China Vies to Run U.N. Patent Office in Bid for Fifth Leadership; Reuters via The New York Times, March 4, 2020

Reuters via The New York Times; China Vies to Run U.N. Patent Office in Bid for Fifth Leadership

"A Chinese lawyer is one of two Asian favorites to head the world patent office, a post that would give Beijing its fifth U.N. leadership role and, according to its critics, an unprecedented level of influence over new technologies.

Voting opened on Wednesday at the 193-member Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which shapes global rules for intellectual property and oversees a patent system in which China and its firms, like telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, have a growing stake.

The Coordinating Committee, a group of 83 countries chaired by France, met behind closed doors to choose a nominee. Whoever is chosen needs to be confirmed at a general assembly in May...

WIPO members vote by secret ballot and campaign videos have not been made public."

The Fragile Nature of Trade Secrets: Clues from the Courts on How to Keep Them; IP Watchdog, March 1, 2020

Peter J. Toren, IP Watchdog; The Fragile Nature of Trade Secrets: Clues from the Courts on How to Keep Them

"Trade secrets have become an increasingly valuable asset to many companies, but compared to other types of intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks, they are extremely “fragile,” and require that an owner undertake as many steps as possible to protect their information and be vigilant about the need to protect such information to the fullest extent possible. The failure to do so may lead to a court’s finding in a misappropriation case that the information in question is not protectable as a trade secret. As described below, it is very easy for trade secrets to lose protection under a variety of circumstances, even where the owner has taken what it believes are “reasonable measures” as required for trade secret protection under 18 U.S.C. § 1839(3)(A. In short, authorities in this area teach that the more steps a party undertakes to protect its trade secrets, the more likely that a court will find those steps to constitute “reasonable measures.”"

Librarian of Congress Seeks Input on Register of Copyrights; The Library of Congress, March 2, 2020

Press Release, The Library of Congress;

Librarian of Congress Seeks Input on Register of Copyrights

"The public will have the opportunity to provide input to the Library of Congress on expertise needed by the next Register of Copyrights, the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, announced today.

Beginning today, March 2, a form to solicit this feedback is online and open to the public. The form will be posted through Friday, March 20.

• Public input form: https://www.loc.gov/about/librarian-of-congress-seeks-input-on-register-of-copyrights/
• Deadline for submitting comments: Friday, March 20, 2020

The Library of Congress will review all input and use it to help develop the knowledge, skills and abilities requirements for our announcement to fill the Register of Copyrights position.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services, and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register and record creative works of authorship at copyright.gov."

‘This Land Is Your Land’ Is Still Private Property, Court Rules; The New York Times, Febraury 28, 2020

Ben Sisario, The New York Times;

‘This Land Is Your Land’ Is Still Private Property, Court Rules

A federal judge shot down a challenge to the copyright of the Woody Guthrie folk anthem, blocking an attempt to put it in the public domain.

"First, “Happy Birthday to You” lost its copyright. Then “We Shall Overcome” became public domain as well.

But on Friday, Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” avoided what had been shaping up as a growing trend affecting the copyright owners of old songs, as the publishers of “This Land” defeated a challenge against it...

On Friday, Judge P. Kevin Castel of Federal District Court in Manhattan did not reach a decision on whether the song deserved to keep its copyright, because he said he didn’t have to. He ruled that there was no legal dispute for him to adjudicate: Satorii had already paid the license fee, and in exchange, the publisher had agreed to let Satorii do what it wanted with the song. The judge dismissed the case."

2019 IP Law Year in Review: Copyrights; The National Law Review, February 25, 2020

Jodi Benassi, Mary Hallerman, Nicole M. Jantzi, The National Law Review; 2019 IP Law Year in Review: Copyrights

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In many ways, copyright jurisprudence in 2019 was a study in contrasts. While certain cases represented a “back to basics” approach, answering fundamental questions such as “When can a copyright owner sue for copyright infringement?” and “What costs can a prevailing copyright owner recover?,” others addressed thorny issues involving fair use and the first sale doctrine.

In the wake of several pivotal copyright decisions involving the music industry in 2018, such as the watershed “Blurred Lines” verdict, disputes involving music continued to provide fuel for the courts to weigh in on copyright this year. As we look to 2020, all eyes will be on the Supreme Court and its decision in the epic battle between Google and Oracle and the protectability of software. This report provides a summary of 2019’s important copyright decisions with the hopes of assisting those navigating copyright infringement and enforcement issues in the coming year."

Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images Into Public Domain; Smithsonian Magazine, February 25, 2020

Katherine J. Wu , Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images Into Public Domain

"For the first time in its 174-year history, the Smithsonian has released 2.8 million high-resolution two- and three-dimensional images from across its collections onto an open access online platform for patrons to peruse and download free of charge. Featuring data and material from all 19 Smithsonian museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives and the National Zoo, the new digital depot encourages the public to not just view its contents, but use, reuse and transform them into just about anything they choose—be it a postcard, a beer koozie or a pair of bootie shorts.

And this gargantuan data dump is just the beginning. Throughout the rest of 2020, the Smithsonian will be rolling out another 200,000 or so images, with more to come as the Institution continues to digitize its collection of 155 million items and counting...

The database’s launch also marks the latest victory for a growing global effort to migrate museum collections into the public domain. Nearly 200 other institutions worldwide—including Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago—have made similar moves to digitize and liberate their masterworks in recent years. But the scale of the Smithsonian’s release is “unprecedented” in both depth and breadth, says Simon Tanner, an expert in digital cultural heritage at King’s College London.

Spanning the arts and humanities to science and engineering, the release compiles artifacts, specimens and datasets from an array of fields onto a single online platform."

The Phillies Unveil a New Phanatic as Lawyers Fight Over Mascot Copyright; The New York Times, February 24, 2020

Mihir Zaveri, The New York Times; The Phillies Unveil a New Phanatic as Lawyers Fight Over Mascot Copyright

"In court papers filed in August, the Phillies said that Harrison/Erickson, the New York-based design and marketing firm that worked on the mascot’s design in 1978, improperly wanted to terminate an agreement over the Phanatic’s copyright...

Josh Gerben, an intellectual property lawyer who is not involved in the litigation, said that the Phanatic’s new design was likely an attempt by the Phillies to show that they had changed the mascot enough over the years that it was no longer covered by Harrison/Erickson’s copyright.

He was surprised that the Phillies had not settled the case — a possible indication, he said, that Harrison/Erickson was asking for a large sum. If the case does go to trial, he said, it would be hard to predict what a jury would do."

Feds to US Firms: Watch Out for Employees Trying to Steal Trade Secrets for China; PC Mag, February 26, 2020

Michael Kan, PC Mag; Feds to US Firms: Watch Out for Employees Trying to Steal Trade Secrets for China

"“It’s not a spy versus spy game anymore,” said William Evanina, Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, during the panel. “This is the businessman, the engineer, the scientist, the student, the professor.”...

To stop the intellectual property theft, the feds are urging US companies to protect against insider threats, which can be spurred on both by foreign governments and domestic rivals, they noted. But the answer isn’t to profile employees or stop hiring staffers from certain countries, [John] Demers[US Assistant Attorney General for National Security] said. He suggests companies develop internal systems that can track when employees are accessing sensitive company files, which can help pinpoint when a IP theft might be occurring. For example, if a soon-to-be ex-staffer is suddenly accessing a huge trove of a confidential documents, the system should immediately flag the download to company administrators."

Universities And The Commercialization Of Intellectual Property; Forbes, February 25, 2020

Afshin Doust, Forbes; Universities And The Commercialization Of Intellectual Property

"Universities are, as McLuhan came to understand from his career as a professor, bureaucratic institutions -- risk-averse and prone to discriminate against whatever is politically incorrect. This characteristic is also true of modern research universities, glorified though they are as idea factories.

Administrators might talk up breakthroughs and research acumen, but a typical university will nevertheless direct its resources toward things other than the commercialization of innovations that emerge on campus. When business owners inquire about accessing those innovations, many schools hem and haw, unsure of how to proceed because “those who can’t do, teach,” all the while demanding concessions from the private sector that amount to administrators wanting to have their IP cake and eat it, too."

WIPO Publishes Submissions on AI and IP Policy; IP Watchdog, February 24, 2020

James Nurton, IP Watchdog; WIPO Publishes Submissions on AI and IP Policy

"Twenty-two member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), more than 100 organizations, and over 100 individuals have submitted comments and suggestions in response to WIPO’s Draft Issues Paper on IP Policy and AI.

The submissions have been posted in the form and in the languages in which they were received on WIPO’s website.

The comments will feed into a revised issues paper for discussion at the second session of the WIPO Conversation on IP and AI, which takes place in Geneva in May 2020."

The Real Cost Of Doing Business: Newport Gallery Owner Kristen Coates Sued For Copyright Infringement; Newport Buzz, February 17, 2020

Newport Buzz; The Real Cost Of Doing Business: Newport Gallery Owner Kristen Coates Sued For Copyright Infringement

"Newport, RI born artist Mia Tarducci is suing Bellevue Avenue art gallery owner Kristen Coates in federal court for copyright infringement revolving around a series of works that Coates produced that look eerily similar to works produced by Tarducci."

What Happens to Trade Secrets in a World Where Professor X & Mind Reading Are Real?; Escapist Magazine, February 2, 2020

Adam Adler, Escapist Magazine; What Happens to Trade Secrets in a World Where Professor X & Mind Reading Are Real?

"When it comes to trade secrets, though, the law is straightforward — at least in theory: Secrecy is good. The more mechanisms one uses to protect their trade secret, the harder it will be for one’s adversary to challenge the legitimacy of the trade secret protections."

The Lifecycle of Copyright: 1924 Works Enter the Public Domain; Library of Congress, February 20, 2020

Nicole Lamberson, Library of Congress; The Lifecycle of Copyright: 1924 Works Enter the Public Domain

"Last year, for the first time in twenty years, published creative works entered into the public domain in the United States. Works from 1923 saw their copyright terms end, meaning they were no longer subject to copyright protection. With the new year, works published in 1924 joined them.

The public domain is an important part of the lifecycle of copyright. The U.S. Constitution set the stage for Congress to pass copyright law protection for creative works, granting creators exclusive rights, subject to certain exceptions and limitations, for the use of their works. But, that control is not infinite. Just as significant is the Constitution’s assertion that those exclusive rights should only exist for “limited times.”

Once in the public domain, anyone can use a work without permission from the author. This often means that works in the public domain inspire the creation of new works, adaptations, derivatives, and more—which further enriches the cultural landscape of the country.

On January 1, 2020, thousands of historical and cultural works from 1924 entered the public domain in the United States. These are just a few of the notable highlights."

Empowering Young Entrepreneurs with Intellectual Property Education; The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property via PR Newswire, February 20, 2020

The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property via PR Newswire; Empowering Young Entrepreneurs with Intellectual Property Education

"The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (Michelson IP) is pleased to announce partnerships with two high school innovation programs, the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Los Angeles and TiE Oregon to support intellectual property (IP) education within their exceptional youth entrepreneurship programs. The collaborations, which mark Michelson IP's first foray into IP education for K-12 students, aim to empower young people to solve challenges with an entrepreneurial mindset and understand how to leverage IP to protect their budding new ventures. We're especially thrilled to work together in this effort as both TiE and NFTE serve and support students from under-resourced communities."

WIPO and U.S. Copyright Office Team Up to Talk Copyright in the Age of AI; IP Watchdog, February 17, 2020

Michelle Sara King, IP Watchdog; WIPO and U.S. Copyright Office Team Up to Talk Copyright in the Age of AI

"Earlier this month, the U.S. Copyright Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a joint event titled, “Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” (AI) at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The event explored how global copyright law and intellectual property law, as well as broader policy, may currently address AI technology, and included dialogue about changes that may be needed. Panelists also shared how AI is being utilized now and what future technology deployment and innovation may look like.

The event was part of a series of conversations organized by the U.S, Copyright Office and WIPO both in the United States and Europe, with the next conversation scheduled for May 11 and 12 in Geneva, Switzerland. The summit illustrated that AI presents unique opportunities for innovation, assuming intellectual property rights are respected, but questions remain in several areas, including whether machine learning is producing “original” work and whether the product of such software is inherently reproductive, derivative or the result of a system or process devoid of human action."

Protecting Your Most Valuable Assets: How to Identify and Maintain Your Institution’s Trade Secrets; The National Law Review, January 23, 2020

Frank Amini, Ph.D., Robert Shaddox, The National Law Review; Protecting Your Most Valuable Assets: How to Identify and Maintain Your Institution’s Trade Secrets

"An institution’s trade secrets can be its most valuable and prolonged assets.   However, institutions must take numerous steps in order to maintain the enforceability of their trade secrets.  Such steps include: (1) identifying the trade secrets; and (2) taking “reasonable measures” to maintain the secrecy of the trade secrets."

Why AI systems should be recognized as inventors; TNW, February 17, 2020

Thomas Macaulay, TNW; Why AI systems should be recognized as inventors

"Existing intellectual property laws don’t allow AI systems to be recognized as inventors, which threatens the integrity of the patent system and the potential to develop life-changing innovations.

Current legislation only allows humans to be recognized as inventors, which could make AI-generated innovations unpatentable. This would deprive the owners of the AI of the legal protections they need for the inventions that their systems create.

The Artificial Inventor Project team has been testing the limitations of these rules by filing patent applications that designate a machine as the inventor— the first time that an AI’s role as an inventor had ever been disclosed in a patent application."

On National Inventors’ Day, Celebrating IBM’s Innovators; Forbes, February 11, 2020

Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research, Forbes; On National Inventors’ Day, Celebrating IBM’s Innovators

"It all boils down to the culture, and the diverse global network of human beings who drive it. As Chieko Asakawa, who lost her eyesight at age 14 and went on to pioneer technologies that open the wonders of the Internet to visually impaired users, puts it: “IBM has a culture that respects each person’s own perspective. It’s a culture of listening, discussion and thinking about ideas together.”

Asakawa was recently inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for her work to create the Home Page Reader, a web-to-speech system, improving internet accessibility and usability for the visually impaired. 

“When I started working for IBM,” she reflects, “my blindness became my strength.”

And her strength—along with the talent of all her inventive colleagues—is one of IBM’s greatest assets."

Online auction to sell Hemingway and Kerouac typewriters, Samuel Colt gun patents; Hartford Courant, February 17, 2020

Kathleen McWilliams, Hartford Courant; Online auction to sell Hemingway and Kerouac typewriters, Samuel Colt gun patents

"Three 1830s patent documents for Hartford native Samuel Colt’s revolving cylinder guns are another notable item that will be auctioned off. The patents are valued between $40,000 and $50,000.

Bids will start at $13,000 for the patents for Colt’s Paterson Revolver No. 5 The guns achieved legendary status in the American West because they did not require their users to reload them after one shot."

CalTech wins $1.1 billion jury verdict in patent case against Apple, Broadcom; Reuters, January 29, 2020

Jan Wolfe, Stephen Nellis, Reuters; CalTech wins $1.1 billion jury verdict in patent case against Apple, Broadcom

"The California Institute of Technology said on Wednesday that it won a $1.1 billion jury verdict in a patent case against Apple (AAPL.O) and Broadcom (AVGO.O). 

In a case filed in federal court in Los Angeles in 2016, the Pasadena, California-based research university alleged that Broadcom wi-fi chips used in hundreds of millions of Apple iPhones infringed patents relating to data transmission technology."

Oracle Files Response To Google and API Copyright - We Are All Doomed; i-Programmer, February 17, 2020

Mike James, i-Programmer; Oracle Files Response To Google and API Copyright - We Are All Doomed

"If I invent an API, of course I want it to be copyright. If I use an API then the last thing I want is for it to be copyright."

Huge Job Fair at United States Patent & Trademark Office; Zebra, February 28-29, 2020

Mary Wadland, Zebra; Huge Job Fair at United States Patent & Trademark Office, February 28-29, 2020

USPTO is hiring hundreds of new examiners in 2020

"Are you ready to protect what’s next in American ingenuity? The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) is holding a job fair and hiring 100s of engineers to examine America’s patents in 2020!

Hundreds of Open Positions

The Patent Examiner Recruitment Open House event in Alexandria, VA (DC Metro Area) is designed to attract soon-to-be graduates and professionals with backgrounds in biomedical, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering by offering actionable information about job opportunities, salary, benefits, and how to apply to hundreds of open positions currently available in Alexandria, Virginia; San Jose, California; and Detroit. Even more positions will be opening up in the agency’s Rocky Mountain regional office in Denver later in the year...

Recruiters Will Be On Site

In addition to learning about the work of patent examination and hearing directly from those who love what they do, attendees will get a chance to speak one-on-one with recruiters who will review resumes and discuss qualifications.
The Alexandria job fair will take place at the Madison Building at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria. Day one will take place in the Global IP Academy (GIPA) and day two in the Clara Barton Auditorium. The dates are on Friday, February 28th, and Saturday, February 29th.

Walk-ins are welcome. Register now!"

Job Posting, Copyright Librarian in Circulation Department, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island

Job Posting, Copyright Librarian in Circulation Department, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island

"Don’t miss out on this opportunity to practice librarianship in this highly desirable location:  Newport, Rhode Island. The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) Library is hiring! The NWC Library invites applications for a newly created position as Copyright Librarian in the Circulation Department. Named in honor of Rear Admiral Henry Effingham Eccles, the Library recently adopted a Learning Commons model with the completion of a new, state-of-the-art, 86,000 square foot facility that brings together under one roof the Library, Writing Center, Information Resources Department (IT), Dean of Students, Café, and Bookstore.  The Copyright Librarian serves as a knowledgeable and service-oriented licensing and copyright professional who leads the copyright program for the NWC.  This includes performing a variety of functions and processes that relate to the implementation of copyright policy, formulation of procedures, licensing negotiation, workflows, and obtaining copyright permissions for all forms of published and unpublished materials requested by all NWC faculty and staff.

This federal (GS) position is open to all qualified U.S. citizens.  See USAJOBS announcement for requirements.  Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience; position includes a full federal benefits package.

Applications will be made online at USAJobs. USAJobs postings are typically open for only five days.  To find job openings at the Naval War College search on the keywords Naval War College or Newport Rhode Island. Individuals interested in this position can learn more about the application process by visiting USAJobs and can begin by creating their account and uploading their resume. 

The Naval War College is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer.

For additional information about the position please contact Lori Brostuen, Library Deputy Director at 401-841-2642 or email loribrostuen@usnwc.edu."

Steal This Intellectual Property; Reason, March 2020 Issue

Dierdre McCloskey, Reason; Steal This Intellectual Property

"I want you to steal what the lawyers self-interestedly call "intellectual property": Hoffman's book or my books or E=mc² or the Alzheimer's drug that the Food and Drug Administration is "testing" in its usual bogus and unethical fashion. I want the Chinese to steal "our" intellectual property, so that consumers worldwide get stuff cheaply. I want everybody to steal every idea, book, chemical formula, Stephen Foster lyric—all of it. Steal, steal, steal. You have my official economic permission. 

What?! A liberal (in the classical sense) wants people to steal? You bet. Here's why. An idea, after it is produced, has no opportunity cost."

U.S.-China Feud Ensnares Obscure UN Intellectual Property Agency; Bloomberg, February 16, 2020

Nick Wadhams, Bloomberg; U.S.-China Feud Ensnares Obscure UN Intellectual Property Agency

"“The race for WIPO leadership has become the moment the U.S. woke up to the fact China is eating our lunch in the multilateral system and that great-power competition will be fought out in many theaters, including UN agencies,” said Daniel Runde, the director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “WIPO may seem obscure, but it’s a standard-maker and holds hundreds of billions of our trade secrets in its digital vaults.”"

Coronavirus: The global race to patent a remedy; The Mercury News, February 13, 2020

Lisa M. Krieger, The Mercury News; Coronavirus: The global race to patent a remedy

"As a lethal coronavirus triggers a humanitarian crisis in the world’s most populous nation, who owns the rights to a potential cure?

The Bay Area’s pharmaceutical powerhouse Gilead Sciences is first in line for a Chinese patent for its drug called Remdesivir, which shows promise against the broad family of coronaviruses.

But now a team of Chinese scientists say they’ve improved and targeted its use — and, in a startling move, have also filed for a patent...

“Each side wants to be the entity that came up with the treatment for coronavirus,” said Jacob Sherkow, professor of law at the Innovation Center for Law and Technology at New York Law School. “This is not a knockoff of a Louis Vuitton handbag,”...

Patent protection — and market exclusivity — is the lifeblood of drug companies such as Gilead, creating the incentive to find, test and market a medicine."

Copyright could be the next way for Congress to take on Big Tech; The Verge, February 13, 2020

Adi Robertson, The Verge; Copyright could be the next way for Congress to take on Big Tech

"By the end of the year, Tillis — who chairs the Senate’s intellectual property subcommittee — plans to draft changes to the DMCA. He and co-chair Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) kicked off the process this week with an introductory hearing, speaking to eight legal experts and former congressional staffers. The hearing helped set the stage to re-fight some long-running battles over the balance between protecting copyrighted content and keeping the internet open — but at a time where internet companies are already facing a large-scale backlash.

The 1998 DMCA attempted to outline how copyright should work on the then-nascent internet, where you could almost freely and infinitely copy a piece of media. But it’s been widely criticized by people with very different stances on intellectual property."

WIPO Impact of Artificial Intelligence on IP Policy: Draft Issues Paper. (December 13, 2019). [Comments due by 2/14/20] 

WIPO Impact of Artificial Intelligence on IP Policy: Draft Issues Paper. (December 13, 2019). [Comments due by 2/14/20] 

WIPO and the US Copyright Office Examine Artificial Intelligence and, to Lesser Extent, Intellectual Property; Info Justice, February 11, 2020

Sean Flynn and Andres Izquierdo, Info Justice; WIPO and the US Copyright Office Examine Artificial Intelligence and, to Lesser Extent, Intellectual Property

"On February 5, 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) co-sponsored a well-attended event on Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The full-day event took an in-depth look at the development and operation of artificial intelligence (“AI”). It paid substantially less attention to the full range of intellectual property issues raised by this new field. 

The single-day event featured visual artists, audiovisual producers, music composers and executives, software developers, guilds of diverse artistic interests, people developing artificial intelligence, and (mostly perhaps) copyright lawyers." 

Why Is the U.S. Surrendering the Global IP System to China?; National Review, February 12, 2020

Tom Gionvanetti, National Review; Why Is the U.S. Surrendering the Global IP System to China?

"What a coup it will be for China to gain control over the global IP system at the same time that the U.S. is pressuring China over IP theft — and what a monumental miscalculation by those President Trump has trusted to further one of his key foreign-policy goals. Talk about playing the long game vs. the short game.

The election for WIPO’s top spot is on March 7. Candidates for the directorship remain from Japan, Singapore, and Colombia, and all of these would be superior choices from the perspective of the U.S. and other nations that create the kinds of innovative products that are targets of Chinese espionage and theft. But only immediate attention from the White House can prevent WIPO from becoming dominated by China, which would pose risks to the entire global IP system, and thus to U.S. security and innovation."