Have you ever played the mobile app game, “Candy Crush Saga” by King.com, Ltd. (“King”)? Are you addicted to it? Not me, you say. More power to you because by some reports King earns a million dollars a day from users who actually pay for the chance to continue using this “free” game. The way […]
When the Supreme Court decides a case, the result is binding on all of us. The Court will be busy with patent, copyright and trademark cases over the next few months. The following are a few highlights: 1. Are computer-implemented inventions patentable? Particularly, is a general purpose computer programmed to perform a specific function patentable? […]
You may already know by reading this newsletter that utilitarian objects are typically not protected by copyright law. Fashion designs are but one controversial example. Here’s a little more history. In the 1950’s, the Supreme Court of the United States in Mazer v. Stein, held that statuettes incorporated into lamps – unarguably utilitarian objects – […]
Dear Doc: It seems that over the years, patents and copyrights have been in some kind of “Freaky Friday” accident, and have switched bodies. It used to be that patent was the big dog in intellectual property, but now, even big companies like Apple that win patent law suits can’t get the courts to stop […]
In his state of the union speech, President Obama said: “And let’s pass a patent reform bill that allows our businesses to stay focused on innovation, not costly, needless litigation.” Both houses of Congress are well on the way to enacting new patent legislation, in part as a reaction to the bullying of small businesses […]
Dear Doc: I hear that soon, many Internet users will start getting warning notices if they illegally share copyrighted materials. Is this true? What happens if I get, say, 6 of these? How do they know? Signed, MovieAddict Dear Addict: The “Doc” has been watching this gathering storm for some time now. The “Copyright […]
Dear Doc: Well, 2013 has come and gone! Did anything happen in copyright law this year? Signed, Way too much time on my hands. Dear Sir: How DARE you! Have you not been reading the “Doc” every issue of this wonderful and scholarly newsletter? So much happened this year that the “Doc” has scarcely had […]
It’s been decades since the British Invasion and believe it or not, the Beatles are still releasing music. Well, it’s not “new” music but familiar tracks, which had not seen the light of day (although many have been available for years as bootlegs). These include four extra versions of “She Loves You,” five versions of […]
The ‘claims’ of a patent dictate the rights of the patent owner and define the property created by the patent. Where the invention is something physical, such as a machine or a drug, it is relatively easy to show infringement – the patent owner must show that the infringer made, used, or sold the machine […]
Dear Doc: While searching online, I came across thousands of books – not on Amazon.com, but on Google! I could actually read the pages of those books because the words matched what I had searched, and most of the books were scanned right from the library. That’s cool – and really useful, but I thought […]
