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

 

Highlights this week included:

Microsoft acquires 800 patent families from AOL for $1B (IPKat) (Tangible IP) (IAM) (IPEG) (Tangible IP) (Ars Technica)

European Commission investigates Motorola Mobility’s suspected abuse of standard-essential patents against Apple and Microsoft  (FOSS Patents) (Out-Law) (Ars Technica)

France claims 50% drop in online piracy from Hadopi (The 1709 Blog) (TorrentFreak) (Ars Technica)

2^nd Circuit issues decision on intermediate liability in Viacom v YouTube (IP Watch) (IPKat) (The 1709 Blog) (Technology & Marketing Law Blog) (EFF) (Recording Industry vs The People) (Ars Technica) (Ars Technica)

4^th Circuit’s Rosetta Stone v. Google opinion pushes back resolution of keyword advertising legality another 5-10 years (Technology & Marketing Law Blog) (IPKat) (Out-Law) (Seattle Trademark Lawyer)

 

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 – Copyright

YouTube and Viacom to become partners in online movie rental business (The 1709 Blog)

World Bank stakes leadership position by announcing Open Access Policy and launching Open Knowledge Repository under Creative Commons (Creative Commons) (Ars Technica)

Nature Publishing Group releases publication data for more than 450,000 articles via CC0 (Creative Commons)

5000+ artists line up for a Pirate Bay promotion (TorrentFreak)

Megaupload shutdown inflicts pleasure & pain on cyberlockers (TorrentFreak)

The fight against copyright enforcement & the fight for civil liberties are the same (TorrentFreak)

 

Global – Trade Marks & Domain Names

Apple’s brand value grows over 130% in 12 months to now stand at $70.6 billion (IAM)

 

Global – Patents

Robotics and the patent industry (Patent Quality Matters)

Instagram, AOL … Are we headed for an intangible meltdown? (Patentology)

Microsoft acquires 800 patent families from AOL for $1B (IPKat) (Tangible IP) (IAM) (IPEG) (Tangible IP) (Ars Technica)

Facebook pays $1 billion for a company that owns not a single patent (IAM)

Hewlett Packard signals a change of approach on patent sales (IAM)

On IV’s $350 million payment from Verizon and its”bitter parting of the ways” with Google (IAM)

 

Australia

FCAFC unanimously upholds ACCC’s appeal against Google for misleading and deceptive conduct concerning online advertising (IP Whiteboard)

FCAFC: Limits of implied licences: Acohs v Ucorp (ipwars.com)

Hypocritical use of piracy as a corporate weapon – News Corporation subsidiaries alleged to use piracy to cripple pay-tv rivals (TorrentFreak)

 

Belgium

Telenet Yelo – claim construction and abuse of patent rights – Antwerp Commercial Court decision in United Video Properties / Telenet case no A/11/05443 (EPLAW)

Proxy war against The Pirate Bay heats up (TorrentFreak)

 

Canada

Estately’s copyright notice knocks one of Canada’s largest real estate firms offline (Geek Wire)

Changing online terms midstream – some US and Canada case law on the issue (ipblog.ca)

Canadian Hurt Locker file sharing lawsuits withdrawn (Michael Geist)

 

China

Constructed knowledge works like a red flag to an Internet intermediary (IP Dragon)

Prophylactic filing and Baidu’s victory over condom trademark squatter (China Hearsay)

 

Europe

European Commission investigates Motorola Mobility’s suspected abuse of standard-essential patents against Apple and Microsoft  (FOSS Patents) (Out-Law) (Ars Technica)

Launch of mediation process on private copying and reprography levies (The 1709 Blog)

 

France

France claims 50% drop in online piracy from Hadopi (The 1709 Blog) (TorrentFreak) (Ars Technica)

ETSI vote on SIM card standard postponed, says French financial daily Les Èchos (FOSS Patents)

 

Germany

Mannheim Regional Court postponed Motorola-Microsoft decision by two weeks (FOSS Patents)

Oh no: German courts and clueless politicians want to attract even more patent lawsuits  – Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court to increase staff to attract more patent litigation (FOSS Patents)

Munich court denies Microsoft a preliminary injunction against the Motorola RAZR smartphone (FOSS Patents)

Patent abuse hurts the German economy: Microsoft has to relocate its European logistics center (FOSS Patents)

Mannheim Regional Court: Apple lawsuit against Samsung over multilingual character sets headed for stay (FOSS Patents)

Munich trial: Motorola’s Android devices may infringe Microsoft patent on multilingual programs (FOSS Patents)

Apple is suing HTC in Munich over the two patents that Motorola was found to infringe (FOSS Patents)

 

Greece

Police make arrest, hunt admins of 500,000 member file-sharing site (TorrentFreak)

 

Guatemala

New IDNs and ccTLD for Guatemala (IP tango)

 

India

Indian intermediary liability law requires a thorough makeover (Spicy IP)

Customs Department allows parallel import of Dell computers – Will the order stand the test of an appeal? (Spicy IP) (Spicy IP)

 

Italy

More news on the online copyright regulation in Italy – Role of AGCOM (The 1709 Blog)

Court orders “copyright lobby-linked” group to stop pirating the Pirate Party (TorrentFreak)

 

Netherlands

Pirate Party refuses to shutdown Pirate Bay proxy, faces lawsuit (TorrentFreak)

 

Russia

Russia moves to hold ISPs responsible for illegal file-sharing (TorrentFreak)

 

Spain

Spanish ‘SOPA’: 79 site takedown requests in first month (TorrentFreak)

 

United Kingdom

Battle of the Tablets hits the UK – Samsung seeks declaration of non-infringement of Apple registered community design (IPKat) (Class 99)

£700 demand letters: no Golden Egg for Golden Eye – EWHC (Ch) decision in Golden Eye v Telefonica (IPKat)

 

United States

US General

S D New York: Unjust enrichment lawsuit from Huffington Post unpaid contributors gets the boot: Tasini v. AOL (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

Court overturns conviction for theft of Goldman source code (Ars Technica)

 

US Patents – Decisions

The importance of including algorithms in software patents – CAFC decisions in Ergo Licensing v Carefusion and Noah Systems v Intuit (IP Spotlight)

ND California: Article announcing that new product will be available in the future does not trigger on-sale bar to patentability: Speedtrack v Wal-Mart.com (IP Spotlight)

WD Washington: Microsoft wins in U.S. court, prevents Motorola from near-term enforcement of forthcoming German ruling  (FOSS Patents)(FOSS Patents) (FOSS Patents) (Ars Technica)

ITC issues opinion reviewing-in-part and affirming the initial determination of no violation of Section 337 by HTC in Certain Electronic Imaging Devices (ITC 337 Law Blog)

ITC issues opinion reviewing-in-part and affirming the initial determination of no violation of Section 337 in Certain Mobile Devices, and Related Software Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-750) brought by Apple against Motorola (ITC 337 Law Blog)

 

US Patents – Lawsuits and strategic steps

Apple – ALJ Gildea rules on nonparties’ motions to quash in Certain Portable Electronic Devices (337-TA-797) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Apple – Analysis of Apple’s claim construction win over Samsung in Northern California  (FOSS Patents)

Apple – Apple drops patent on centralized event alerts from Chicago litigation against Motorola (FOSS Patents)

Apple – John ‘Mighty’ Quinn is readying to represent Samsung against Apple at two ITC trials this spring  (FOSS Patents)

Apple – Judge Posner upholds largest part of Apple’s touchscreen heuristics (‘949) patent in Motorola case (FOSS Patents) (FOSS Patents)

ChriMar Systems – ITC grants request for reconsideration and affirms reversal of Initial Determination granting unopposed motion to amend notice of investigation in Certain Communication Equipment (337-TA-817) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

CSIRO – Lenovo, Acer, Sony, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile to pay CSIRO $229 M in Wi-Fi patent settlement (Ars Technica) (Patentology) (Patentology) (Patentology) (Ars Technica) (Ars Technica)

Facebook – Facebook is suing Yahoo! with patents it did not own when Yahoo! launched its suit (IAM) (TechnoLlama) (Ars Technica)

Fenner Investments – Pleading alleging infringement by “network communications systems” too vague to state a claim: Fenner Investments v Cellco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless (Docket Report)

Freescale Semiconductor – ALJ Rogers denies motion for summary determination in Certain Integrated Circuits (337-TA-786) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Freescale Semiconductor – ALJ Rogers denies motion to terminate investigation in Certain Integrated Circuits (337-TA-786) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Graphics Properties Holdings – ITC institutes investigation (337-TA-836) against RIM, HTC, LG, Apple, Samsung and Sony regarding Certain Consumer Electronics and Display Devices (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Guitar Apprentice – Guitar Apprentice asserts patent relating to ‘media system and method of progressive musical instruction’ against Ubisoft (Patent Arcade)

HumanEyes Technologies – HumanEyes files new 337 complaint regarding Certain Cameras and Mobile Devices (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Immersion Corporation – ITC institutes investigation (337-TA-834) against HTC and Motorola regarding Certain Mobile Electronic Devices Incorporating Haptics (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Industrial Technology Research Institute – ALJ Essex rules on motion to quash subpoena in Certain Devices For Improving Uniformity Used In A Backlight Module (337-TA-805) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Lodsys – Apple is allowed (at long last) to intervene in Lodsys lawsuit against app developers (FOSS Patents) (Ars Technica)

Microsoft – ALJ Gildea grants joint motion by Microsoft and TiVo to terminate investigation in its entirety in Certain Set-Top Boxes (337-TA-761) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Microsoft – ALJ Gildea grants motion for summary determination on economic prong of domestic industry in Certain Set-Top Boxes (337-TA-761) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Microsoft – ITC judge postpones Microsoft-Barnes&Noble decision by more than a month (FOSS Patents)

Microsoft – ITC postpones decision on Microsoft complaint against Motorola to May 18  (FOSS Patents)

Microsoft – Microsoft-Motorola case in Seattle: claim construction order and list of issues for 11 April hearing (FOSS Patents)

Microsoft – Motorola uses a definition from a Microsoft Press book against a Microsoft patent (FOSS Patents)

Motorola – These two charts show that Motorola’s royalty demands for standard-essential patents are way out of line (FOSS Patents)

MyKey Technology – ALJ Bullock grants motion to terminate investigation as to JI2 and Multimedia Effects in Certain Computer Forensic Devices (337-TA-799) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Openwave Systems – ALJ Rogers rules on motion to quash subpoena in Certain Devices for Mobile Data Communication (337-TA-809) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Oracle – Appointed damages expert’s valuation stricken for failing to value hypothetical license based on IP rights asserted in litigation: Oracle v Google (Docket Report)

Oracle – Oracle and Google are still $700 million apart on claims based on past infringement (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle/Google settlement talks fail, Java patent trial to start 16 April (Ars Technica)

RT Social Networks – Challenge to social networking patent among the reexamination requests filed week of March 26, 2012 (WHDA)

Thomson Licensing – ITC decides to review-in-part final initial determination in Certain Liquid Crystal Display Devices (337-TA-741/749) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

TQP Development – TQP sues Big Fish Games and numerous others for infringement of patent covering a technique for sending encrypted data across a communications link (Patent Arcade)

Verizon – First-to-file rule does not require identity of parties: Verizon Online v Brandywine Communications (Docket Report)

Worlds – Worlds files patent infringement suit against Activision Blizzard (Patent Arcade)

 

US Copyright

New US agreement for digital and mobile music usage (The 1709 Blog)

New government report “IP and US Economy: Industries in Focus” doesn’t say what Big Content thinks it says (Ars Technica)

Hollywood loves a sequel — But Really, SOPA 2? (EFF) (Ars Technica)

White House IP Czar: anti-piracy laws should not block free speech (Ars Technica)

CISPA Bill lets ISPs spy on and report pirating subscribers (TorrentFreak)

Six strikes plan – MPAA/RIAA to boost cyberlocker and VPN revenues (TorrentFreak)

“Six Strikes” Copyright Alert system names surprisingly good advisors (Ars Technica)

Center for Copyright Information prepares to punish pirates (TorrentFreak)

Graduated Response Program: Let’s press the reset button (EFF)

RIAA: Innovation is the best way to kill piracy (TorrentFreak)

MPAA: you can infringe copyright just by embedding a video (Ars Technica)

27 copyright troll cases with over 3,500 does dismissed in Florida—Copyright troll lawyer practicing without license (EFF) (Ars Technica)

 

US Copyright – Decisions

2^nd Circuit issues decision on intermediate liability in Viacom v YouTube (IP Watch) (IPKat) (The 1709 Blog) (Technology & Marketing Law Blog) (EFF) (Recording Industry vs The People) (Ars Technica) (Ars Technica)

ND California kicks out copyright troll who has ‘no desire to litigate’: Hard Drive Productions v Does 1-90 (TorrentFreak) (Ars Technica)

ND Illinois: Judge rejects copyright holders’ attempts to compel ISPs to hand over identifying information: Pacific Century v Does 1-37 (Ars Technica)

 

US Copyright – Lawsuits and strategic steps

Flava Works – Links and repeat infringers – Flava Works v Gunter concerning §512 DMCA safe harbors currently pending before 7th Circuit (The 1709 Blog) (TorrentFreak)

Grooveshark – All defendants’ dismissal motions denied in Grooveshark case, Arista v Escape Media (Recording Industry vs The People)

Grooveshark – Full house as Grooveshark faces EMI claim (The 1709 Blog)

Hard Drive Productions – Common use of bittorrent sufficient for joinder: Hard Drive Productions v Does 1-55 (Chicago IP Litigation Blog)

isoHunt – Fulfilling earlier court order – MPAA filter censors legit torrent files on isoHunt (TorrentFreak)

Megaupload – Carpathia blasts government for hypocrisy on Megaupload servers (Ars Technica)

Megaupload – EFF fights for Megaupload users’ rights in Friday hearing (EFF)

Megaupload – Kim Dotcom back online, prepares to release music album (TorrentFreak)

Megaupload – Megaupload host Carpathia refuses to delete user data and evidence, for now (TorrentFreak)

Megaupload – Megaupload will drop its lawsuit against UMG over “Mega Song” (Ars Technica)

Megaupload – Megaupload: Erasing our servers as the US wants would deny us a fair trial (Ars Technica)

Megaupload – Sports reporter Kyle Goodwin demands return of Megaupload files (TorrentFreak) (EFF) (Ars Technica)

Megaupload – US govt. objects to Megaupload hiring top law firm (TorrentFreak)

Megupload – Megaupload goes to court: A primer (EFF)

MPAA – Expert witness says most popular Hotfile downloads are open source apps (Ars Technica) (TorrentFreak)

MPAA – MPAA targets Fileserve, MediaFire, Wupload, Putlocker and Depositfiles (TorrentFreak)

MPAA – We’re no rogue site: PutLocker responds to Hollywood (TorrentFreak)

SiriusXM – SiriusXM files antitrust claims against collection society SoundExchange and American Assoc. of Independent Music (The 1709 Blog)

Sony Music – Weird Al joins digital royalties battle (The 1709 Blog)

Thomas-Rasset, Jammie – Additional briefs filed by DOJ & Jammie Thomas-Rasset in 8th Circuit (Recording Industry vs The People)

 

US Trade Marks & Domain Names – Decisions

4th Circuit’s Rosetta Stone v. Google opinion pushes back resolution of keyword advertising legality another 5-10 years (Technology & Marketing Law Blog) (IPKat) (Out-Law) (Seattle Trademark Lawyer)

 

US Trade Marks & Domain Names – Lawsuits and strategic steps

Match.com – Match.com files suit against operators of xxxmatch.com and eroticmatch.com websites (IPKat)