Best IP-related Article of the Week

"Copyright Law Was Not Created To Protect People From Fatwas."  Link here.  

Interesting and cogent primer on the DMCA.

Vox: "The Patent Troll Problem is Getting Worse"

Link here.

Issues:  
- statistics are based on increased suits by "Non-Practicing Entities" without distinguishing between the different flavors (like, for example, universities as opposed to "patent monetization entities").

- increased suits are noted, without any analysis of where this is coming from.  Maybe increased economic activity leads to more infringement, which provokes more suits?  No way to tell from these data.  

- And anyway, why are patent suits inherently evil?  What are patentholders supposed to do, ask nicely?  I mean, of course they are, but when the infringer tells them to pound sand, what then?

 
Should probably have added quotes, like this:

The "Patent Troll" "Problem" is Getting "Worse."

I had this crazy dream

In my dream, the USPTO had a rule that penalized applicants by cutting their PTA if their deadline fell on a weekend, but they didn't respond until the following business day.  Which is, of course, totally Kosher under the rules.

So in my dream, the rule penalizing applicants was overruled by the Courts.  And then, in my dream, it took FOUR YEARS for the USPTO to change the way its computers calculated PTA to comply with the decision.

FOUR YEARS.  

And then you know what happend?  The USPTO gave everybody four extra years of patent term, because of the delay in fixing the problem.

In my dreams.

Quick copyright updates

1. A US District Court judge in New York has dismissed the three-year-old copyright infringement case against the Beastie Boys (see opinion here).  Plaintiff TufAmerica had accused the Beasties of sampling TroubleFunk's "Say What" and "Lets Get Small" without permission.  According to the court, TufAmerica lacked standing because they didn't have an exclusive license from all three members of TroubleFunk.

2. IKEA is being sued (story here) for alleged copyright infringement by Emeco.  According to plaintiffs, IKEA copied an Emeco chair without permission.  The allegedly infringing chair is on the right, and the copyrighted chair is on the left.  So this one should be settling shortly.

3.  The US District Court for the Northern District of California has heard arguments in a suit challenging Warner/Chappell's copyright on the song "Happy Birthday to You," which is not scheduled to expire until 2030.

RZA has an idea. I have a better one.

Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA has spoken out about the recent "Blurred Lines" copyright infringement verdict.

He's got an interesting solution for solving the problem of musicians sampling others' works: a a 50% statutory cap on royalty payments.

I have a better idea:  how about negotiating a license before you use somebody else's recording in your work, instead of just ripping them off and waiting to get sued?

Just a thought.

Well, that pretty much settles that controversy.

Somebody doing a little historical research in the USPTO database (article here) has uncovered the original patent for perforated toilet paper, thereby answering the "over v. under" question once and for all.



And the verdict is...

 As it should be.