[digital-copyright] Center for Intellectual Property - Legal Updates 3/28/13

[Jordan Reth <jordan.reth@xxxxxxxx>]

Center for Intellectual Property - Legal Updates
3/28/13
--------------------------

Downloaders face personal legal warnings as US steps up copyright
protections.
Mar 28, 2013, RT
http://rt.com/usa/six-strike-notice-universal-899/

As new download detection and copyright protection systems are phased into
effect stateside, suspected violators have begun to receive warnings of
serious legal and other consequences from media companies like NBC
Universal.

In one instance, a user of the popular file sharing system BitTorrent was
dispatched a notice from the media giant for allegedly downloading a
television show.
---------------------------

Monsanto, BitTorrent, Microsoft: Intellectual Property
By: Victoria Slind-Flor, Mar 27, 2013, Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/monsanto-bittorrent-microsoft-intell
ectual-property.html

Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co. (DD), the worlds largest seed companies,
agreed to drop their respective antitrust and soybean patent lawsuits and
enter into licensing agreements for making genetically modified crops...

...A new application published in the database of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office covers a technology enabling live video streaming anyone
can perform without elaborate equipment.

Application 20130066969, published in the database March 14, lists Bram
Cohen of Mill Valley, California, as the inventor. He is best known as the
author of the BitTorrent protocol that is used for peer-to-peer file
sharing...
---------------------------

Government provides funding for phase one of Copyright Hub.
Mar 26, 2013, Complete Music Update.
http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/government-provides-funding-for-phase-on
e-of-copyright-hub/

The government has put aside #150,000 to help fund stage one of the
Copyright Hub initiative, which brings together various creative industry
trade bodies and groups in a bid to create some kind of exchange that
demystifies and simplifies the licensing of copyright materials.
----------------------------

Clipping service stole from AP, violating U.S. copyright law, judge rules
By: AFP-JIJI, Mar 23, 2013, Japan Times.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/23/business/clipping-service-stole-f
rom-ap-violating-u-s-copyright-law-judge-rules/#.UVRAPobhfDw

A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the online news clipping service
Meltwater violates copyright law by using excerpts from articles by The
Associated Press, it was announced Thursday.
--------------------------

Emma Thompson copyright maneuver protects screenplay rights.
By: Bernard Vaughan, Mar 22, 2013, Thomas Reuters News & Insight.
http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2013/03_-_March/Emma_Thom
pson_copyright_maneuver_protects_screenplay_rights/

An unusual New York federal court case centered on a screenplay by actor
Emma Thompson could provide a procedural roadmap for copyright cases
involving fictional works based on historical facts, lawyers said.

The case, which was decided on Wednesday by Judge Thomas Griesa, a U.S.
District Judge with the Southern District of New York, revolved around a
screenplay, "Effie," by the Academy Award-winning actor. "Effie" is based
on the romantic life of Effie Gray, who was married first to Victorian-era
art critic John Ruskin and then John Everett Millais, a painter and founder
of the pre-Raphaelite art movement.
---------------------------

Kaiju Combat Kickstarter suspended due to intellectual property dispute.
By: Reni A. Guzman, Mar 22, 2013, My San Antonio.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/geekspeak/2013/03/kaiju-combat-kickstarter-suspe
nded-due-to-intellectual-property-dispute/

I doubt this was the monster battle Kaiju Combat fans had in mind. The
Kickstarter for the video game, which includes creature designs by San
Antonios own Matt Frank, has been reportedly suspended due to claim of
trademark infringement by Wizards of the Coast (WotC).

GamePolitics reports WotC initially contacted Sunstone Games in December to
complain that its Kaiju Combat video game infringed on WotCs trademark
Kaijudo, a trading card game thats also an animated series.
----------------------------

AT&T, Google, Isohunt, Daniels: Intellectual Property.
By Victoria Slind-Flor, Mar 22, 2013, Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-22/at-t-google-isohunt-daniels-intellec
tual-property.html


AT&T Inc. was told to pay $27.5 million for infringing a Colorado companys
patents for controlling how audio or video is streamed online.

AT&Ts U-verse TV services infringed two patents owned by Two-Way Media
LLC, a federal jury in San Antonio said March 20. The jury rejected
Dallas-based AT&Ts efforts to have the patents deemed invalid.

The Two-Way patents cover live streaming technology as well as ways to
record detailed customer usage data, according to the companys lawyers at
Susman Godfrey LLP. Boulder-based Two-Way had sued Akamai Technologies Inc.
(AKAM) and Limelight Networks Inc. (LLNW) over the same technology.
-----------------------------