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

 

Highlights this week included:

CJEU: APIs can’t be copyrighted, would “monopolise ideas”: C-406/10 SAS Institute v World Programming (Ars Technica) (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (Out-Law)

5 UK ISPs ordered to block The Pirate Bay (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (TorrentFreak) (Out-Law) (TechnoLlama)

 

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 – Trade Marks & Domain Names

ICANN chief reveals delay in expected announcement on applications for new ‘top level’ domains (Out-Law)

 

Global – Patents

List of 50+ Apple-Samsung lawsuits in 10 countries (FOSS Patents)

Apple v Android Part V: Open standards, IP strategy, Resolution? (Patentology)

Apple v Android Part IV: The IP Landscape (Patentology)

Global Internet governance: from multistakeholder to autopilot (IP Watch)

Nokia’s patent assertions against HTC, ViewSonic and RIM in the U.S. and three German courts (FOSS Patents)

 

Australia

The price of digital downloads in Australia – parliamentary inquiry announced (ipwar.com)

High Court’s decision in Roadshow v iiNet: a second look (ipwars.com)

AFL, NRL & Telstra successfully appeal Optus TV Now decision (IP Whiteboard) (Ars Technica)

 

Canada

Canada’s domain name agency to the public: we don’t trust you (Michael Geist)

 

China

CIETAC: Irish company wins transfer of domain name consisting of Chinese transliteration of trade mark 7-UP (JMLS Chinese IP)

 

Europe

CJEU: APIs can’t be copyrighted, would “monopolise ideas”: C-406/10 SAS Institute v World Programming (Ars Technica) (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (Out-Law)

AG delivers opinion in C-376/22 Pie Optiek v Bureau Gevers concerning circumvention of EU trademark protection during sunrise period for .eu TLDs (IPKat) (Class 46)

EPO TBoA – Test cases for elucidating public availability of Internet disclosures: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (patentee) v. DSM IP Assets (EPLAW)

 

Germany

FRAND abuse: Mannheim Regional Court hands Motorola an injunction against Windows 7 and Xbox 360 (FOSS Patents) (Ars Technica)

Mannheim stays Apple-Samsung lawsuit over photo gallery patent, postpones decision on pinch-to-zoom (FOSS Patents)

 

Italy

Game over: no online copyright regulation in Italy (The 1709 Blog)

 

Portugal

Epic 6-year file-sharing case over just 3 songs comes to an end (TorrentFreak)

 

Sweden

Study finds young file-sharers respond to tough laws by buying a VPN (TorrentFreak)

 

United Kingdom

5 UK ISPs ordered to block The Pirate Bay (The 1709 Blog) (IPKat) (TorrentFreak) (Out-Law) (TechnoLlama)

Pirate Bay enjoys 12 million traffic boost, shares unblocking tips (TorrentFreak)

Wiggin “2012 Digital Entertainment Survey”: 30% of UK file-sharers intend to pirate more in the next 12 months (TorrentFreak)

Musician Dan Bull reaches #9 on UK indie charts using CC0 (Creative Commons)

 

United States

US General

Comments on 9^th Circuit’s en banc ruling in US v Nosal concerning employee’s provision of confidential information to ex-employee to start a competing business (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

 

US Patents

Senator urges USPTO to tackle software & e-commerce patents (Patents Post-Grant)

Another big hitter at Intellectual Ventures heads to pastures new (IAM)

 

US Patents – Decisions

CAFC looks to related application in construing claim terms: ZapMedia v Apple (GRAY on Claims)

ND Illinois grants in part defendants motion for SJ of non-infringement – touch screen device “finger tap” is not equivalent of “finger swipe”: Apple v Motorola (Docket Report)

ITC: ALJ Pender issues Initial Determination of section 337 violation by Apple in Certain Wireless Communication Devices (337-TA-745) brought by Motorola (ITC 337 Law Blog)

 

US Patents – Lawsuits and strategic steps

Apple – Apple and Motorola move for summary judgment in Wisconsin litigation over FRAND issues (FOSS Patents)

Apple – Apple and Samsung CEOs to meet on May 21 and 22 for settlement talks in San Francisco court (FOSS Patents)

Apple – Google to court: Galaxy Nexus code is closed just like that of iPhone – Apple v Samsung (FOSS Patents)

Apple – Judge Posner scolds Apple’s lawyers: ‘I’ve had my fill of frivolous filings by Apple’ – Apple v Motorola (FOSS Patents)

Apple – Just discovered: Apple hit Motorola and HTC with six new patents in Miami last month (FOSS Patents)

Facebook – Yahoo accuses Facebook of dealing with dirty patent trolls (Ars Technica)

HumanEyes – ITC institutes investigation (337-TA-842) regarding Certain Cameras and Mobile Devices (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Intellectual Ventures – Challenges on Intellectual Ventures computer circuit patents among the reexamination requests filed week of April 23, 2012 (WHDA)

Linex Technologies – ALJ Pender grants motion to terminate investigation in Certain Wireless Communication Devices And Systems (337-TA-775) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Microsoft – Microsoft and Barnes & Noble settle Android patent litigation — Motorola increasingly isolated (FOSS Patents)

Motorola – ALJ Pender issues sanctions order against Apple in Certain Wireless Communication Devices (337-TA-745) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Motorola – Motorola appeals Microsoft’s temporary restraining order to the 9th Circuit (FOSS Patents)

Motorola – Motorola will soon assert six more U.S. patents against Apple – most likely in Florida (FOSS Patents)

MyKey – ALJ Bullock denies summary determination motions in Certain Computer Forensic Devices (337-TA-799) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Nokia – Nokia files new 337 complaint against HTC regarding Certain Electronic Devices, Including Mobile Phones And Tablet Computers (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Rambus – ITC rescinds remedial orders in Certain Semiconductor Chips (337-TA-661) based on settlement (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Rovi – Rovi files new 337 complaint against LG, Mitsubishi Electric , Netflix, Roku and Vizio regarding Certain Products Containing Interactive Program Guide And Parental Control Technology (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Samsung – ALJ Gildea grants motion to compel in Certain Electronic Devices, Including Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music And Data Processing Devices, And Tablet Computers (337-TA-794) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Samsung – ALJ Gildea grants motion to strike second notice of prior art in Certain Electronic Devices, Including Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music And Data Processing Devices, And Tablet Computers (337-TA-794) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Samsung – Apple wants U.S. district court to obscure Samsung logo on video display for jurors (FOSS Patents)

Samsung – July/August U.S. trial date for Apple-Samsung may slip without further narrowing of case (FOSS Patents)

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

Technology Properties – ITC institutes investigation (337-TA-841) regarding Certain Computers and Computer Peripheral Devices (ITC 337 Law Blog)

Trek 2000 International – ALJ Essex denies summary determination motion of invalidity based on indefiniteness in Certain Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) Portable Storage Devices (337-TA-788) (ITC 337 Law Blog)

 

US Copyright

Comcast praises voluntary bittorrent crackdown agreement (TorrentFreak)

Hollywood’s trolls (EFF)

MPAA boss ‘forgets’ Hollywood’s pirate history (TorrentFreak)

 

US Copyright – Decisions

D Montana: 512(f) plaintiff can’t get discovery to back up his allegations of bogus takedowns: Ouellette v. Viacom (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

ED New York: Judge Gary Brown: an IP-address doesn’t identify a person (or bittorrent pirate): K-Beech v John Does 1-37 (TorrentFreak) (Ars Technica)

 

US Copyright – Lawsuits and strategic steps

All Shall Perish – Copyright troll causes chaos by suing fans without band’s permission (TorrentFreak) (TorrentFreak)

Megaupload – Megaupload prosecution “depressing display of abuse of government authority” (Technology & Marketing Law Blog) (TorrentFreak)

Megaupload – Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom gets $750,000 back (TorrentFreak)

Oracle – Fair use or “first excuse”? Oracle v. Google goes to the jury (Ars Technica)

Oracle – Final Oracle-Google jury instructions confirm that names are copyrightable as part of larger structure (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Former Sun chief about Google: ‘immune to copyright laws, good citizenship, they don’t share’ (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Google seeks to Europeanize the law of the United States with respect to copyrightability (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle and Google object to ‘final’ jury instructions and verdict form (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle President testifies, jury told to assume APIs are copyrightable (Ars Technica)

Oracle – Oracle v. Google can’t MAKE APIs copyrightable — they HAVE BEEN for more than 20 years (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle v. Google judge asks for comment on EU court ruling (Ars Technica)

Oracle – Oracle v. Google: definitive copyright-related jury instructions and special verdict form (FOSS Patents) (FOSS Patents)

Oracle – Oracle-Google jury fairly likely to render copyright liability verdict today (Thursday) (FOSS Patents)

RIAA – Unsealed court records confirm that RIAA delays were behind year-long seizure of hip hop music blog (EFF)

Schrachman, Hyman – MPAA spare the rod with plundering nonagenarian pirate (The 1709 Blog)

 

US Trade Marks & Domain Names – Decisions

SD New York: Hermès obtains (ex parte) $100M award against alleged counterfeiters: Hermès v. Does (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

WD Washington grants summary judgment against unauthorised seller of T-Mobile products: T-Mobile v Terry (Seattle Trademark Lawyer)

Test your TTAB judge-ability: are NETGARD and NETGATE confusingly similar for security software?: Rubicon Communications v API Cryptek (TTABlog)

Test your TTAB judge-ability on this trademark specimen of use: In re Azteca Systems (TTABlog)