August, 2021

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Snopes Co-Founder and CEO Admits to Plagiarizing Dozens of Articles

Plagiarism Today

On Friday, Buzzfeed published an article that highlights the widespread and long-running plagiarism of Snopes CEO and co-founder David Mikkelson. The article, the inquiries for which resulted in an investigation by Snopes itself , has resulted in the retraction of some 54 articles and resulted in another 140 pieces being identified as being possibly problematic.

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What is a brand made of?

Erik K Pelton

A “brand” is the sum total of a number of things that go to the heart of a business’ relationship with its customers and within the marketplace of competitors: For more about Building a Bold Brand , see my book ! The post What is a brand made of? appeared first on Erik M Pelton & Associates, PLLC.

Branding 264
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New Primer on the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

In summer 2018, I wrote a short primer on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) soon after its passage. That primer proved to be quite popular, and I posted annual updated versions in summer 2019 and 2020. The passage of the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) in November 2020 necessitated a complete revamp. However, I needed some recovery time to get past the pain of California voters’ bad decision, plus carefully parsing the CPRA is one of life’s joyless tasks that begs for p

Privacy 145
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Artificial Intelligence as the Inventor of Life Sciences Patents?

JD Supra Law

The question whether an artificial intelligence (“AI”) system can be named as an inventor in a patent application has obvious implications for the life science community, where AI’s presence is now well established and growing. For example, AI is currently used to predict biological targets of prospective drug molecules.

Inventor 145
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Software Composition Analysis: The New Armor for Your Cybersecurity

Speaker: Blackberry, OSS Consultants, & Revenera

Software is complex, which makes threats to the software supply chain more real every day. 64% of organizations have been impacted by a software supply chain attack and 60% of data breaches are due to unpatched software vulnerabilities. In the U.S. alone, cyber losses totaled $10.3 billion in 2022. All of these stats beg the question, “Do you know what’s in your software?

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Netflix Intensifies ‘VPN’ Ban and Targets Residential IP-addresses Too

TorrentFreak

Six years ago, Netflix started blocking customers who tried to access its service over a commercial VPN or proxy service. These changes came after copyright holders repeatedly complained that ‘pirates’ were bypassing Netflix’s geographical restrictions. The VPN ban caused a lot of frustration for legitimate VPN users, many of whom had no intention of breaking any rules.

IP 145
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Katcall: Openings for GuestKats and InternKats!

The IPKat

Are you passionate about IP? We have exciting news for you! The IPKat is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) for GuestKat posts and looking for IP enthusiasts to fill InternKat positions. GuestKat and InternKat positions will last six months, and there are no geographical restrictions on either role. Please bear in mind that you need to have your employer’s permission to be part of the IPKat team.

Blogging 145

More Trending

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Call for Applications: Research Assistants – IPR Chair at NALSAR, Hyderabad [Apply by August 25]

SpicyIP

We’re pleased to inform you that NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad is inviting applications for two research assistants for the IPR Chair Project. The deadline for applications is August 25, 2021. For further details, please see the announcement below: Advertisement for Recruitment for Research Assistants – IPR Chair. Logo of NALSAR, Hyderabad.

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Cable News Shows Are Defamation-Free Zones–OANN v. Maddow

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

This lawsuit involves the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Based on a story from the Daily Beast , Maddow ran a segment claiming that an OANN employee was on the Kremlin’s payroll, concluding that OANN “really literally is paid Russian propaganda.” OANN didn’t take kindly to this assertion and sued Maddow and others for defamation. Maddow sought an anti-SLAPP motion to strike, which the district court granted.

Blogging 145
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UCB, Inc. v. Actavis Labs. UT, Inc.

JD Supra Law

Case Name: UCB, Inc. v. Actavis Labs. UT, Inc., Civ. No. 19-474-KAJ, 2021 WL 1880993 (D. Del. Mar. 26, 2021) (Jordan, J.) - Drug Product and Patent(s)-in-Suit: Neupro® (rotigotine); U.S. Patent No. 10,130,589 (“the ’589 patent”).

Patent 145
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Telegram Copyright Lawsuits Pressure Messenger To Install Anti-Piracy System

TorrentFreak

With in excess of 500 million monthly active users, messenging platform Telegram is a true internet giant. According to co-founder Pavel Durov, it was the world’s most downloaded app in January 2021 and is supported by a userbase that’s grown by 40% every year since its launch in 2013. Alongside millions of regular users, Telegram is also utilized by some as a way to access pirated content.

Copyright 145
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IPO Diversity in Innovation Toolkit

Women and diverse employees have the technical skill and knowledge, yet their contributions are not patented at the same rate as those of their male counterparts.This toolkit can help organizations move the needle on achieving gender parity in innovation.

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[Guest post] German court: copyright infringement by ‘re-pin’ on Pinterest

The IPKat

IPKat readers interested in copyright are well aware of how, over the past several years, the right of communication to the public has gained a top spot in litigation and case law. Former GuestKat Mirko Brüß analyzes a very interesting recent German decision , which has tackled the application of such exclusive right in the context of linking within online image sharing service Pinterest.

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The U.S. Patent System and Quantum Cryptography: An Awkward Relationship

IP Watchdog

Quantum computing continues to gain traction as an emerging technology, with potentially far-reaching and dangerous applications in the United States and worldwide. However, there are some applications for the technology which have not yet passed theoretical muster. In other words, the case for quantum advantage cannot be made by reference to known mathematical algorithms.

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Sun Pharma v. Cipla: Madras HC Rejects COVID as an Excuse for Passing Off

SpicyIP

An image of a packet containing Cipla’s Duolin Repsule (Image from here ). We are pleased to bring you a guest post by Kedar Ganesh Dhargalkar. Kedar is a fourth year BLS LLB student at the Adv. Balasaheb Apte College of Law in Mumbai. Sun Pharma v. Cipla: Madras HC Rejects COVID as an Excuse for Passing Off. Kedar Ganesh Dhargalkar. In the recent case of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. v.

Marketing 139
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Announcing the 2021 Edition of My Internet Law Casebook

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

I’m pleased to announce the 2021 edition of my Internet Law casebook, Internet Law: Cases & Materials. If I counted editions, this would be the 12th edition. The book is available as a PDF at Gumroad for $10, as a Kindle ebook for $9.99, and in hard copy at Amazon for $20. [The hard copy comes with a free PDF on request; and shipping should be free on Amazon Prime.

Editing 145
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Domain name solicitation fraud – brand owners beware

JD Supra Law

Overview - It is a modern reality that with brand ownership comes the risk of trademark and domain name fraud. In this area, there has recently been a rise in email scams targeting brand owners by falsely claiming that domain name rights are in jeopardy. As these scams become more common, all trademark owners should be aware of how to recognize and avoid them.

Branding 145
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Microsoft Envisions a Blockchain-Based Bounty System to Catch Pirates

TorrentFreak

Microsoft is one of the world’s most prominent copyright holders with a vast experience in fighting piracy. The company is part of the Software Alliance ( BSA ), for example, which is known to track copyright infringements both off- and online. The BSA is also known for its piracy bounties , where it promises whistleblowers cash rewards in return for fruitful tips.

Reporting 145
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Austrian Supreme Court refers further questions for a preliminary ruling on the InfoSoc Directive

The IPKat

Former GuestKat Peter Ling was recently made aware of two referrals for a preliminary ruling made by the Supreme Court of Austria on the interpretation of Art. 3(1) and Art. 5(2)(b) of the InfoSoc Directive , in particular regarding "communication to the public". The referrals stem from two cases, unrelated to one another except for the underlying legal issues that are the subject of the referrals.

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Bankrupting Big Pharma Isn’t a Solution

IP Watchdog

Believe it or not, a recent op-ed in the Washington Post written by Robin Feldman took the position that pharmaceutical companies should charge prices for their drugs that would surely guarantee that they go bankrupt. An absurd position even for a law professor who is ideologically predisposed to an irrational hatred of patents, but precisely the position Feldman articulated.

Business 144
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Announcing the Winners of the 2nd Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on IP Law!

SpicyIP

A photograph of Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer. Following on from the success of last year’s inaugural edition of the Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on IP Law, on May 14 th , 2021 we announced the 2 nd edition of the Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on the occasion of Shamnad ‘s 45 th birth anniversary. Like last year, we kept the topic selection open to participants – asking them to choose any topic they wanted so long as it related to IP.

Law 137
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An Initial Look at Washington’s New Anti-SLAPP Statute

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Washington’s anti-SLAPP statute was struck down by the Washington State Supreme Court in May 2015. Effective July 25, 2021, Washington has a new anti-SLAPP statute. My summary of the statute: Scope of coverage : The statute applies to causes of action based on: (1) a person’s statement to a governmental body; (2) a statement on an issue under consideration by a governmental body; and (3) an exercise of someone’s First Amendment rights under the state or federal constitutions “on a matter of publ

Law 144
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IP Basics Part II: What is a Trademark or Servicemark?

JD Supra Law

In our first part of this series, we provided a brief primer on patents. For the second part of our Intellectual Property series, we take a look at trademarks. Trademarks are not generally considered "technology", but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") is charged with administering them along with patents. Certainly, technology startups must be aware of both of these types of Intellectual Property.

Trademark 137
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The Pirate Bay Switches to a Brand New V3 Onion Domain

TorrentFreak

When The Pirate Bay first came online during the summer of 2003, its main point of access was thepiratebay.org. Since then the site has burnt through more than a dozen domains, trying to evade seizures or other legal threats. The torrent site eventually returned to the.org domain which remains the official home today. While there are hundreds of Pirate Bay proxies online, none of these are operated by the TPB-team.

Branding 145
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Do trade secrets matter? It is not at all clear if you ask the stock market

The IPKat

What happens when trade secrets meet the stock market? Emeritus Katonomist Nicola Searle, and her colleague, Andy Vivian , in addressing this question, suggest some potentially surprising insights. IP matters. Or, at least, IP should matter to companies. But what if markets didn’t really care about IP? What if IP doesn’t really matter? My co-author Professor Andy Vivian and I are trying to better understand IP’s role by analysing the market reaction to the theft of a company’s trade secrets.

Marketing 142
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In First Half of 2021, 63% of U.S. Patents, 48.9% at EPO and 40.1% in China Were Software-Related

IP Watchdog

As an update to my posts from 2017, 2019, 2020, and March 2021, it has now been 86 months since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank decision. Yet the debate still rages over when a software (or computer-implemented) claim is patentable versus being simply an abstract idea “free to all men and reserved exclusively to none” (as eloquently phrased over 73 years ago by then-Supreme Court Justice Douglas in Funk Bros.

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Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on IPR: Tipping the Scales of Patent Law? Part II

SpicyIP

Image with the text ‘open the gate’ (Image from here ). In the first part of this post, I had covered the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Report recommendations on amendments to Section 3 of the Patents Act. Continuing the same thread of suggested reforms, in this post I will be analyzing the other changes recommended to the Act that focus on a few procedural provisions.

Reporting 136
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Emoji Version Variations Help Identify Fabricated Evidence–Rossbach v. Montefiore Medical

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Rossbach worked at Montefiore Medical Center. She claims her supervisor sexually harassed her and then the center retaliated against her. This screenshot is the evidentiary centerpiece of her claim: The last line is the court’s: “This image is a fabrication.” A line no litigant ever wants to see in a court opinion discussing their evidence.

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Alice Corp v. CLS Bank: When Two Become One

Patently-O

by Dennis Crouch. The Alice test officially includes two steps. But these are highly correlated steps. Thus, if a claim fails step one, it usually fails step two as well. In this case, the court appears to borrow heavily from typical step two analysis in order to make its step one conclusion: Universal Secure Registry v. Apple and Visa ( Fed. Cir. 2021 ).

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Anti-Piracy Firm Asks Google to Block 127.0.0.1

TorrentFreak

While search engines are extremely helpful for the average Internet user, copyright holders also see a massive downside. The fact that “infringing sites” show up in search results has become a source of frustration. As a result, Google and other search engines are facing a steady stream of DMCA takedown notices. Google alone has processed more than five billion takedown requests and millions of new URLs are reported every week.

Reporting 145
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Legal tender in El Salvador: First the U.S. dollar, and now Bitcoin

The IPKat

Kat friend Francisco Martínez summarizes the main points of the Bitcoin law recently enacted in El Salvador. On June 8, 2021, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador adopted the Bitcoin Law, which will enter into force on September 9, 2021. The law aims to promote economic growth for the country and to facilitate greater financial inclusion of its population, 70% of which does not have access to traditional financial services.

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Indigenizing the Intellectual Property System

IP Watchdog

On August 9, we once again observe the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Traditionally, international organizations take advantage of this time to promote the contributions of indigenous peoples across the globe. However, the day also presents an opportunity for States and international organizations to reflect on collective efforts to protect and preserve the culture and heritage of our indigenous communities.

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Ensuring Access to TB drugs: Is Compulsory License the Way?

SpicyIP

This Post has been co-authored by Rahul Bajaj and Praharsh Gour. Rahul is presently working as a Senior Resident Fellow, Partnerships at Vidhi. Before his stint with Vidhi, Rahul has worked as a law clerk for Justice D. Y Chandrachud (2020-21) and is a Rhodes Scholar (2018). He has also blogged for us in the past and was the SpicyIP Fellow for 2016.

Licensing 134
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Judge Rakoff: Embedding Social Media Content is a “Display” Under the Copyright Act

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Paul Nicklen is a highly acclaimed nature photographer. He posted a video of an emaciated polar bear wandering the Canadian Arctic to his Facebook and Instagram accounts to sound the alarm on climate change. Nicklen “urged his social media followers to consider the ‘haunting’ and ‘soul-crushing scene’ and to take steps to mitigate the harms of climate change.

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Utility Patents Granted per Calendar Year, 1840-2020

Patently-O

By Jason Rantanen. I’m getting ready to teach my Fall 2021 Patent Law class, and that means doing an updated patent grant graph. This year’s version shows U.S. utility patents granted per year from 1840-2020: Data for 2021 isn’t included in the table, but as of July 31, 2021, the authority file contains 195,480 patents. If the pace remains the same, that would predict about 335,000 patents granted this calendar year–around 10% lower than 2020 (356,640 granted patents).

Patent 128
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Court Orders RomUniverse to Destroy Pirated Nintendo Games and Stay Offline

TorrentFreak

Two years ago, gaming giant Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the game download portal RomUniverse. The website facilitated massive online copyright infringement of many popular Nintendo titles, according to the complaint filed at a California district court. RomUniverse’s Pro Se Defense. The site’s operator, Los Angeles resident Matthew Storman, disagreed with these allegations.

Copying 145
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WIPO and the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

The IPKat

The World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO ) has shared some news in connection with International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples , celebrated on 9 August every year. Winners of the WIPO Short Story Competition on Indigenous Ingenuity and Creativity The winners of the WIPO Short Story Competition on Indigenous Ingenuity and Creativit y have been announced.