Here is Think IP Strategy’s weekly selection of top Online intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet.

 

Highlights this week included:

Sweden: Information is holy; copying is a sacrament – Kopimism registered as religious organisation (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (TorrentFreak)

Website blocking law implemented by new Spanish government (TorrentFreak) (The 1709 Blog)

US threatened to blacklist Spain for not implementing site blocking law (TorrentFreak) (Michael Geist) (Ars Technica)

UK: Comet face Microsoft action over alleged sale of counterfeit Windows Vista and Windows XP recovery CDs (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (Out-Law) (Ars Technica)

 

Please join the discussion by adding your comments on any of these stories, and please do let us know if you think we’ve missed something important, or if there is a source you think should be monitored.

 

Global

Global – General

Data protection regulation and the politics of interoperability (EFF)

 

Global – Copyright

2011: Striking pirates and stopping SOPA (TorrentFreak)

2011: Piracy wars and internet censorship (TorrentFreak)

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun we had, with safe habour and the DCMA! (The 1709 Blog)

2011 in review: Developments in ACTA (EFF)

Skrillex: Happy holidays! Pirate my music, I’ll still love you (TorrentFreak)

Kazakhstan and Rwanda: Two more CC Affiliates for 2011 (Creative Commons)

A new resolution or just the same old news – software industry losses to piracy in Latin America (IP tango)

 

Global – Trade Marks & Domain Names

ICANN pushes ahead with January 12 launch for new top-level domains (Ars Technica)

NTIA supports new domains – phased in, with protection (IP Watch)

 

Global – Patents

Apple slowly gaining patents to fight its war of attrition with Android (Ars Technica)

Future of fuel cell batteries riding on Apple’s latest patent applications (Patent Law Practice Center)

Can 17,000 patents help Android win a legal Cold War? (Ars Technica)

RPX receives a timely boost as shares are upgraded (IAM)

 

Argentina

ISPs taken action – really? (IP tango)

 

Australia

Why IP Australia is clearly wrong about Research Affiliates (Patentology)

 

Canada

Supreme Court Securities Act constitutionality ruling throws digital laws into doubt (Michael Geist)

Crystal ball gazing at the year ahead in tech law and policy (Michael Geist)

Amazon obtains patent for ‘one-click’ payment method in Canada (Out-Law)

 

China

First instance court finds that internet keywords constitute infringement by using unauthorized trademark: Pangu v Mengkong and Baidu (China Law Insight)

Smartphone patent war 2012: Chinese alliance vs international brands (IP Dragon)

Enforcing intellectual property rights in the next internet era (China Law Insight)

China’s NCA: Authorized copyrighted works on video sharing sites average 76 % (IP Dragon)

 

Europe

What is fair compensation? Amazon goes to the CJEU: Case C-521/11 Amazon.com International Sales and Others (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat)

 

France

Samsung v Apple: Order from the Presiding Judge of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris dated 8 December 2011 (Kluwer Patent Blog)

Zut alors! French government deny bittorrent piracy allegations (TorrentFreak)

Private Copying Remuneration Law in France (The 1709 Blog)

 

Germany

Modified German Galaxy Tab 10.1N passes legal muster in German court (Ars Technica)

Photo gallery scrolling patent: Apple likely to win German ruling against Motorola in February (FOSS Patents)

 

India

Court order blocks BitTorrent, Megaupload and more (TorrentFreak)

 

Italy

Italian Courts find ‘active hosting liability’ for ISPs (The 1709 Blog)

Italian court denies Samsung motion for preliminary injunction against iPhone 4S (FOSS Patents)

 

Japan

File-sharing app creator not guilty of copyright infringement (TorrentFreak)

 

Netherlands

Dutch parliament: Downloading movies and music will stay legal (TorrentFreak)

 

Poland

Exceptions should be narrowly interpreted: ALFANET v @ @lfanet (figurative mark) (Class 46)

 

Slovakia

Bratislava Regional Court – No copyright in newspaper news (The 1709 Blog)

 

Spain

Website blocking law implemented by new Spanish government (TorrentFreak) (The 1709 Blog)

US threatened to blacklist Spain for not implementing site blocking law (TorrentFreak) (Michael Geist) (Ars Technica)

 

Sweden

Information is holy; copying is a sacrament – Kopimism registered as religious organisation (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (TorrentFreak)

 

Uganda

Ugandan 3.0 licenses now open for public discussion (Creative Commons)

 

United Kingdom

Comet face Microsoft action over alleged sale of counterfeit Windows Vista and Windows XP recovery CDs (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (Out-Law) (Ars Technica)

Evidence sought for UK study on digital copyright exchange (IP Watch) (Out-Law)

Image processing software not excluded from patentability, IPO rules (Out-Law)

 

United States

US General

Another set of parties duel over social media contacts: Eagle v. Sawabeh (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

Stop U.S. legislation that would block public access to publicly funded research (Creative Commons) (KEI)

 

US Patents

The ITC is tough terrain for mobile patent plaintiffs – consistently so far (FOSS Patents)

 

US Patents – Decisions

CAFC orders Apple to correct appeal against denial of preliminary injunction against Samsung (FOSS Patents)

CAFC affirms examiner’s broadest reasonable construction in In re SP Control, Inc (GRAY on Claims)

District Court W D Oklahoma: Virtual marking – merely listing website on product is not sufficient: A to Z Machining Service, LLC v. National Storm Shelter, LLC (Matthews Patent Law)

Preliminary ITC ruling on Microsoft’s complaint against Motorola has obvious shortcomings (FOSS Patents)

In decision on S3 Graphics complaint against Apple, ITC clarifies boundaries of its mandate (FOSS Patents)

ITC: Public version of initial determination finding no s 337 violation in Certain Portable Electronic Devices and Related Software brought by HTC against Apple (ITC 337 Law Blog)

 

US Patents – Lawsuits and strategic steps

Apple – Apple and Elan settle touch patent dispute to the tune of $5 million (Ars Technica)

Apple – The end of times for passwords: Apple’s “low threshold face recognition” patent application (PHOSITA)

Cleversafe – Failure to allege specific facts or statutory provision supporting invalidity renders pleading insufficient: Cleversafe v. Amplidata (Docket Report)

Cypress Semiconductor – ALJ Bullock denies joint motion to terminate investigation in Certain Static Random Access Memories (337-TA-792) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Google – Google buys IBM’s US 7,865,592 , and others (IPBiz)

HTC – By keeping an unlawful feature, Google will disadvantage HTC, rile Apple, and alienate the ITC (FOSS Patents)

HTC – High-ranking ITC official wants ‘more searching inquiry’ of impact of Android product bans (FOSS Patents)

HTC – Thanks to Apple’s flawed litigation strategy, HTC has nothing to fear until March 2013 (in the US) (FOSS Patents)

Intellectual Ventures Management – ALJ Gildea orders public interest hearing regarding settlements in Certain Dynamic Random Access Memory And NAND Flash Memory Devices (337-TA-803) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Interval Licensing – Google and Yahoo! attack on browser patent, among the reexamination requests filed week of December 26, 2011 (WHDA)

Kodak – Kodak mulls bankruptcy, looks to sell patents (Maier & Maier)

Lodsys – iOS developers go into 2012 still battling patent troll Lodsys (Ars Technica)

Microsoft – Microsoft and Motorola both ask the ITC to overrule an Administrative Law Judge (FOSS Patents)

Microsoft – Motorola apparently concerned about ITC review of Microsoft decision (FOSS Patents)

Motorola – Motorola drops emergency call GPS patent from ITC investigation against Apple (FOSS Patents)

Openwave Systems – ALJ Rogers grants-in-part and denies-in-part motion to strike affirmative defenses in Certain Devices for Mobile Data Communication (337-TA-809) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Oracle – Incontrovertible evidence: Oracle raised, not slashed, its damages claims against Google (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Not even one of Oracle’s six patents-in-suit has been definitively invalidated – but four of them are under pressure (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle-Google jury will be informed of status of (at least) three patent reexaminations (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle’s lawsuit against Google to go to trial on or after March 19, 2012 (FOSS Patents)

Ronald Katz – Challenges to five Ronald Katz telephone patents, among the reexamination requests filed week of December 19, 2011 (WHDA)

Sony – Rumors of the anticipated Xbox 720 incorporating a DVR system come in the midst of a swirl of litigation involving digital video recording technology (PHOSITA)

Technology Properties – ALJ Rogers grants motion to terminate investigation in Certain Digital Photo Frames And Image Display Devices (337-TA-807) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

 

US Copyright

RIAA: Kodak/Apple/RIM patent tangle proves we need Web censorship fast (Ars Technica)

Copyright troll Righthaven’s domain name now up for auction (Ars Technica)

SOPA – Domain blocking will encourage yet more fraud and scams (TorrentFreak)

GoDaddy drops SOPA support after customer revolt (TorrentFreak) (Ars Technica) (Ars Technica)

#MoveYourDomain to Protest the Internet Blacklist Bills (EFF)

How SOPA can kill Reddit and many other US sites (TorrentFreak)

“Reverse robocall” campaign lets citizens phone-blast SOPA supporters (Ars Technica)

Conservatives lining up in opposition to SOPA (Ars Technica)

How copyright industries con Congress (Cato @ Liberty )

Stop the Blacklist Legislation: a guide to in-person meetings with your Congressional Representatives (EFF)

While drafting SOPA, the U.S. House harbors bittorrent pirates (TorrentFreak)

15 percent of US file-sharers hide their IP-address, more to follow (TorrentFreak)

2011—we gained net neutrality, met Aaron Barr, and bid farewell to Righthaven (Ars Technica)

Does copyright works if ‘the price is right’ ? – American Assembly study findings (The 1709 Blog)

2011 in review: fighting the internet blacklist bills (EFF)

New York Times and diminishing derivative works (IP finance)

 

US Copyright – Decisions

District Court Massachusetts: Actual damages for single unauthorized download of software program held to be cost of single license fee: Real View v. 20-20 (Recording Industry vs The People) (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

9^th Circuit: UMG v. Shelter Capital: A cautionary tale of rightsowner overzealousness (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

Illegal distribution of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ lands one man in federal prison for a year (PHOSITA)

 

US Copyright – Lawsuits and strategic steps

4Shared – 4Shared sued to reveal identity of infringing users (TorrentFreak)

Apple – Apple reportedly putting DMCA squeeze on App Store pirates (Ars Technica)

Apple – Judge not convinced by Apple’s trade secrets argument, unseals docs: Apple v Psystar (Ars Technica)

DFSB Kollective Co – Why are Korean copyright owners suing an Australian infringer in San Jose, California? (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

Google – Google tries to kick Authors Guild out of court in book case (Ars Technica)

Megaupload – Megaupload to Universal: You’ve got some explaining to do (TorrentFreak)

New Sensations – New Sensations v Does 1-1474: Court orders dismissal where plaintiff cannot show jurisdiction & venue (Recording Industry vs The People)

Righthaven – Sweet irony: Righthaven sued by company it used to sue others (Ars Technica)

Tenenbaum, Joel – Tenenbaum asks District Court not to grant remittitur unless it reduces to statutory minimum (Recording Industry vs The People)

Thomas, Jammie – MPAA joins RIAA in ‘monstrous’ Jammie Thomas appeal (TorrentFreak)

Voltage Pictures – Hurt Locker bittorrent lawsuit dies, but not without controversy (TorrentFreak)

 

US Trademarks & Domain Names

Feds make just-in-time-for-Christmas counterfeit seizures (Seattle Trademark Lawyer)

 

US Trade Marks & Domain Names – Decisions

District Court S D Ohio – Keyword advertiser mostly defeats trademark lawsuit: Scooter Store v. SpinLife (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

 

US Trade Marks & Domain Names – Lawsuits and strategic steps

Asus – Hasbro tells Asus its Transformer Prime better transform its name (Ars Technica)

Fancaster – I’m not a fan of this craptastic trademark lawsuit: Fancaster v. Comcast (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)