Sony Music Issues Takedown On Copyright Lecture About Music Copyrights By Harvard Law Professor; TechDirt.com, 2/16/16

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; Sony Music Issues Takedown On Copyright Lecture About Music Copyrights By Harvard Law Professor:

"Oh, the irony. First pointed out by Mathias Schindler, it appears that a copyright lecture about music copyright done by famed copyright expert and Harvard Law professor William Fisher has been taken down due to a copyright claim by Sony Music."

Library of Congress Puts Rosa Parks Archive Online; New York Times, 2/25/16

Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times; Library of Congress Puts Rosa Parks Archive Online:

"The Library of Congress has digitized the papers of Rosa Parks, enabling free online access to everything from her first-hand recollections of the Montgomery bus boycott and personal correspondence with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to family photographs, tax returns and a handwritten recipe for “featherlite pancakes.”

The collection, which includes roughly 7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs, is on loan to the library for 10 years from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which acquired the collection in 2014 after a dispute involving Parks’s heirs that had left the papers languishing in a warehouse for nearly a decade following her death in 2005. (If the archives move elsewhere, the digital files will remain at the library.)"

Patent scandal: Secret probe of top UN official completed; FoxNews.com, 2/18/16

George Russell, FoxNews.com; Patent scandal: Secret probe of top UN official completed:

"The WIPO staffers allegedly victimized by Gurry had also left the agency. They became embroiled in the alleged break-ins after anonymous letters circulated that made vague charges of financial impropriety against Gurry and his wife, in advance of his initial election as WIPO chief.

The DNA evidence collected against the staffers formed part of the tests subsequently performed by Swiss police on the staffers -- their diplomatic immunity was temporarily lifted to let that happen -- to determine their guilt or innocence in the letter-writing episode. They were cleared of being involved.

And it was when the staffers discovered mention of the DNA samples in testing paperwork that they said they realized it had come from illegal entry of their offices."

PCT – The International Patent System; WIPO

WIPO; PCT – The International Patent System:

"The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) assists applicants in seeking patent protection internationally for their inventions, helps patent Offices with their patent granting decisions, and facilitates public access to a wealth of technical information relating to those inventions. By filing one international patent application under the PCT, applicants can simultaneously seek protection for an invention in 148 countries throughout the world. Read more about the PCT."

Colm Tóibín: how Henry James's family tried to keep him in the closet; Guardian, 2/20/16

Colm Toibin, Guardian; Colm Tóibín: how Henry James's family tried to keep him in the closet:

"In his book Monopolizing the Master, published in 2012, Michael Anesko sought to outline the struggle that went on to control James’s posthumous reputation.

It began some years before James’s death as the novelist worked on the volume of his autobiography called Notes of a Son and Brother. As he began to use letters written by his brother William in this book, letters that had been given to him by his sister-in-law, he felt free to make amendments to suit his own purposes. Harry wrote to his uncle sharply when news of this leaked out. When Henry replied: “the sad thing is I think you’re right in being offended”, Harry wrote an exclamation mark in the margin. He wished to control publication of his father’s letters himself."

US Congressional Hearing On WIPO Accountability This Week; Intellectual Property Watch, 2/22/16

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; US Congressional Hearing On WIPO Accountability This Week:

"Several subcommittees of the United States Congress have scheduled a joint hearing this week on accountability and possible mistreatment of staff and whistleblowers at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization. The witness list for the hearing includes several high-level critics of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry who used to work for him. Meanwhile, observers are questioning what has happened to the report from an official UN investigation of WIPO.

The Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Establishing Accountability at the World Intellectual Property Organization: Illicit Technology Transfers, Whistleblowing, and Reform, is scheduled for Wednesday, 24 February. The hearing is expected to be publicly webcast."

‘Deadpool’ Technology Lands in Patent Fight; New York Times, 2/24/16

Jim Kerstetter, New York Times; ‘Deadpool’ Technology Lands in Patent Fight:

"Over the years, big tech companies have collected stock piles of patents and copyrights, both to protect their assets and sue other companies. Oracle sued Google. Apple sued Samsung. So-called patent trolls — companies that own patents, but don’t actually build products based on them — have sued scores of little and big companies.

Industry complaints that lawsuits were sucking innovation out of tech — and scaring people away from creating start-ups — led to calls in Washington for patent reform. But so far those efforts have gone nowhere.

Rearden has asked a judge to award it financial damages and block the distribution of movies and other entertainment that it claims have been made using infringing Mova patents and trademarks."