2018 National Trademark Exposition, Washington, D.C.: Photos and Observations

Kip Currier, 2018 National Trademark Exposition, Washington, D.C.: Photos and Observations

I attended the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's 2018 National Trademark Exposition, a free 2-day event held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (home of famous artifacts like Abe Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat and Judy Garland's Ruby Slippers), July 27-28, 2018.

I was fortunate to be able to attain registration for the two free Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars. 

The first CLE seminar, Who Owns You When You Are Dead?, was a revealing look at the not-widely-known-or-well-understood Right of Publicity, which can be particularly critical for tax implications and estate planning. The presenters discussed interesting examples involving the estates of Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Prince--who, unfortunately, died without a will! Not a good idea!

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, famed former NBA basketball player and best-selling author, spoke at the Opening Session, as well as USPTO leaders Andrei Iancu and Mary Boney Denison:

This session on Counterfeits and Cybercrime provided powerful examples of the impacts of counterfeit goods, such as defective airbags in cars and tainted medicines and drugs:

Brian Levine (speaking, in the above photo), Senior Counsel and National CHIP Coordinator with the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division, mentioned that defective Apple iPhone chargers have caused fires and electrocutions:

The International Trademark Association (INTA) had a booth giving attendees a chance to try to discern the fake good from the genuine good produced by the brand owner.

 In this pic, the counterfeit Uggs boot is...the one on the left (got that one correct!):

This Under Armour counterfeit-spotting test was harder. The grey backpack on the right is the genuine article. The giveaway, per the Under Armour paralegal with whom I chatted, is the higher quality ergonomic straps on the real backpack. Counterfeit goods frequently use inferior manufacturing elements. It can be really hard to spot the differences though, especially when a fake one and a real counterpart aren't side by side.

Interesting chat with several summer interns for NASA. NASA's Booth gave out these cool Inventor's Notebooks--with a great Thomas Edison quote on the back--and information on Open Source NASA Software and Patent licensing and use:

Displays by, in alphabetical order, the DC Roller Girls, Safeway, and Velcro:

I took a USPTO Trademark Examiner and a Trademark Attorney up on their offer to talk about soundmarks (e.g. the NBC chimes, MGM lion, Homer Simpson's D'Oh, and the Harlem Globetrotters theme), as well as smellmarks, like the recently registered smellmark for Playdoh.

The Mouseketeers cap, Coca Cola bottle, and Mrs. Butterworth's Maple Syrup bottle are memorable kinds of shapemarks: 

A woman working the Girl Scouts display shared with me a humorous "teachable moment": a USPTO attorney at the Expo informed her that one of the Girl Scout exhibits (which another employee had created) mistakenly described Juliette Gordon Low's application filed for a 1913 patent when it was actually a trademark:

It's an example that highlights widespread confusion between the four types of Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, and Trade Secrets).


A lifelong aficionado of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), thanks to many early trips with my family, I also visited their booth. This is their primary logo, the arrowhead:

This is their new "secondary logo", I was told:

And this is an example of the kinds of collaborations between the NPS and corporate partners:

My time at the 2018 National Trademark Expo was very informative and worthwhile. Metro got me around part of the time and I walked the rest--despite scooters, bikes, and cars ubiquitously available for rental:

And I also got to visit two great D.C. area bookstores, Politics and Prose (who had a booth at the Trademark Expo) and KramerBooks:

 

Intellectual property, not intellectual monopoly; Brookings, July 11, 2018

Zia Qureshi, Brookings; 

Intellectual property, not intellectual monopoly

"Editor's Note: This op-ed was originally published by Project Syndicate.

“The copyright and patent laws we have today look more like intellectual monopoly than intellectual property,” wrote Brink Lindsey and Steven Teles in their recent book about the U.S. economy. Concerns about overprotection of intellectual property acting as a barrier to innovation and its diffusion are not new. But they have gained greater salience now that knowledge has emerged as a dominant driver of economic activity and competitive advantage.

Digital technologies have enabled the emergence of an “intangible economy,” based on soft assets like algorithms and lines of code, rather than physical assets like buildings and machinery. In this environment, intellectual-property rules can now make or break business models and reshape societies, as they determine how economic gains are shared."

2018 National Trademark Exposition, July 27-28, 2018, Washington, D.C.

2018 National Trademark Exposition

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, will host the 2018 National Trademark Exposition.  The exposition is a free, family-friendly event where you can learn about trademarks.  It will feature educational workshops, exhibits and hands-on activities demonstrating the important role trademarks play in our economy and our lives. Children's activities, including scavenger hunts, interactive games, and trademark design workshops, will be offered both days.  Free continuing legal education (CLE) seminars will be offered for legal professionals.

Exhibitors

• 1000 Cranes, LLC
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
• DC Rollergirls
• Edible IP, LLC (DBA Edible Arrangements)
• Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital
• Global Brand Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• International Trademark Association (INTA)
• Looshes Labs LLC
• Microsoft
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Cente​

• National Park Service (United States Department of the Interior) and National Park Foundation
• NumbersAlive!
• Politics and Prose
• Safeway
• Segway Inc.
• Tenneco Automotive
• The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
• Under Armour, Inc.
• Velcro Companies 
• YMCA

Au Revoir, Droit de Suite—9th Circuit Narrows California Resale Royalty Act to a Single Year’s Sales; Lexology, July 9, 2018

Sullivan & Worcester LLP - Nicholas O'Donnell, Lexology; Au Revoir, Droit de Suite—9th Circuit Narrows California Resale Royalty Act to a Single Year’s Sales

[Kip Currier: A very savvy undergraduate student in a Pitt course for which I was guest lecturing on Patents and Trademarks earlier this month asked me about resale rights in the U.S. 

Timely article on recent developments, given my lecture yesterday on International Intellectual Property, moral rights, and the U.S.'s Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 too.]

"The idea of moral rights continues to be a notable difference between European and American intellectual property rights with respect to visual arts. Last week’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in a case brought by artist Chuck Close and others addressing the California Resale Royalty Act (the CRRA) underscores those distinctions. In holding that the CRRA is mostly preempted by federal copyright law and thus can be applied to entitle artists to secondary royalties only for sales of art in a single calendar year—1977—the 9th Circuit affirmed the skepticism with which American law continues to regard anything other than classic copyright. Given the failure of efforts to pass national legislation to provide for resale royalties, this decision is probably the end of the line for the foreseeable future in the U.S. for droit de suite, the term of art used to describe the concept."

South Africa’s Proposed Copyright Fair Use Right Should Be A Model For The World; Intellectual Property Watch, July 24, 2018

Intellectual Property Watch; South Africa’s Proposed Copyright Fair Use Right Should Be A Model For The World

[Kip Currier: I'm teaching 15 online students in my Intellectual Property and "Open" Movements course this Summer Term and posted this announcement on our Courseweb site today:


I highly recommend reading this article, especially as a capstone to the material we have explored this term and in conjunction with your reading of this course's final required text, Reclaiming Fair Use by Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi.

Questions to consider:

• What did you notice about fair use from reading the article?
• In what ways does U.S. fair use compare with South Africa's proposed fair use right?
• What are some ways that the proposed South Africa fair use right may impact copyright holders, users, and other stakeholders?
• Did you notice which persons and organizations are the authors of the article?
• How about that fair use is a "defense" in the U.S. and a "right" in the South African proposal?
• How does the proposed South African fair use right compare and contrast with the recent controversial European Union Copyright Directive?
• What else...?]

"Sean Flynn, American University Washington College of Law
Michael W. Carroll, American University Washington College of Law
Peter Jaszi, American University Washington College of Law
Ariel Katz, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
Leandro Mendonça, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Cultural Production Department
Diane Peters, Creative Commons Corporation (HQ)
Allan Rocha de Souza, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ)

In addition to a set of more open specific exceptions, the South Africa bill contains a well-crafted and unique general exception for “fair use.” The magic of the South African general exception is not in adopting the term “fair use.” The phrases “fair use” and “fair dealing” mean the same thing. The key change is the addition of “such as” before the list of purposes covered by the right, making the provision applicable to a use to a use for any purpose, as long as that use is fair to the author...

We believe that the South African proposal gets it just right. We commend its Parliament on both the openness of this process and on the excellent drafting of the proposed fair use clause. We are confident it will become a model for other countries around the world that seek to modernize their copyright laws for the digital age."

My terrifying deep dive into one of Russia's largest hacking forums; The Guardian, July 24, 2018

Dylan Curran, The Guardian; 

My terrifying deep dive into one of Russia's largest hacking forums

[Kip Currier: I had a similar reaction to the author of this article when I attended a truly eye-opening 4/20/18 American Bar Association (ABA) IP Law Conference presentation, "DarkNet: Enter at Your Own Risk. Inside the Digital Underworld". One of the presenters, Krista Valenzuela with the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell in West Trenton, New Jersey, did a live foray into the Dark Web. The scope of illicit activities and goods witnessed in just that brief demo was staggering and evoked a feeling that scenes of "black market" contraband and "bad actors" endemic to dystopian sci-fi fare like Blade Runner 2049 and Netflix's Altered Carbon are already part of the present-day real-world.]

"It’s fascinating to see how this community works together to take down “western” systems and derive chaos and profit from it. Typically, hackers in first-world countries are terrified to work together due to the multiplicative risk of a group being caught. In Russia, however, the authorities don’t seem to care that these hackers are wreaking havoc on the west. They are left to their own devices, and most users on this forum have been regular members for over six years.

A lot of the information on this forum is incredibly worrying, even if a lot of it is harmless 15-year-olds trying to be edgy and hack their friend’s phones. In any case, it’s important to know these communities exist. The dark underbelly of the internet isn’t going anywhere."

Native Tribes Can’t Shield Patents From USPTO Review; Intellectual Property Watch, July 21, 2018

Steven Seidenberg, Intellectual Property Watch; Native Tribes Can’t Shield Patents From USPTO Review

"The strategy was breathtaking in its boldness. Just days before the USPTO was to hear a challenge to Allergan Inc.’s patents on a dry-eye drug, Restasis, the company transferred those patents to a Native American tribe; the tribe then sought to dismiss the USPTO proceedings by asserting sovereign immunity. Following this action, a number of other patentees made similar transfers to Native tribes, in order to protect their patents. More patentees were poised to do so, should this ploy prove effective. It, however, did not. On 20 July, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the tribe’s sovereign immunity did not protect its patents from USPTO review. The ruling thus kept intact a key component of America’s patent system."

Farting unicorn row: artist reaches settlement with Elon Musk; The Guardian, July 21, 2018

Damien Gayle, The Guardian; Farting unicorn row: artist reaches settlement with Elon Musk

"A Colorado artist says he has reached a settlement with Elon Musk after challenging the Tesla tycoon’s use of a farting unicorn motif that he had drawn as an ironic tribute to electric cars.

Musk used the cartoon image on Twitter, without attribution, to promote his Tesla electric car range, and ignored Tom Edwards’ attempts to come to a licensing arrangement, telling the artist’s daughter it would be “kinda lame” to sue."

Two men charged with stealing more than $8 million in rare books from Carnegie Library; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 20, 2018

Paula Reed Ward, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Two men charged with stealing more than $8 million in rare books from Carnegie Library 

[Kip Currier: This is a deeply troubling "library theft" and "breach of the public trust" story, with enormous implications about ethics, management, leadership, and Board responsibility and oversight. It'll definitely be a case study in my courses at the University of Pittsburgh and in the ethics textbook I'm writing.

Reading the Perry Mason-esque True Crime-confessional details (e.g. Priore: "greed came over me. I did it, but Schulman spurred me on") in The Post-Gazette's front-page article brought to mind the oft-heard adage "Crime doesn't pay"--a favorite slogan of the FBI, starting in 1927, and then used in the comic strip Dick Tracy in 1931.] 


"It ranks as one of the largest library thefts in history.

Greg Priore, 61, of Oakland, who worked as the sole archivist and manager of the library’s rare book room since 1992, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, retail theft, library theft, criminal mischief and forgery.

John Schulman, 54, of Squirrel Hill, who owns Caliban Book Shop, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity, conspiracy, retail theft, theft by deception, forgery and deceptive business practices...

“Priore explained that he took a lot of maps and pictures – in all possibly 200 items – from the Oliver Room. Priore then stated ‘You got me, I screwed up.’ He also stated, ‘Please tell [library executive director] Mary Frances [Cooper] I am sorry and I let the whole place down.’”"

Lawyers for Velcro use music video to offer thanks for angry feedback on trademark plea; ABA Journal, June 12, 2018

Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal;

Lawyers for Velcro use music video to offer thanks for angry feedback on trademark plea

[Kip Currier: Interesting to see this "music video about a trademark plea" by VELCRO Brand Fasteners. During a guest lecture on Trademarks and Patents for undergraduate students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information earlier this week, I mentioned VELCRO as an example of a company trying to avoid the fate of becoming a "generic mark" through "genericide".

As Tom Kulik writes in a 7/2/18 article, "Losing Your Brand Identity: How To Commit Trademark Genericide Without Really Trying", for Above The Law, "acceptance that rises to the level of identification with the specific good or service (as opposed to the source of such goods or services) is the death knell for trademarks."  

Examples of generic marks include Aspirin, cellophane, escalator, trampoline, and zipper.

I first became aware of VELCRO's genericide-avoidance efforts when I spoke with a VELCRO Representative working at the company's booth for the 2016 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's National Trademark Expo in Washington, D.C. I was able to find in my 2016 National Trademark Expo Swag Bag the informational pamphlet VELCRO passed out at the Expo:

   
I was invited by the VELCRO Rep to take the VELCRO Hook and Loop Challenge...

Using 3 different types of VELCRO of varying strength...

VELCRO Samples, 2016 USPTO National Trademark Expo, (c) James "Kip" Currier

The back of the pamphlet and the VELCRO Rep explained the varied uses for which the different types of VELCRO are deployed...

I mentioned that I teach IP Law at Pitt and the VELCRO Rep nicely gave me 3 samples to take back to show.  

The white-and-green-striped VELCRO rolls (in the upper right section of the above photo of the 3 samples) are freebie samples that the VELCRO booth persons were also passing out to National Trademark Expo attendees.]

"Those aren’t lawyers on Velcro Companies’ new music video thanking the public for its angry feedback. They are actors playing lawyers.

But in-house lawyers were involved in the making of the video, Corporate Counsel reports. And they believe the company’s “Don’t Say Velcro” campaign has been successful, even if some people did have a negative, F-bomb-loaded reaction to its plea to save its trademark.

Velcro wants people to use VELCRO® Brand (as an adjective, as in “VELCRO® Brand fasteners) when referring to its product, and to use “hook and loop” when referring to scratchy, hairy fasteners made by other companies.

Velcro released an initial video last September in which actors playing lawyers explain in song that the Velcro patent has lapsed and the company will lose its trademark if the word is used to refer to all hook-and-loop fasteners. Some actual in-house lawyers also made appearances in the original video."

“We’re asking you not to say a name it took 50 plus years to build,” one character sings. “But if you keep calling these Velcro shoes, our trademark will get killed.”"

New Tool for Open-Access Research; Inside Higher Ed, July 9, 2018

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed; New Tool for Open-Access Research

"A new search engine that aims to connect nonacademics with open-access research will be launched this fall.

Get the Research will connect the public with 20 million open-access scholarly articles. The site will be built by Impactstory -- the nonprofit behind browser extension tool Unpaywall -- in conjunction with the Internet Archive and the British Library."

IBM wants $167M from Groupon over alleged patent infringement; CNet, July 17, 2018

Marrian Zhou, CNet; IBM wants $167M from Groupon over alleged patent infringement

"IBM asked a jury on Monday to award the company $167 million in a lawsuit against deals site Groupon for using patented technology without authorization, according to Reuters.

IBM's lawyer reportedly said in federal court in Delaware that Groupon infringed patents involving e-commerce technology that had already been licensed to Amazon, Facebook and Google for between $20 million and $50 million per company.

"Most big companies have taken licenses to these patents," said IBM lawyer John Desmarais, according to Reuters. "Groupon has not. The new kid on the block refuses to take responsibility for using these inventions."

Groupon's lawyer reportedly argued that IBM exceeded the coverage of its patents and claimed ownership of fundamentals of the internet."

Fans howl over taking down World Cup Twitter posts for copyright issues; NBC News, July 14, 2018

Francis Whittaker, NBC News;

Fans howl over taking down World Cup Twitter posts for copyright issues

 

"The removal of Conn’s tweet created a minor tabloid furor in the U.K.

It also raised broader questions about how effectively accusations of copyright infringement are enforced on digital platforms, and whether such notices — and the filter technologies that are likely behind them — take into account copyright exceptions and fair use of material."

Former Apple employee charged with theft of autonomous-vehicle trade secrets; CNet, July 10, 2018

Kyle Hyatt, CNet;

Former Apple employee charged with theft of autonomous-vehicle trade secrets

 

"The US government has filed charges of theft of trade secrets against a former member of Apple's self-driving car team, according to MacRumors.

The former employee, Xiaolang Zhang, was arrested Saturday in San Jose, California, while attempting to fly to China and was questioned by the FBI regarding the alleged theft of Apple's intellectual property. According to a criminal complaint filed Monday in federal court, Zhang confessed to the theft. Zhang could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the court filing, Zhang was hired in 2015 to work on Apple's self-driving car project designing and testing circuit boards that would analyze sensor data."

Is ‘Balanced Intellectual Property’ Code For ‘Anti-Intellectual Property’?; Above The Law, June 28, 2018

Krista L. Cox, Above The Law;

Is ‘Balanced Intellectual Property’ Code For ‘Anti-Intellectual Property’?

 

"The copyright and patent system in the United States acknowledges both the need to incentivize innovation as well as the need for public access. It is a utilitarian view that promotes further creation. Advocating for a system that incentivizes the creator or inventor while simultaneously protecting the interest of the public isn’t an anti-intellectual property stance, it’s one that encourages more creative works and innovations."

After trademark dispute, Voodoo Brewery relaunches Pitt-themed beer with tongue-in-cheek name; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 12, 2018

Adam Bittner, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; After trademark dispute, Voodoo Brewery relaunches Pitt-themed beer with tongue-in-cheek name

"The West Coast-style India Pale Ale’s original branding was scuttled just days after its seasonal distribution to coincide with football season began last fall. Pitt attorneys contacted the brewery to contest the use of university-owned marks including the Cathedral of Learning and script lettering on the packaging, and Meadville-based Voodoo promptly began stripping labels off of cans to comply."

U.S. Postal Service must pay $3.5 million after confusing Statue of Liberty with ‘sexier’ Las Vegas replica; The Washington Post, July 7, 2018

Avi Selk, The Washington Post;

U.S. Postal Service must pay $3.5 million after confusing Statue of Liberty with ‘sexier’ Las Vegas replica

"Last week, a federal judge ordered the Postal Service to pay the statue’s creator $3.5 million for exploiting the sculpture without permission or consent.

So much for love stories.

When thing started to go bad, some people blamed the statue.

More exactly, they blamed the artist, Robert S. Davidson. He sued for copyright infringement in 2013, claiming that the Postal Service had sold billions of the stamps, even after the government realized it had confused an image of his plaster sculpture at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for the 19th-century stone-and-copper behemoth off the shore of the real New York."

Europe's copyright plan: Why was it so controversial?; BBC, July 5, 2018

BBC; Europe's copyright plan: Why was it so controversial?

"What happens next?

The proposed directive is due to be revisited in September, with a European Parliament debate and possible changes.

It's not yet known whether Articles 11 and 13 will be removed or amended.

If eventually adopted by the European Parliament, the directive will be sent to the EU Council, which also has to approve it - a process that could take months.

Usually, the Parliament and the Council agree - but if they don't, they'll form a committee to try and reach consensus.

Once they've both agreed and approved the directive, it has to be put into law by every member state on a country-by-country basis, in a process the EU calls transposition.

That can take a year or two, as each country navigates its own legal and parliamentary system."

Judge Orders Chinese Wind-Turbine Maker To Pay $59 Million For Stealing Trade Secrets; NPR, July 6, 2018

Jim Zarroli, NPR; Judge Orders Chinese Wind-Turbine Maker To Pay $59 Million For Stealing Trade Secrets

"A federal judge has ordered China's largest wind-turbine firm, Sinovel, to pay $59 million for stealing trade secrets from a Massachusetts-based technology company.

Last January, Sinovel was found guilty of stealing trade secrets in federal criminal court in Madison, Wis. The company paid an Austria-based employee of American Superconductor Corp. to steal its source code for software that powered wind turbines.

This kind of intellectual property theft has been highlighted by the Trump administration as a reason for levying 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods entering the U.S., which began on Friday. China retaliated with tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. goods."

California Can Lead the Way in Open Access; Electronic Frontier Foundation, June 11, 2018

Elliot Harmon, Electronic Frontier Foundation; California Can Lead the Way in Open Access

"There’s a bill in the California legislature that would be a huge win for open access to scientific research. The California Assembly recently passed A.B. 2192 unanimously. We hope to see it pass the Senate soon, and for other states to follow California’s lead in passing strong open access laws.

Under A.B. 2192, all peer-reviewed, scientific research funded by the state of California would be made available to the public no later than a year after publication. Under current law, research funded by the California Department of Public Health is covered by an open access law, but that provision is set to expire in 2020. A.B. 2192 would extend it indefinitely and expand it to cover research funded by any state agency."

Tech Giants Win a Battle Over Copyright Rules in Europe; The New York Times, July 5, 2018

Adam Satariano, The New York Times; Tech Giants Win a Battle Over Copyright Rules in Europe

"It’s a fight nearly as old as the internet.

On one side are news organizations, broadcasters and music companies that want to control how their content spreads across the web, and to be paid more for it. On the other are tech companies such as Facebook and Google, which argue that they funnel viewers and advertising revenue to media outlets, and free-speech advocates, who say that regulating the internet would set a dangerous precedent and limit access to information.

That battle flared up in Europe on Thursday. Two powerful industries faced off — technology against media, platforms against publishers — in an unusually aggressive lobbying campaign in the European Parliament over a bill that would impose some of the world’s strictest copyright laws, which would have required tech companies to filter out unlicensed content and pay for its use.

On this occasion, tech prevailed; the proposal was voted down."

Equity pending: Why so few women receive patents; The Christian Science Monitor, July 2, 2018

E'oin O'Carroll, The Christian Science Monitor; Equity pending: Why so few women receive patents

"The causes for the gender gap are varied and complex, but much of it can be explained by women’s underrepresentation in patent-intensive jobs, particularly engineering. Research shows women make up roughly 20 percent of graduates from engineering schools, but hold less than 15 percent of engineering jobs. Female engineering grads are not entering the field at the same rate as their male counterparts, and they are leaving in far greater numbers.

“It’s the climate,” says Nadya Fouad, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “The organizational environment is very unforgiving.”

Professor Fouad, who spent three years surveying women with engineering degrees about their career choices, cites inflexible schedules, a lack of opportunities for advancement, and incivility toward women. “It’s not the women’s fault,” she says, noting that she found no difference in levels of confidence in those who stayed and those who left.

Other barriers women face are an absence of supportive social networks and implicit bias on the part of venture capitalists."

The EU's dodgy Article 13 copyright directive has been rejected; Wired, July 5, 2015

James Temperton, Wired; The EU's dodgy Article 13 copyright directive has been rejected

"The European Parliament has voted against a controversial proposed new copyright law that critics warned could imperil a free and open internet.

The Copyright Directive, which contained the particularly concerning Article 13, was rejected by 318 votes to 278, with 31 abstentions. The EU’s proposed copyright reforms will now be debated again in September, giving policymakers more time to discuss and refine the crucial dossier...

The rejected proposals would have placed far greater responsibility on individual websites to check for copyright infringements. It gained the support of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, while Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, warned it threatened internet freedom."

Kitty Pryde Owns the Trademark on the X-Men; Bleeding Cool, July 4, 2018

Rich Johnston, Bleeding Cool; Kitty Pryde Owns the Trademark on the X-Men

"The X-Men own their own trademark, at least as far as it goes to creating superhero teams known as the X-Men. Which does suggest they could have sued the likes of X-Force, X-Factor, or other knock-off teams if they had wanted. Also…

…it looks like the trademark was registered by Charles Xavier and passed to Kitty when he died. Now that he is back as X — will he want the trademark back too? Registration Wars coming to a summer event near you soon…"

WIPO Marrakesh Treaty On Copyright Exceptions For Blind Readers Clears US Senate; Intellectual Property Watch, June 29, 2018

Intellectual Property Watch; WIPO Marrakesh Treaty On Copyright Exceptions For Blind Readers Clears US Senate

"The World Intellectual Property Organization Marrakesh Treaty on copyright exceptions enabling international access to published works by blind and print-disabled readers was ratified this week by the United States Senate, putting it one step closer to final ratification in the country.  

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print-Disabled was agreed in 2013.

On 28 June, the full US Senate ratified treaty and passed implementing legislation to amend Title 17 accordingly, the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S. 2559).

The implementing legislation now goes to the US House of Representatives, and then on to the President, according to the bill summary. The US will then have to prepare and deposit its instrument of ratification to WIPO."

A trademark can protect that clever slogan; Houston Chronicle, July 2, 2018

Jacqueline Taylor, Houston Chronicle; A trademark can protect that clever slogan

"Q: I’ve come up with a catchy and distinctive slogan for my new small business, and I’d like to make sure no one else uses it. Would a trademark legally protect it?

A: Good timing on your question. The UH Bauer College Small Business Development Center is offering a special workshop on “Protecting Your Business With Trademarks” from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on July 17. It will provide the answer and walk you through the process. You’ll learn how a strong trademark can not only protect your brand but also help customers find your business.

The workshop will be led by Anne Cullotta of the Culotta Law Firm. Register for the $29 class, which will be held at the SBDC’s Midtown office on Fannin Street, at sbdc.uh.edu.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website, uspto.gov, also is a helpful resource. Find a detailed explanation of the trademark process; an explanation of the difference between patent, trademark and copyright protection; and the difference between registering a domain name, business name and trademark. The information will help you determine if trademark protection is what you’re looking for and what the process entails.

You should be aware that there’s a difference between what’s known as a “common law” trademark and a federally registered trademark."

The marvellous world of superhero licensing ; Lexology, June 26, 2018

Amanda Morton - Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick, Lexology;

The marvellous world of superhero licensing

 "The manner by which each studio dealt with Quicksilver ended up being an intriguing case study in how shared IP rights in elements of a character could be similarly depicted in two separate media entities." 

Elon Musk drawn into farting unicorn dispute with potter; The Guardian, June 27, 2018

Sam Levin, The Guardian; Elon Musk drawn into farting unicorn dispute with potter 

[Kip Currier: Given the facts as presented in this article (and knowing that the U.S. only recognizes "moral rights" vis-a-vis the very narrow Visual Artists Right Act [VARA]), is there anyone who still doesn't think that at the very least the "decent" thing to do would have been for Elon Musk/Tesla to provide attribution (let alone some kind of compensation) when repeatedly using Tom Edwards' image? Imagine if the situation were reversed and someone was using Elon Musk's "original expressions" without attribution.]

"Edwards said he wanted to speak out in part because he often hears similar stories from artists. “I realize my farting unicorn is not as serious as whistleblowers,” he said, “but honestly, it’s all about integrity.”

He added: “I’d really like to get on Elon Musk’s good side … He’s really really interesting. But he isn’t above copyright law.""

Indigenous Knowledge Databases: Is It Something To Be Concerned About?; Intellectual Property Watch, June 28, 2018

Adithi Koushik, Intellectual Property Watch; Indigenous Knowledge Databases: Is It Something To Be Concerned About?

"Almost all information today ends up in a database. It is organised and made readily accessible. While it sounds positive, for indigenous communities, it can be crucial. Databases of their knowledge, culture and genetic resources, if misused, can undermine generations of community effort and maybe even their sustainability. A panel of indigenous peoples’ representatives presented their concerns about databases this week to governments attending a World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on genetic resources.  

The discussion in the Indigenous Panel at the 36^th round of the Intergovernmental Committee at WIPO, held between 25^th and 29^th of June, centered on the collection of material for, administration and use of databases and contracts."

Intellectual property basics for startups: trade secrets; DLA Piper via Lexology, June 27, 2018

Victoria Lee, DLA Piper via Lexology; Intellectual property basics for startups: trade secrets

"The crown jewels of a typical technology company are often found in its intellectual property portfolio. Having a good basic understanding of intellectual property protection is essential for entrepreneurs to extract value out of their company’s key assets and manage opportunities and risk arising from them. Among these key assets is the trade secret.

Our colleague Victoria Lee outlines what startups need to know about trade secrets in this article."

Apple, Samsung Declare Peace in Biggest Modern Tech Patent Fight; Bloomberg, June 27, 2018

Susan Decker, Mark Gurman, Joel Rosenblatt, Bloomberg; Apple, Samsung Declare Peace in Biggest Modern Tech Patent Fight

 

"The biggest patent battle of the modern technology world has finally come to an end after seven years.

 

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. told a judge Wednesday they’d resolved the first filed but last remaining of the legal disputes that once spanned four continents. The string of lawsuits started in 2011 after Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder who died that year, threatened to go “thermonuclear” on rivals that used the Android operating system. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the accord.

 

While the overall Smartphone Wars included every major maker of mobile devices, the fight between Apple and Samsung was the most intense. Apple accused Samsung of “slavishly” copying the iPhone design, while a Samsung lawyer once called Apple a “jihadist.” The ensuing litigation cost each company hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, and tested their reputations as innovators."

Infamous 'Dancing Baby' copyright battle settled just before YouTube tot becomes a teen; The Register, June 27, 2018

Kieren McCarthy, The Register; Infamous 'Dancing Baby' copyright battle settled just before YouTube tot becomes a teen

"In the Ninth Circuit ruling – which is the one that will now hold until another appeals court takes on the topic and/or the Supreme Court decides to revisit the issue in future – the court said that a copyright holder is obliged to consider whether the content they are planning to send a DMCA notice to is legal under the fair use doctrine.

 Which is great. Except the court also decided that the rightsholder is entitled to reach the decision of whether that is true or not entirely by themselves.

Which on one level provides a sort of equilibrium but on the other means that it is inevitable that there will be lots of future court cases as people argue all over again about what is fair use.

 In other words, this 11-year court battle has not really resolved anything and we can expect to see another one on the exact same topic soon."