Pitt Law Professor Michael Madison will give a talk on intersections among academic freedom, copyright and publishing, and new media and communication platforms on Tuesday, 1/12/16 4 PM, University of Pittsburgh

Talk on 1/12/16 4 PM at University of Pittsburgh:

Pitt Law Professor Michael Madison will give a talk on intersections among academic freedom, copyright and publishing, and new media and communication platforms: You may have heard that the topic of the 2016 Senate plenary will be academic freedom in the 21st century. As a lead-up event, the University Senate invites you to an open discussion with Pitt Law Professor Michael Madison on intersections among academic freedom, copyright and publishing, and new media and communication platforms. Please see the attached announcement for additional details. We hope you will attend. Day/Time: Tuesday, January 12 at 4:00pm, 2500 Posvar Hall.

A new announcement is available. Click the link below to view it:

http://www.universityannouncements.pitt.edu/std1222.pdf

Hong Kong netizens worry copyright bill will limit freedom of expression; Los Angeles Times, 12/19/15

Violet Law, Los Angeles Times; Hong Kong netizens worry copyright bill will limit freedom of expression:

"Gathering for a rally outside Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, with a banner nearby proclaiming, “Fight for the freedom of the next generation,” several hundred raised their voices against a copyright bill they say could further chill freedom of expression in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.

Protesters said they fear the legislation could be wielded as a tool of political prosecution against those who use memes to mock politicians, and even expose them to criminal charges...

In recent years, Hong Kong has sprouted an online parody subculture, as disaffected local netizens lampoon officials and criticize government policies by repurposing pop songs or doctoring screen grabs.

The new bill carries exemptions for caricature, parody, pastiche, satire, news reporting and commentary. It also requires those who repurpose others’ material to cite the source of the original work and obtain permission from copyright owners.

Opponents say the requirement puts too heavy a burden on authors of derivative works and would leave them vulnerable to civil liabilities and criminal charges. Opponents of the legislation are also pressuring lawmakers to amend the bill to exempt fair use, as is the case under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the U.S., or all user-generated content, a concept pioneered in Canada’s copyright law, saying these laws afford users the impunity to exercise their freedom of expression."

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director: 'Unconscious bias' in tech exists; Politico, 12/10/15

Eliza Collins, Politico; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director: 'Unconscious bias' in tech exists:

"Michelle Lee said Thursday there is an “unconscious bias” in tech, but it isn’t just specific to women.

Lee was speaking at POLITICO’s Women Rule event.

Lee, the undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, challenged leaders to make sure they’re giving equal jobs to men and women.

“Unconscious bias applies to both men and women,” said Lee, the first woman to serve as director of the Patent and Trademark Office."

Got an invention? Head to your regional patent office; Marketplace.org, 11/30/15

Lauren Silverman, Marketplace.org; Got an invention? Head to your regional patent office:

"There are lots of obstacles in the patenting process – money, time, knowledge. Every year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office receives hundreds of thousands of applications. There’s a backlog of more than 550,000 ideas that need to be sifted through.

The head of the agency – Google veteran Michelle Lee – hopes hiring more patent officers and stationing them at outposts across the country will speed up the process. The four regional offices that have opened are in Denver, Detroit, San Jose and Dallas.

The Dallas office will employ 80 patent examiners – meaning for the first time, applicants in the region won’t have to travel to the beltway if they want to meet face-to-face with their assigned examiners."

Patent office launches international application tracking tool; FedScoop, 12/1/15

Whitney Blair Wyckoff, FedScoop; Patent office launches international application tracking tool:

"The Patent and Trademark Office has debuted a new online tool that it says will help those filing for intellectual property protections abroad.

Called Dossier Access, the service allows users to track the status of patents in the world’s five largest patent offices: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, China’s State Intellectual Property Office and the Japan Patent Office.

U.S. patents only offer protection for inventions in this country. To receive similar protections abroad, inventors must file with foreign patent offices as well, USPTO’s Deputy Commissioner for International Patent Cooperation Mark Powell told FedScoop. But that process can be expensive and complicated. Even checking the status of an application can be tricky because other offices' application documents are not always in English, he said."

Pearls Before Swine; GoComics.com, 12/20/15

GoComics.com; Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine: [Never Read the Terms and Conditions]

Everything You Know About Martin Shkreli Is Wrong—or Is It?; Vanity Fair, 1/31/16

Bethany Mclean, Vanity Fair; Everything You Know About Martin Shkreli Is Wrong—or Is It? :

"I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I liken myself to the robber barons.” So says Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old hedge-fund manager turned pharmaceutical-company C.E.O., who achieved instantaneous notoriety last fall when he acquired the U.S. rights to a lifesaving drug and promptly boosted its price over 5,000 percent, from $13.50 a tablet to $750. The tsunami of rage (the BBC asked if Shkreli was “the most hated man in America”) only got worse when Shkreli said he would lower the price—and then didn’t. An anonymous user on the Web site Reddit summed up the sentiment bluntly: “Just fucking die will you?”

“The attempt to public shame is interesting,” says Shkreli. “Because everything we’ve done is legal. [Standard Oil tycoon John D.] Rockefeller made no attempt to apologize as long as what he was doing was legal.” In fact, Shkreli says, he wishes he had raised the price higher. “My investors expect me to maximize profits,” he said in an interview in early December at the Forbes Healthcare Summit, after which Forbes contributor Dan Diamond summed up Shkreli as “fascinating, horrifying, and utterly compelling.”"