Webinar: Understanding Patent Basics: Law Librarians Bringing Added Value June 28, 2017, 2 PM ET

Webinar

Understanding Patent Basics:

Law Librarians Bringing Added Value

June 28, 2pm ET

As a law librarian you serve a wide array of lawyers so you may not have a background specific to patent law. Many law librarians feel they could be more productive if they could better communicate in patent attorney "speak" and may feel awkward in asking for definitions of basic patent terminology.

As part of our efforts to offer on-going support to law librarians, LexisNexis IP Solutions is offering a crash course in basic patent concepts to help you better communicate with your colleagues.

Join us for this informative webinar which will demystify patent terminology and review basic concepts. The presenters will discuss:

• Common terms in patent law, such as "What is a provisional patent application?"
• What patents lawyers are looking for in terms of help from their law librarians relevant to common concepts.
• Why research related to each of these terms, or concepts, are important in the area of patent prosecution.
• Q&A to answer those questions you have been meaning to ask.
  
  Sign up today! We will provide slides from the webinar to all registrants.
  
  The presenters are Amantha Allen, User Experience and Professional Development Manager, LexisNexis^® IP Solutions and Megan McLoughlin, Product Director, LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® 

Cupcake wars: Blogger sues Food Network over snow globe recipe video; Washington Post, June 5, 2017

Derek Hawkins, Washington Post; Cupcake wars: Blogger sues Food Network over snow globe recipe video

"Elizabeth LaBau’s holiday cupcake recipe was so popular it crashed her food blog.

It was clever, after all. LaBau, who runs SugarHero.com, had figured out a way to make edible snow globe cupcakes by coating small balloons in sheets of gelatin and letting them harden into translucent domes.

About three weeks after she published her tutorial, LaBau alleges, Food Network produced a how-to video on snow globe cupcakes that was so similar that it constituted copyright infringement."

Copyright Office Releases an Updated Draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition; [Press Release] U.S. Copyright Office, copyright.gov, June 1, 2017

[Press Release] U.S. Copyright Office, copyright.gov

Copyright Office Releases an Updated Draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition
Issue No. 666 - June 01, 2017

---

Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett today released a revised draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition. This draft includes the first proposed updates to the Compendium since its release in December 2014. The public draft is available on the Office’s website at https://copyright.gov/comp3/draft.html. It will go into effect on July 3, 2017.

The Compendium is the administrative manual of the Register of Copyrights concerning the mandate and statutory duties of the Copyright Office under Title 17 of the United States Code. See 37 CFR. § 201.2(b)(7). The proposed updates are the result of a comprehensive review of the Office’s practices and procedures. The draft revisions to the registration chapters clarify how and when the Office communicates with applicants and how it handles duplicate claims, deposit requirements, and claims involving multiple works, among other improvements. The update also provides preliminary guidance for claims involving useful articles based on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands.

The draft revisions to the recordation chapter provide additional guidance for recording notices of termination and information on the Office’s new electronic system for the designation of agents. The draft update also addresses recent changes in the Office’s regulations, including the “mailbox rule” for requests for reconsideration, new procedures for removing personally identifiable information, and changes made by the Office’s technical amendments. For a full accounting of draft Compendium revisions, read more.

Additionally, the Compendium has been reformatted to improve readability for online and offline users. When the revision is released in final form, it will include improved hyperlinks to provide direct access to legal citations and resources on the Office’s website, as well as improved cross-references between chapters.

Public comments on this draft may be submitted from June 1 to June 30 using the provided form. See www.copyright.gov/comp3/draft.html for more information.

How a rigid fair-use standard would harm free speech and fundamentally undermine the Internet; Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2017

Art Neill, Los Angeles Times; How a rigid fair-use standard would harm free speech and fundamentally undermine the Internet

"In a recent Times op-ed article, Jonathan Taplin of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab claimed that an “ambiguous“ fair use definition is emboldening users of new technologies to challenge copyright infringement allegations, including takedown notices. He proposes rewriting fair use to limit reuses of audio or video clips to 30 seconds or less, a standard he mysteriously claims is “widely accepted.”

In fact, this is not a widely accepted standard, and weakening fair use in this way will not address copyright infringement concerns on the Internet. It would hurt the music, film and TV industries as much as it would hurt individual creators...

Fair use is inextricably linked to our 1st Amendment right to free speech. We are careful with fair use because it’s the primary way consumers, creators and innovators share new ideas. It’s a good thing, and it is worth protecting."

Ivanka Trump's firm seeks new trademarks in China, reviving ethical concerns; CNN Money, June 5, 2017

Jackie Wattles and Jill Disis, CNN Money; Ivanka Trump's firm seeks new trademarks in China, reviving ethical concerns

"Ivanka Trump's business, which mostly makes clothing and accessories, says the latest trademark applications were filed to block others from profiting off of her name, not because she wants to sell the products in China.

But that's still a problem, says Larry Noble, the general counsel for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group.

He said the family's continued ties to their businesses raise questions about whether their profit motives could influence U.S. relations with other countries.

"China knows that to deny these applications would get a negative reaction from the president, and to expedite their approval would get a positive reaction from the president," Noble said."

The U.S. Supreme Court Is Reining in Patent Trolls, Which Is a Win for Innovation; Harvard Business Review, June 2, 2017

Larry Downes, Harvard Business Review; The U.S. Supreme Court Is Reining in Patent Trolls, Which Is a Win for Innovation

"In the last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two important rulings limiting patent rights. The decisions, which were both unanimous, significantly scaled back the ability of patent holders to slow innovation by competitors, tipping scales that many legal scholars believe have become badly imbalanced."

Five questions about open science answered; Phys.org, May 30, 2017

Elizabeth Gilbert, Katie Corker, 

Phys.org; Five questions about open science answered

"What is "open science"?

Open science is a set of practices designed to make scientific processes and results more transparent and accessible to people outside the research team. It includes making complete research materials, data and lab procedures freely available online to anyone. Many scientists are also proponents of open access, a parallel movement involving making research articles available to read without a subscription or access fee."

As Computer Coding Classes Swell, So Does Cheating; New York Times, May 29, 2017

Jess Bidgood and Jeremy B. Merrill, New York Times; 

As Computer Coding Classes Swell, So Does Cheating

"In interviews, professors and students said the causes were not hard to pin down.

To some students drawn to the classes, coding does not come easily. The coursework can be time-consuming. Troves of code online, on sites like GitHub, may have answers to the very assignment the student is wrestling with, posted by someone who previously took the course.

“You’ve got kids who were struggling with spending a third of their time on their problem sets with the option to copy from the internet,” said Jackson Wagner, who took the Harvard course in 2015 and was not accused of copying. “That’s the reason why people cheat.”

Complicating matters is the collaborative ethos among programmers, which encourages code-sharing in ways that might not be acceptable in a class. Professors also frequently allow students to discuss problems among themselves, but not to share actual code, a policy that some students say creates confusion about what constitutes cheating."

The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’; New York Times, May 28, 2017

Danny Hakim, New York Times; 

The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’

“Britain’s trademark office would not initially acknowledge the earlier application by Mr. Trump. It provided a copy last month only after The New York Times made a Freedom of Information request, and would not say why the application was rejected, citing a law restricting its ability to release information.

The College of Arms, which oversees coats of arms in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, provided more detail. The emblem originally submitted in 2007 by Mr. Trump to Britain’s trademark office matched one that had been granted to Mr. Davies, an American of Welsh descent who once served as ambassador to the Soviet Union.

“It couldn’t be a clearer-cut case, actually,” said Clive Cheesman, one of the college’s heralds, who oversee coats of arms, their design and their use.

“A coat of arms that was originally granted to Joseph Edward Davies in 1939 by the English heraldic authority ended up being used 10 or 15 years ago by the Trump Organization as part of its branding for its golf clubs,” said Mr. Cheesman, a lawyer by training. “This got them into difficulty.”"

Supreme Court decision allows resale of used ink cartridges despite patent holder restriction; ABA Journal, May 30, 2017

Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal; Supreme Court decision allows resale of used ink cartridges despite patent holder restriction

"A patent holder that restricts the reuse or resale of its printer ink cartridges can’t invoke patent law against a remanufacturing company that violates the restriction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

The court ruled that Lexmark International’s patent rights are exhausted with its first sale of the cartridges, despite restrictions it tried to impose."

Intellectual Property (IP) Through Stories; BananaIP.com, May 2017

BananaIP.com; Intellectual Property (IP) Through Stories

"Storytelling Based Corporate IP Training and Knowledge Development Program

“You may forget a concept or a principle, but you will never forget a well told story.”

BananaIP offers story based intellectual property training and knowledge development programs for corporates and businesses. Unlike the standard IP training programs, which are typically delivered through talks, presentations and cases, BananaIP’s IP through Stories Program teaches IP concepts and skills through creative and interactive storytelling. Program participants will learn basic and advanced concepts of IP through entertaining, educative and imaginative stories told by some of the leading experts in the field.

Over the years, BananaIP’s Team of experts and Trainers have taught more than ten thousand corporates at different levels in the organization structure from CEOs to Fresh Recruits. The IP through Stories Program takes that experience a step forward by integrating innovative IP teaching techniques with storytelling."

The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App; New York Times, May 27, 2017

Valeriya Safronova, New York Times; The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App

"At the end of that year, Mr. Droll and Mr. Buffington laid off 60 percent of their employees, and last month, they shut down the operation, selling off intellectual property and employee contracts to Square Inc., a mobile payment company, for $1 million. A few months earlier, Hive, a college-based chat app with a similar color scheme to Yik Yak’s, popped up in the iTunes and Google Play stores, with Mr. Buffington in one of the screenshots. Whether it was an attempt at reinvention under the Yik Yak umbrella or a side project is unclear, but it is no longer available...

Morgan Hines, who will start her fourth year at Northeastern University in Boston this fall, never encountered nastiness on Yik Yak. “I thought it was funny,” she said. “It formed a lot of camaraderie between students. There would be random shout-outs to things happening on campus, like people who are attractive or being annoying in the library, or a fire alarm going off at 4 a.m.”

But Ms. Hines criticized Yik Yak’s hyper-localization. “Yik Yak was for pockets of people on campus,” she said. “If the fire alarm went off at 4 a.m., it only went off at your building, so no one else will give it a thumbs-up.”

That hyper-localization is also what made the cases of harassment particularly galling. Ms. Musick, one of the plaintiffs, said, “With Yik Yak, in the back of your mind, you know they’re not from around the world or other parts of the state, they’re right there in your classroom, in your dining hall. On a campus with 4,500 students, that’s a pretty small group of people. This isn’t some creepy guy in his mom’s basement in Indiana.”"

Swiss keep up the patent pace; swissinfo.ch, May 24, 2017

Luigi Jorio, swissinfo.ch; Swiss keep up the patent pace

"A machine for sorting gravel, a barometer that works by atmospheric humidity and a special electric writing machine: these are just a few of the patents that were filed in Switzerland over a hundred years ago and very probably reviewed by a certain Albert Einstein
external linkThe famous German physicist worked at the Swiss Federal Office of Intellectual Property in Bern from 1902 to 1909, a place he spoke of as a worldly cloister where he hatched his most beautiful ideas."

Fair Use Under the Trademark Laws; New York Law Journal, May 23, 2017

Howard Wintner, New York Law Journal; 

Fair Use Under the Trademark Laws

"The doctrine of fair use is usually associated with the copyright laws. There is, however, also a doctrine of fair use under the trademark laws. There are two branches of trademark fair use. One is descriptive fair use, which is often referred to as classic fair use. The other is nominative fair use. In classic fair use, the defendant uses the plaintiff's trademark to describe its own product or service. Nominative fair use occurs when the defendant uses the plaintiff's trademark to describe the plaintiff's product or service, even though its ultimate goal is to describe its own product or service. This article will discuss descriptive or classic fair use. The doctrine of nominative fair use is worthy of another article."

Episode 774: Unspeakable Trademark; NPR, Planet Money, May 26, 2017

[Podcast] Jacob Goldstein, Ailsa Chang, NPR, Planet Money; 

Episode 774: Unspeakable Trademark

"Warning: This episode has explicit language, for unavoidable and soon-to-be obvious reasons...

Today on the show, a fight over a band name that turns into a fight about free speech. It goes all the way to the Supreme Court."

Hedwig Village man at center of international espionage investigation; ABC13, May 24, 2017

Miya Shay, ABC13; 

Hedwig Village man at center of international espionage investigation

"In reality, the allegations are wide ranging and shocking. Federal investigators say Shi, along with six others, tried to trade secrets from a business in the U.S. on behalf of a company in China that was engaged in manufacturing a high-performance, naval-grade product for military and civilian uses. Prosecutors allege Shi used his companies CMB-International Inc. and Deepoil.com as fronts to gather trade secrets and pay others."

Jury Rules With School in Fight Over California Strawberries; Associated Press via New York Times, May 24, 2017

Associated Press via New York Times; 

Jury Rules With School in Fight Over California Strawberries

"A renowned strawberry researcher in California broke patent law and violated a loyalty pledge to his former university by taking his work with him to profit from it in a private company, a jury in San Francisco decided Wednesday.

Professor Douglas Shaw formed his own research firm with others after retiring from the University of California, Davis, where for years he had overseen the school's strawberry breeding program, developing a heartier and tastier fruit.

Jurors in the federal court decided that he used seeds developed at UC Davis without gaining the university's permission."

Patent decision bad for East Texas hospitality; Houston Chronicle, May 25, 2017

Chris Tomlinson, Houston Chronicle; 

Patent decision bad for East Texas hospitality

"Business travelers are the mainstay of the hospitality business and the U.S. Supreme Court just dealt a blow to East Texas hoteliers and restaurateurs.

The number of out-of-town attorneys and paralegals trekking to Tyler and Marshall will likely plummet now that the court has limited where patent trolls can use the judiciary to extort money from major corporations...

The patent-holders don't choose East Texas because they live there, nor are the defendant companies based in East Texas. The plaintiffs choose the district because the judges move through the cases quickly and the juries consistently rule against big companies.

The plaintiffs get away with it because the products with the intellectual property in question are sold in the district. So every month, dozens of attorneys and paralegals make the trip to East Texas to argue the cases they couldn't settle out of court.

But no more. Maybe."

SCORE: Trademark basics for small business owners; Traverse City Record-Eagle, May 21, 2017

Ed Ketterer, Traverse City Record-Eagle; 

SCORE: Trademark basics for small business owners

"To learn more about trademarks, visit the USPTO website (www.uspto.gov) where you’ll find detailed information and links to helpful resources. You’ll also want to attend SCORE’s free workshop “Intellectual Property 101: Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents and Internet Law” on Tuesday, June 13, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Traverse Area District Library Woodmere branch. To reserve your seat, visit www.upnorthscore.com"

Obama chief data scientist: Trumpcare health plan would ‘cripple’ precision medicine; FedScoop, May 24, 2017

Billy Mitchell, FedScoop; Obama chief data scientist: Trumpcare health plan would ‘cripple’ precision medicine

"DJ Patil, U.S. chief data scientist in the latter years of Barack Obama’s presidency, wrote on Medium that Trumpcare, as the AHCA is nicknamed, would threaten the country’s ability to leverage data to advance medical science, particularly in the fight against major diseases like cancer. The White House’s proposal would allow insurance companies to deny coverage or charge more when people have preexisting medical conditions. That provision could make people less willing to share important information about themselves with researchers, Patil says, because of fear it could be used against them later.

“[M]y deep fear is that people won’t be willing to donate their data. And there are too many people who have diseases that need us to donate our data to help,” Patil writes.

At the center of the Precision Medicine Initiative introduced under Obama is the “responsible collection of large amounts of data to be able to develop truly customized medical treatments for each patient,” Patil explains. The Trump legislation essentially threatens that project."

The Supreme Court’s big ruling on ‘patent trolls’ will rock businesses everywhere; Washington Post, May 23, 2017

Brian Fung, Washington Post; The Supreme Court’s big ruling on ‘patent trolls’ will rock businesses everywhere

"So what does the Supreme Court's ruling mean for this system?

It's a big deal, particularly for smaller companies. The court voted unanimously to say that patent lawsuits should be tried where the defending company is based, rather than in a court of the plaintiff's choosing.

Legal analysts say this decision could shift a huge number of cases away from “plaintiff-friendly” districts and toward more “neutral” venues where a defending company stands a better chance of fending off a suit.

“From here out,” according to Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, “defendants can still be sued in a district such as E.D. Tex. if they have a regular and established place of business in it, but the decision is likely to shrink what I called in my January preview a ‘jackpot patent litigation sector.’ ”"

Supreme Court Ruling Could Hinder ‘Patent Trolls’; New York Times, May 22, 2017

Adam Liptak, New York Times; 

Supreme Court Ruling Could Hinder ‘Patent Trolls’

"More than 40 percent of patent lawsuits, for instance, are filed in a federal court in East Texas.

In recent years, a single judge based in Marshall, Tex., oversaw about a quarter of all patent cases nationwide, more than the number handled by all federal judges in California, Florida and New York combined.

Monday’s decision was a victory for big technology companies and other patent holders, which have complained about what they called forum shopping in patent cases. Other companies have argued that it makes sense to let cases be considered by courts that have developed expertise in patent matters."

Pandora Just Taught Every Business Out There What Not to Do In Logo Redesign; Inc.com, May 24, 2017

Wanda Thibodeaux, Inc.com; Pandora Just Taught Every Business Out There What Not to Do In Logo Redesign

"It's one of the most basic rules of business: Choose a logo that represents you and only you. After all, logos are supposed to be an identifier for your brand. But apparently, it's a lesson that Pandora hasn't quite learned yet. As Nicole Gallucci of Mashable reports, PayPal is suing the music streaming company for trademark infringement, claiming that Pandora's 2016 logo redesign is too similar to its own...

7 tips to avoid Pandora's trouble

If you, like Pandora, have to come up with something new, keep these rules in mind:..

Oh, and when in doubt? There are these great professionals known as lawyers. Talk to one."

Canada needs an innovative intellectual property strategy; Globe and Mail, May 19, 2017

James Hinton and Peter Cowan, Globe and Mail; 

Canada needs an innovative intellectual property strategy

"The recent federal budget signalled a dramatic shift in Canada’s approach to innovation. By announcing a national intellectual property (IP) strategy, the government finally addressed the calls of innovation experts who understand the critical role of IP in a 21st-century economy...

Canadian innovators have only a basic understanding about IP

Canadian entrepreneurs understand IP strategy as a defensive mechanism to protect their products. In reality, IP is the most critical tool for revenue growth and global expansion in a 21st-century economy. Cross-discipline awareness and education is needed so that our innovators know how to generate IP through technology standards, regulatory design, ecosystem-licensing strategies, litigation, trade agreements and so on. Companies should also have access to pro bono and low-cost services at all publicly funded institutions."

American Bar Association Webinar: Trump's Presidency to Date: Effects on IP Law, Business and our Profession, Tuesday, June 6, 2017

American Bar Association Webinar: Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Trump's Presidency to Date: Effects on IP Law, Business and our Profession

Tuesday, June 6, 2017
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm EST
1.50 Non-ethics CLE Credit Hours

How has President Trump's first 100 days affected, and will continue to affect, IP law regarding patents, trademarks, and copyrights?

This webinar will discuss the state of IP law coming into the new presidency and what, if anything, has changed or will change. A panel of IP experts will explore a broad range of IP topics, such as selections for future leadership of the USPTO Office, the US withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership, and the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice. In addition, the panel will review congruencies in historical political events effecting IP law and will further discuss the effects of presidential and legislative policies that may affect all types of IP, business and our profession.

Panelists:

• David Postolski, Gearhart Law, Summit, NJ (Moderator)
• Thomas Stoll, American Bar Association, Washington, DC
• Brigid Harrison, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
• Wendell Potter, To Be Fair, Inc.; Tarbell.org, Philadelphia, PA

Creative Commons' annual State of the Commons Report, May 23, 2017

Ryan Merkley, Creative Commons; Welcome to Creative Commons' annual celebration of the global commons movement—our State of the Commons report.

"SOTC explores the wide array of creativity and knowledge that is freely available to the world under CC licenses. Throughout the report, we’ll show how the body of work in the commons has grown and developed this year, and explore the impact the commons is making on our culture.

In previous editions of SOTC, we've focused our efforts on measuring and reporting quantitative data—for instance, the total number of openly-licensed works online, the percentage of CC licenses used across various fields, and the volume of CC-licensed works that are available to the public through the many online sharing platforms where our legal tools are prevalent. That data is still here, but this year we’ve gone further: CC's new organizational strategy is focused on increasing the vibrancy and usability of the commons (not just its breadth and volume), so we’re focusing on the stories and people behind the creativity in the commons as well."

Justices Make It Easier for Companies to Defend Patent Cases; Associated Press via New York Times, May 22, 2017

Associated Press via New York Times; 

Justices Make It Easier for Companies to Defend Patent Cases

"The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for companies to defend themselves against patent infringement lawsuits in a ruling that places strict limits on where such cases can be filed.

The justices ruled unanimously that patent owners must bring lawsuits only in states where the targeted company is incorporated. The issue is important to many companies that complain about patent owners "shopping" for favorable courts in other parts of the country to file lawsuits."

Biltmore Company wins trademark infringement case; WLOS, May 22, 2017

Jennifer Saylor, WLOS; 

Biltmore Company wins trademark infringement case

"The verdict is in, and the plaintiff, the Biltmore Company, has won a trademark infringement case between it and Biltmore Bride, Prom and Tux.

The Biltmore Company sued the bridal company, claiming trademark infringement and cyberpiracy, as well as unfair and deceptive trade practices."

How to Fight Back Against Revenge Porn; New York Times, May 18, 2017

Niraj Chokshi, New York Times; 

How to Fight Back Against Revenge Porn

"Consider criminal action

Despite increasing awareness about the issue, many officials may still be unaware of legal protections in place for victims of nonconsensual porn, according to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. So victims should researchstate laws targeting nonconsensual porn before approaching the authorities.

And while the decision to prosecute lies with the government, victims can help by providing documentation. “In order to have a successful prosecution, you’ve got to have evidence,” Ms. D’Amico said.

Victims may help to strengthen a case, and penalty, by highlighting violations of related laws, including those aimed at child pornography, harassment, stalking, extortion and copyright. The Initiative maintains a list of such laws and encourages victims to bring printed copies when filing a police report."

The World’s Best-Selling Drug Just Lost a Key Patent Battle; Fortune, May 18, 2017

Sy Mukherjee, Fortune; 

The World’s Best-Selling Drug Just Lost a Key Patent Battle

"The rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis medicine has recently been a target of biopharma companies that are trying to make generic Humira copycats called "biosimilars."...

Once the drug does fall off the patent cliff, however, AbbVie could be in for some rough times. Humira sales make up more than 60% of its revenues."

What the world’s most avid pizza box collector thinks of Apple’s patented pizza box; Washington Post, May 19, 2017

Herman Wong, Washington Post; What the world’s most avid pizza box collector thinks of Apple’s patented pizza box

"The wider world became aware of the circular carrier with a perforated lid after it was mentioned briefly in a recent Wired article about Apple Park, the Silicon Valley giant’s new campus in Cupertino, Calif. In a parenthetical, the magazine noted that Francesco Longoni, “the maestro of the Apple Park café, helped Apple patent a box that will keep to-go pizzas from getting soggy.” A caption added that it was “for workers who want to take the café’s pizza back to their pods.”

The patent describes the container as “a lid portion that is coupled to the base portion through a hinged connection such that the entire container is singularly constructed from a single piece of material.” Or you could just look at this video..."

Google Just Dropped Some of Its Patent Claims Against Uber; Gizmodo, May 17, 2017

Kate Conger, Gizmodo; 

Google Just Dropped Some of Its Patent Claims Against Uber

"Waymo quietly dropped several of the patent claims in its explosive lawsuit against Uber last night, admitting in a new court filing that although it stands behind its allegations of trade secret theft and may pursue new patent claims later, it isn’t moving forward with its current patent infringement claims against one of Uber’s lidar devices."

"Foolish Visionary"; Bizarro, May 20, 2017

Dan Piraro, Bizarro; "Foolish Visionary"

Can You Copyright Your Dumb Joke? And How Can You Prove It's Yours?; NPR, May 17. 2017

Laurel Wamsley, NPR; 

Can You Copyright Your Dumb Joke? And How Can You Prove It's Yours?

"In 2008, law professors Dotan Oliar and Christopher Sprigman published a paper that explored the norms comics had established to protect their intellectual property: their jokes...

Can you really copyright a dumb joke?

"The question really focuses on originality, and there is no freestanding barrier to copyright extending to a joke on any topic ... so long as that joke meets the fairly minimal requirements for originality," says Perzanowski. "That means it has to demonstrate some low level of creativity and importantly that it not be copied from some other source."

"Copyright will give you protection for this specific arrangement of words," he says, but not for a whole subject matter.

When it comes to topical comedy, he says, the question is whether one can separate an idea (which can't be copyrighted) from its expression (which can).

Judge Sammartino agrees. "[T]here is little doubt that the jokes at issue merit copyright protection," she writes, citing the relevant case law, "noting originality requires only independent creation of a work that 'possess[es] some creative spark, "no matter how crude, humble or obvious" it might be.'"

However, she adds, the jokes here "are similarly constrained by their subject matter and the conventions of the two-line, setup-and-delivery paradigm."

The result is that for O'Brien's jokes to infringe on Kaseberg's copyright, they must be "virtually identical," one step below verbatim."

Remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee to Commemorate World IP Day 2017; U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, April 26, 2017

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office; Remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee to Commemorate World IP Day 2017

"Remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee to Commemorate World IP Day 2017

For more than two centuries, the United States of America has promoted and protected intellectual property rights. In the process, we have made revolutionary advances in science and technology. We have become a global leader in innovation, and we have helped create a strong IP system throughout the world. The USPTO is committed to continue working with the IP offices of the world to ensure that all of our IP systems continue to foster innovation.

The theme of this year’s World IP Day—improving lives through innovation—could not be more relevant. We have seen the profound impact that good ideas, protected through a world-class IP system, can have on humanity. From new and powerful technology that we can wear on our wrists and carry in our pockets, to new methods of diagnosing and treating disease, intellectual property can not only improve lives, it can save lives. It can also create new jobs and grow our economy, which is why we must always ensure that our IP system supports small businesses, startups, and individual inventors. Rewarding new ideas with IP rights guarantees that new improvements keep coming. In fact one of you may hold the next idea that could shape our lives for years to come.

So, please, get out there and invent and create. And don’t forget to protect your great ideas. Thank you for being a part of World IP Day!"