News of the Week; August 12, 2020

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Genius Media Lawsuit Accusing Google of Stealing Song Lyrics Is Tossed
2. Judge Tosses Out Genius’ Laughable Lawsuit Against Google Over Licensed Lyric Copying
3. Neil Young’s Suit Illustrates Music Licensing Issues
4. Helpless No More? Neil Young Sues Trump Campaign for Use of His Songs
5. Fair Use, “The Frankenstein,” and the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
6. Masterson v. The Walt Disney Company: 9th Circuit dismisses claim against Disney’s animated film Inside Out, holding that alleged similarities to plaintiff’s book of poetry and movie script are unprotectable.
7. DMCA 512 Report: key findings by US Copyright Office
8. U.S. Copyright Office: DMCA Is “Tilted Askew,” Recommends Remedies for Rightsholders
9. In 10 Years Of Existence, The Long-Running French Farce Known As Hadopi Has Imposed Just €87,000 In Fines, But Cost Taxpayers €82 Million
10. Easier Copyright Registration Coming for Blogs and Social Media Posts
11. Like, Comment, Share, and Protect the Copyright of Digital Content
12. PRS v Qatar Airways
13. Porn Company Strikes Back
14. Special tweetment: Who owns the IP for social media content?
15. Interlocutory Injunction Issued in relation to Grey Goods in Canada
16. Apple Opposes Trademark Application For Recipe App’s Pear-Shaped Logo
17. Maker of VAMPIRE-Branded Alcoholic Beverages Alleges Grocery Chain Is Taking a Bite Out of Its Trademark Rights
18. Trademark tips: Beware linguistic errors and cultural appropriation
19. A New Standard for Multicolored Marks August 10, 2020
20. Merck v Merck: A lesson on the practical implications of co-existence agreements and online use in the digital age
21. Unfair Competition: The Tort that Tags Along
22. Monsanto V. Schmeiser 20 Years Later: The Answer Wasn’t Blowin’ in the Wind
23. Claims Covering Human Engineering That Exploits a Naturally-Occurring Phenomenon Are Patent Eligible
24. Sort It Out: Cell Sorting Method with Data Processing Steps Patent Eligible
25. Doing It That Way Is Natural . . . and Patentable
26. IP Alert | Still Contentious and “No More” Clear – AAM v. Neapco and Its Take on § 101
27. Obviousness, Common Sense and Sensibility: Federal Circuit Ruling Offers Cautionary Tale for Patent Applicants
28. Federal Circuit’s Cardionet Reversal Sheds Light on Patent Eligibility in Medical Diagnosis Inventions
29. Federal Circuit Still Spinning Its Wheels on American Axle
30. The Federal Circuit Finds a “Hooke” to Patent Ineligibility
31. District of Delaware Goes against Prior Decisions and Declines to Dismiss Willful Infringement Claims Despite Failure to Allege Egregious Infringing Conduct
32. Balance is Key in Design Patent Claim Drafting
33. Judge Woods Zips Up Loose Ends and Readies Zipper Dispute For Trial
34. The game begins: Strategies for the early stages of patent litigation – The defendant’s view
35. Intellectual Property: New Options for Patent Ownership Disputes
36. Congress To Consider National Right To Repair Law For First Time
37. Snapshot: intellectual property for fashion goods in USA
38. Genius Media Lawsuit Accusing Google of Stealing Song Lyrics Is Tossed
39. FTC Commissioners Are Upset About Section 230; Though It’s Not At All Clear Why
40. Online platform immunity under Section 230 teed up for FCC
41. Section 230 Isn’t Why Omegle Has Awful Content, And Getting Rid Of 230 Won’t Change That
42. Comments on NTIA’s Petition to the FCC Seeking to Destroy Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
43. Photo embedding cases depend on social media company decisions
44. The Harry Potter Films Are Now Exclusive To Comcast, And The Streaming Sector Remains Oblivious To Piracy’s Looming Resurgence
45. Jukin Launches Self-Service Platform Allowing Anyone To License Its Viral Videos, Starting At $50
46. Revisiting The Common Law Liability Of Online Intermediaries Before Section 230
47. Inventorship, Patenting and AI: The Public Comments on Patenting Artificial Intelligence Inventions
48. NTIA Section 230 Petition Raises Significant Legal and Policy Issues at FCC
49. Safe Harbors and Erroneous Blocking Redress Measures Adopted by the FCC; Additional Rulemaking Proposed
50. Baltimore’s Aerial Surveillance Program Has Logged 700 Flight Hours, One (1) Arrest
51. Appeals court rules 10¢-a-page charge for court documents is too high
52. Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Saying PACER Overcharged Users
53. Aeon Must Die dev Limestone Games faces accusations of “endless crunch” and IP theft: Publisher Focus Home Interactive is “carefully looking into” allegations
54. Goldeneye 64 remake shut down by James Bond licence holders: Developers will now redesign upcoming ’90s-style shooter as Project Ianus
55. Ubisoft Loses Appeal and Patent Related to “Rocksmith” is Invalidated
56. The COVID gaming boom — why and how to protect your IP
57. Crystal Dynamics Explains Spider-Man PS4 Exclusivity By Saying A Bunch Of… Words, I Guess?
58. Console Exclusive Games Have Given Way To Console Exclusive Game Characters
59. Apple won’t let Stadia or xCloud into iOS, citing App Store guidelines 
60. Apple blocking Project xCloud and Stadia because it can’t review every game: Microsoft responds, accusing Apple of “consistently treating gaming apps differently” 
61. Microsoft condemns Apple’s App Store policies: Apple will not approve Microsoft’s xCloud gaming service
62. Facebook slams Apple’s App Store policies, launches Facebook Gaming on iOS without games: Facebook is not happy with the months of rejections it has faced
63. Facebook finally launches Facebook Gaming on iOS — without Instant Games: Platform condemns Apple’s strict approval process, saying it “severely hamstrings innovation on mobile”
64. A data-driven primer for publishing agreements 
65. Is your publishing agreement fair?: At GDC Summer, lawyer Kellen Voyer broke down the average indie game publishing agreement in 2020 
66. Inside the twisting, turning development of Hardspace: Shipbreaker
67. U.S. Patent no. 9,682,314: Method and system for temporarily incentivizing user participation in a game space

Jon