The Music Modernization Act has been signed into law; The Verge, October 11, 2018

Dani Deahl, The Verge;

The Music Modernization Act has been signed into law

"President Trump has signed the Music Modernization Act (MMA) into law, officially passing the most sweeping reform to copyright law in decades. The bill, heralded by labels, musicians, and politicians, unanimously passed through both the House and Senate before going to the president.

The bill revamps Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act and aims to bring copyright law up to speed for the streaming era. These are the act’s three main pieces of legislation:

• The Music Modernization Act, which streamlines the music-licensing process to make it easier for rights holders to get paid when their music is streamed online
• The Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society (CLASSICS) Act for pre-1972 recordings
• The Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act, which improves royalty payouts for producers and engineers from SoundExchange when their recordings are used on satellite and online radio (Notably, this is the first time producers have ever been mentioned in copyright law.)"

All Rights Reserved, A Copyright Relic; Above The Law, October 11, 2018

Krista L. Cox, Above The Law;

All Rights Reserved, A Copyright Relic

This language is no longer necessary for copyright. And yet, it persists.

"PSA: The phrase “All Rights Reserved” isn’t necessary today, but it does have historical origins.

In order to understand why “All Rights Reserved” isn’t legally necessary for copyright protection, it’s important to remember that the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works — which has 176 contracting parties — did away with formalities. The Berne Convention, which sets minimum standards for protections, provides automatic copyright protection — that is, copyright exists from the moment of creation and is not dependent on registration or notice. While formalities, like registration, might still be required in order to obtain certain remedies (for example, statutory damages in the United States), the existence of copyright is not dependent on such formalities. While notice is no longer required for works created today, it can still serve a useful purpose, for example, to provide information to users that the work is indeed under copyright protection and provide evidence in a copyright infringement case. “All Rights Reserved,” however, is more of an historical remnant."

His customers wanted a new sound for their electric guitars, so he patented one; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 15, 2018

Nora Shelly, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; His customers wanted a new sound for their electric guitars, so he patented one

"After a few weeks of tweaking the algorithm to get rid of the sharp clicking noise typical of any audio disruption — the sort of noise that sounds like a firecracker has gone off next to your ear drum — the two had a pretty unique invention.

Unique enough that it got approved by the U.S. Patent Office in notably quick fashion: 11 months, start to finish.  

George Mason University’s law school found that, on average, the waiting time for a U.S. patent is a little over three years, according to 2015 research."

Microsoft open-sources its patent portfolio; ZDNet, October 10, 2018

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet; Microsoft open-sources its patent portfolio

"Several years ago, I said the one thing Microsoft has to do -- to convince everyone in open source that it's truly an open-source supporter -- is stop using its patents against Android vendors. Now, it's joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), an open-source patent consortium. Microsoft has essentially agreed to grant a royalty-free and unrestricted license to its entire patent portfolio to all other OIN members.

Before Microsoft joined, OIN had more than 2,650 community members and owns more than 1,300 global patents and applications. OIN is the largest patent non-aggression community in history and represents a core set of open-source intellectual-property values. Its members include Google, IBM, Red Hat, and SUSE. The OIN patent license and member cross-licenses are available royalty-free to anyone who joins the OIN community."

X-Men: 'Dark Phoenix' Gets an Animated Trailer; Comicbook.com, October 7, 2018

Jamie Lovett, Comicbook.com; X-Men: 'Dark Phoenix' Gets an Animated Trailer

"In September, 20th Century Fox released the first trailer for Dark Phoenix. Now a fan has taken that trailer and recreated it using footage from X-Men: The Animated Series.

The trailer, which can be seen above, was created by YouTuber Darth Blender. It uses the audio from the Dark Phoenix trailer with visuals from X-Men: The Animated Series."

Drugmakers play the patent game to ward off competitors; Kaiser Health News via NBC News, October 2, 2018

Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News via NBC News; Drugmakers play the patent game to ward off competitors

"Yet the patenting of a small change in how an existing drug is made or taken by patients is part of a tried-and-true pharmaceutical industry strategy of enveloping products with a series of protective patents.

Drug companies typically have less than 10 years of exclusive rights once a drug hits the marketplace. They can extend their monopolies by layering in secondary patents, using tactics critics call “evergreening” or “product hopping.”

Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, a patent law expert at Stanford University, said the pharmaceutical industry gets a greater financial return from its patent strategy than any other industry does."

Music Modernization Act Heads to Oval Office; The National Law Reviw, October 5, 2018

Erin S. Hennessy, Annie Allison, Jonathon K. Hance, The National Law Review; Music Modernization Act Heads to Oval Office

"The Music Modernization Act (MMA) is headed to the President's desk for signature following unanimous approval from the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bill, now called the "Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act" (H.R. 1551),  provides a significant update to how artists are paid for their music. The Copyright Alliance plugged the bill as "the most significant improvement of music copyright law in more than a generation, making it easier for creators across the music industry to earn a fair living through their creativity."

The MMA combines the following three separate pieces of legislation to bring music royalties into the modern era:

• The Music Modernization Act of 2018, S. 2334, which updates licensing and royalties for music streaming services;
  
• The CLASSICS Act (Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society Act) which opens up music royalties for pre-1972 songs; and
  
• The AMP Act (Allocation for Music Producers Act) which provides for royalties for music producers and engineers."