Copyright & Social Media
Communications Law
Qualcomm may no Longer be Allowed to use ARM IP to Design CPUs
Qualcomm is an American company that designs CPUs. ARM is a British company that licenses off-the-shelf CPU core designs to other manufacturers. Unlike the x86 architecture designed by Intel that is featured in virtually all modern desktops and laptops, ARM-based CPU designs are low power and are widely used in smartphones, cars, and the burgeoning […]
Tossing a (Bit)coin: UK Court Rejects Dr. Craig Wright’s Claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, But What’s Next?
Back in March this year, the High Court of Justice in the UK dismissed the claim by Dr. Craig Wright, a computer scientist and businessman from Australia, that he is the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, the unrevealed mastermind behind Bitcoin. Justice Mellor, in the decision issued on May 20, found that Dr. Wright did not write […]
Temu: Selling “Exact Copies” of Independent Designers’ Creations
I recently read an interesting article about Temu, an online retail platform known for copying the works of independent designers and selling them at a very low cost. The article highlights the challenges these designers face in seeking justice, shedding light on the feelings of powerlessness many experience when their work is replicated by a […]
News Publishers sue AI search engine Perplexity for copyright infringement
Came across another example today of news publishers suing AI for copyright infringement. The Wall Street Journal and New York Post sue AI search engine Perplexity accusing Perplexity of copying copyrighted news and using it to generate responses to users’ queries. The article notes how it is among other actions taken against Perplexity by news […]
The Blind Side: Fact or Copyrightable?
I came across a New York Times Daily podcast about the movie “The Blind Side” that reminded me of a discussion from class a few weeks ago. The podcast (and the NYT article it is based on) provides the perspective of Michael Oher, whose “story” is told in “The Blind Side”. Currently, Oher is pursuing a […]
Narrowing the Scope of Patent Protection for Waterslide Features: A Slippery Slope?
Introduction As a fan of all varieties of theme parks and water parks, this article from McMillan summarizing a case on the scope of patent protection for waterslide features immediately caught my attention. Section 42 of the Patent Act Under s. 42 of the Patent Act, the granting of a patent to a patentee confers […]
Settlement of Patent Case With Potential to Limit Reach of Ozempic
I find the use of intellectual properties to limit access to pharmaceutical drugs extremely interesting, particularly in face of international agreements such as the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Recently, pharmaceutical companies Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Novo Nordisk settled a patent dispute over Ozempic, the popular weight loss drug […]
The Fine-Line of Copyright infringement in Songwriting
This paper examines the complexity and difficulty in deciding whether copyright infringement has occurred in the context of songwriting
On Trend: Striking against Innovation
Dockworkers on strike in Portsmouth, Virgina on 1 October. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ/REUTERS This week, 45,000 dockworkers on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts went on strike demanding “absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation”, costing billions of dollars a day and prompting Chris Wilson-Smith (The Globe and Mail) to recall a […]
“Super Hero” Trademarks Canceled
A United States Trademark Office tribunal recently canceled Marvel and DC’s trademarks of “Super Hero” and “Super Heroes”. Superbabies Ltd. petitioned for this cancellation and Marvel and DC did not file an answer to the petition nor to the motion for default judgment for Superbabies. In turn, the tribunal granted default judgment which is allowed […]