News of the Week

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Canadian consultation on extending the general term of copyright open through March 12
2. Extra, extra, read all about it: new Canadian Bill proposes remuneration for use of journalistic works online
3. Time to Pay the Copyright Piper? A Digital Media Platform Copyright Reckoning for Journalists is Upon Us!
4. Meghan Markle gets summary judgment – but is she the sole author of her letter?
5. Duchess of Sussex wins summary judgment in copyright and privacy claims
6. Duchess of Sussex v Mail on Sunday & MailOnline
7. HHJ Hacon decides ownership of Virtual Forensic Computing software created during course of employment.
8. Karma: Twitch Replaces Live Metallica Concert With 8-Bit Music To Avoid Copyright Madness 
9. Understanding the Boundaries of Using Copyrighted Learning Materials in Distance Learning 
10. Hooray for the Public Domain: A prequel to The Great Gatsby sees the light of day!
11. A Closed Book: No Past Infringement, No Reading Between the Lines into the Future
12. Third circuit panel revises half-baked trade dress functionality decision
13. 9th Circuit swivels on trade dress functionality doctrine in favor of iconic Herman Miller office chairs
14. Apple Settles Trademark Opposition With PrePear Recipe App After The Latter Makes A Barely Perceptible Change In Logo
15. A Registration is a Trump Card
16. Peloton Seeks To Invalidate ‘Spinning’ Trademark Held By Trademark Bully
17. FyreTV Porn Service Asks 11th Circuit Panel To Resurrect Dumb Trademark Suit Against Amazon Over FireTV
18. USPTO Provides Guidance in View of ‘Booking.com’
19. Trademark registrability of generic.com domain names following US Supreme Court decision on Booking.com
20. Fairtrade Fortnight
21. Protecting product appearance through trademark and design registrations
22. Domain Name Dispute Resolution Options: Features, Benefits and Other Considerations for Selecting Between UDRP and URS
23. Federal Circuit Clarifies When Appellate Review Triggers Patent Term Adjustment
24. Federal Court Dismisses Limitation Period Defence in Patent Infringement Action under Section 8.2 of the PM(NOC) Regulations 
25. Canadian courts are interpreting supplementary pharmaceutical patent protection more broadly than their EU counterparts
26. Lack of enablement in Amgen v Sanofi and Regeneron
27. Federal Circuit Axes Amgen Antibody Patents, Finding Lack of Enablement
28. Judge Schofield Rejects Application of Rare Equitable Estoppel Defense
29. 2G or Not 2G: Patent License Applies to Future Generation Wireless Networks
30. Boom in M&A shifts semiconductor patent landscape 
31. Patent Office Issues Guidance on Indefiniteness
32. When is someone “authorised” to use a patented invention for the services of the Crown and therefore immune from patent infringement?
33. John Deere Promised To Back Off Monopolizing Repair. It Then Ignored That Promise Completely.
34. California can enforce net neutrality law, judge rules in loss for ISPs
35. California Poised To Defeat Broadband Industry In Scrum Over Net Neutrality
36. ‘Net Neutrality Hurt Internet Infrastructure Investment’ Is The Bad Faith Lie That Simply Won’t Die
37. FCC Pressured To Let Libraries Bridge Broadband Access During The Pandemic
38. China blocks BBC World News in Tit-for-tat move following CGTN Ban in UK
39. Ontario Court Sets Out New Tort of “Harassment in Internet Communications”
40. Facebook to reverse Australia news ban after lawmakers alter bill
41. Facebook Caves To Australia: Will Restore Links After Government Gives It More Time To Negotiate Paying For News Links
42. Right to post: Australia calls Facebook blocks an assault on a sovereign nation: Health Minister Greg Hunt has turned up the rhetorical dial after Facebook blocked Australian news media this morning.
43. Facebook news ban is “arrogant,” Australia will not be “intimidated,” PM says
44. The Bizarre Reaction To Facebook’s Decision To Get Out Of The News Business In Australia
45. Why Is Facebook’s Decision to Restrict News in Australia So Significant?
46. Australian News Sites Shocked & Upset To Learn They Don’t Need To Rely On Facebook For Traffic!
47. Facebook’s Australian News Ban Did Demonstrate The Evil Of Zero Rating
48. Beware the Unintended Consequences: Some Warning Signs for Canada from the Australian Government Battle With Facebook (Michael Geist)
49. The Complexity of Internet Content Regulation – A Conversation with CIPPIC’s Vivek Krishnamurthy (Michael Geist)
50. Microsoft throws Google under the bus in European news fight
51. YouTube Removes PewDiePie’s Cocomelon Diss Track, Citing Harassment And Child Safety Policies
52. Is Mandated Sideloading The Answer To App Store Deplatforming?
53. Indian Government Requires Educational Establishments To Obtain Its Approval For The Subject Matter And Participants Of International Online Conferences And Seminars
54. Tech groups sue Maryland to block new digital-ad tax from going into effect
55. Is Section 230 Just For Start-ups? History Says Nope
56. North Dakota’s New Anti-230 Bill Would Let Nazis Sue You For Reporting Their Content To Twitter
57. Attacks On Internet Free Speech In Malaysia And Indonesia Demonstrate Why Section 230 Is So Important
58. Content Moderation Case Study: Senator Asks YouTube To Block Al Qaeda Videos (2008)
59. Content Moderation Case Study: Chatroulette Leverages New AI To Combat Unwanted Nudity (2020
60. Doctor Can’t Win Default Judgment Over Patient’s Yelp Review–Mirza v. Amar (Eric Goldman)
61. Maryland First State to Adopt Digital Ad Tax
62. YouTube Shutters 7 Remaining ‘YouTube Spaces’ Globally, Doubling Down On Pop-ups And Virtual Programming
63. Spotify Will Enable Podcasters To Charge For Monthly Subscriptions, Slates Broader Rollout For Video Podcasts
64. Internationalized domain names: definition, challenges, and status
65. Copyright in works created by artificial intelligence: issues and Perspectives
66. Artificial Intelligence and Patents: Inventing Inventors
67. Takeaways | Requiring Human Inventorship – Opportunities to Advise Whether to Prohibit, Permit, or Require Listing an AI Algorithm as an Inventor – Eastern District of Virginia & European Patent Office
68. Legal Aspects of Artificial Intelligence (v3.0)
69. AI can write a passing college paper in 20 minutes: Natural language processing is on the cusp of changing our relationship with machines forever.
70. Microsoft says SolarWinds hackers stole source code for 3 products
71. To pay or not to pay: Another regulator weighs in on the decision to pay a ransom
72. LAPD Asked Ring Users To Turn Over Footage Of Anti-Police Brutality Protests
73. Illinois politician proposes a Grand Theft Auto ban
74. New Illinois Bill Would Expand Restrictions on Video Games
75. UK antitrust tribunal blocks Epic’s case against Apple
76. Epic Games attacks Apple in antitrust complaint to EU: Apple’s position as a gatekeeper for what apps can appear on iPhones or iPads has already attracted EU antitrust scrutiny
77. Valve gets dragged into Apple and Epic’s legal fight over Fortnite
78. Apple turns to Valve for information in legal battle with Epic
79. Valve pushes back against Apple’s attempt to rope it into the big Epic v. Apple dispute
80. Bethesda faces lawsuit over Fallout 4 DLC: The company faces charges of deceit for not including its Creation Club in the game’s Season Pass, which could delay Microsoft’s ZeniMax takeover
81. Microsoft Unveils Xbox Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0
82. PS5 DualSense drift — this teardown just revealed the cause
83. CD Projekt Red issues DMCA to prevent spread of stolen Gwent code
84. CD Projekt issues DMCA takedowns to halt spread of illegally obtained source code
85. Report: Some CD Projekt devs unable to work after ransomware attack
86. Take-Two DMCA takes down reverse-engineered GTA source code
87. Take-Two reportedly takes down reverse-engineered GTA3, Vice City source code
88. Steam’s new controller reporting lets devs know how their games are played 
89. Burning Crusade Classic leaks ahead of BlizzCon
90. Microsoft’s accessibility guidelines are a great start — but we can go further | Opinion
91. Unity report shows mobile games ad revenue grew 8% in 2020
92. January digital games spending reaches $11.6bn
93. Notre Dame sitting out of EA Sports College Football for now
94. Bungie scaling up to expand Destiny ‘into additional media’ and create new IPs
95. Live-action Twisted Metal TV series moving forward
96. Cambrian’s new game design program launches in September
97. Sony developing ‘next-generation VR system’ for PlayStation 5
98. Sony announces new PSVR hardware for PlayStation 5
99. Sony just confirmed PSVR 2 for PS5 — these are the biggest upgrades
100. Next-Gen VR Dev Kits for PS5 Shipping Soon with “completely new VR format”
101. Sony Confirms Next-Gen PSVR is Coming, New Controllers to Feature DualSense Tech
102. PlayStation’s commitment is a huge boost to the VR market | Opinion
103. Carmack: Facebook-Oculus Acquisition ‘Not A Perfect Outcome’ But Still ‘Correct’ For The Company 

Jon

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. A consultation on how to implement an extended general term of copyright protection in Canada (Canada)
2. Copyright Term Extension – March 12 2021 Deadline to Respond to Very Disappointing Document (Howard Knopf)
3. Afraid to Lead: Canadian Government Launches Timid Consultation on Implementing Copyright Term Extension (Michael Geist)
4. The Copyright Bill That Does Nothing: Senate Bill Proposes Copyright Reform to Support Media Organizations (Michael Geist) 
5. Copyright Term Extension: To Life Plus 70 Years, But Not Beyond! Government Consultation on Copyright Term Extension Now Open
6. Should We Require Human Inventorship? Submit Your Amicus Brief by March
7. Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ to Avoid Being Live-streamed?: Police in Beverly Hills have been playing music while being filmed, seemingly in an effort to trigger Instagram’s copyright filters.
8. Copyright and database rights in database schema: Software Solutions Ltd and others v 365 Health and Wellbeing Ltd and Smith
9. Judiciary’s Approach to Moral Rights under Copyright Law
10. H&M and Unicolors weave up at Copyright battle at US SC
11. UK Courts find hidden voice in film authorship dispute
12. Pan-European Design Protection: Considerations for the fashion sector post-Brexit 
13. Utah Theme Park Sues Taylor Swift Over Album Title After Exploiting It 
14. A Shoe-In? Fleet Feet Gives Injunction Appeal the Moot Boot
15. Amazon keeps hitting the target… but not quite in a trade mark context 
16. One too many Pink Ladies
17. Tefal fails to secure trade mark protection for its red dot despite survey evidence 
18. ‘It’s like milk but made for humans’: General Court overturns EUIPO’s refusal to register Oatly’s trade mark
19. When is a slogan a trade mark?
20. Random Jackass Attempts To Trademark ‘Mayor Of Mar-A-Lago’ In The Most Hilarious Way
21. How life sciences companies can strengthen IP strategies through the use of trade secrets
22. ITC Finds Trade Secret Misappropriation and Bars Electric Vehicle Batteries from SK Innovation—With Exceptions
23. $6 Million Verdict Vacated in Flooring Tech Trade Secrets Row
24. The Facts on Fax Machines: They’re Not Dead, They’re Indefinite
25. Foreign Prosecution History: To Admit, Or Not To Admit, That Remains a Puzzle To Canadian Courts 
26. Federal Court finds silodosin formulation patent valid but not infringed
27. Patent application extensions of time in Canada
28. Extensions of time in Canada: worth the trouble?
29. Contradictory Positions Render Claims Indefinite 
30. “Safe Harbor” Act May Save Pfizer From Infringement for Covid Vaccine Clinical Trials
31. It Is Improper To Read a Claim in a Grammatically Incorrect Way Simply To Include a Disclosed Embodiment
32. US patents: Body blow for antibodies 
33. There’s no such thing as an international patent
34. Everyday IP — Flushing out the facts: When was indoor plumbing invented?
35. From Snail Mail to Streaming: The Netflix Intellectual Property Story
36. Cloud Contracts: The Impact of Common Terms of Service Provisions on Intellectual Property Rights
37. The link between intellectual property rights and business performance 
38. IP law looms large over U.S.-China relations
39. Why Laid Off Bell Sports Journalists Should Form A Worker Co-op: We cannot rely on legacy corporate media to save the journalism industry. It’s time to build something better.
40. Circumventing Parliament: How Bill C-10 Dramatically Reduces Parliamentary Oversight and Review Over Broadcast Policy (Michael Geist)
41. Are Social Media Services “State Actors” or “Common Carriers”? (Eric Goldman)
42. Dumb New GOP Talking Point: If You Restore Net Neutrality, You HAVE To Kill Section 230. Just Because!
43. A reckoning for the paparazzi and tabloid media
44. Facebook goes nuclear, banning all news posts in Australia
45. Big Tech opens wallet for publishers as Australian news code looms
46. Google and Facebook grapple with news publishers, as Australia becomes a test case
47. The Internet Is Splintering
48. Posing as Amazon seller, consumer group investigates fake-review industry
49. There won’t be blood: Apple is making its syringe emoji a vaccine dose
50. State lawmakers override veto, become first in nation to tax online ads
51. Biden Administration Presses Pause on WeChat and TikTok Appeals
52. Biden Administration Asks Federal Courts to Pause TikTok and WeChat Cases
53. Twitter CFO Says Trump Is Banned In Perpetuity, Even If He Runs For Office Again
54. Facebook has been helping law enforcement identify Capitol rioters
55. Facebook Blocks News Viewing, Sharing In Australia, Faces Backlash From Emergency Services
56. Zuckerberg responds to Apple’s privacy policies: “We need to inflict pain”: Meeting between Zuckerberg, Cook “resulted in a tense standoff.”
57. Insights: Apple And Facebook Are Fighting For The Future As Much As For Now
58. Inside the Making of Facebook’s Supreme Court: The company has created a board that can overrule even Mark Zuckerberg. Soon it will decide whether to allow Trump back on Facebook.
59. The Copia Institute To The Oversight Board Regarding Facebook’s Trump Suspension: There Was No Wrong Decision
60. Zuckerberg’s Grand Illusion: Understanding The Oversight Board Experiment
61. United States: towards the end of Internet intermediary immunity?
62. New details emerge about Google’s payments to link to French news sites
63. Why young designers are using social media to shame fast fashion copycats
64. Orrin Hatch, Who Once Wanted To Destroy The Computers Of Anyone Who Infringed On Copyrights, Now Lies About Section 230
65. Content Moderation Case Study: Valve Takes A Hands Off Approach To Porn Via Steam (2018)
66. Content Moderation Case Study: Google ‘Removes’ German Residences From Street View By Request (2010)
67. Section 230 Protects App Store from Liability for Apps With Loot Boxes–Coffee v. Google (Eric Goldman)
68. Section 230 Applies to Articles by Huffington Post Contributors–Page v. Oath (Eric Goldman)
69. WhatsApp messages – who is in control?
70. YouTube’s ‘Shorts’ TikTok Clone, With 3.5 Billion Daily Views, To Arrive In The U.S. This March
71. YouTube Launches Bi-Weekly ‘Shorts Report’ To Bolster Its TikTok Competitor
72. TikTok’s U.S. Ad Business Grew 500% In 2020, It Says
73. SAG-AFTRA Ratifies New ‘Influencer Agreement’ Covering Creator-Generated Branded Content
74. Disney+ Closes 2020 With 94.9 Million Subscribers, Expects To Hit 230 Million In 2024
75. An anniversary for great justice: Remembering “All Your Base” 20 years later
76. IP law and strategy for AI – A European perspective
77. Top Ten Legal Considerations for Use and/or Development of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
78. Enough is enough ‎—‎ Governing the ungovernable
79. FTC Settles Facial Recognition Data Misuse Allegations with App Developer
80. he Perfect Storm for Privacy and Adtech: How the End of the Cookie Era Will Reshape the Digital Marketplace
81. Information Commissioner confirms conservatives illegally collected data to racially profile voters
82. Nintendo reportedly raises damages sought in Colopl lawsuit to $47m
83. Nintendo claims additional damages in White Cat Project lawsuit
84. Epic Games’ Case Against Teenage Fortnite Cheater Finally Settles
85. Epic files EU antitrust complaint against Apple
86. Fortnite vs. Apple continues to escalate with new antitrust complaint
87. Fortnite fight expands as Epic claims Apple broke EU competition law
88. North Dakota lawmakers jump into Apple/Epic fight with new app store bill
89. Coalition for App Fairness behind North Dakota bill against Apple: Money from the organisation co-founded by Epic Games paid for lobbyists to introduce new bill into state senate
90. A North Dakota bill aiming to loosen Apple’s tight grip on iOS has failed
91. One Patent To Rule Them All | Podcast: We discuss the implications of Warner Bros’ Nemesis system patent, with Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov
92. PC versions of Grand Theft Auto reverse-engineered to raw source code
93. Hackers claim to have sold Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3 source code
94. CD Projekt Red source code reportedly sells for millions in dark Web auction
95. How close is too close? A look into the use of altered trade marks and third-party ‘patches’ in videogames
96. Eximius dev relaunching title after publisher dispute
97. US game spending up 42% in January, says NPD
98. Zynga delivers record annual revenues thanks to ‘forever franchises’
99. Bad Robot looking to be the rare Hollywood-and-games success story
100. Last Of Us HBO series casts Pedro Pascal as Joel
101. Dota 2 is getting a Netflix series: The eight-episode anime series will launch on March 25
102. The ‘GaaS or subscription service’ squeeze in games
103. Blog: Video game music concerts in 2021

Jon

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Federal Court trusts technology to prove infringement
2. Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ to Avoid Being Live-streamed?: Police in Beverly Hills have been playing music while being filmed, seemingly in an effort to trigger Instagram’s copyright filters. 
3. Latest Anti-Accountability Move By Cops Involves Playing Music While Being Recorded In Hopes Of Triggering Copyright Takedowns
4. Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D sued for inking Miles Davis design? Tats crazy!
5. Desire v. Manna Textiles (USCA, 9^th Circuit): Holds only one statutory damages award available where defendant supplied infringing work to other defendants, even when those other defendants exploited infringing work.    
6. Carlini v. Paramount Pictures Corp. (USDC, California): Court action brought alleging film “What Men Want” infringed plaintiff’s screenplay, finding access was insufficient and works were not substantially similar. 
7. Be careful what you scrape from the HiQ v. LinkedIn decision 
8. Sherlock Holmes and the copyright infringement claim
9. Protect your moves – A mix of Intellectual Property and Dance
10. Snippet Taxes Not Only Violate The Berne Convention, But Also Betray The Deepest Roots Of Newspaper Culture
11. Why Is Congress Pushing For Locking Up More Culture? 
12. SCOTUS Update – Google v. Oracle 
13. Music – Royalty Rates for Digital Transmissions 
14. Copyright year in review 2020 
15. The growing role of domains in IP 
16. What to Do when “Everything Sucks” 
17. Utah Theme Park Sues Taylor Swift Over Album Title After Exploiting It
18. Taylor Swift sued by Utah Theme Park for trademark infringement.
19. Pearl Jamm changes name to Legal Jam…to avoid legal jam 
20. SDNY Magistrate Judge Recommends that Rubik’s Cube Design is Not Functional 
21. Hanes Pop Warner’s Way: Trademark Dispute Over Pop Warner Mark 
22. How to Register a Common Shape as Your Trademark 
23. Trademarks in 2020: notable cases and developments 
24. Trade Secret Management in the United States: Top Ten Mistakes to Avoid 
25. December 2020 COVID-19 Relief Bill Finally Closes the Streaming Loophole 
26. Third Circuit Finds Pocky Trade Dress Functional, Not Protectable 
27. There’s No Sugarcoating It: Pocky’s Cookie Design Trade Dress Is Functional
28. The Doctrine of File Wrapper Estoppel in Canada: The Court of Appeal Hands Down its Decision 
29. Evidence Supports Prior Art’s Public Accessibility but Not the Board’s Adoption of an Unpresented Theory of Anticipation
30. Federal Circuit Clarifies Part of Patent Term Extension Equation 
31. Federal Circuit Says Automated Systems Are Not Abstract when Tied to Improvements 
32. The “Skinny Label” – The Federal Circuit Has Second Thoughts 
33. No Patent Eligibility Reward for Customer Loyalty Program Computer System
34. How to patent over-the-air (OTA) automotive technology 
35. Federal Circuit Agrees to Reconsider Ruling in GSK v. Teva Drug Patent Case 
36. When Fixing One Problem Creates Another: How Patent Infringement Arises Out of Product Repairs 
37. Key Insights for Obtaining FinTech Patents
38. Patents in 2020 – The year in review
39. Conservative MP Files Amendment Calling on the Government to Withdraw Bill C-10 (Michael Geist)
40. Why The Secrecy on Bill C-10?: How the Liberals Abandoned Their Commitment to Consultation, and Transparency in Pushing Their Broadcast Reform Bill (Michael Geist)
41. Big Game, Ad Claims: Reflecting on Super Bowl Advertising Tactics
42. 25 Years Later: A Celebration Of The Declaration Of The Independence Of Cyberspace
43. Google, Facebook tell SCOTUS it should be harder for you to sue them
44. Senators Warner, Hirono, And Klobuchar Demand The End Of The Internet Economy
45. Platform mergers and antitrust: This paper sets out a framework for addressing competition concerns arising from acquisitions in big platform ecosystems.
46. The Definitive Guide to Clickwrap
47. We’re Living Our Lives On The Internet, And We Can’t Be Free If It Isn’t.
48. Now It’s The Democrats Turn To Destroy The Open Internet: Mark Warner’s 230 Reform Bill Is A Dumpster Fire Of Cluelessness
49. Senators Propose Substantial Revisions to Section 230’s Protections for Online Providers
50. Proposed Sec. 230 rewrite could have wide-ranging consequences
51. The Many Reasons To Celebrate Section 230
52. Section 230 Lets Tech Fix Content Moderation Issues. Congress Should Respect That
53. How To Think About Online Ads And Section 230
54. How Section 230 Makes My Life Better (A Celebration of Its 25 Year Anniversary) (Eric Goldman)
55. Content Moderation Case Study: Twitch Allows Users To Enable Emote-Only Chats (2016)
56. Content Moderation Case Study: Twitter Attempts To Tackle COVID-related Vaccine Misinformation (2020)
57. Universal Music Yanks Catalog From Triller, Slams Service For Withholding Artist Payments
58. Texas Dept. Of Public Safety Issues Amber Alert For Victim Of Horror Doll Chucky
59. 25 years ago today, the internet declared its independence — for better and for worse
60. Protecting AI Innovations Through Trade Secrets and Patent Protection
61. The Collision of AI’s Machine Learning and Manipulation: Deepfake Litigation Risks to Companies from a Product Liability, Privacy, and Cyber Standpoint
62. Turf wars: confidentiality of live (sports) data
63. Shadow of War publisher Warner Bros. has patented the series’ Nemesis system
64. Super Nintendo World apparently took scenery from a Mario fangame
65. G.I. Bro is a Go: Copyright Dispute Over Call of Duty Poster Survives Summary Judgement
66. Activision Blizzard sued over Call of Duty character
67. Warner Bros finally secures patent for Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system
68. CD Projekt Red’s internal systems “compromised” following ransomware attack
69. CD Projekt Red gets ‘cyberpunk’d’ – another ransomware attack
70. Cyberpunk 2077 developer hit with ransomware attack
71. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt hit by ‘targeted cyber attack’
72. MP proposes bill to make console scalping illegal amid PS5 and Xbox Series shortages
73. Terraria developer cancels Google Stadia port after YouTube account ban
74. Epic Games’ ability to go to war with Apple stems from its financial freedom, says CEO
75. Epic’s new tool promises high-fidelity human characters in under an hour
76. Epic Games’ new MetaHuman Creator will let devs build hi-fi humans
77. EA Sports Announces College Football Video Game Revival and Another Collegiate Athlete Persona Rights Piece of Legislation is Proposed in Congress
78. “90 bugs left”: Rare devs talk about the nearly completed Goldeneye 007 remake

Jon

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. For the Want of a Nail – Copyright Claims Fail When Plaintiffs Can’t Show Ownership
2. Thomson Reuters v. ROSS case will test limits on protections for subscription-based database: ROSS Intelligence alleges monopolistic, anticompetitive control over legal research market
3. Bernie and his Marvelous Mittens. It’s all Good Fun Until a Copyright Lawyer Gets Involved 
4. Anthropomorphized Characters Representing Human Emotions are Not Copyrightable
5. Annotations that Accompany State and Local Laws are not Copyrightable
6. Generalized Expressions of Scientific Facts and Generic Themes are Not Copyrightable 
7. Spoofs, Parodies, Compatibility, and Comparisons: When Can Competitors Borrow from Each Other? 
8. Music – The Scope of Protection
9. The Lies Told About The EU Copyright Directive’s Upload Filters May Help Get Them Thrown Out In Court
10. Japan Looks To Amend Copyright Law To Force Some Cosplayers To Pay To Cosplay 
11. Pitch perfect appeal for James Arthur 
12. Is your joint copyright work purple or red/blue?
13. Mitigating Copyright Issues in Remote Learning
14. Music Licensing in the Video Streaming Era
15. Pocky Ruling Denies Trade Dress Protection for the Useful, Though Not Essential, Shape of Cookie 
16. Third Circuit Panel Revises Half-Baked Trade Dress Functionality Decision
17. Please Dough Not Use My Trademark 
18. Much ado about ballet shoes – important designs case on copying 
19. The Shape of Things to… Eat 
20. The Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Finding that Trademark Use Can Be Established Without a Physical Presence in Canada. 
21. Federal Court grants interlocutory injunction in trademark action for second time in six months
22. Canadian Intellectual Property Office allows requests for expedited COVID-19 medical trademarks
23. Taste, Smell, Hear, Touch, and See – Appealing to All Five Senses with Non-Traditional Trademarks
24. Taylor Swift in ‘Evermore’ Trademark Lawsuit Over Utah Theme Park Name 
25. Trademark Modernization Act Strengthens Rights of Brand Owners 
26. The Trademark Modernization Act: Real Change to Address the Realities of Trademark Law 
27. Brewery Industry Insight — A Play-on-Words Mark Prevailed
28. Annual Reminder: You Can Probably Just Call The Super Bowl The Super Bowl
29. A decision based on Aesthetics – UK IPO rules stylisation is enough to overcome confusion
30. General Court finds no likelihood of confusion in BBQLOUMI opposition – Cypriot cheesemakers continue to struggle in EU trade mark courts
31. Lady A vs. Lady A: (Trademark) Battle of the Bands
32. TTAB Precedent No. 46: No Abandonment of A.W. SHUCKS
33. Cannabis Trade marks and commercialisation in the US, UK and EU. 
34. Minimalist trademarks: end of the road for uniqueness?
35. Cybersquatting trends and strategies that brand owners need to know 
36. Janssen’s abiraterone acetate and prednisone combination therapy patent found invalid
37. When is There an “Actual Invention” Involving Computers?
38. Office Actions: Options to consider when you need an extension of time to respond to the Patent Office
39. Protecting innovations through patent due diligence and FTO analysis
40. Data Breaches Ain’t Just About Privacy: Risking the Loss of Patent Rights by Data Breach with Subsequent Disclosure 
41. All Hands On Deck: Ensuring Innovation, Not Just Patents, From All 
42. Third Circuit Requires Patent Validity Analysis In Adjudicating Antitrust Causation
43. Federal Circuit Finds Patent Infringed After Reversing Claim Construction That Violated “Grammatical Principles” to Cover All Embodiments
44. Judge Hellerstein Upholds Infringement by Microsoft of Kaufman’s “And/Or” Patent  
45. Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: Defendants’ Motion to Stay Pending IPR Denied in AR Design Innovations’ Patent Case
46. Update on Patent “Aggregation” Suit Against Fortress  
47. Patent-Eligible Subject Matter
48. Patent-Ineligible Subject Matter
49. 2020 IP Law Year in Review: Patents – Executive Summary
50. Snapshot: intellectual property for fashion goods in Canada 
51. 14 States Are Now Considering ‘Right to Repair’ Legislation
52. Is there Magic in those Mushrooms? Protecting Psilocybin and Other Actives from Magic Mushrooms 
53. IP Litigation 2020 Year in Review
54. Antitrust Remedies in Highly Regulated Industries
55. 27% Of Cable TV Subscribers Will Cut The Cord This Year
56. How to Watch the Super Bowl in VR With Friends for Free
57. Facebook Oversight Board decisions
58. Apple, Its Control Over the iPhone, The Internet, And The Metaverse
59. Apple’s updated App Store guidelines clarify positions on recent controversies
60. Australians May Soon Face Life Without Google
61. Microsoft backs Australian law forcing Google to pay for news links
62. Continued Access to Service Not Sufficient to Bind User to New Terms of Service–Stover v. Experian (Eric Goldman)
63. TripAdvisor Doesn’t Get Early Section 230 Dismissal–Putt v. TripAdvisor (Eric Goldman)
64. No, Revoking Section 230 Would Not ‘Save Democracy’
65. Removing Civil Rights Law From Section 230 Will Create Many New Problems, While Failing To Fix Existing Ones
66. Columbia Law Professor Spews Blatantly False Information About Section 230 In The Wall Street Journal
67. No Section 230 Has Nothing To Do With Horrific NY Times Story Of Online Stalker Getting Revenge For Decades’ Old Slight
68. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Google Play Bans Video Player App Over ASS File Extension Support
69. YouTube’s new “Clips” feature lets users share 60-second clips of videos
70. YouTube Will Let Viewers Share Custom Short Videos Cut From Creators’ Uploads And Livestreams
71. Teespring Goes Live With ‘Spring’ Rebrand, Has 450,000 Creators On The Platform
72. Microsoft Patent: Chatbots Made From The Online Habits Of Dead People
73. Patent Issues for Factory Automation Inventions in AI
74. FTC’s allegations of misuse of facial recognition
75. FTC Settles with Fertility-Tracking App Developer Regarding Health Data Disclosures
76. States Gear Up to Limit Use of Biometrics and Biological Data
77. Valve loses controller patent case, must pay $4m in damages
78. Valve on the hook for $4 million over Steam Controller patent infringement
79. Level Up: 33 Legal Tips for Game Developers and Publishers
80. Amazon Can Make Just About Anything—Except a Good Video Game: The company produces successful movies, TV shows, e-readers and speakers, but gaming has proven difficult to crack.
81. Report: Mismanagement plagues Amazon’s struggling push into video games
82. Amazon is reportedly spending nearly $500 million a year on its video game division
83. Activision bans 60,000 Call of Duty: Warzone cheaters
84. Goldeneye 007’s lost Xbox 360 remaster has leaked—as a full-game speedrun
85. Scalpers aren’t the main reason you can’t find a new console
86. Activision Patent Seeks to Improve Esport Footage Sharing For Future Titles: A patent filed by Activision looks at ways to improve the esports experience with detailed data that could enhance the way broadcasts look.
87. How to protect your intellectual property in the games industry
88. Tabletop Simulator devs face criticism for Google Translate-sourced translations
89. Piracy: Does it matter? – People will try to steal your game in huge numbers, says Butterscotch Shenanigans’ Adam Coster — treat it as a design constraint
90. EA signs multi-year license extension with UEFA to continue FIFA collaboration
91. Star Wars has made $3bn for EA
92. EA has made $3 billion in net bookings from just Star Wars games
93. EA Sports revives college football games, but without NCAA involvement
94. EA is getting back into college football without NCAA, player licenses
95. Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold over 31 million copies in nine months
96. Super Nintendo World Recreated in Minecraft: A Minecraft player is currently building an authentic replica of the upcoming Super Nintendo World theme park, complete with its rides and shops.
97. Modded Game Boy looks like an Apple product, works as Apple TV Remote
98. 25 years later, Midway’s lost “MLB Jam” arcade game has been found
99. AppOnboard nets $20 million to support ‘no-code’ mobile dev platform Buildbox
100. Utility Patents – What Game Developers Should Know

Jon

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.  Software-Generated “Infringement Report” Supports $262,931 in Remedies For Copyright Infringement
2. Securing Copyright and Trademark Rights for Broadcasts and Promotions Related to NFL Championship Games and Super Bowl LV (55)
3. Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications (USDC, Virginia: January 12, 2021): Denies ISP’s post-trial motion to reduce $1 billion statutory damages award in copyright infringement action.
4. The Tricky Issue of Joint Authorship in Copyright Works
5. BMG, Aggressive Champion Of Copyright Enforcement, Accused Of Copyright Infringement By Jehovah’s Witnesses
6. CASE-ing the Joint: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act
7. Turns Out That Brexit Means Rotting Pigs’ Heads, And Losing An EU Copyright Exception
8. Finds Alleged Parody Fails on Copyright Fair Use Factors but Passes Rogers Test to Avoid Trademark Liability
9. Sports data rights in 2021: the outlook
10. Trademarks in 2020: Notable Canadian trademark cases and developments 
11. Are Trademark Injunctions Continuing their Awakening from Hibernation?
12. Top 5 trademark considerations every cleantech entrepreneur should know 
13. Pearl Jam v Pearl Jamm
14. Proud to Be an American, God Bless The USA, But Not Functioning as A Trademark 
15. What’s Cookin’? No Likelihood of Confusion Between Two KITCHEN Marks 
16. Tommy Hilfiger invalidates trademark piggybacking on its iconic flag logo 
17. Brizzy v. Vizzy: Molson Coors Obtains Cheers-Worthy Trademark Ruling at Fifth Circuit 
18. “Lettuce Turnip the Beet” Pun on T-Shirts Not Trademark Use, Ninth Circuit Affirms 
19. Trademarks and Expressive Works 
20. Stay A Lot More Than Six Feet From The NFL’s Trademarks! 2021 Update on Super Bowl Advertising and Promotions 
21. Laches and Acquiescence in Trademark Proceedings
22. More ‘failure to function’ refusals in 2020
23. Generic.com Terms are Not Ineligible for Registration 
24. Trademark Law Updates – Fees, Fraud and Injunction Presumptions
25. January 2021 Trademark Update 
26. US Trademark Amendment Act Will Provide New Procedures for Challenging Use Claims
27. UDRP on Gameroom.com: Facebook keeps its domain name
28. How does Brexit affect European Trademark Rights?
29. Can I keep my .eu domain name?
30. Who’s on the Line?: Protecting Your Trade Secrets on Zoom Calls
31. Pepper Spray Manufacturer’s Successful Self-Defense Reinforces Best Practices for Design Patents
32. Rothy’s v Giesswein – English Court leaves a lasting mark on EU Community design rights 
33. Federal Court of Appeal Cautions Against Use of Foreign Prosecution History 
34. Federal Court of Appeal affirms summary judgment in patent prosecutions: Court also upholds interpretation of file wrapper estoppel in precedent-setting case
35. Federal Court continues trend of granting summary judgment in appropriate patent proceedings
36. Federal Court upholds validity of two patents pertaining to ELIQUIS
37. Non-practicing entity’s allegations of patent infringement against oil sands producer /operator dismissed
38. Choueifaty patent application found to possess patentable subject-matter
39. Federal Court finds silodosin formulation patent valid but not infringed
40. Patent Appeal Board Allows Dosage Regimen Claims – No Physician Skill Needed
41. PMPRB proposes to modify Guidelines definition of “gap medicine” to include medicines sold by July 1, 2021
42. Patentee’s Success Story in a Hatch-Waxman Litigation Case
43. A New Application of an Abstract Idea Is Still Abstract: Court Affirms Dismissal Under § 101
44. Patentee Cannot Cure Lack of Written Description by Reference To Matter Present Only Foreign Priority Application
45. Happiest Baby’s SNOO patent Rocks Baby Automatically
46. Illuminating insufficiency: the English Patents Court examines “Regeneron ranges”
47. Regeneron Recast – Mr Justice Birss provides illuminating insight into the law of sufficiency
48. UKIPO “Green Channel” – can the patent system encourage more innovation in green technologies?
49. Cannabis: Patents in Europe
50. Senate Passed New Legislation to Punish Foreign Individuals and Corporations for IP Theft
51. Biden administration promises hard stance against Chinese IP abuses  
52. Intellectual Property Issues for Foreign Enterprises Acquiring Chinese Companies
53. Critical and curious terms from the world of Intellectual Property
54. Top Enforcement Issues to watch in 2021
55. Report calls for powerful new federal body to regulate social media 
56. YouTube Suspends Donald Trump Indefinitely, Demonetizes Rudy Giuliani
57. This site posted every face from Parler’s Capitol Hill insurrection videos
58. Insights: The Donald’s Digital Death Penalty—Deplatforming, Politics, And The Future Of Social Media
59. California Appeals Court Says Section 230 Immunizes Twitter From Banned User’s Lawsuit
60. Dozens Of Human Rights Group Tell Congress: Do Not Gut Section 230 On Our Behalf; It’ll Do More Harm Than Good
61. Twitter is opening up its full tweet archive to academic researchers for free
62. Have Social Media Companies Become Too Powerful?
63. Planning to Sue Twitter Over an Account Suspension? YOU WILL LOSE–Murphy v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
64. EFF Tells Louisiana Court Satire Is Still Protected Speech Even If The Government Doesn’t Get The Joke
65. Unfiltered: How YouTube’s Content ID Discourages Fair Use and Dictates What We See Online (EFF)
66. Big Tech worldwide nerulation: not if, but how
67. Google agrees to pay French news sites to send them traffic
68. Google: We’ll shut down Australian search before we pay news sites for links
69. Google Threatens To Pull Out Of Australia Entirely; Australians Demand That It Both Stay And Pay News Orgs For Giving Them Traffic
70. Google takes Tilt Brush open source as official development comes to an end
71. Why Red Hat killed CentOS—a CentOS board member speaks
72. Antitrust and the Tech Industry
73. House Republicans Have A Big Tech Plan… That Is Both Unconstitutional And Ridiculous
74. How Can Conservatives Fight Back Against Big Tech? For A Start, Just Be Sane Again.
75. FOSTA Survives Constitutional Challenge–US v. Martono (Eric Goldman)
76. Comments on the “Protecting Constitutional Rights from Online Platform Censorship Act” (Eric Goldman)
77. Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook Targets Misinformation Spread By The Philippines Government (2020)
78. Content Moderation Case Study: Social Media Upstart Parler Struggles To Moderate Pornography (2020)
79. Mirroring Qualifies for Section 230–Monsarrat v. Newman (Eric Goldman)
80. The Number Of Channels Monetizing Via YouTube’s Partner Program Doubled In 2020, CEO Says
81. TikTok Helps Push 17-Year-Old Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” To No. 1 Billboard Debut
82. Valve’s Gabe Newell imagines “editing” personalities with future headsets: “Remember when Bob got hacked by Russian malware [and] ran naked through forests?”
83. Research and analysis – Algorithms: How they can reduce competition and harm consumers (Competition & Markets Authority, U.K.)
84. A short primer on patenting AI and machine learning inventions at the European Patent Office
85. New Yorkers Receive Postmortem Rights and Protection Against Digitization of Sexually Manipulated Content in New Right of Publicity Statute
86. Québec law firm files latest Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift lawsuit: Lambert Avocat seeking compensation for all Québec consumers who bought Switch controllers since August 2017
87. European Commission called to investigate into Joy-Con drift
88. BEUC calls for Joy-Con Drift investigation after receiving 25,000 complaints
89. Valve on trial for allegedly infringing controller patents: The Steam Controller is accused of being based on a patent belonging to SCUF
90. US Court dismisses Wargaming lawsuit against former employees
91. Jagex disputes Plutos Sama’s claims of ownership: RuneScape dev calls RICO lawsuit against former owner “meritless,” says it was fully acquired by Carlyle Group
92. Epic’s Fortnite v Apple dispute arrives in the UK
93. The Pokémon Company takes measures against Sword and Shield hackers
94. The Pokemon Company is clamping down on Sword, Shield, and Home hackers
95. Rovio quietly shutters game streaming service Hatch
96. Games projects raised $23m on Kickstarter in 2020

Jon