I’m a contributing editor of TechnoLawyer’s IP Memes newsletter (free subscription after registration). Yesterday, the new issue that I was responsible for was released.
The title of the new issue is “IP Memes: Spyware, The New Sport of Kings, Driver’s Ed Movies ? and Other Hot IP Issues.”
Here are a few of the items I cover in the newsletter:
PATENT LITIGATION: THE SPORT OF KINGS
This article is a must-read for the title alone. From the article: “Patent litigation is a growth industry. According to the American Intellectual Property Law Association, in cases where between $1 million and $25 million is at risk, a patent owner should expect to spend more than $2 million to litigate a patent through trial and appeal. Where more than $25 million is at risk, costs climb above $4 million. All this, to litigate a patent that an attorney likely wrote in a week or two, and that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office probably spent less than 20 hours examining.” [Note: A free registration might be required, but it’s worth the effort.] Technology Review Article
THE NEW SURVEILLANCE
Sonia Katyal’s winning entry for the 2004 Yale Law School Cybercrime and Digital Law Enforcement Conference writing competition addresses the intersection of anti-piracy efforts and privacy concerns. From the abstract: “In the past, legislators and scholars have focused their attention on other, more visible methods of surveillance relating to employment, marketing, and national security. Piracy surveillance, however, represents an overlooked fourth area that is completely distinct from these other types, yet incompletely theorized, technologically unbounded, and, potentially, legally unrestrained. The goals of this Article are threefold: first, to trace the origins of piracy surveillance through recent jurisprudence involving copyright; second, to provide an analysis of the tradeoffs between public and private enforcement of copyright; and third, to suggest some ways that the law can restore a balance between the protection of copyright and civil liberties in cyberspace.” Social Science Research Network Electronic Library Article
LEGAL PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY
A useful outline of resources relating to the protection of important cultural treasures, international trade in cultural property, and illegal traffic in art and antiquities. A cultural legacy is an important thing not to lose. LLRX.com Article
TECHNOLOGY TO WATCH – ON DEMAND COMPUTING
Those with sharp eyes will notice quite a bit of the “application service provider” model in the new buzzword “on demand computing” that is a primary technology initiative of IBM. The concept, however, has made inroads wel outside the IBM marketing world because of the attractiveness of cost-cutting opportunities. Watch for a big push and greater visibility for the notion of on demand computing. It is an important concept with lots of implications for software licenses, IT agreements and intellectual property rights of all kinds. The term is also expanding to take in the notions of “grid computing,” “utility computing,” and “virtualization,” with applications in e-commerce, bioinformatics and other hot areas. ZapThink Article & IBM Article
FILE-SHARING PROHIBITIONS AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Edward Felten has posted a short but fascinating discussion on the Freedom to Tinker blog about file-sharing, stopgap measures and the negative effects stopgap measures have on security. The article will get you thinking in some new ways. Freedom to Tinker Article
AT LEAST WE HAVEN’T GONE QUITE THIS FAR ON INFRINGEMENT EDUCATION -YET
John Farmer of the Leading-Edge Law Group PLC suggests the use of intellectual property videos similar to the old high school driving movies, i.e., showing the death, carnage and mayhem that results from poor patent, copyright and trademark planning. It’s an attention-getting device (especially for those of us who have seen those movies) for a good discussion on the benefits of intellectual property management and planning. PHOSITA Article