[digital-copyright] CIP IP Legal Updates 4/25/13

[Jordan Reth <jordan.reth@xxxxxxxx>]

Center for Intellectual Property - Legal Updates 4/25/13
---------------------

House Judiciary Chairman to launch sweeping review of US copyright law
By: Jennifer Martinez, Apr 24, 2013, The Hill.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/295979-house-judiciary-ch
airman-to-launch-sweeping-review-of-copyright#ixzz2RTsrSvDn

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Wednesday that his
committee will launch a sweeping review of the country's copyright law and
hold a series of hearings on the matter "in the months ahead."

In remarks at the Library of Congress, Goodlatte argued that existing
copyright law lags behind the rapid pace of technology, forcing
policymakers to make challenging decisions based on these outdated rules.

-------------------------

More Evidence That Congress Misaligned the DMCA Online Copyright Safe
Harbors (UMG v. Grooveshark).
By: Eric Goldman, Apr 24, 2013, Forbes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericgoldman/2013/04/24/more-evidence-that-congres
s-misaligned-its-online-copyright-safe-harbors-umg-v-grooveshark/

Grooveshark runs a user-generated content (UGC) website that allows users
to upload and download sound recordings.  UMG Recordings (a subsidiary of
Vivendi, VIV:FP) sued Grooveshark for copyright infringement based on its
users activities.  This week, a New York state appellate court partially
denied Groovesharks eligibility for the online safe harbors enacted by
Congress in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  This ruling creates
several problems for UGC websites that let users post sound recordings, and
it demonstrates one way Congress mishandled drafting its online safe
harbors.

----------------------

Studios Lose Copyright Action Against YouTube.
By: Alexandra D'Angelo, Apr 22, 2013, Courthouse News Service.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/04/22/56928.htm

YouTube is not liable for thousands of clips of copyrighted material posted
to its site by users, a federal judge ruled, taking another look on remand
from the 2nd Circuit.

The Thursday decision marks the second time U.S. District Judge Louis
Stanton has granted YouTube and its parent, Google, summary judgment in the
6-year-old copyright infringement case brought by Viacom International and
several other various film studios, television networks, music publishers
and sports leagues.

-----------------------------

----------------------

World Book and Copyright Day.
By: Abid Hussain, Apr 25, 2013, Pakistan Daily Times.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\04\25\story_25-4-2013_pg7_
24

World Book and Copyright Day, also known as International Day of Book, is
celebrated on the 23rd of April every year.

The initiative was taken in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honour
an author named Miguel de Cervantes, who died on the same date.

-------------------------

'Boston Strong' Trademark May Not Happen.
By: Corrina Jean, Apr 24, 2013, Gather.
http://business.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981873268

Last week, the entire nation was captivated by a manhunt in Boston for an
alleged bomber. After an intense manhunt, the man was captured and taken
into custody. Now, a few different companies are trying to trademark the
words 'Boston Strong.'

---------------------------

Apple averts iPhone 4 import ban after patent case win against Google.
By: Bloomberg, Apr 24, 2013, The Economic Times.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-24/news/38790658_1_motor
ola-mobility-android-iphone-sales

Apple averted an order that could have hindered imports of the iPhone 4
into the US after persuading a US trade agency to invalidate a patent owned
by Google's Motorola Mobility unit over a phone sensor.

-----------------------------

Trademark Clearinghouse opens for business.
By: Nicola Mawson, Apr 23, 2013, IT Web.
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63494:Tra
demark-Clearinghouse-opens-for-business&catid=450

The Trademark Clearinghouse, a mechanism to alert brand-holders when
someone tries to register a domain that matches a registered trademark, has
been set up as part of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANNs) new generic top level domains (gTLDs) programme.

-----------------------------

Collective IP launches tech search engine.
By: Doug Storum, Ap 22, 2013, Boulder County Business Report.
http://www.bcbr.com/article/20130422/NEWS/130429992

Collective IP Inc. in Boulder has launched an online search engine that
provides access to millions of technologies and inventors from around the
world.

Adam Rubenstein, president and chief executive of the Boulder-based
company, will unveil the search engine at the BIO International Convention
being held this week in Chicago.

The search engine gives business development professionals access to
technology listings from more than 1,000 sources - including universities,
research institutes, hospitals, government labs, foundations, associations,
agencies and patent offices.

-----------------------------

6 ways the human gene patent case could impact biotechnology.
By Tia Ghose, Apr 16, 2013, Mother Nature Network.
http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/6-ways-the-human-g
ene-patent-case-could-impact-biotechnology

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 15 in a case to decide
whether human genes can be patented.

The court will decide whether Myriad Genetics, a biotechnology company, has
the right to patent human genes  in this case, two gene mutations called
BRCA1 and BRCA2 that increase breast cancer risk, which the company detects
using a diagnostic test. Opponents of Myriad say the gene sequences are
made by nature, so they shouldn't be patentable. Supporters argue that the
patents are valid because they are only held on sequences stored in DNA
artificially produced in the lab, not the naturally occurring sequences in
the body.

-------------------------------