Senate Approves Kathi Vidal for Patent and Trademark Office; Bloomberg Law, April 5, 2022

 Samantha Handler, Bloomberg Law; Senate Approves Kathi Vidal for Patent and Trademark Office

"Kathi Vidal, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote on Tuesday.

Vidal is the second woman to hold the dual roles of under secretary of Commerce for intellectual property and USPTO director. She brings experience as a litigator who’s been on both sides of patent disputes, most recently as managing partner of Winston & Strawn LLP’s Silicon Valley office.

She’s also the first Senate-confirmed director since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year in United States v. Arthrex Inc. that the patent office leader has the power to overturn decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a tribunal that reviews the validity of issued patents...

With a permanent leader, the PTO could also provide guidance on issues such as patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act and proposed policy changes on patents essential to industry standards, retired Federal Circuit Judge Kathleen O’Malley told Bloomberg Law in March. 

Additionally, Vidal will have the opportunity to move forward policy to increase the number of women and minority patent attorneys in patent tribunal appearances, and oversee the PTO’s ongoing efforts to increase gender and racial diversity in inventorship."

After 61 Years, McDonald's Just Revealed Some Big Plans That Nobody Could Have Predicted; Inc., April 2022

BILL MURPHY JR., Inc.; 

After 61 Years, McDonald's Just Revealed Some Big Plans That Nobody Could Have Predicted

A lot has changed since May 4, 1961.

"This is a story about McDonald's, trademarks, and the metaverse--plus, how to find good ideas for your business with almost no effort.

Let's start by explaining where to look: Go to the website for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Click through to the Trademark Electronic Search System.

Then, look up your competitors. Or else, search for companies that strike you as innovative and creative, or that are big enough to invest a lot into research and design and marketing.

You might be amazed at what you'll find."

Three Ways Meghan Markle Shows Us That Copyright Registration Is for Everyone; The Library of Congress, March 31, 2022

Ashley Tucker, The Library of Congress; Three Ways Meghan Markle Shows Us That Copyright Registration Is for Everyone

"You are a creator. You are a copyright owner. You are a user of copyright. Copyright law encourages all walks of human life to express their creativity. Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, is a prime example of just how wide copyright law’s inclusivity stretches and proves that registration is within reach for all of us.

Here are three ways Meghan Markle shows us that copyright registration is truly for everyone:"

Sound familiar? Taking songwriters to court; CBS News, April 3, 2022

CBS News; Sound familiar? Taking songwriters to court

"Sound familiar? Taking songwriters to court

When two songs share a melody, some chords, or even just a vibe, can the songwriter be taken to court? Correspondent David Pogue looks at how music copyrights have become an increasingly disharmonious area of litigation."

How a Dracula Lawsuit Helped Create the Modern Vampire; CBR, April 2, 2022

 CARLOS T. LOPES, CBR; How a Dracula Lawsuit Helped Create the Modern Vampire

"Dracula and the elements that make a vampire didn't all come from Bram Stoker's novel. After Nosferatu first premiered in Germany, exactly 100 years ago, Florence Stoker, the author's widow, attempted to sue the filmmakers over a freely adapted script, later creating a copyright lawsuit nightmare that almost killed the movie. The aura around this subject fascinated audiences and artists, which created the lore that defines modern vampires today."

She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit.; The New York Times, March 31, 2022

Eric Lipton and Maggie Haberman , The New York Times; She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit.

"There is no legal prohibition on Mr. Trump assembling and publishing photographs that a White House staff member took during his tenure; under federal law, those photographs are considered in the public domain and not subject to copyright. There is a public Flickr account, now managed by the National Archives, that has 14,995 photos from the Trump White House, a third of them listing Ms. Craighead as the photographer."

Open source intelligence observers gain growing role in how war is viewed; Stars and Stripes, March 29, 2022

ALISON BATH, Stars and Stripes ; Open source intelligence observers gain growing role in how war is viewed

"Citizen intelligence analysts are spotlighting the Russian navy’s role in its war on Ukraine, using publicly available information to report on missile launches, blockades and other actions in the Black and Mediterranean seas.

The information gathered using open-source intelligence, or OSINT, offers a glimpse into Russia’s maritime war activities and sometimes challenges information released by government sources.

Dozens of private citizens are parlaying their prior military experience, specialized knowledge of the Russian navy and online information-mining skills into robust, almost-real-time coverage of Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began Feb. 24."

Even in the digital age, Only human-made works are copyrightable in the U.S.; March 21, 2022

 K&L Gates LLP - Susan Kayser and Kristin Wells , Lexology; Even in the digital age, Only human-made works are copyrightable in the U.S. 

"The U.S. Copyright Office Review Board refused copyright protection of a two-dimensional artwork created by artificial intelligence, stating that “[c]urrently, ‘the Office will refuse to register a claim if it determines that a human being did not create the work,’” see recent letter. The Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices does not explicitly address AI, but precedent, policy, and practice makes human authorship currently a prerequisite.

A “Creativity Machine,” authored the work titled “A Recent Entrance into Paradise.” The applicant, Steven Thaler, an advocate for AI IP rights, named himself as the copyright claimant. Thaler’s application included a unique transfer statement: “ownership of the machine,” and further explained that the work “was autonomously created by a computer algorithm running on a machine.” Thaler sought to register the work as a work-for-hire because he owns the Creativity Machine.

AI’s “kill switch” at the U.S. Copyright Office? AI isn’t human. The Review Board relied on the Office’s compendium of practices and Supreme Court precedent dating back to 1879—long before computers were a concept—to hold that the U.S. Copyright Office will not register a claim if it determines that a human being did not create the work.

The Review Board also denied Thaler’s argument that the work made for hire doctrine allows non-human persons like companies to be authors of copyrighted material. The Board explained that works made for hire must be prepared by “an employee” or by “parties” who “expressly agree in a written instrument” that the work is for hire.

Because Thaler did not claim any human involvement in the work, the Board did not address under which circumstances human involvement in machine-created works might meet the statutory requirements for copyright protection. This is an issue that may soon arise."

Online Copyright Piracy Debate Ramps Up Over Proposed Legal Fix; Bloomberg Law, March 23, 2022

Riddhi Setty, Bloomberg Law; Online Copyright Piracy Debate Ramps Up Over Proposed Legal Fix

"Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee, recently proposed the SMART (Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies) Copyright Act of 2022, which aims to hold service providers accountable for fighting copyright theft."

A professor found his exam questions posted online. He’s suing the students responsible for copyright infringement.; The Washington Post, March 16, 2022

Jaclyn Peiser, The Washington Post ; A professor found his exam questions posted online. He’s suing the students responsible for copyright infringement.

"Now, Berkovitz is suing the unknown students from the Orange, Calif., university for copyright infringement. In a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the professor alleges the students “infringed Berkovitz’s exclusive right to reproduce, make copies, distribute, or create derivative works by publishing the Midterm Exam and Final Exam on the Course Hero website without Berkovitz’s permission.”"

"Finding Owners of Copyright"; Indiana University Bloomington Libraries

From IU Libraries: "Finding Owners of Copyright...

The online database Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders is a guide run by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Reading to identify owners and contact information of copyright holders.  For example, it reveals that Sylvia Plath's copyrights are owned by her estate, which is represented by the London publisher of Faber & Faber."

U.S. Copyright Office Joins Message on International Women’s Day 2022; U.S. Copyright Office, Issue No. 948, March 8, 2022

U.S. Copyright Office, Issue No. 948 ; U.S. Copyright Office Joins Message on International Women’s Day 2022

"The U.S. Copyright Office has joined with national and regional intellectual property offices from around the world as well as with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to issue a message in support of women creators and innovators. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “Gender Equality for a Sustainable Tomorrow.”"

ResearchGate dealt a blow in copyright lawsuit; Nature, March 4, 2022

Diana Kwon, Nature; ResearchGate dealt a blow in copyright lawsuit

"A landmark court case in which two major academic publishers sued the popular website ResearchGate for hosting 50 of their copyrighted papers has come to a close — although both sides say that they will appeal. The court in Munich, Germany, has not only prohibited ResearchGate from hosting the papers, but also ruled that it is responsible for copyright-infringing content uploaded on its platform. The decision has the potential to set a precedent for further restrictions on the site, which has 20 million users worldwide."

David Boggs, Co-Inventor of Ethernet, Dies at 71; The New York Times, February 28, 2022

 Cade Metz, The New York Times; David Boggs, Co-Inventor of Ethernet, Dies at 71

Thanks to the invention he helped create in the 1970s, people can send email over an office network or visit a website through a coffee shop hot spot.

"David Boggs, an electrical engineer and computer scientist who helped create Ethernet, the computer networking technology that connects PCs to printers, other devices and the internet in offices and homes, died on Feb. 19 in Palo Alto, Calif...

Before becoming the dominant networking protocol, Ethernet was challenged by several other technologies. In the early 1980s, Mr. Metcalfe said, when Mr. Boggs took the stage at a California computing conference, at the San Jose Convention Center, to discuss the future of networking, a rival technologist questioned the mathematical theory behind Ethernet, telling Mr. Boggs that it would never work with large numbers of machines.

His response was unequivocal. “Seems Ethernet does not work in theory,” he said, “only in practice.”"

Moderna faces new lawsuit over lucrative coronavirus vaccine; The Washington Post, February 28, 2022

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Christopher Rowland, The Washington Post; Moderna faces new lawsuit over lucrative coronavirus vaccine

"Moderna faces yet another patent challenge over its coronavirus vaccine after Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences, both small biotechnology companies, filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging Moderna hijacked its technology to develop the multibillion-dollar vaccine."

PRH, Internet Archive Clash Over ‘Maus’; Publishers Weekly, February 15, 2022

Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly; PRH, Internet Archive Clash Over ‘Maus’

"However, Lisa Lucas, senior v-p and publisher of Pantheon Schocken, the PRH division which publishes Maus, denies the allegation. In response, Lucas emphatically denied the claim. “That is not true,” she said, framing the issue around copyright concerns rather than consumer demand. “Art Spiegelman has never consented to an e-book of Maus," Lucas said. "Therefore, PRH asked the Internet Archive to remove the PDF and stop pirating Maus because it violates Art Spiegelman’s copyright.”

Although best known for its collection of public domain titles, the Internet Archive also offers a lending library of more than 2 million modern titles “not in the public domain,” Freeland said. IA offers digital lending of these titles under a controversial policy called Controlled Digital Lending, or CDL, in which IA scans the book and lends out a PDF of the title, one copy per lender at a time, much like a physical book.

In June 2020, four publishers, including PRH, filed a lawsuit against the IA charging it with copyright infringement. The case is still working its way through the courts."

You can’t copyright AI-created art, according to US officials; Engadget; February 21, 2022

K. Holt, Engadget; You can’t copyright AI-created art, according to US officials

"The US Copyright Office has once again denied an effort to copyright a work of art that was created by an artificial intelligence system. Dr. Stephen Thaler attempted to copyright a piece of art titled A Recent Entrance to Paradise, claiming in a second request for reconsideration of a 2019 ruling that the USCO's “human authorship” requirement was unconstitutional.

In its latest ruling, which was spotted by The Verge, the agency accepted that the work was created by an AI, which Thaler calls the Creativity Machine. Thaler applied to register the work as "as a work-for-hire to the owner of the Creativity Machine.”"

Court Blocks Maryland’s Library E-book Law; Publishers Weekly, February 16, 2022

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly; Court Blocks Maryland’s Library E-book Law

"In a rebuke to Maryland state legislators, a federal judge has granted the Association of American Publishers’ motion for a preliminary injunction, blocking Maryland officials from enforcing the state's new library e-book law."

How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response to Covid-19; The Conversation, February 14, 2022

Salam Alshareef; The Conversation ; How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response to Covid-19

"As of October 2021, only 0.7% of all manufactured vaccine doses had gone to low-income countries. Manufacturers had delivered 47 times as many doses to high-income countries as they had to low-income countries.

Since its inception, COVAX, the UN-backed initiative dedicated to promoting access to Covid vaccines, has struggled to obtain doses. It recently passed the 1 billion doses delivered – half way to its goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Indeed, AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have delivered between 0% and 39% of their already inadequate commitments to COVAX in 2021.

The Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy, meanwhile, estimates that while Asia and Europe will be able to fully vaccinate 80% of their populations by March 2022 and North America by May 2022, Africa will not reach 80% at current rates until April 2025."

Music group sues NBC, US figure skating pair over use of song during Winter Olympics; USA Today, February 19, 2022

Jordan Mendoza,USA Today ; Music group sues NBC, US figure skating pair over use of song during Winter Olympics

"Music group Heavy Young Heathens filed a lawsuit on Thursday against NBC, U.S. Figure Skating and figure skating pair Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, saying their copyright for the song "House of the Rising Sun" was violated when the pair used it for their short program earlier this week.

The group, comprised of brothers Robert and Aron Marderosian, are known for their compositions in numerous television shows, movies, trailers, advertisements and video games, such as ESPN's "30 for 30," Adidas, "Deadpool" and "The Simpsons." One of their compositions, "House of the Rising Sun" is based on a traditional folk song, but their version of it "is a signature song of theirs throughout the world," as it has been famously used for the film "The Magnificent Seven" and Ford auto commercials.

During the team figure skating event of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Knierim and Frazier used the composition for the short program portion of the event in which the United States won a silver medal for." 

Copyright Office Launches Digitized Copyright Historical Record Books Collection; U.S. Copyright Office, February 7, 2022

U.S. Copyright Office; Copyright Office Launches Digitized Copyright Historical Record Books Collection

"The Copyright Office today launched the first release of the digitized Copyright Historical Record Books Collection. “The Copyright Office holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of records of copyright ownership,” said Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. “Today’s release of the first batch of our digitized historical record books will ensure that these records are preserved for future research and that anyone can access them from anywhere.”

This collection is a preview of digitized versions of historical record books that the Office plans to incorporate into its Copyright Public Record System (CPRS), currently in public pilot. The collection will eventually include images of copyright applications and other records bound in books dating from 1870 to 1977. This first release includes 500 record books containing registration applications for books from 1969 to 1977, with a majority of the record books being the most recent volumes from 1975 to 1977. The collection is being digitized using the Copyright Office’s internal administrative classification system in reverse chronological order. There will be periodic updates as record books are digitized and added to the collection."

U.S. Copyright Office Consultation Triggers Massive “Upload Filter” Opposition; TorrentFreak, February 16, 2022

Ernesto Van der Sar, TorrentFreak; U.S. Copyright Office Consultation Triggers Massive “Upload Filter” Opposition

"Late 2020, Senator Thom Tillis released a discussion draft of the “Digital Copyright Act” (DCA), which aims to be a successor to the current DMCA.

The DCA hints at far-reaching changes to the way online intermediaries approach the piracy problem. Among other things, these services would have to ensure that pirated content stays offline after it’s taken down once.

This “takedown and staydown’ approach relies on technical protection tools, which include upload filters. This is a sensitive subject that previously generated quite a bit of pushback when the EU drafted its Copyright Directive.

To gauge the various options and viewpoints, the Copyright Office launched a series of consultations on the various technical tools that can help to detect and remove pirated content from online platforms.

This effort includes a public consultation where various stakeholders and members of the public were invited to share their thoughts, which they did en masse."

Mephisto's Most Powerful Servant Got Marvel Sued by the Hells Angels; ScreenRant, February 10, 2022

JOSHUA ISAAK, ScreenRant; Mephisto's Most Powerful Servant Got Marvel Sued by the Hells Angels

"Hells Angel, appearing in 1992, was named Shevaun Haldane and had quite a traumatic start to her stint in comics when Mephisto brutally killed her father. She was later trapped into serving the satanic villain, but eventually broke free of his clutches. Unfortunately, she couldn't break free of the Hells Angels lawsuit, which stipulated that Hells Angel infringed on their name. Surprisingly, Marvel acquiesced to the gang's demands and changed Shevaun's character name to Dark Angel...but that only landed the company in more hot water when they were the subject of yet another lawsuit.

In addition to donating over $30,000 dollars to charity, Marvel now had to change the name to Dark Angel. Alas, the name was owned by Hart Fisher's Boneyard Press for another comic. Boneyard filed suit and the house that Stan Lee built had a choice to make: either change the character's name yet again, or fold and cancel the publication of Dark Angel. That's the choice Marvel made, and in Issue #16, the Dark Angel brand was put to rest."

The government dropped its case against Gang Chen. Scientists still see damage done; WBUR, February 16, 2022

Max Larkin, WBUR ; The government dropped its case against Gang Chen. Scientists still see damage done

"When federal prosecutors dropped all charges against MIT professor Gang Chen in late January, many researchers rejoiced in Greater Boston and beyond.

Chen had spent the previous year fighting charges that he had lied and omitted information on U.S. federal grant applications. His vindication was a setback for the "China Initiative," a controversial Trump-era legal campaign aimed at cracking down on the theft of American research and intellectual property by the Chinese government.

Researchers working in the United States say the China Initiative has harmed both their fellow scientists and science itself — as a global cooperative endeavor. But as U.S.-China tensions remain high, the initiative remains in place."

COPYRIGHT, WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW; Hackaday, February 4, 2022

Jenny List, Hackaday; COPYRIGHT, WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

"Last week brought the story of a group of crypto enthusiasts who paid well over the going rate for a rare sci-fi book, then proposed encoding scans of all its pages in a blockchain before making and selling NFTs of them. To guarantee their rarity the book was then to be burned. Aside from the questionable imagery surrounding book burning in general, one of the sources of mirth in the story was their mistaken idea that in buying a copy of a rare book they had also acquired its copyright rather than simply paying too much for a book.

It’s an excuse for a good laugh, but it’s also an opportunity to talk about copyright as it affects our community. I’m not a lawyer and I’m not here to give legal advice. Instead this is based on the working knowledge gathered over decades working in the content publishing industries."

The Spider-Man Problem; NPR, Planet Money, January 28, 2022

KENNY MALONE, NPR, Planet Money; The Spider-Man Problem

"When Marvel licensed the Spider-Man film rights to Sony Pictures in the 1990s, the deal made sense — Marvel didn't make movies yet, and their business was mainly about making comic books and toys. Years later, though, the deal would come back to haunt Marvel, and it would start a long tug of war between Sony and Marvel over who had creative cinematic control for Marvel's most popular superhero."

Know if Someone Else Will Own the Copyright in What Your Freelance Writer Creates; Lexology, January 27, 2022

Gordon Feinblatt LLC - Ned T. Himmelrich, Lexology; Know if Someone Else Will Own the Copyright in What Your Freelance Writer Creates

"Be sure to understand who owns the copyright when you hire someone to contribute to your project. If the person is also working for another entity, consider what rights that other principal may have. The situation may arise where a business wants to use the creative input of someone on a temporary or freelance basis, or wants to use the writer’s expertise for certain projects, but that person may be employed by someone else. The issue is that under the copyright principles of “work made for hire,” the employer, not the creator, owns anything created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment. If the creator is employed elsewhere and is providing any type of content which could be deemed within the scope of his or her employment, then the first employer, and not the second venture who is receiving the freelance help, may own the work created."

Is Old Music Killing New Music?; The Atlantic, January 23, 2022

Ted Gioia, The Atlantic ; Is Old Music Killing New Music?

"A series of unfortunate events are conspiring to marginalize new music. The pandemic is one of these ugly facts, but hardly the only contributor to the growing crisis.

Consider these other trends:...

When a new song overcomes these obstacles and actually becomes a hit, the risk of copyright lawsuits is greater than ever before. The risks have increased enormously since the “Blurred Lines” jury decision of 2015, and the result is that additional cash gets transferred from today’s musicians to old (or deceased) artists.

Adding to the nightmare, dead musicians are now coming back to life in virtual form—via holograms and “deepfake” music—making it all the harder for young, living artists to compete in the marketplace."

Massive open index of scholarly papers launches; Nature, January 24, 2022

Dalmeet Singh Chawla , Nature; Massive open index of scholarly papers launches

"An ambitious free index of more than 200 million scientific documents that catalogues publication sources, author information and research topics, has been launched.

The index, called OpenAlex after the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt, also aims to chart connections between these data points to create a comprehensive, interlinked database of the global research system, say its founders. The database, which launched on 3 January, is a replacement for Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG), a free alternative to subscription-based platforms such as Scopus, Dimensions and Web of Science that was discontinued at the end of 2021."

Stephen G. Breyer may shape tech’s copyright battles for years to come; The Washington Post, January 27, 2022

Cristiano Lima with research by Aaron Schaffer, The Washington Post; Stephen G. Breyer may shape tech’s copyright battles for years to come

"Stephen G. Breyer may shape tech’s copyright battles for years to come

With the looming retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, tech policy wonks say the high court is losing one of the nation’s preeminent thought leaders on intellectual property and copyright.

But while Breyer may be on his way out of federal court, his influence over those standards, and how they map onto emerging technologies, is poised to live on long after.

For decades, Breyer has carved out a unique role on the bench as a copyright specialist, said Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at consumer group Public Knowledge. And his advocacy for a more limited view of intellectual property rights than some of his colleagues, such as the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, made him a “rarity” in the space, Rose said. 

“He’s definitely got the biggest depth of experience in copyright issues on the bench currently,” she said. “It was really him and Justice Ginsburg were the two titans of copyright.”

Corynne McSherry, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called Breyer “a very strong voice for a balanced intellectual property system” that ensured that copyright and patents are “encouraging innovation, encouraging new creativity … as opposed to thwarting it.”

These traits, they said, were exemplified in one of Breyer’s most recent high-profile copyright cases: the contentious, decade-long Google v. Oracle bout."

Aboriginal flag copyright transferred to Commonwealth, as artist agrees to make flag freely available to all; ABC News, January 24, 2022

Jake Evans, ABC News; Aboriginal flag copyright transferred to Commonwealth, as artist agrees to make flag freely available to all

"The iconic flag that has become a symbol of Aboriginal Australia is now freely available for public use, after its designer agreed to transfer copyright to the Commonwealth following long negotiations.

Luritja artist Harold Thomas created the flag in 1970 to represent Aboriginal people and their connection to the land, and it has been an official national flag since the end of the last century — but its copyright remained with Mr Thomas.

Anyone who wanted to use the flag legally had to ask permission or pay a fee.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt said following negotiations with Mr Thomas, the flag now belonged to all Australians...

Copyright issues with the flag had repeatedly drawn conflict, such as when Mr Thomas handed the rights to use the flag on clothing to a non-Indigenous company, which later threatened legal action against the NRL and AFL for using the flag on player uniforms.

That led to Mr Wyatt encouraging football fans to drape themselves in the Aboriginal flag in protest.

Mr Thomas will retain moral rights over the flag, but has agreed to give up copyright in return for all future royalties the Commonwealth receives from flag sales to be put towards the ongoing work of NAIDOC.

The government has also agreed to establish an annual scholarship in Mr Thomas's honour worth $100,000 for Indigenous students to develop skills in leadership, and to create an online history and education portal for the flag."

2022–2026 Strategic Plan: Fostering Creativity and Enriching Culture; U.S. Copyright Office, January 20, 2022

U.S. Copyright Office; 2022–2026 Strategic Plan: Fostering Creativity and Enriching Culture

"The Copyright Office has released its 2022–2026 Strategic Plan: Fostering Creativity and Enriching Culture. The plan seeks to benefit the public by expanding the Office’s outreach, improving integration of data and technology, and continuing to provide expertise to the copyright community as a whole.

For more information about the strategic plan, download or view the complete document here."

Lego sued over leather jacket worn by toy Antoni in Queer Eye set; The Guardian, January 16, 2022

Sian Cain, The Guardian; Lego sued over leather jacket worn by toy Antoni in Queer Eye set

"An artist has accused Lego of recreating a leather jacket he made for Queer Eye cast-member Antoni Porowski without the artist’s permission, claiming that a toy jacket included in a Lego set based on the Netflix show is a “blatant copy” of his design.

James Concannon, whose clothes have been regularly worn by Porowski on the popular program, filed a lawsuit against the Danish toy giant in a Connecticut district court last month. The designer, who is seeking damages, alleges that one of the outfits included in the set for Porowski’s figurine copies “the unique placement, coordination, and arrangement of the individual artistic elements” on the jacket."

Texas scientists’ new Covid-19 vaccine is cheaper, easier to make and patent-free; The Guardian, January 15, 2022

Erum Salam , The Guardian; Texas scientists’ new Covid-19 vaccine is cheaper, easier to make and patent-free

"Although more than 60 other vaccines are in development using the same technology, Bottazzi said their vaccine is unique because they do not intend to patent it, allowing anyone with the capacity to reproduce it...

“Pretty much anybody that can make hepatitis B vaccines or has the capacity to produce microbial-based protein like bacteria or yeast, can replicate what we do,” Bottazzi said.

Patent wars over mRNA vaccines have recently heated up. Moderna and the National Institutes of Health are in a dispute over who should get credit for specific discoveries that led to a Covid-19 vaccine which has been delivered to more than 73 million Americans. If Moderna is found to have infringed on the federal government’s patent, it could be forced to pay more than $1bn.

At the same time, activists have called for Pfizer and Moderna to share the technology and knowhow for producing their vaccines, including taking the fight to the World Trade Organization."

The Epic Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes; The New York Times, January 3, 2022

 David Streitfeld. The New York Times; The Epic Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes

In Silicon Valley’s world of make-believe, the philosophy of “fake it until you make it” finally gets its comeuppance

"Whenever anyone — a regulator, an investor, a reporter — wanted to know a little more about exactly how the Theranos machines functioned, the company cried “trade secrets.” The real secret, of course, was that Theranos didn’t have any trade secrets because its machines didn’t work. But her answer worked for a long time."

President Biden, creatives need copyright champions in the federal government ; The Hill, January 7, 2022

 

RUTH VITALE, The Hill; President Biden, creatives need copyright champions in the federal government 

"The copyright industries bring not only cultural but also economic prosperity to our country. They contribute $1.5 trillion per year of value to the U.S. GDP, accounting for 7.41 percent of the national economy. U.S. copyright products sold overseas amounted to nearly $219 billion in sales in 2019 – more than other major industries including pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and agriculture. 

President Biden has personally demonstrated long-standing support for the creative industries. As a senator 20 years ago, he convened a hearing called “Theft of American Intellectual Property: Fighting Crime Abroad and at Home.” As vice president, over 10 years ago, he helped to implement a new law that created the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. Unequivocally, he stated, “Piracy is theft. Clean and simple.”...

Infringing content draws users to platforms, helping to fuel BigTech’s ascent to previously inconceivable heights of wealth. Meanwhile, digital pirates are stealing the rightful earnings of hard-working Americans, facilitated by Big Tech. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that digital piracy takes between $29.2 billion and $71 billion from the national economy every year. It also takes away between 230,000 and 560,000 American jobs...

I remain hopeful that President Biden’s future appointments will better reflect his lengthy and strong record in support of respect for copyright. Specifically, the position of U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) is open once again.  

As the president knows better than anyone else, the person serving in the IPEC’s role oversees Executive Office efforts to curb piracy, domestically and abroad. The previous IPEC was confirmed by the Senate in August of 2017 – today, during a critical moment for the creative communities, the position is vacant."

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to receive confidential sum from UK newspaper for copyright infringement; CNN, January 5, 2022

Niamh Kennedy, CNN; Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to receive confidential sum from UK newspaper for copyright infringement

"The court found ANL infringed Meghan's copyright by publishing extracts of a handwritten letter she sent to her father in The Mail on Sunday newspaper and Mail Online website during hearings in January and May last year, the court order says.

The group is also set to pay the duchess £1 in nominal damages for misuse of private information, according to the court order.

On December 2, the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that ANL had misused Meghan's private information through their publication of the letter, saying the Duchess had "had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter.""

Ryan Reynolds taunts Disney with ‘Winnie-the-Screwed’ ad as copyright battles heat up; Fast Company, January 3, 2022

JEFF BEER, Fast Company; Ryan Reynolds taunts Disney with ‘Winnie-the-Screwed’ ad as copyright battles heat up

Mint Mobile finds a way to make the copyrights of a 1926 classic children’s tale about your cellular bill.

"The new Mint Mobile ad is typical Reynolds ad fare, quickly and creatively tapping into a broader cultural conversation for one of his brands. That cultural conversation, however, is only going to get louder, especially for Disney. While it is symbolic that the original Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, is up for public domain two years from now, more pressing are the copyright issues facing key Marvel characters this year.

As reported last fall, multiple former Marvel creators and their estates are challenging Disney with ongoing copyright termination cases around characters like Thor, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Dr. Strange. These cases, which could go as high as the Supreme Court (as it almost did back in 2014, when the company reached a settlement with the estate of Jack Kirby), stem from the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, which provided an opportunity for authors or their heirs to regain ownership of a product after a given number of years."

When Does Intellectual Property Expire?; Lexology, January 3, 2022

[Post #4,000, since blog began in 2008]

GHB Intellect, Lexology; When Does Intellectual Property Expire?

"Intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights, is not a tangible thing. These assets do not all last forever, and in some cases, they need to be maintained in order to remain something that can be protected under IP. Understanding the terms of these assets is very important if you are going to protect an asset and be able to enforce that protection."

Our View: Copyright absurdity must come to an end; Leader-Telegram, January 4, 2022

Leader-Telegram; Our View: Copyright absurdity must come to an end

"It’s far easier to argue that today’s copyright laws are largely beneficial to corporations who don’t want the money from the merchandising spigot turned off. Those companies are the true beneficiaries of 95-year coverage.

Protecting authors and creators is one thing. Ad infinitum extensions for wealthy corporate interests are quite another. It’s time to end this nonsense. We’re not advocating a rollback of the current terms, but we do oppose further extensions.

Absurd laws create contempt for all laws, and the absurdity of the current copyright approach is clear. It should not be compounded."

Marvel Runs Into Copyright Issue, Forced to Change Villain Name; InsideTheMagic.com, January 4, 2022

Rebekah Barton, InsideTheMagic.com ; Marvel Runs Into Copyright Issue, Forced to Change Villain Name

"Now, however, fans have noticed something strange (no pun intended) about a recent merchandise leak. A new LEGO set for the Doctor Strange (2016) sequel seemingly features the Marvel Comics villain known as Shuma-Gorath.

However, in this case, the box art suggests that the tentacled creature will go by the name of Gargantos.

This seemingly pointless name change frustrated some fans on social media, but it seems that there may be a very good explanation that has to do with copyright law. As Twitter user @UpToTASK noted:

After doing some research on ̶G̵a̵r̵g̵a̵n̵t̵o̵s̵/Shuma-Gorath, I get it but I hate it. The name “Shuma-Gorath” was first created by Robert E. Howard for Conan [Conan the Barbarian]. And yea, that’s a WHOLE problem that can be avoided by simply changing the name. UGH that SUCKS. But at least it’s him?"

Column: ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ (born 1926) is finally in the public domain, a reminder that our copyright system is absurd; Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2022

MICHAEL HILTZIK, Los Angeles Times; Column: ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ (born 1926) is finally in the public domain, a reminder that our copyright system is absurd

"As it happens, however, this massive release isn’t something entirely worth celebrating. Instead, it’s a pointer to the sheer absurdity of American copyright law, which long ago came under the thumb of the entertainment industry and distant heirs of artists determined to preserve what is essentially a windfall."