Alex Marshall, The New York Times;
Jeff Koons Is Found Guilty of Copying. Again.
"On Thursday, a court in
Paris ordered Mr. Koons, his company Jeff Koons L.L.C., the Pompidou Center and
a book publisher to jointly pay Mr. Davidovici almost $170,000 for breach of
copyright and damages caused. The amount is small compared to the value of Mr.
Koons’s “Fait d’hiver,” which the Prada Foundation bought for over $4 million
at auction in 2007.”
Issues and developments related to Intellectual Property [e.g. Copyright, Fair Use, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Open Movements (e.g. Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources (OER), Indigenous Knowledge (IK)], examined in the "Intellectual Property and Open Movements" and "Ethics of Data, Information, and Emerging Technologies" graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. -- Kip Currier, PhD, JD
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018
The U.S. must take action to stop Chinese industrial espionage; The Washington Post, November 4, 2018
Editorial Board, The Washington Post; The U.S. must take action to stop Chinese industrial espionage
"In fact, China’s industrial espionage is not a
passing fancy but the pillar of a long-term drive to become a global
economic, military and political power, with ambitions to rival the
United States. Sadly, the hopes of the past two decades, that Beijing
would become a fair competitor playing by international rules, have been
dashed.
It is a good first response to indict the perpetrators in the Micron case, and for Mr. Sessions to bolster resources and
attention to the threat. Beyond that, however, the United States must
see the Chinese espionage for what it truly represents: the pursuit of
superpower might by stealing the labor and investment of others. The
economies of the United States and China are inexorably entwined, which
will make confronting the espionage threat even harder. But it must be
done. In the end, China will respond only to compulsion."
Open-access plan draws online protest; Science, November 8, 2018
Tania Rabesandratana, Science; Open-access plan draws online protest
"Hundreds of scientists are pushing back against Plan S, a plan to crack down on scholarly journals’ paywalls, launched 2 months ago by 11 national research funders in Europe. In an open letter published on 5 November, about 800 signatories say they support open access (OA)—making papers available free to all readers online—but condemn Plan S as “too risky for science.”"
"Hundreds of scientists are pushing back against Plan S, a plan to crack down on scholarly journals’ paywalls, launched 2 months ago by 11 national research funders in Europe. In an open letter published on 5 November, about 800 signatories say they support open access (OA)—making papers available free to all readers online—but condemn Plan S as “too risky for science.”"
Labels:
open access,
Plan S,
researchers,
scientists
In Favor of the Caselaw Access Project; The Harvard Crimson, November 7, 2018
The Crimson Editorial Board, The Harvard Crimson; In Favor of the Caselaw Access Project
"We hope that researchers will use these court opinions to further advance academic scholarship in this area. In particular, we hope that computer programmers are able to take full advantage of this repository of information. As Ziegler noted, no lawyer will be able to take full advantage of the millions of pages in the database, but computers have an advantage in this regard. Like Ziegler, we are hopeful that researchers using the database will be able to learn more about less understood aspects of the legal system — such as how courts influence each other and deal with disagreements. Those big-picture questions could not have been answered as well without the information provided by this new database.
This project is a resounding success for the Harvard Library, which happens also to be looking for a new leader. We hope that the person hired for the job will be similarly committed to projects that increase access to information — a key value that all who work in higher education should hold near and dear. In addition to maintaining the vast amounts of histories and stories already in the system, Harvard’s libraries should seek to illuminate content that may have been erased or obscured. There is always more to learn."
"We hope that researchers will use these court opinions to further advance academic scholarship in this area. In particular, we hope that computer programmers are able to take full advantage of this repository of information. As Ziegler noted, no lawyer will be able to take full advantage of the millions of pages in the database, but computers have an advantage in this regard. Like Ziegler, we are hopeful that researchers using the database will be able to learn more about less understood aspects of the legal system — such as how courts influence each other and deal with disagreements. Those big-picture questions could not have been answered as well without the information provided by this new database.
This project is a resounding success for the Harvard Library, which happens also to be looking for a new leader. We hope that the person hired for the job will be similarly committed to projects that increase access to information — a key value that all who work in higher education should hold near and dear. In addition to maintaining the vast amounts of histories and stories already in the system, Harvard’s libraries should seek to illuminate content that may have been erased or obscured. There is always more to learn."
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Harvard Converts Millions of Legal Documents into Open Data; Government Technology, November 2, 2018
Theo Douglas, Government Technology; Harvard Converts Millions of Legal Documents into Open Data
[Kip Currier: Discovered the recent launch of this impressive Harvard University-anchored Caselaw Access Project, while updating a lecture for next week on Open Data.
The free site provides access to highly technical data, full text cases, and even "quirky" but fascinating legal info...like the site's Gallery, highlighting instances in which "witchcraft" is mentioned in legal cases throughout the U.S.
Check out this new site...and spread the word about it!]
"A new free website spearheaded by the Library Innovation Lab at the Harvard Law School makes available nearly 6.5 million state and federal cases dating from the 1600s to earlier this year, in an initiative that could alter and inform the future availability of similar areas of public-sector big data.
Led by the Lab, which was founded in 2010 as an arena for experimentation and exploration into expanding the role of libraries in the online era, the Caselaw Access Project went live Oct. 29 after five years of discussions, planning and digitization of roughly 100,000 pages per day over two years.
The effort was inspired by the Google Books Project; the Free Law Project, a California 501(c)(3) that provides free, public online access to primary legal sources, including so-called “slip opinions,” or early but nearly final versions of legal opinions; and the Legal Information Institute, a nonprofit service of Cornell University that provides free online access to key legal materials."
[Kip Currier: Discovered the recent launch of this impressive Harvard University-anchored Caselaw Access Project, while updating a lecture for next week on Open Data.
The free site provides access to highly technical data, full text cases, and even "quirky" but fascinating legal info...like the site's Gallery, highlighting instances in which "witchcraft" is mentioned in legal cases throughout the U.S.
Check out this new site...and spread the word about it!]
"A new free website spearheaded by the Library Innovation Lab at the Harvard Law School makes available nearly 6.5 million state and federal cases dating from the 1600s to earlier this year, in an initiative that could alter and inform the future availability of similar areas of public-sector big data.
Led by the Lab, which was founded in 2010 as an arena for experimentation and exploration into expanding the role of libraries in the online era, the Caselaw Access Project went live Oct. 29 after five years of discussions, planning and digitization of roughly 100,000 pages per day over two years.
The effort was inspired by the Google Books Project; the Free Law Project, a California 501(c)(3) that provides free, public online access to primary legal sources, including so-called “slip opinions,” or early but nearly final versions of legal opinions; and the Legal Information Institute, a nonprofit service of Cornell University that provides free online access to key legal materials."
USMCA Sends Canada Back to the Drawing Board on Copyright Law; Centre for International Governance Innovation, October 3, 2018
Michael Geist, Centre for International Governance Innovation; USMCA Sends Canada Back to the Drawing Board on Copyright Law
"In the weeks leading up to the conclusion of the trade-pact negotiations, most of the attention was focused on supply management and the dairy sector, the threat of tariffs on the automotive industry and the future of dispute-resolution provisions. Yet, once the secret text was released just after midnight on Sunday, the mandated reform to Canadian copyright law became more readily apparent.
Leading the way is a requirement to extend the term of copyright protection from the current term of the life of the creator plus 50 years to the life of the creator plus 70 years. The additional years of protection will effectively lock down the public domain in Canada for two decades, with no new copyright expiry on works until 2040 (assuming the agreement takes effect in 2020)."
"In the weeks leading up to the conclusion of the trade-pact negotiations, most of the attention was focused on supply management and the dairy sector, the threat of tariffs on the automotive industry and the future of dispute-resolution provisions. Yet, once the secret text was released just after midnight on Sunday, the mandated reform to Canadian copyright law became more readily apparent.
Leading the way is a requirement to extend the term of copyright protection from the current term of the life of the creator plus 50 years to the life of the creator plus 70 years. The additional years of protection will effectively lock down the public domain in Canada for two decades, with no new copyright expiry on works until 2040 (assuming the agreement takes effect in 2020)."
U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement: Intellectual Property Provisions for the Modern Age; Lexology, November 6, 2018
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP -
Brooke M. Ringel, Lexology; U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement: Intellectual Property Provisions for the Modern Age
"The intellectual property (IP) chapter of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in particular, reflects significant updates. While NAFTA included IP provisions – and was, in fact, the first trade agreement to do so – the USMCA reflects a more comprehensive approach to ensuring the United States’ most important trading partners respect and enforce IP rights at a high level."
Thursday, November 1, 2018
NDAs Are Out of Control. Here’s What Needs to Change; Harvard Business Review, January 30, 2018
Orly Lobel, Harvard Business Review; NDAs Are Out of Control. Here’s What Needs to Change
[Kip Currier: Came across this article about Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs) while updating a Trade Secrets lecture for this week. The author raises a number of thought-provoking ethical and policy issues to consider. Good information for people in all sectors to think about when faced with signing an NDA and/or managing NDAs.]
"Nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, which are increasingly common in employment contracts, suppress employee speech and chill creativity. The current revelations surfacing years of harassment in major organizations are merely the tip of the iceberg.
New data shows that over one-third of the U.S. workforce is bound by an NDA. These contracts have grown not only in number but also in breadth. They not only appear in settlements after a victim of sexual harassment has raised her voice but also are now routinely included in standard employment contracts upon hiring. At the outset, NDAs attempt to impose several obligations upon a new employee. They demand silence, often broadly worded to protect against speaking up against corporate culture or saying anything that would portray the company and its executives in a negative light. NDAs also attempt to expand the definitions of secrecy to cover more information than the traditional bounds of trade secret law, in effect preventing an employee from leaving their employer and continuing to work in the same field."
[Kip Currier: Came across this article about Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs) while updating a Trade Secrets lecture for this week. The author raises a number of thought-provoking ethical and policy issues to consider. Good information for people in all sectors to think about when faced with signing an NDA and/or managing NDAs.]
"Nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, which are increasingly common in employment contracts, suppress employee speech and chill creativity. The current revelations surfacing years of harassment in major organizations are merely the tip of the iceberg.
New data shows that over one-third of the U.S. workforce is bound by an NDA. These contracts have grown not only in number but also in breadth. They not only appear in settlements after a victim of sexual harassment has raised her voice but also are now routinely included in standard employment contracts upon hiring. At the outset, NDAs attempt to impose several obligations upon a new employee. They demand silence, often broadly worded to protect against speaking up against corporate culture or saying anything that would portray the company and its executives in a negative light. NDAs also attempt to expand the definitions of secrecy to cover more information than the traditional bounds of trade secret law, in effect preventing an employee from leaving their employer and continuing to work in the same field."
Copyright in the United States; Lexology, October 29, 2018
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP -
Jeff C. Dodd, Jonathan D. Reichman and Susanna P. Lichter, Lexology; Copyright in the United States
[Kip Currier: This is a very useful and informative overview of U.S. Copyright law.]
"Can copyrightable works be protected by other IP rights (eg, trademarks and designs)?
Where applicable, copyrightable works can be protected under trademark rights, patent rights and trade secrets.
For example, software can be protected by both patents and copyrights. The copyright would protect the artistic expression of the idea (eg, the software code itself), while the patent would protect the functional expression of the idea (eg, using a single click to purchase something online). An additional example would be a logo for a brand. The logo serves as a trademark indicating that products affixed with the logo are from the same source. The creative and artistic aspects of the logo may also be protected by a copyright. "
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
U.S. charges Chinese spies and their recruited hackers in conspiracy to steal trade secrets; The Washington Post, October 30, 2018
Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post; U.S. charges Chinese spies and their recruited hackers in conspiracy to steal trade secrets
[Kip Currier: Just lectured on Trade Secrets in my IP course yesterday. So it was timely to see this recent development after class.
The U.S. and E.U. have both beefed up trade secret protection and prosecution mechanisms in just the past two years: the U.S., with the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, and the E.U., via its E.U. Trade Secrets Directive (EUTSD).]
"The Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed charges
against 10 Chinese spies, hackers and others accused of conspiring to
steal sensitive commercial airline and other secrets from U.S. and
European companies.
The indictment marks the
third time since September that the United States has brought charges
against Chinese intelligence officers and their recruits for stealing
American intellectual property.
“This is just
the beginning,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said. “Together
with our federal partners, we will redouble our efforts to safeguard
America’s ingenuity and investment.”"
Thursday, October 25, 2018
New homepage for USPTO.gov; USPTO, October 25, 2918
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018
YouTube CEO asks creators to ‘take action’ against EU copyright law; CNet, October 22, 2018
Richard Nieva, CNet; YouTube CEO asks creators to ‘take action’ against EU copyright law
""This legislation poses a threat to both your livelihood and your ability to share your voice with the world," Wojcicki wrote in a blog post. "And, if implemented as proposed, Article 13 threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs, European creators, businesses, artists and everyone they employ."
She added, "Please take a moment to learn more about how it could affect your channel and take action immediately." She also asked creators to protest using the hashtag #SaveYourInternet."
""This legislation poses a threat to both your livelihood and your ability to share your voice with the world," Wojcicki wrote in a blog post. "And, if implemented as proposed, Article 13 threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs, European creators, businesses, artists and everyone they employ."
She added, "Please take a moment to learn more about how it could affect your channel and take action immediately." She also asked creators to protest using the hashtag #SaveYourInternet."
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Inside the windowless bunker where Disney stores its 'secret weapon'; The Guardian, October 20, 2018
Rory Carroll, The Guardian; Inside the windowless bunker where Disney stores its 'secret weapon'
"Some in Hollywood still refer to Disney as the House of Mouse but the company archives showcase its real key to world domination: intellectual property (IP)."
"Some in Hollywood still refer to Disney as the House of Mouse but the company archives showcase its real key to world domination: intellectual property (IP)."
Friday, October 19, 2018
Harvard’s Admissions Process, Once Secret, Is Unveiled in Federal Court; The New York Times, October 19, 2018
Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times; Harvard’s Admissions Process, Once Secret, Is Unveiled in Federal Court
"Although many selective colleges are
known to engage in the same admissions tactics, Harvard’s lawyers
lamented in pretrial papers that being forced to produce application
materials would be like divulging trade secrets, and would allow
students and college counselors to game the process, which is in full
swing right now. The judge even likened Harvard’s formula to the recipe
for Coke.
In the end, however,
Harvard’s lead counsel, Bill Lee (Harvard Class of 1972), said this week
that it had been necessary to spill some secrets.
“I’ve definitely not revealed the secret of Coke,” said Mr. Lee, who represented Apple in a patent suit against Samsung — another trial that exposed closely guarded secrets.
But, he acknowledged, “you’re learning a lot about the admissions
process that never would have been public otherwise. We want you to
know. Once you understand it, you can understand how decisions are
made.”"
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Library now patent, trademark center; The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado), October 14, 2018
Amy Hamilton, The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado);
"[Grand Junction, Colorado's] Mesa County Libraries' Central Library, 443 N. Sixth St., will have a grand opening of its designation as a U.S. Patent and Trademark Resource Center, a service that allows patrons access to information and databases on existing patents and trademarks.
The closest centers to Mesa County are in Durango, Salt Lake City and Denver."
Library now patent, trademark center
"[Grand Junction, Colorado's] Mesa County Libraries' Central Library, 443 N. Sixth St., will have a grand opening of its designation as a U.S. Patent and Trademark Resource Center, a service that allows patrons access to information and databases on existing patents and trademarks.
The closest centers to Mesa County are in Durango, Salt Lake City and Denver."
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.)"
Labels:
copyright law,
Music Modernization Act
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