as it’s common for corporations to snap up the rights to forward-looking technologies before they come to fruition."

Open Access Rewards Passionate Curiosity: 2016 in Review; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 12/24/16

Elliot Harmon, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); 

Open Access Rewards Passionate Curiosity: 2016 in Review:

"In February 2016, a team of scientists published one of the most important pieces of scientific research so far this century. For the first time, researchers had directly observed gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime whose discovery Albert Einstein first predicted a century ago. The team effectively placed the last piece in the puzzle confirming Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity—in doing so, they took a giant leap forward in humans’ understanding of how the universe works.

Something else was confirmed that day, too: open access publishing is no inferior sibling to closed publishing. The paper—Observational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger (PDF)—was published in an open access journal under a Creative Commons license that ensures anyone can copy, adapt, and reuse it as long as they give the authors credit.

Put simply, open access is the practice of making research and other materials freely available online, ideally under licenses that allow anyone to share and adapt them. For years, open access publishing has been at the center of a struggle over the future of research: will cutting-edge scholarship be published in the open for anyone to see, use, and build upon? Or will it stay trapped in a labyrinth of closed publications only to be read by those who can afford expensive journal subscriptions and academic databases?

In many ways, 2015 was academic publishing’s Napster moment. As publishing giant Elsevier fought to keep Sci-Hub off the Internet, it accomplished just the opposite. While the legal battle between Elsevier and Sci-Hub has trudged through 2016, more people than ever have begun using the unauthorized academic research repository.

Maybe 2016 was the year publishers realized they had to change course. Elsevier agreed to compromise with the Dutch academic community, allowing researchers covered by the publisher’s blanket agreement with Dutch universities to publish their research openly. That’s a small step, but an indicator that Elsevier recognizes the significance of the demand for open access."

Trademarks - New Year, Clean Start; National Law Review, 12/28/16

Sterne Kessler, National Law Review; Trademarks - New Year, Clean Start:

"As 2016 draws to a close, now is the perfect time to slow down (or at least try), wrap up loose ends, and plan for the promise and possibility of a new year.

For businesses, the holidays are a particularly good time to take stock of assets and consider opportunities on the horizon.  And, because brand assets are among a business's most valuable properties, taking a year-end look at trademarks is a great way to ensure the portfolio is primed to work for the business in the coming year.   

Following are some tips to help kick-start an annual year-end trademark audit..."

Dark Skies for International Copyright: 2016 in Review; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 12/28/16

Jeremy Malcolm, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF);

Dark Skies for International Copyright: 2016 in Review:

"It's hard to imagine that a year ago we were celebrating "positive movement" towards reforms to European copyright law, expecting that the European Commission would be soon proposing new copyright exceptions and other measures to modernize Europe's aging copyright regime. Instead, what we got was a proposal to force user-generated content websites to do deals with copyright holders to scan and filter users' uploads, along with a proposal to give news publishers the power to impose a link tax on third-party websites such as news aggregators."

Facebook Developing Copyright ID System to Stem Music Rights Infringement; Billboard, 12/28/16

Dan Rys, Billboard; Facebook Developing Copyright ID System to Stem Music Rights Infringement:

"As Facebook continues to grapple with its role in proliferating "fake news" amidst the heated U.S. election this year, it has another showdown looming on the horizon -- this one with the music industry. In the wake of NMPA president/CEO David Israelite's op-ed in Billboard in October, in which he called out the social media giant for hosting videos with copyrighted music without securing licensing deals or paying creators, Facebook is working to develop a copyright identification system -- similar to YouTube's Content ID -- that would find and remove videos containing copyrighted music, a source tells Billboard. The story was first reported by the Financial Times."

When are trade secrets not so secret? When Florida’s governor says so; Miami Herald, 12/16/16

Mary Ellen Klas, Miami Herald; When are trade secrets not so secret? When Florida’s governor says so:

"“A contract with a public agency paid for with taxpayer money is not a trade secret,” he said. He noted that Pitbull’s lawyers argued that, but they were wrong.

“Just because somebody claims it’s a trade secret, doesn’t mean it is a trade secret.”"

These three 2016 cases gave new life to software patents; Ars Technica, 12/27/16

Joe Mullin, Ars Technica; These three 2016 cases gave new life to software patents:

"In 2014, the US Supreme Court dealt a major blow to software patents. In their 9-0 ruling in Alice Corp v. CLS Bank, the justices made it clear that just adding fancy-sounding computer language to otherwise ordinary aspects of business and technology isn't enough to deserve a patent.

Since then, district court judges have invalidated hundreds of patents under Section 101 of the US patent laws, finding they're nothing more than abstract ideas that didn't deserve a patent in the first place. The great majority of software patents were unable to pass the basic test outlined by the Supreme Court. At the beginning of 2016, the nation's top patent court had heard dozens of appeals on computer-related patents that were challenged under the Alice precedent. DDR Holdings v. Hotels.com was the only case in which a Federal Circuit panel ruled in favor of a software patent-holder. The Alice ruling certainly didn't mean all software patents were dead on arrival—but it was unclear what a software patent would need to survive. Even DDR Holdings left a teeny-tiny target for patent owners to shoot at.

That all changed in 2016. Judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found three more cases in which they believe that software patents were wrongly invalidated. What once looked like a small exception to the rule now looks like three big ones. The results of those cases could portend a coming year that will be friendlier to patent owners than the past few have been. As 2016 winds down, let's take a closer look at the details of these three software patent battles and how patent-holders kept their patents alive through the appeals court."

Apple and Nokia Battle Over Cellphone Patents; New York Times, 12/22/16

Vindu Goel and Mark Scott, New York Times; Apple and Nokia Battle Over Cellphone Patents:

"Central to the latest dispute between Apple and Nokia is what is a fair and reasonable fee to use Nokia technology that is now part of every smartphone. Patent lawyers say there has been a tradition of charging a modest royalty for patents on standard technologies. Previously, Nokia fought bitter legal battles with other smartphone makers, including Samsung and LG, over how they used its patents.

As Nokia seeks to require Apple to pay to license more of its patents, some of its recent claims may be hard to justify. In one of its lawsuits filed on Wednesday, it says Apple is violating a patent Nokia received two months ago for an electronic device case that includes a hole for a camera lens in the back and room for a battery beneath the display, features that have been common to smartphones for many years.

Still, Mr. Roberts said American courts have been skeptical of patent-related antitrust claims like those by Apple. “The whole point of the government granting these patents is that it was giving the inventor a monopoly over that invention,” he said.

But Apple and Nokia are fighters, and too much is at stake for either to give up easily.

“What is a fair return on technology that has been shared with everyone?” Mr. Brismark of Ericsson said. “You have to create the right incentives for tech pioneers.”"

Have Yourself a Merry Little 2017; New York Times, 12/24/16

Bruce Handy, New York Times; Have Yourself a Merry Little 2017:

"The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has used the original lyrics before, including on the 2015 album “Big Band Holidays,” so it’s not as if someone fished them out of the trunk 72 years later to make a tart postelection point. I’m also well aware that our current challenges pale in comparison to fighting a world war with civilization in the balance. Let’s say we are somewhere on a continuum between that and facing a move from St. Louis to New York. Still, I have to confess the “it may be your last” line captured my near-apocalyptic mood — and maybe yours as well.

But the lyric that moved me to tears is the line that follows “If the fates allow” (and remained in Martin’s final lyrics):

Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.

How prosaic, even homely as pre-rock era songwriting goes, and yet how perfect. Muddling through, somehow, may not sound particularly inspirational, but perseverance is often the best option at hand, when just moving forward, one inch or foot or yard at a time, can be a kind of heroism. At least that’s how it struck me listening to Ms. Russell, her deeply felt performance offering a subdued and cleareyed but still genuine optimism...

In “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the catalyst for a happy ending: Tootie’s backyard rampage prompts her father to change his mind about the move, and we cut to a dazzling climax at the 1904 World’s Fair, electric lights and handsome beaus suggesting a fine future for all. Happy endings seem a little more remote in 2016 — miles away, as they say, or at least as distant as the next election. In the meantime, we muddle through. It’s a start."