[digital-copyright] Center for Intellectual Property - Legal Updates Week of 4/11/13

[Jordan Reth <jordan.reth@xxxxxxxx>]

Center for Intellectual Property - Legal Updates
Week of 4/11/13

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Bad movies make cash on copyright trolling.
By: Nick Farrell, Apr 10, 2013, Fudzilla.
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/31038-bad-movies-make-cash-on-copyright-tro
lling

The US is starting to notice an upswing in the number of bad movies
being named in movie copyright cases. The thought is that if a movie
is going straight to video, or does not look like it will make its
cash back, the studios are hiring copyright trolls to make bit of cash
on the side.

One of the titles which has been appearing is "Maximum Conviction
which is one of the lesser status works of the actor Steven Seagal.
Lawyers for Voltage Pictures seem to be helping the movie turn a
profit by issuing massed law suits against people it says are filing
sharing the flick. One person was given two weeks to pay $7,500 or she
could face a judgment of as much as $150,000.
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To Bid or Not to Bid: Working with Trademark Keywords.
By: Dan Golden, Apr 10, 2013, Acquisio.
http://www.acquisio.com/ppc/to-bid-or-not-to-bid-working-with-trademark-keywo
rds/

With Googles recent announcement of updates to the international
trademark policy, its always a good time to revisit trademark
keywords and what to do about them. First off lets review the policy
updates and then go through some tips on how to handle trademark
infringements as a brand and, most importantly, offer some things to
consider before letting loose on a campaign of conquest.

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Why Hollywood Studios Care About the NFL's Baltimore Ravens Logo.
By: Eric Gardner, Apr 9, 2013, The Hollywood Reporter.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/nfls-baltimore-ravens-logo-why-43554
3

The Motion Picture Association of America is usually associated with
its aggressive advocacy of expansive copyright laws. On Monday,
however, the MPAA sided with the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens in
defending limits to a copyright holder's authority to object to use of
protected material.
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Apple's slide-to-unlock feature not patent-worthy, rules German court.
By: Moritz Jaegter, Apr 9, 2013, The German View.
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-slide-to-unlock-feature-not-patent-worthy-rules-g
erman-court-7000013698/

Apple has suffered a defeat in the German federal patent court as it
invalidate Apples patent for the so called slide-to-unlock feature
used on its iOS devices.

Apple's patent on the feature, EP1964022, is invalid in Germany, the
federal patent court decided late last week. The decision was made by
five judges, three of whom have an engineering background, according
to patent expert Florian Mueller.

The news is a victory for Samsung and Motorola Mobility (now owned by
Google), both of whom have been sued by Apple for using a similar
gesture to unlock their smartphones.
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Ford trademarks 'inflatable' city vehicle .
By: Richard Blackburn, Apr 9, 2013, Stuff.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/8527481/Ford-trademarks-inflatable-vehicle

Ford Motor Company has filed an application to register the term
''inflatable light urban vehicle (iLuv)'' as a trademark, according to
the database of the US Patent and Trademark Office.

There is also a separate ''iLuv'' application filed on the same date
in mid-March.

The company said both will be used with cars.

While it's highly unlikely that the vehicle will be inflatable in the
true sense of the word, it may be a collapsible small car designed to
fit in undersized car parking spaces in crowded cities.
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Fifty Shades of Copyright Protection.
By:Richard Busch, Apr 8, 2013, Forbes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbusch/2013/04/08/fifty-shades-of-copyright
-protection/

Social medial users may lose a substantial portion of their legal
intellectual property rights after they post on their personal
accounts.  You may have read the popular book Fifty Shades of Grey by
E. L.  James.  For those unaware, this series of novels is about a
literature student who meets a young billionaire entrepreneur and the
erotic passions they enjoy together.  You may also have heard
Universal City Studios and its Focus Features division spent $5
million in March, 2012 to make Fifty Shades of Grey into a movie.
What you may not have heard is that Smash Pictures thought the story
was a natural for an adult movie adaptation, so they beat Universal to
the punch and made a XXX version.

Universal sued Smash alleging copyright and trademark infringement.
However, Smash raised an interesting argument in its defense.  It
asserted the copyrights in the Fifty Shades of Grey books were invalid
 and free for anyone to use because as much as 89% of the content
of the allegedly copyrighted materials grew out of a multi-part series
of fan fiction called Masters of the Universe based on Stephenie
Meyers Twilight novels.  . . . much or all of this material was
placed in the public domain.
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U.S. patent office retracts rejection of Apple's iPad Mini trademark.
By: Gregg Keizer, Apr 8, 2013, Computerworld.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9238237/U.S._patent_office_retracts_re
jection_of_Apple_s_iPad_Mini_trademark

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week reversed
itself, withdrawing a rejection of Apple's trademark application for
"iPad Mini," according to a document published by the agency.
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Statement of Maria A. Pallante.
Register of Copyrights.
United States Copyright Office.
Before the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the
Internet Committee on the Judicary.

March 20, 2013.
http://www.copyright.gov/regstat/2013/regstat03202013.html

"... I think it is time for Congress to think about the next great
copyright act, which will need to be more forward thinking and
flexible than before. Because the dissemination of content is so
pervasive to life in the 21st century, the law also should be less
technical and more helpful to those who need to navigate it. Certainly
some guidance could be given through regulations and education. But my
point is, if one needs an army of lawyers to understand the basic
precepts of the law, then it is time for a new law..."

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Register to Call for Major Revision to Copyright Law.
By: Ted Johnson, Mar 19, 2013, Variety.
http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/register-to-call-for-major-revision-to-c
opyright-law-1200326105/

Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante will tell a House Judiciary
subcommittee that current law is showing the strain of its age and
that authors do not have effective protections, good faith businesses
do not have clear roadmaps, courts do not have sufficient direction,
and consumers and other private citizens are increasingly frustrated,
according to prepared remarks.

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