Sat.Jan 29, 2022 - Fri.Feb 04, 2022

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Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Gives Up Degree Due to Plagiarism Allegations

Plagiarism Today

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, announced that he is voluntarily surrendering his 1999 DEA from the University of Lorraine in France. The move follows allegations in October that his 1998 thesis , written to obtain the degree, was heavily plagiarized. According to reports, of the 56 pages only two were free of plagiarized content, the introduction and conclusion, and one 20-page section was lifted wholly from the European Parliament website.

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Beware of continuing trademark scam from WTMR, now with Fort Lauderdale address

Erik K Pelton

It has been a little while since I’ve seen a WTMR, LLC scam mailing. But a client forwarded this “WTMR 2022 OFFER” letter to me last week. The services are worthless. The $980.00 is a scam. The address listed in PO Box 22546 in Fort Lauderdale, FL 33335-2546. Their address has changed several times over the years. See 2018: Beware of scam from WTMR – World Trademark Register.

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Site Blocking and the Rules of the (Internet) Road?

Hugh Stephens Blog

I recently attended a very interesting conference originating from Toronto, called Digital Media at the Crossroads, aka DM@X, where discussion and presentations took place on a range of digital media issues in Canada and internationally. Many of the audience were digital media students studying for degrees in Communications. Among the issues discussed was “site blocking”, … Continue reading "Site Blocking and the Rules of the (Internet) Road?

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U.S. Seeks 5-Year Prison Sentence for Nintendo ‘Hacker’ Gary Bowser

TorrentFreak

Hacking group Team-Xecuter was a thorn in the side of major gaming companies for many years. The group offered hardware and software solutions that allowed people to install and play unofficial games and pirated copies on various consoles, including the popular Nintendo Switch. Team-Xecuter Prosecution. For many years Nintendo attempted to stop the group but failed to do so.

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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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3 Count: Free Cuthbert

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Sony Music Ends Copyright Fight with Gymshark Over Social Media Posts. First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that Sony Music and UK fitness apparel brand Gymshark have settled their lawsuit over Gymshark’s alleged use of Sony’s music in social media posts.

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What does it feel like to receive a trademark registration?

Erik K Pelton

That feeling that our clients get when they receive their trademark registration certificate – pride in their brand, and assurance know that it is protected – I know that feeling firsthand, having received more than 10 trademark registrations for our own EMP&A brands! More Peltonisms® at [link]. The post What does it feel like to receive a trademark registration?

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Downloading a Skyrim Mod Pack Can Cost You Your Internet Connection?

TorrentFreak

In the United States, Internet providers are required to “adopt and reasonably implement” a repeat infringer policy. Under this policy, ISPs have to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances”. This language has been part of the DMCA for over two decades. Up until a few years ago, it was rare for ISPs to take action but, after several multi-million dollar lawsuits, things have changed.

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Romania’s Continued Struggles with Academic Integrity

Plagiarism Today

A report yesterday on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) website takes a deep dive into Romania’s history with academic integrity. According to the report, even in 2022, the country is having widespread issues with cheating, plagiarism and academic integrity broadly. The report begins and ends with a man named Mihai Costache (not his real name), who remembers widespread cheating and copying in his high school classrooms.

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Two Pharma and Biotech Cases to Watch in 2022

IP Watchdog

As we enter the second month of 2022, the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” and the famous line, “I’m not dead,” from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, come to mind to describe two issues we’ll be watching closely this year relating to litigation involving small and large molecule therapies. In the first instance, Amgen recently petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit’s affirmance invalidating several patent claims based on the lack of enablement for g

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Not Ready for Prime Time: Why Bill C-11 Leaves the Door Open to CRTC Regulation of User Generated Content

Michael Geist

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez introduced the much-anticipated sequel to Bill C-10 yesterday. The minister and his department insisted that the new Bill C-11 addressed the concerns raised with Bill C-10 and that Canadians could be assured that regulating user generated content is off the table. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case.

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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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Dutch ISP is Not Required to Forward Piracy Warnings, Court Rules

TorrentFreak

When it comes to civil anti-piracy enforcement, BREIN is without a doubt one of the best-known players in the industry. The group, which receives support from Hollywood and other content industries, has shuttered hundreds of sites and services in recent history. BREIN has also targeted several prolific BitTorrent uploaders over the years, with success.

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3 Count: YouTube Battles

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: YouTuber Hit With Ungodly Number Of Anime Copyright Strikes Gets A Win For Everyone. First off today, Isaiah Colbert at Kotaku reports that YouTuber Mark Fitzpatrick has won a partial victory in his battle with Toei Animation, one that will see many of his videos restored, at least in the United States.

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USPTO Third Party Submissions

Patently-O

I posted some statistics on references cited in recently issued patents. That raised some discussion in the comments regarding third-party prior art submissions. The chart below puts some numbers on the result that everyone likely expected–third party submissions are quite rare. Out of every 1,000 issued patents, only about 14 include prior art submissions from third parties.

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Tillis Wants More Info on I-MAK and Other Data Driving Anti-Patent Narratives Around Drug Pricing

IP Watchdog

Just over one week ago, Professor Adam Mossoff of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University published a Policy Memo with the Hudson Institute charging that some of the key data relied upon in the heated debate over the effects of pharmaceutical patents on drug pricing and access may be faulty. Now, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) has written letters to the key organization providing that data, the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), as well as the Food and Drug A

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Spanish ISPs Blocked 869 Domains & Subdomains in 2021 To Prevent Piracy

TorrentFreak

After well over a decade of rightsholders using the legal system to compel ISPs to block sites on copyright infringement grounds, thousands of domains are blocked by national service providers. According to rightsholders, this type of action is necessary to prevent unauthorized access to pirated movies, TV shows and music, thus boosting legitimate consumption.

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3 Count: 1300 Blocks

Plagiarism Today

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Zillow Ordered to Pay $1.9 Million in Copyright Case. First off today, Heidi Groover at The Seattle Times reports that the real estate listing site Zillow has been ordered to pay nearly $2 million to the photography company VHT. VHT licenses real estate photos for marketing purposes and many of its photos appear on Zillow.

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Guest Post: Assessing Responses to the PTO’s 2021 Patent Eligibility Study

Patently-O

Guest Post by Victoria T. Carrington and Professor Jorge L. Contreras. Background . It should be no surprise to readers of Patently-O that many are unhappy with the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence regarding patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act. In response to various calls for “reform” of patent eligibility jurisprudence, on March 5, 2021, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Christopher Coons (D-DE) requested that the US Patent and Trademark

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Lessons From Theranos and the Trade Secret Defense

IP Watchdog

What a strange and compelling story. Brilliant young inventor conceives revolutionary machine, raises staggering amounts from investors, is fawned over by the press for a decade, then crashes to earth on revelations of faked demonstrations and technology that doesn’t work. When I learned of the recent jury verdict, I naturally turned over in my mind how all this could have happened to such a well-meaning person as.

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Major Manga Publishers Prepare to Sue Cloudflare Over Pirate Sites

TorrentFreak

CDN company Cloudflare provides its services to millions of websites all around the world, enabling them to stay online with enhanced performance and better protection from attacks. In recent years pressure from copyright holders has seen Cloudflare labeled a piracy facilitator. The CDN company does cooperate with rightsholders and insists that its services and processes meet the criteria laid out in the DMCA.

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Novex Communications Pvt. Ltd. v. DXC Technology Private Limited – Analysis II

SpicyIP

Earlier Posts: Summary and Analysis I. Is it mandatory to be a member of copyright society to carry out the business of issuing or granting licences in respect of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works incorporated in a cinematograph film or sound recordings? I am of the view that the copyright framework gives authors and owners of right an option to join or not join a copyright society in order to conduct the business of issuing or granting licences in respect of literary, dramatic, mus

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Status of US Utility Patent Applications.

Patently-O

by Dennis Crouch. The chart below shows the USPTO utility patent allowance rate broken up on a quarterly basis (using calendar year quarters). The rate is based upon two numbers: The number of patents issued each quarter, and the number of applications abandoned each quarter. Allowance Rate = Patents / (Patents + Abandonments). Because I only have detailed abandonment data on published applications, I limited all the data to only published applications.

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State Compulsory eBook and Audiobook Licensing Is Wrong on Law and Policy

IP Watchdog

The ability of copyright owners to experiment with different marketing strategies is fundamental to copyright law. Indeed, the U.S. Copyright Act promotes the public good by granting exclusive rights to copyright owners that incentivize the creation and dissemination of new works on their own terms. These exclusive rights are the reason why copyright owners invest time, energy, and money into creating new works, and why they have a chance to recoup expenses and perhaps make a profit.

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European Football Leagues Slam “Notice-and-Stay-Up” Provision in DSA

TorrentFreak

Last month the European Parliament voted on the final text of the Digital Services Act and it was approved by a broad majority. An amendment that would’ve effectively banned ‘dumb’ upload filters didn’t pass, neither did an amendment that could’ve put an end to court orders that require ISPs to block websites, including pirate sites.

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The Battle for ‘Google Earth’ is Compelling Entertainment with a Frightening Survival Message

IP Close Up

The Battle for Google Earth sounds like a science fiction movie. In fact, it is a real-life crime drama captured in a highly watchable and surprisingly popular TV Continue reading.

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DJs are Phonogram Producers, says Dutch Supreme Court

Kluwer Copyright Blog

Martin Garrix backstage during day three of Web Summit 2017. Photo by Seb Daly/ Web Summit via Sportsfile CC BY 2.0. On December 17, 2021, in a big win for electronic dance music (EDM) artists, the Dutch Supreme Court held that DJs own phonographic rights (neighbouring rights) in their home-produced recordings – not the record labels that commercially release them.

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CAFC Says District Court Committed ‘Clear Error’ in Enforcing Disputed Settlement Agreement

IP Watchdog

On February 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed and remanded a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granting a motion to enforce PlasmaCAM’s (Plasmacam) version of an agreement with Fourhills Designs, LLC, and Thomas and Martha Caudle (collectively “CNC”). On appeal, the CAFC held that CNC’s version of the agreement more accurately reflected the understanding between the two parties regarding a settlement over Plasmacam’s claim th

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iTunes DRM Removal Could Come Back to Haunt Record Labels in Piracy Liability Lawsuit

TorrentFreak

In the late 2000s, music fans were delighted by the news that record labels and Apple had agreed to remove all DRM from music files downloaded through the iTunes Store. The music industry had initially insisted on strong copy protection to make it harder for music pirates to share these files. However, legitimate consumers were inconvenienced by these measures too.

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Total References Cited

Patently-O

The chart below shows a histogram of the total number of references per patent. (Utility patents issued in 2021) with the mode, median, and average noted.

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Artificial Intelligence: Deepfakes in the Entertainment Industry

JD Supra Law

Ever since the first Terminator movie was released, we have seen portrayals of robots taking over the world. Now we are at the beginning of a process by which technology—specifically, artificial intelligence—will enable the disruption of the entertainment and media industries themselves. From traditional entertainment to gaming, this article explores how deepfake technology has become increasingly convincing and accessible to the public, and how much of an impact the harnessing of that.

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Section 101 on Trial: Understanding How Eligibility Issues Have Fared Before Juries

IP Watchdog

Few lawyers have tried patent eligibility, 35 U.S.C. Section 101, to a jury. Our research found just four such cases since the Supreme Court created its muddled two-step test in Alice v. CLS Bank. In every one of those, the jury issued a pro-ineligibility verdict, while none resulted in a final Section 101 determination either way. Understanding how that issue has been handled at and after trial is important for practitioners with cases where Section 101 is at issue, which has become increasingl

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MPA, Amazon & Apple Urge Court to Issue Rapid Pirate IPTV Injunction

TorrentFreak

Last December, movie and TV giants Universal, Disney, Paramount, Warner and Columbia joined Netflix, Amazon, Apple and several other studios in a lawsuit against Texas resident Dwayne Anthony Johnson. According to the plaintiffs, Johnson (and Does 1-20) are the brains behind pirate IPTV providers AllAccessTV (AATV) and Quality Restreams. In common with several similar suits, the complaint claims that the services supply infringing movies and TV shows via their IPTV and VOD platforms, with AATV a

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Copyright Infringement and Remedies in Nigeria

IPilogue

Photo by CQF-Avocat (Pexels). Rosemary Nkechi Ogueri is a litigation lawyer and a legal associate at Ogunwale & Associates Law Firm in Nigeria. Copyright infringement is the violation and piracy of an author’s exclusive right through the unauthorized use of a Copyright-protected work. Section 15 (1) (a)-(g) of the Copyright Act, C28, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (“LFN”), 2004 , provides several acts that amount to copyright infringement in Nigeria.

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Licensing NFTs: You Need to Know Who Owns What You’re Selling

Traverse Legal Blog

My name is Enrico Schaefer , and I am a Tech Law and BlockChain Attorney. Today we are going to talk about NFTs or non-fungible tokens. One of the big problems with the NFT marketplace, where NFTs are both sold and purchased, is that the platform doesn’t provide any licensing language for the digital asset that the owner attaches to the NFT. If you’re selling a digital rendition of a piece of artwork, you will mint an NFT, which will then attach to that particular piece of digital ar

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Licensing, Joint Ownership and the UPC – What to Watch Out For

JD Supra Law

Not bothering with the upcoming Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court in your license and other patent-related agreements? Not a good idea, if you want to avoid potentially unpleasant surprises. This Insight flags key issues in connection with Unitary Patents and the UPC that you should consider in your patent-related agreements already today.

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U.S. Seeks Significant Prison Sentence for SPARKS Member to Deter Other Pirates

TorrentFreak

For several decades, The Scene has been the main source of all pirated content made available on the Internet. Technically, release groups operate in a closed ecosystem, but the reality is different. The vast majority of the files published on private Scene servers eventually find their way to public pirate sites. Feds Bust SPARKS Group. The secretive nature of The Scene has been a major challenge for law enforcement but in the summer of 2020, the US Department of Justice made a major breakthrou