Saturday, March 18, 2023

NASA unveils new spacesuit specially tailored for lunar wear; The Business Standard, March 18, 2023

 Reuters via The Business Standard; NASA unveils new spacesuit specially tailored for lunar wear

"The precise look of the suits, however, remained a closely guarded trade secret. Those on display came with an outer layer that was charcoal grey with dashes of orange and blue and Axiom's logo on the chest - intended to obscure Axiom's proprietary outer fabric design."

Cher’s Royalties Lawsuit Against Sonny Bono’s Widow Can Move Forward, Judge Says; Billboard, March 17, 2023

BILL DONAHUE, Billboard; Cher’s Royalties Lawsuit Against Sonny Bono’s Widow Can Move Forward, Judge Says

"Sonny and Cher started performing together in 1964 and married in 1967, rising to fame with major hits like “I Got You Babe,” “The Beat Goes On” and “Baby Don’t Go.” But the pair split up in 1974, finalizing their divorce with a settlement agreement in 1978. Under that deal, Sonny retained ownership of their music rights, but Cher was granted a half-share of all royalties.

Bono died in 1998 as the result of a skiing accident, leaving Mary in control of those copyrights. And in 2016, she invoked the termination right — a provision of the federal Copyright Act that allows creators or their heirs to win back control of rights they signed away decades prior. Mary sent such notices to Sonny and Cher’s publishers, taking back full control of those copyrights.

Five years later, Cher filed her lawsuit — seeking a ruling that the divorce agreement was still in effect and that she was still owed her 50% cut of royalties, regardless of who owns the copyrights now. Mary then fired back a few months later, arguing that the case should be dismissed. Her lawyers said that termination rights were designed to trump all preexisting agreements, including a divorce agreement.

“Cher’s position would subvert Congress’ intent in enacting the copyright termination provisions: to ensure that authors and authors’ heirs, not grantees or ex-spouses, would benefit from the extended term of copyright,” Bono’s attorneys wrote in December 2021."

Friday, March 17, 2023

Dog Toys, Drugs Lead Supreme Court’s High-Stakes IP Arguments; Bloomberg Law, March 17, 2023

Kelcee Griffis and Kyle Jahner, Bloomberg LawDog Toys, Drugs Lead Supreme Court’s High-Stakes IP Arguments

"The US Supreme Court is set to weigh three high-profile intellectual property cases in a seven-day stretch testing the bounds of branded parodies, broad drug patent claims, and international application of trademark law.

The arguments could result in rulings with wide-ranging impacts on areas including First Amendment expression, pharmaceutical research and development, and damages calculations. The US solicitor general will argue in all three cases, signaling the government’s strong interest in their outcomes.

Here’s what to expect during the high court’s blockbuster IP week."

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence; Federal Register, March 16, 2023

Federal Register; Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence

"SUMMARY:

The Copyright Office issues this statement of policy to clarify its practices for examining and registering works that contain material generated by the use of artificial intelligence technology."

Copyright Report Says AI-Assisted Works Can Be Protected – But Only If A Human Was Still In Charge; Billboard, March 15, 2023

BILL DONAHUE, Billboard; Copyright Report Says AI-Assisted Works Can Be Protected – But Only If A Human Was Still In Charge

"A new policy report from the U.S. Copyright Office says that songs and other artistic works created with the assistance of artificial intelligence can sometimes be eligible for copyright registration, but only if the ultimate author remains a human being.

The report, released by the federal agency on Wednesday (March 15), comes amid growing interest in the future role that could be played in the creation of music by so-called generative AI tools — similar to the much-discussed ChatGPT...

Under the rules laid out in the report, the Copyright Office said that anyone submitting such works must disclose which elements were created by AI and which were created by a human. The agency said that any AI-inclusive work that was previously registered without such a disclosure must be updated — and that failure to do so could result in the cancellation of the copyright registration.

Though aimed at providing guidance, Wednesday’s report avoided hard-and-fast rules. It stressed that analyzing copyright protection for AI-assisted works would be “necessarily a case-by-case inquiry,” and that the final outcome would always depend on individual circumstances, including “how the AI tool operates” and “how it was used to create the final work.”

And the report didn’t even touch on a potentially thornier legal question: whether the creators of AI platforms infringe the copyrights of the vast number of earlier works that are used to “train” the platforms to spit out new works."

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Trump Gets Copyright Law Wrong While Defending Release of Jay Leno Letters; Newsweek, March 15, 2023

, Newsweek; Trump Gets Copyright Law Wrong While Defending Release of Jay Leno Letters

"Jane C. Ginsburg, professor of literary and artistic property Law at Columbia University School of Law in New York, previously told Newsweek that the principle that the writers of letters, not the recipients, retain the copyright in the text has been "well-established in copyright law" for hundreds of years.

"Going back to a famous case from 1741, in which poet Alexander Pope sued Edmond Curll for publishing Pope's letters," Ginsburg said. "Pope prevailed. Lord Justice Hardwick announced a distinction between the 'property of the paper' which belonged to the recipient of the letters, and the property in the words, which remained with the writer.""

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

The 1954 Liz Taylor movie, "The Last Time I Saw Paris" entered the public domain 10 years early because the copyright notice had an error; BoingBoing, March 14, 2023

, BoingBoing; The 1954 Liz Taylor movie, "The Last Time I Saw Paris" entered the public domain 10 years early because the copyright notice had an error

"According to Wikipedia, The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Babylon Revisited." It stars Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Eva Gabor, Kurt Kasznar, and Roger Moore and has 2.9 out of 5 stars on Letterboxd. It looks like it's worth watching just because Elizabeth Taylor is so beautiful.

The film entered the public domain 10 years early because someone at the studio goofed when they added the Roman numerals to the copyright notice."

How to Type the Copyright (©) Symbol; IT Pro Today, March 11, 2023

Henry Chapman, IT Pro Today; How to Type the Copyright (©) Symbol

"You don’t need any special intellectual property to type the copyright symbol or sign (©) in a Microsoft Word document, on a Mac, or on an iOS or Android device.

Learn each easy method below."

Opinion: To protect human artistry from AI, new safeguards might be essential; The Washington Post, March 13, 2023

 and 
Jonathan Taplin
, The Washington Post ; Opinion: To protect human artistry from AI, new safeguards might be essential

"Yet a nation’s cultural life is not a minor matter, and preserving artists’ rights is essential to ensuring their continued contribution. Any reasonable interpretation of existing copyright law ought to protect against abuses, but that doesn’t always happen. A case now before the Supreme Court involving the artist Andy Warhol’s unauthorized use of a photographer’s image of the musician Prince could dictate the direction copyright law will take in the coming years.

But another solution may be needed: new laws and regulations governing AI and safeguarding the human core of creative artistry.

As the physicist Stephen Hawking wrote, “If a superior alien civilization sent us a message saying, ‘We’ll arrive in a few decades,’ would we just reply, ‘OK, call us when you get here – we’ll leave the lights on’? Probably not – but this is more or less what is happening with AI.” That was nine years ago. It’s still happening."

Monday, March 13, 2023

Patents, spy balloons and outcompeting China: What our leaders are missing; The Hill, March 12, 2023

PAUL R. MICHEL AND MATTHEW J. DOWD, The Hill; Patents, spy balloons and outcompeting China: What our leaders are missing

"For all of U.S. history, patents have provided the needed incentives. Without reliable patent protection, few corporate decision-makers or venture capital leaders would make the investments to support the breakthroughs.

And now, more breakthroughs are exactly what America needs to counter China’s accelerating technology surge. Think computer chips, genetic and personalized medicine, clean energy, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies of the 21st century.

But we’re starting to lag behind China, which is devoting untold resources toward becoming the global leader. A recent Harvard Kennedy School report warned that China is set to overtake the United States, if U.S. policy does not change."

The top 10 drugs losing US exclusivity in 2023; Fierce Pharma, March 13, 2023

Fraiser Kansteiner, Eric Sagonowsky, Zoey Becker, Kevin Dunleavy, Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma; The top 10 drugs losing US exclusivity in 2023

"Across the industry this year, big-selling drugs from Johnson & Johnson, Takeda, AstraZeneca, Roche and other companies are set to face their first generic or biosimilar challengers in the U.S. As always, the patent expirations should create quite a shake-up for many of the industry’s top players."

Taylor Swift is a Pioneer of Intellectual Property Rights; American University Intellectual Property Brief, March 13, 2023

 Abigail Smith, American University Intellectual Property Brief; Taylor Swift is a Pioneer of Intellectual Property Rights

"Every time Taylor Swift walks out the door, she facilitates massive changes for the intellectual property rights of artists in the music industry.

Taylor Swift is one of the most popular artists in the world. Even if you don’t like her music, you have to admire her fighting spirit. Lately, she has been in a public battle with Ticketmaster over the availability of tickets for her upcoming tour. Before that, she fought with music streaming services to promote selling albums—thus, profiting off the work put into creating those albums—instead of allowing them to be streamed for free. Before that, she was fighting for her ownership rights over her music. Many of Taylor Swift’s battles have to do with her intellectual property rights, and the outcomes may impact all musicians."

China’s Newest Weapon to Nab Western Technology—Its Courts; The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2023

Stu Woo  and Daniel Michaels, The Wall Street Journal; China’s Newest Weapon to Nab Western Technology—Its Courts

Rulings nullify patents in industries it deems important, including technology, pharmaceuticals and rare-earth minerals

"The growing conflict between China and the U.S. extends from computer-chip factories to a suspected spy balloon over American skies. Running through it all is a struggle for technological superiority.

China has striven for years to develop cutting-edge technologies, in part through heavy spending on research. Now, according to Western officials and executives, it also has mobilized its legal system to pry technology from other nations.

Officials in the U.S. and European Union accuse China of using its courts and patent panels to undermine foreign intellectual-property rights and help Chinese businesses. They say China is focusing such efforts on industries it deems important, including technology, pharmaceuticals and rare-earth minerals."

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Leader of Illegal Copyright Infringement Scheme Sentenced to 5 ½ Years’ Imprisonment; U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Department of Justice, March 8, 2023

U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Department of JusticeLeader of Illegal Copyright Infringement Scheme Sentenced to 5 ½ Years’ Imprisonment

"United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Bill Omar Carrasquillo, 36 years old, of Swedesboro, NJ, was sentenced to 66 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, more than $30 million in forfeiture, and more than $15 million in restitution by United States District Court Judge Harvey Bartle III, for crimes arising from a wide-ranging copyright infringement scheme that involved piracy of cable TV, access device fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of copyright infringement."

Artificial Intelligence Meets Its Worst Enemy: the U.S. Copyright Office; The New Republic, March 3, 2023

,  The New Republic; Artificial Intelligence Meets Its Worst Enemy: the U.S. Copyright Office

"What Silicon Valley calls “artificial intelligence” at the moment is something more like the computer aboard the USS Enterprise, which can respond to voice prompts and answer a wide range of queries instantaneously. Where is the nearest solar system? How many Klingon warships are pursuing us? How many life-forms are on the planet below? These answers can come much more quickly than any human could give, but they also do not reflect creativity or imagination in any meaningful sense...

Randomized and uncontrolled generation renders the result ineligible for copyright, the office said. While it noted that Kashtanova said she went to great lengths to enter prompts specific enough to produce her desired result, that input was not the same as actual creative work. The office compared her to a patron who commissioned a piece of artwork from a client based on specific instructions. If she had given the same instructions to a human artist that she gave to Midjourney, the office noted, Kashtanova herself would not be able to claim the copyright of the piece that the artist ultimately produced.

That explanation is a laudably insightful understanding of labor and creation by the Copyright Office. It may be even more apt than the government realized. A “generative A.I.,” after all, is only as good as the material it is “trained” on—the corpus of raw text or images that the algorithm then uses to produce simulacra of new text and images."

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

ASML chief warns of IP theft risks amid chip sanctions; Financial Times, March 8, 2023

Financial Times ; ASML chief warns of IP theft risks amid chip sanctions

"Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here

The head of ASML, the chip toolmaker that is Europe’s biggest tech company, said he was guarding against intellectual property theft more fiercely than “ever before”, as a geopolitical tussle forces China to bolster its homegrown semiconductor industry. Peter Wennink said growing restrictions imposed by the US on China’s ability to source cutting-edge chips and semiconductor equipment had raised the stakes for the company’s security efforts. “It’s like 1973, it’s like the oil crisis,” Wennink told the Financial Times, pointing to increasing efforts by the US, Europe and Japan to bolster their domestic chipmaking capabilities. “Oil was always there until it wasn’t, and it was a strategic commodity. Fast forward to 2020 and it’s the same thing with chips.”"

With an unruly China, safeguarding intellectual property is vital to national security; The Globe and Mail, March 6, 2023

 AND , The Globe and Mail; With an unruly China, safeguarding intellectual property is vital to national security

"There is an urgent need for a new Canadian national security policy that considers new and emerging threats.

Such a policy should begin with a strong economic foundation that privileges the domestic development of intangible assets, IP, and the use and commercialization of data, as well as the strategic injection of Canadian technology into international markets. That, in turn, requires a better understanding of the relationship between IP and national security."

The Daring Ruse That Exposed China’s Campaign to Steal American Secrets; The New York Times Magazine, March 7, 2023

, The New York Times Magazine ; The Daring Ruse That Exposed China’s Campaign to Steal American Secrets

"Although China publicly denies engaging in economic espionage, Chinese officials will indirectly acknowledge behind closed doors that the theft of intellectual property from overseas is state policy. James Lewis, a former diplomat now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, recalls participating in a meeting in 2014 or so at which Chinese and American government representatives, including an officer from the People’s Liberation Army, discussed the subject. “An assistant secretary from the U.S. Department of Defense was explaining: Look, spying is OK — we spy, you spy, everybody spies, but it’s for political and military purposes,” Lewis recounted for me. “It’s for national security. What we object to is your economic espionage. And a senior P.L.A. colonel said: Well, wait. We don’t draw the line between national security and economic espionage the way you do. Anything that builds our economy is good for our national security.” The U.S. government’s response increasingly appears to be a mirror image of the Chinese perspective: In the view of U.S. officials, the threat posed to America’s economic interests by Chinese espionage is a threat to American national security.'

Like China’s economy, the spying carried out on its behalf is directed by the Chinese state. The Ministry of State Security, or M.S.S., which is responsible for gathering foreign intelligence, is tasked with collecting information in technologies that the Chinese government wants to build up. The current focus, according to U.S. counterintelligence experts, aligns with the “Made in China 2025” initiative announced in 2015. This industrial plan seeks to make China the world’s top manufacturer in 10 areas, including robotics, artificial intelligence, new synthetic materials and aerospace. In the words of one former U.S. national security official, the plan is a “road map for theft.”"

NFTs are creating trademark problems. For these Minnesota lawyers, expertise is a commodity; Star Tribune, March 8, 2023

 , Star TribuneNFTs are creating trademark problems. For these Minnesota lawyers, expertise is a commodity

"For NFT creators, knowing what they can register for trademark or patent protection is not clear-cut, either. That's a significant piece of the NFT-law equation, considering the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received more than 10,000 trademark applications for NFT-related goods and services over the last few years, said Kathi Vidal, undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, during a recent online panel.

"And we expect that number to grow," she said.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and U.S. Copyright Office are working on a study with input from industry experts to determine how the nation should proceed with NFT laws. The study, a response to a request from the U.S. Senate subcommittee on intellectual property, will help officials determine what policies are to be supported, and what position the U.S. takes on the matter, Vidal said."

From Roald Dahl to Goosebumps, revisions to children’s classics are really about copyright – a legal expert explains; The Conversation, March 7, 2023

Professor of Law, University of Montana; Visiting Research Fellow, University of Oxford, The Conversation ; From Roald Dahl to Goosebumps, revisions to children’s classics are really about copyright – a legal expert explains

"The backlash to Puffin Books’ decision to update Roald Dahl’s children’s books has been swift and largely derisive. The publisher has been accused of “absurd censorship”, “corporate safetyism” and “cultural vandalism.” 

At its core, however, updating Roald Dahl’s children’s books is really about the rights and control copyright grants to authors and copyright holders. Those rights are exercised to update children’s books more frequently than many of these critics may realise."

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Reducing the Choice Between a Textbook and Your Next Meal; UCFToday, March 6, 2023

James Paradiso,  UCFToday; Reducing the Choice Between a Textbook and Your Next Meal

"With textbooks and other required course materials proven to be costly, UCF faculty, staff and students have come up with creative, yet practical, solutions through the creation of Open Educational Resources (OER), a hub for free teaching, learning and research materials.

“There has always been a need for open educational resources in higher education,” says Nicole Lapeyrouse, a UCF chemistry professor and 2023 Affordable Instructional Materials (AIM) High Impact Award winner. “By adopting or creating OER, you are able to further support students by making your courses more affordable and helping reduce the financial burden on students.”

Isabella Griffin, a student in Lapeyrouse’s Chemistry Fundamentals I course, confirms those benefits.

“The free textbook has helped ease the financial burden associated with being a college student.,” she says. “Sometimes, high prices prevent students from having textbook access — to the detriment of student learning. I greatly appreciate the free and open access to [the Chemistry Fundamentals eBook]. It has increased my ability to access relevant and useful resources related to class.”

“From my own personal experience with not always having access to affordable resources,” says Lapeyrouse, “I wanted to prevent students from having to make a tough call on [whether to] buy the required resources or pay a bill.”

According to the 2022 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey conducted by Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC), 53% of students from Florida’s public higher education institutions indicated they did not purchase a required textbook for financial reasons. Forty-four percent took fewer courses. Thirty-eight percent did not register for a specific course. And 24% dropped a course due to the high cost of textbooks."

ARE THE CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC DOMAIN TOOLS FIT-FOR-PURPOSE IN THE CULTURAL HERITAGE SECTOR?; Creative Commons, February 23, 2023

Creative Commons; ARE THE CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC DOMAIN TOOLS FIT-FOR-PURPOSE IN THE CULTURAL HERITAGE SECTOR?

A Creative Commons Needs Assessment Report

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To obtain a clearer picture of the use and understanding of Creative Commonsʼ (CC) public domain tools in the cultural heritage sector, in light of the diverse barriersfacing cultural heritage institutions (CHIs) in opening up their collections, we performed a needs assessment with a view to developing a set of recommendations to ensure CCʼs tools continue to be relevant and meet the sectorʼs needs. From 1 January (Public Domain Day2) to 15 February 2022, we ran a multilingual online survey using Google Forms to share a 50-question questionnaire in English, French and Spanish.

With hundreds of responses to 50 questions, our survey provides us with ample information. While it is beyond the scope of this brief report to provide in-depth analysis of all the results, we highlight key findings that hold the potential to inform our community about the state of open culture and the role that CC public domain tools might play in supporting it. Hereʼs a brief summary of key findings:"

Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets; BBC, January 16, 2023

 Nicholas Yong , BBC News; Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets

"It is part of a broader struggle as China strives to gain technological knowhow to power its economy and its challenge to the geopolitical order, while the US does its best to prevent a serious competitor to American power from emerging.

The theft of trade secrets is attractive because it allows countries to "leapfrog up global value chains relatively quickly - and without the costs, both in terms of time and money, of relying completely on indigenous capabilities", Nick Marro of the Economist Intelligence Unit told the BBC.

Last July FBI director Christopher Wray told a gathering of business leaders and academics in London that China aimed to "ransack" the intellectual property of Western companies so it can speed up its own industrial development and eventually dominate key industries

He warned that it was snooping on companies everywhere "from big cities to small towns - from Fortune 100s to start-ups, folks that focus on everything from aviation, to AI, to pharma"."

The Supreme Court May Force Us to Rethink 500 Years of Art; The New York Times, March 1, 2023

 The Supreme Court May Force Us to Rethink 500 Years of Art

"Any day now, the Supreme Court will hand down a decision that could change the future of Western art — and, in a sense, its history, too. Blame the appeals court judgment from 2021 declaring that Andy Warhol had no right to appropriate someone else’s photo of Prince into one of the Pop artist’s classic silk-screened portraits.

The art world quailed at the ruling."

New Copyright Claims Board Rules in Favor of Photographer in First Case; PetaPixel, March 6, 2023

 MATT GROWCOOT, PetaPixel; New Copyright Claims Board Rules in Favor of Photographer in First Case

"In a judgment on February 28, 2023, the CCB ruled in favor of the plaintiff, David Oppenheimer, who sued a lawyer named Douglas Prutton for using one of his photographs on his website without permission. 

The CCB was set up in 2021 to help small copyright infringement claims of lower value giving photographers an alternative to hiring pricey copyright attorneys who generally balk at smaller monetary payouts of this kind."

Friday, March 3, 2023

New open access resources from Library of Congress; Illinois State University News, March 2, 2023

Eric Willey, Illinois State University News; New open access resources from Library of Congress

"For those interested in Open Access materials, one of the places to watch is the Library of Congress (LoC). Often serving in the role of a de facto national library, the LoC contributes Open Access materials on a wide variety of topics to its digital collections and publicizes the efforts through a blog, The Signal.

The librarians at LoC have hit the ground running in 2023, having added historical recordings, books, and datasets to their online collections. These include 58 new recordings to the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature from the 1960s-1980s, and LandScan GIS datasets for Ukraine and Russia that include population density. The library also added over 100 Open Access ebooks and German language newspapers published in Washington, D.C.

Even when online materials are Open Access, they still require software to be viewed. In February, LoC announced the creation of an EPUB reader for its ebooks. This viewer allows readers to access over 6,000 OA ebooks on the website without downloading a PDF and provides an improved interface for readers.

LoC is also planning to actively add materials to its online collections in the future and has outlined a digitization strategy for 2023-2027. With over 9 million items already digitized, this program offers five guiding principles to “expand, optimize, and centralize its collections digitization program to significantly expand access to users across the country to rare, distinctive, and unique collection materials which can be made openly available online and use digitization as a core method for preservation reformatting of rights restricted collection materials.”"

On AI-Generated Works, Artists, and Intellectual Property; Lawfare, February 28, 2023

Ryan Merkley, Lawfare; On AI-Generated Works, Artists, and Intellectual Property 

"Today’s laws allow only humans to create a new copyright. So far, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has trod lightly to avoid declaring any wholly computer-generated work eligible for copyright. In the coming years, there will be enormous pressure on lawmakers to allow computer-generated works to be eligible for copyright. If there is a line in the sand to be drawn, it’s between humans and computers. Rather than allow computer art to devalue human works, one solution might be to elevate human art and decide that AI art should never have equal value. 

Legal frameworks worldwide rely on laws written sometimes hundreds of years ago before computers even existed. Beyond those laws, there are moral and ethical questions that remain unanswered. What is the good we hope to create, and what are the harms that might result? What kind of competitive market do we want, and who, or what, will we be competing with?... 

If copyright laws were bent to allow algorithms to become authors, it would upend one of the foundational principles of global intellectual property and just might unleash a torrent of new issues so overwhelming that it could spell the end of international treaties like the Berne Convention, already creaking under the weight of the internet."

Bay Area vegan company sues founder for allegedly stealing trade secrets; SFGate, February 24, 2023

Bay Area vegan company sues founder for allegedly stealing trade secrets

"“Instead of facilitating an orderly transition, following her termination as CEO, Schinner hatched a plot to steal the Company’s property, trade secrets, and confidential information so that she could create a competing company,” Miyoko’s Creamery wrote in the lawsuit."

When Songs Sound Similar, Courts Look for Musical DNA; The New York Times, March 1, 2023

 Ben Sisario, The New York Times; When Songs Sound Similar, Courts Look for Musical DNA

"But are they close enough that Sheeran should be liable for copyright infringement? Or is their overlap limited to fundamental musical building blocks that are part of the public domain?"...

“All of these cases are about the question of how similar is too similar,” said Joseph P. Fishman, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville. “The Copyright Act that Congress passed says nothing whatsoever about that question. In the U.S. copyright system, the rules for how that question gets answered are entirely developed by federal judges.”"

Thursday, March 2, 2023

How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists; BBC News, March 1, 2023

BBC News; How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists

"Journalists have been forced to temporarily take down articles critical of powerful oil lobbyists due to the exploitation of US copyright law, according to a new report.

At least five such articles have been subject to fake copyright claims, including one by the respected South African newspaper Mail & Guardian, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

The claims - which falsely assert ownership of the stories - have been made by mystery individuals under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law meant to protect copyright holders."

Can You Spot the Copyright Infringement?; The New York Times, March 1, 2023

 Jason M. Bailey, The New York Times; Can You Spot the Copyright Infringement?

"It can be difficult to predict the outcome of copyright cases, some dealing with parody, that reach the courts. Judges must parse precedent and the Copyright Act of 1976, which outlines how to decide whether something is the “fair use” of a creative work. In the cases below, guess which way the judges ruled."

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Science Fiction Magazines Battle a Flood of Chatbot-Generated Stories; The New York Times, February 23, 2023

Michael Levenson , The New York Times; Science Fiction Magazines Battle a Flood of Chatbot-Generated Stories

"Elaborating on his concerns in the interview, Mr. Clarke said that chatbot-generated fiction could raise ethical and legal questions, if it ever passed literary muster. He said he did not want to pay “for the work the algorithm did” on stories generated by someone who had entered prompts into an algorithm.

“Who owns that, technically?” Mr. Clarke said. “Right now, we’re still in the early days of this technology, and there are a lot of unanswered questions.”"

Thursday, February 23, 2023

What’s the Real Deal between AI Art & IP?; The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, February 22, 2023

Executive Editor: David Orozco, J.D., Bank of America Professor at Florida State University & Editor-in-Chief at American Business Law Journal, The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property ; What’s the Real Deal between AI Art & IP?

"Can Creatives Fight Back Using IP? 

Artists and creatives may use U.S. copyright law to protect their works from unauthorized use or infringement, including works generated by AI. However, the exact extent of protection will depend on the specific circumstances of the case and the application of relevant legal principles, such as fair use and the doctrine of originality.

For instance, if an AI-generated work is deemed to be a “derivative work” based on the original creative work of an artist, the artist may have the right to control the use and distribution of that derivative work. On the other hand, if the AI-generated work is considered a “transformative” use of the original work, it may qualify for protection under the doctrine of fair use, which would allow it to be used without permission from the original artist."

AI-created images lose U.S. copyrights in test for new technology; Reuters, February 22, 2023

, Reuters; AI-created images lose U.S. copyrights in test for new technology

"Images in a graphic novel that were created using the artificial-intelligence system Midjourney should not have been granted copyright protection, the U.S. Copyright Office said in a letter seen by Reuters.

"Zarya of the Dawn" author Kris Kashtanova is entitled to a copyright for the parts of the book Kashtanova wrote and arranged, but not for the images produced by Midjourney, the office said in its letter, dated Tuesday."

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

#WeWednesday from Phoenix: Finding options to fund your business; United States Patent and Trademark Office; February 22, 2023 at 11:30 AM MT, 1:30 AM ET

United States Patent and Trademark Office; #WeWednesday from Phoenix: Finding options to fund your business

composite of several female faces combining to a single figure next to the words WE: Women Entrepreneurs

"Calling all current and future women entrepreneurs! Join us for our next #WEWednesday event virtually or in person at the Phoenix Bioscience Core, known as 850 PBC, located in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday, February 22 at 11:30 a.m. MT.

The event will kick-off with a fireside chat between Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Sally Morton, Executive Vice President & Professor, ASU Knowledge Enterprise, and will be followed by a panel of experts sharing stories and tips on how to secure options for funding a small business. 

Confirmed speakers:

  • Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO
  • Alika Kuma, Executive Director, Arizona MBDA Business Center
  • Crys Waddell, Creative Strategist and Chief Operating Officer, Hustle PHX
  • Keneshia Raymond  Director of Programs and Access to Capital, Startup Tucson
  • Shruti Gurudan, Partner, Rose Law Group & Co-Founder, Televëda 
  • Tracy Lea, Director of Venture Development, J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute (emcee)"

Register today

Libraries offering Intellectual Property workshop series; WV Mountaineer ENews, February 13, 2023

WV Mountaineer ENews; Libraries offering Intellectual Property workshop series

"This series of Intellectual Property workshops includes introduction, copyright, trademarks, and patents. While these workshops primarily focus on how to search, the participant will learn different aspects of IP as well as familiarity with websites. 

Trademarks: What's In a Name
If you have a new business name or a new product, attend this workshop and learn how to protect your name and avoid counterfeiting someone else’s. 
Register for this workshop scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21

Patents: Learning How to Search
Knowing how to search patents is helpful for inventors to see what similar items already exist and it can help in researching older technologies and figuring out how a new technology works. Attend this workshop to learn about how searching patents using classification will assist you.
Register for this workshop scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 7 

Copyright and your Thesis or Dissertation
Join us for a workshop specifically about copyright and graduate student work. We will cover copyright issues specific to theses and dissertations, including your rights as a user of others’ work, the permissions you need to gain, and your own rights over your ETD.
Register for the workshop scheduled for 11 a.m. to noon Monday, March 27 

Register for the workshop scheduled for 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, April 4

Register for the workshop scheduled for 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, April 12"

I Can't Get No Compensation: AI Image Generators and Copyright; Lexology, February 15, 2023

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP - James RosenfeldBarry A. Stulberg and Stevin S. George, Lexology; I Can't Get No Compensation: AI Image Generators and Copyright

"This case (and those mentioned in footnote 1), together with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Foundation v. Goldsmith case argued October 12, 2022, before the U.S. Supreme Court (addressing the question of what does it mean for a work of art to be transformative "fair use" under U.S. copyright law, docket 21-869) will require courts to balance the competing interests of content owners and AI innovators."

This Inner Richmond Bar and Club Could Face A $30,000 Fine for Copyright Infringement; Eater San Francisco, February 21, 2023

 Paolo Bicchieri , Eater San Francisco; This Inner Richmond Bar and Club Could Face A $30,000 Fine for Copyright Infringement

"Neck of the Woods, a Clement Street haunt for college students and fans of lowkey shows, is being sued by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). That makes it one of 12 such nightclubs throughout the country the group is taking to task over allegedly not paying ASCAP licensing fees, for which fines could reach up to $30,000. Hoodline writes the fee is a relatively small payment bars throughout the country commonly pay to play songs on jukeboxes, at open mics, and at events of that nature.

A prominent bar owner in San Francisco, who chose to remain anonymous, told the outlet the fee is somewhere in the range of $1,000 a year. The San Francisco Examiner reports Neck of the Woods kept a license with the ASCAP from 2009 to 2015 but, even then, failed to pay its dues and had its license with the ASCAP terminated. The payment is compensation for musicians who are, ever more so in the digital age, often paid poorly for their talents."