Archive for the ‘Intellectual property’ Category
Saturday, February 13th, 2010
Group Advises Administration to Focus on Simple, Transparent and Efficient Reform of Export Control System
Source: National Foreign Trade Council
The Export Control Practitioners Group, composed of a diverse group of associations, businesses, practitioners and seasoned compliance experts, today released a comprehensive set of recommendations for transparent and efficient reform of the U.S. export control system. The Practitioners Group, which has been active for the past decade, began preparing these recommendations following the Administration’s announcement of an export control system review in August 2009.
In a letter sent to National Security Advisor General James Jones and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, the Group noted that the recommendations were developed to “assist the reform process in achieving its goals of a streamlined mechanism with higher walls around fewer items.”
The Practitioners Group’s guiding principles for reform include the following:
- Pursue reform with a government/private sector partnership at the center.
- Ensure accountability in the decision-making process.
- Control lists, thresholds, and parameters must keep pace with advances in critical technologies.
- Controls must take into account the globalization of research and development of new technologies.
- Export controls must be multilateral to be effective in denying controlled technology to our adversaries.
- A strong technology industrial base is critical to maintaining a strong national defense.
+ Full Document (PDF; 195 KB)
Posted in Business and economics, Government and politics, Intellectual property, International Relations, National security | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
U.S. Commerce Department’s Patent and Trademark Office to Accelerate Review of Green Technology Patents to Speed Deployment to Marketplace
Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will pilot a program to accelerate the examination of certain “green” technology patent applications, Secretary Gary Locke announced today. The new initiative…will accelerate the development and deployment of green technology, create green jobs, and promote U.S. competitiveness in this vital sector.
…
Pending patent applications in green technologies will be eligible to be accorded special status and given expedited examination, which will have the effect of reducing the time it takes to patent these technologies by an average of one year. Earlier patenting of these technologies enables inventors to secure funding, create businesses, and bring vital green technologies into use much sooner.
Patent applications are normally taken up for examination in the order that they are filed. The average pendency time for applications in green technology areas is approximately 30 months to a first office action and 40 months to a final decision. Under the pilot program, for the first 3,000 applications related to green technologies in which a proper petition is filed, the agency will examine the applications on an accelerated basis.
+ 74 Fed. Reg. 64666: Pilot Program for Green Technologies Including Greenhouse Gas Reduction (PDF; 425 KB)
Posted in Environment, Government and politics, Intellectual property, Science, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Innovation in Academe: Federal R&D Funding and the Patenting Activities of U.S. Universities and Colleges
Source: RAND Corporation
The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 expressly gave colleges, universities, and other nonprofit entities the right, which had previously been presumptively held by the federal government itself, to patent inventions resulting from federally funded research and development (R&D) activities they conduct. In the nearly three decades since the Bayh-Dole Act changed the nation’s patent laws, some academic institutions have been much more prolific than others at patenting technologies and other inventions discovered in their laboratories. There is substantial interest in better understanding the link between federal funding and innovation among U.S. colleges and universities. This report contributes to such improved understanding in two ways. First, it provides data, heretofore unavailable, that contain complete information laboriously extracted from official federal data systems on the amount of federal R&D funding that was actually provided to U.S. colleges and universities by fiscal year (FY) and by federal agency. These data will be of use to researchers interested in examining a number of issues related to federal funding of R&D at universities and colleges. Secondly, the report uses these data to provide an exploratory analysis of federal R&D funding and the patenting activities at universities and colleges using funding data from FY 2005 to describe the characteristics of academic institutions that have shown a greater propensity to patent since the Bayh-Dole Act was passed.
Posted in Business and economics, Education, Financial issues, Government and politics, Intellectual property, Postsecondary, Science, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
Antitrust: Commission accepts Microsoft commitments to give users browser choice
Source: Europa press release
The European Commission has adopted a decision that renders legally binding commitments offered by Microsoft to boost competition on the web browser market. The commitments address Commission concerns that Microsoft may have tied its web browser Internet Explorer to the Windows PC operating system in breach of EU rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union -TFEU). Microsoft commits to offer European users of Windows choice among different web browsers and to allow computer manufacturers and users the possibility to turn Internet Explorer off. Microsoft is also publishing today an undertaking whereby it commits to make far-reaching interoperability disclosures.
Posted in Business and economics, Consumer issues, Documents in the news, Europe, Intellectual property, International, Internet, Legal and law enforcement, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Breakthrough Inventions and Migrating Clusters of Innovation
Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers
In just a short period of time the spatial location of invention can shift substantially. The San Francisco Bay Area grew from 5 percent of U.S. domestic patents in 1975-1984 to over 12 percent in 1995-2004, for example, while the share for New York City declined from 12 percent to 7 percent. Smaller cities like Austin, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, seem to have become clusters of innovation overnight. Despite the prevalence of these movements, we know very little about what drives spatial adjustments in U.S. invention, the speed at which these reallocations occur, and their economic consequences. In this paper, HBS professor William R. Kerr investigates whether breakthrough inventions draw subsequent research efforts for a technology to a local area. Evidence strongly supports the conclusion that centers of breakthrough innovations experience subsequent growth in innovation relative to their peer locations. Key concepts include:
- Breakthrough inventions spur higher subsequent growth in innovation within a local area and technology compared to peer locations that, for example, have the same overall numbers of patents and similar technologies at the time when the breakthrough occurred.
- The underlying mobility of the workforce is quite important for the speed at which spatial adjustments occur. Immigrants, and particularly new immigration to the United States, can facilitate faster spatial reallocation.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 498 KB)
Posted in Business and economics, Immigration, Intellectual property, Social and cultural issues, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
NCAA Student-Athletes’ Rights of Publicity, EA Sports, and the Video Game Industry (PDF; 899 KB)
Source: Entertainment and Sports Lawyer
The Keller v. Electronic Arts, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and Collegiate Li- censing Company1 class action complaint filed in May in the Federal District Court in San Francisco received considerable fanfare2 among academic and legal practi- tioners, as well as controlled skepticism among intercollegiate athletic governing bodies and video game industry executives. As the factual scenario and class action prospects have been forecasted in prior scholarship,3 this contribution will: (1) briefly pose related intercollegiate athletics amateurism policy considerations; (2) review major intellectual property theory points; (3) summarize the crucial questions for the court and each party, posing several possible answers; and (4) conclude with future research directions, with the embedded promise of forthcoming elaborate manuscripts on the same stream.
Posted in Intellectual property, Legal and law enforcement, Media and entertainment, Sports, recreation and leisure | No Comments »
Monday, October 12th, 2009
BSA Report Reveals Scope of Online Software Piracy
Source: Business Software Alliance
Individuals are turning to peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and auction sites in staggering numbers to acquire or transfer illegal software and in doing so are harming the economy whilst exposing themselves to malware, identity theft and criminal prosecution, according to the 2009 Internet Piracy Report from the Business Software Alliance.
The report, entitled Software Piracy on the Internet: A Threat To Your Security, offers a peek into the scale and impact of online software piracy, including a retrospective look at the past year’s notable enforcement actions. The report is also a resource for those who wish to avoid the pitfalls of illegal software on the Internet and has been produced to coincide with National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which began with the start of October.
In particular, this year’s Internet Piracy Report zeros in on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks and auction sites, both of which are a hotbed for the transfer of illegal software. As a longtime leader in the fight against software piracy, BSA uses special technology to monitor peer-to-peer networks and auction sites, issuing “takedown requests” when it finds suspicious software being offered. In the first half of 2009, BSA stepped up its efforts in this area and issued almost 2.4 million takedown notices related to P2P and BitTorrent file sharing, an increase of more than 200 percent over the same period in 2008.
Likewise, in the first half of 2009, BSA more than doubled its impact with its in-house Internet “crawler” requesting the removal of almost 103,000 torrent files from nine of the largest BitTorrent hosting sites worldwide. These torrent files were being used by nearly 2.9 million individuals to download software with a retail value of more than $974 million.
+ Full Report
Posted in Business and economics, Intellectual property, Internet, Legal and law enforcement, Privacy, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
‘Waltzing Matilda’ or ‘Advance Australia Fair’? User-generated content and fair dealing in Australian copyright law
Source: University of New South Wales Faculty of Law Research Series 2009
In 2005, the Australian Government conducted a review of copyright legislation and the exception of fair dealing. Following this review, the framework of the existing fair dealing exemptions was retained, with the addition of a new exception of fair dealing for the purpose of parody or satire. Debate on the topic was posited within the traditional framework of commercial producer and consumer. The surge of user-generated digital content, and the novel issues surrounding such content, only emerged in the periphery. This article will examine the potential scope of fair dealing exemptions applied to user-generated digital content. Emphasis is placed on the ‘grey zone’ of user-generated content: those works that push the boundaries of copyright law into unchartered territory. As parody and satire constitute a novel area in Australian copyright law, less restrained by prior court decisions, the article places emphasis on fair uses within user-generated content for these purposes.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 1.2 MB)
Posted in Australia and New Zealand, Intellectual property | No Comments »
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Everything I Need To Know I Learned from Fandom: How Existing Social Norms Can Help Shape the Next Generation of User-Generated Content (PDF; 240 KB)
Source: Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law
With the growing popularity of YouTube and other platforms for user-generated content, such as blogs and wikis, copyright holders are increasingly concerned about potential infringing uses of their content. However, when enforcing their copyrights, owners often do not distinguish between direct piracy, such as uploading an entire episode of a television show, and transformative works, such as a fan-made video that incorporates clips from a television show. The line can be a difficult one to draw. However, there is at least one source of user generated content that has existed for decades and that clearly differentiates itself from piracy: fandom and “fan fiction” writers.
This note traces the history of fan communities and the copyright issues associated with fiction that borrows characters and settings that the fan-author did not create. The author discusses established social norms within these communities that developed to deal with copyright issues, such as requirements for non-commercial use and attribution, and how these norms track to Creative Commons licenses. The author argues that widespread use of these licenses, granting copyrighted works “some rights reserved” instead of “all rights reserved,” would allow copyright holders to give their consumers some creative freedom in creating transformative works, while maintaining the control needed to combat piracy. However, the author also suggests a more immediate solution: copyright holders, in making decisions concerning copyright enforcement, should consider using the norms associated with established user-generated content communities as a framework for drawing a line between transformative work and piracy.
Posted in Intellectual property, Legal and law enforcement, Media and entertainment | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
File-Sharing and Copyright
Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers
The researchers argue that file-sharing technology has not undermined the incentives of artists and entertainment companies to create, market, and distribute new works. The advent of new technology has allowed consumers to copy music, books, video games, and other protected works on an unprecedented scale at minimal cost. Such technology has considerably weakened copyright protection, first of music and software and increasingly of movies, video games, and books. While policy discussion surrounding file-sharing has largely focused on the legality of the new technology and the question of whether declining sales in music are due to file-sharing, the debate has been overly narrow. Copyright protection exists to encourage innovation and the creation of new works—in other words, to promote social welfare. This essay analyzes the landscape and identifies areas for more research. Key concepts include:
- Digital technology has lowered the cost of producing movies and music and allowed artists to reach their audience in novel ways.
- It’s difficult to argue that weaker copyright protection has had a negative impact on artists’ incentives to be creative.
- File-sharing has not discouraged authors and publishers. The publication of new books rose by 66 percent over the 2002-2007 period. Since 2000, the annual release of new albums has more than doubled, and worldwide feature film production since 2003 is up by more than 30 percent.
- How markets for complementary goods (such as concerts, electronics, and communications infrastructure) have responded to file-sharing remains largely unexplored in academic research.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 358 KB)
Posted in Arts and humanities, Intellectual property, Media and entertainment, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Capitalizing On Innovation: The Case of Japan
Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers
Japan’s industrial landscape is characterized by hierarchical forms of industry organization, which are increasingly inadequate in modern sectors, where innovation relies on platforms and horizontal ecosystems of firms producing complementary products. Using three case studies—software, animation and mobile telephony—we illustrate two key sources of inefficiencies that this mismatch can create. First, hierarchical industry organizations can “lock out” certain types of innovation indefinitely by perpetuating established business practices. Second, even when the vertical hierarchies produce highly innovative sectors in the domestic market, the exclusively domestic orientation of the “hierarchical industry leaders” can entail large missed opportunities for other members of the ecosystem, who are unable to fully exploit their potential in global markets. We argue that Japan has to adopt several key legislative measures in order to address these inefficiencies and capitalize on its innovation: strengthening antitrust and intellectual property rights enforcement; improving the legal infrastructure (e.g. producing more business law attorneys); lowering barriers to entry for foreign investment and facilitating the development of the venture capital sector.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 286 KB)
Posted in Asia, Industries, Intellectual property, International Relations, Legal and law enforcement, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
File-Sharing and Copyright (PDF; 358 KB)
Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers
The advent of file sharing has considerably weakened effective copyright protection. Today, more than 60% of Internet traffic consists of consumers sharing music, movies, books, and games. Yet, despite the popularity of the new technology, file sharing has not undermined the incentives of authors to produce new works. We argue that the effect of file sharing has been muted for three reasons: First, the cannibalization of sales that is due to file sharing is more modest than many observers assume. Empirical work suggests that in music, no more than 20% of the recent decline in sales is due to sharing. Second, file sharing increases the demand for complements to protected works, raising, for instance, the demand for concerts and concert prices. The sale of more expensive complements has added to artists’ incomes. Third, in many creative industries, monetary incentives play a reduced role in motivating authors to remain creative. Data on the supply of new works are consistent with the argument that file sharing did not discourage authors and publishers. Since the advent of file sharing, the production of music, books, and movies has increased sharply.
Posted in Business and economics, Intellectual property, Internet, Media and entertainment, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
From the FJC Web Site:
A comprehensive, user-friendly, and practical judicial guide for managing patent cases. Although similar in many respects to other forms of complex civil litigation, patent cases pose distinctive case management challenges, including complex and dynamic technological facts to a degree rarely encountered in most other areas of litigation, and unique procedures (such as claim construction hearings) that affect and interact with other aspects of the case (such as summary judgment motions and expert reports). In addition, patent cases often entail distinctive and difficult discovery issues, extensive use of experts, and particularly complex dispositive and pretrial motion practice. The authors surveyed federal judges and describe their approaches and best practices for these and other aspects of patent case management.
Direct to Full Text Document (542 pages; PDF)
Note: This is a draft version of the . A completed version of the guide is forthcoming.
Source: Federal Judicial Center
Posted in Government and politics, Intellectual property, Legal and law enforcement | No Comments »
Monday, May 25th, 2009
From the Web Site:
Anatomy of a Patent Case is a concise, narrative summary of the steps required to bring a patent case to trial and of the key elements of such litigation.The central objective of the manual is to inform judges and lawyers not familiar with patent litigation of commonly used practices in this area of the law, and to offer suggestions as to how judges and lawyers may deal with some of the procedural problems presented in patent litigation. This handbook was prepared by the Complex Litigation Committee of the American College of Trial lawyers.
Direct to Full Text (154 pages; PDF)
Source: Federal Judicial Center
Posted in Intellectual property, Legal and law enforcement | No Comments »
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Government Still Blocking Information on Secret IP Enforcement Treaty
Source: Public Knowledge/Electronic Frontier Foundation
wo public interest groups today called on the government to stop blocking the release of information about a secret intellectual property trade agreement with broad implications for privacy and innovation around the world.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge said that the April 30th release of 36 pages of material by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) was the second time the government had the opportunity to provide some public insight into the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), but declined to do so. More than a thousand pages of material about ACTA are still being withheld, despite the Obama administration’s promises to run a more open government.
+ FOIA: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), All Documents Released Under FOIA (PDFs)
+ Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
Posted in Government and politics, Intellectual property, International Relations | No Comments »
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
USTR Releases 2009 Special 301 Report
Source: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) today released its annual “Special 301” Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection by U.S. trading partners.
…
Significant developments in this year’s Special 301 Report include the following:
- Canada is being elevated to the Priority Watch List for the first time, reflecting increasing concern about the continuing need for copyright reform, as well as continuing concern about weak border enforcement.
- USTR is also elevating Algeria and Indonesia to the Priority Watch List, reflecting growing concern about the IPR situation in those countries.
- Korea is being removed from the Watch List in recognition of the significant improvements it has made during the past year, and the Korean Government’s policy direction of continuing to place a priority on improving its IPR regime. This marks the first time in the history of the report that Korea has not appeared on either the Watch List or the Priority Watch List. USTR will, however, continue to monitor closely the ongoing problem of Internet piracy in Korea, and will be prepared to consider returning Korea to the Watch List in the future if it does not respond effectively to this challenge through its implementation of newly enacted legislation and other steps.
- Again this year, USTR’s Special 301 Report highlights the prominence of IPR concerns with respect to China and Russia, despite some evidence of improvement in both countries….
+ Full Report
Posted in Government and politics, Intellectual property, International Relations | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative Releases Summary of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) Negotiations
Source: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) today released a detailed summary of the current state of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The summary, which all of the ACTA negotiating partners drafted, sets out the specific topics under discussion in the negotiations, and reflects the Obama Administration’s commitment to transparency. The summary is being shared with stakeholders for review and comment.
+ Full Document (PDF; 105 KB)
Posted in Government and politics, Intellectual property, International Relations | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Innovation in Small Businesses: Drivers of Change and Value (PDF; 187 KB)
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
From e-mail:
The Office of Advocacy has funded several studies examining the patent activity of small businesses. All show that small businesses outperform their larger counterparts in patent activity (issuance). “Innovation in Small Business: Drivers of Change and Value” is another installment in this discussion. It widens the scope of the existing debate by focusing on the effects of drivers of innovation (employee headcount, sales, and R&D expenditures) on small business value.
+ Research Summary (PDF; 99 KB)
+ Fact Sheet (PDF; 27 KB)
Posted in Intellectual property, Small business and entrepreneurship | No Comments »
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Patents Not Responsible for “Knowledge Gap”
Source: Progress & Freedom Foundation
Strong patent rights are not responsible for a so-called knowledge gap between developed and developing countries, explains Sidney Rosenzweig in “The False Connection Between Strong Patent Rights and Global Inequity,” (PDF; 204 KB) released today by The Progress & Freedom Foundation. In the paper, Rosenzweig, PFF Visiting Fellow, refutes certain critiques of the U.S. patent system, which he describes as anecdotal and misrepresentative.
Rosenzweig focuses in particular on the anti-patent writings and speeches of Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-Prize winning economist at Columbia University. Contrary to assertions that patents restrict the dissemination of information and contribute to a “knowledge gap,” Rosenzweig explains that knowledge is disseminated through patent disclosure. The author counters claims that researchers principally seek status, as opposed to profits, from their work. In addition, Rosenzweig denies that patent strong patent rights breed anti-competitive conduct, stating that anti-competitive concerns should be addressed through antitrust and consumer protection law, not through reform of intellectual property rights.
Posted in Intellectual property, International Relations | No Comments »
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
Organized Crime Is Increasingly Active in Film Piracy; Three Cases Link Terrorists to Piracy Profits
Source: RAND Corporation
Organized crime increasingly is involved in the piracy of feature films, with syndicates active along the entire supply chain from manufacture to street sales of pirated movies, according to a new RAND Corporation report.
While crime syndicates have added piracy to criminal portfolios that include drugs, money laundering, extortion and human smuggling, the profits from film piracy also have been used on occasion to support the activities of terrorist groups, according to researchers.
“Given the enormous profit margins, it’s no surprise that organized crime has moved into film piracy,” said Greg Treverton, the report’s lead author and director of the Center for Global Risk and Security at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “The profits are high and penalties for being caught are relatively low.”
RAND researchers found no evidence terrorists are widely involved with film piracy, but they outline three cases where film piracy supported terror groups and warn that such connections could grow in the future.
“If you buy pirated DVDs, there is a good chance that at least part of the money will go to organized crime and those proceeds fund more-dangerous criminal activities, possibly terrorism,” Treverton said.
+ Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism
Posted in Crime, Intellectual property, Media and entertainment, Terrorism | No Comments »
