Here is IP Think Tank’s weekly selection of top Online intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet.
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.
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WIPO review of UDRP disputes – record number of complaints handled by WIPO in 2008 (WIPO) (Out-Law) (Michael Geist) (Managing Intellectual Property) (Class 46) (Intellectual Property Watch) (Law360)
Goverment outlines new creative industries’ Digital Rights Agency proposed in Digital Britain report (Out-Law) (IP finance) (Intellectual Property Watch) (IPKat) (Excess Copyright)
Happy twentieth, world wide web (Intellectual Property Watch)
Twitter paid $6 or less for crowdsourced ‘Birdie’ graphic (Wired)
Google says internet disconnection a ‘disproportionate’ penalty (Ars Technica)
Studies conducted in Spain and Canada show piracy has become mainstream (TorrentFreak)
Fake aXXo torrents bombard BitTorrent (TorrentFreak)
Counting Crows go label-free (TechCrunch)
Fear of movie piracy delays theatre releases (TorrentFreak)
Choruss’s covenant: The promised land (maybe) for record labels; a lesser destination for everyone else (Intellectual Property Watch)
WIPO review of UDRP disputes – record number of complaints handled by WIPO in 2008 (WIPO) (Out-Law) (Michael Geist) (Managing Intellectual Property) (Class 46) (Intellectual Property Watch) (Law360)
Phishing attacks on financial institutions rise 51% in second half 2008, according to MarkMonitor’s Brandjacking Index (Managing Intellectual Property)
Mobile banking deal – African IP development and investment by African within Africa (IP finance)
Database on African theses and dissertation (DATAD) programme (Afro-IP)
Torrent sites end up on Aussie blacklist (TorrentFreak)
‘Making it Work’ copyright forum (Michael Geist)
ECJ hearing in Google France v Louis Vuitton Malletier keyword advertising case (IPKat) (Class 46)
EPO seeks to validate software patents without the European Parliament (FFII) (Lenz Blog)
French three-strikes law, suitable for framing (Media Wonk)
Bundesgerichtshof publishes full text of AdWord decisions in Beta Layout and pcb cases (IPKat)
Irish ISPs reject music industry’s file-sharer disconnection demands (Out-Law)
Mininova trial due in two months (TorrentFreak)
Behind the scenes at Mininova (TorrentFreak)
Criticism of NZ copyright reforms continues (Michael Geist) (Excess Copyright)
Kiwi ISP already disconnecting alleged pirates (TorrentFreak)
New policy for registration of .ng domain names (Afro-IP)
Major opposition to new Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive legislation (TorrentFreak)
Pirate Bay user pages blocked by Google, Firefox (TorrentFreak)
Pirate Bay interview: Epic win prediction (TorrentFreak)
Goverment outlines new creative industries’ Digital Rights Agency proposed in Digital Britain report (Out-Law) (IP finance) (Intellectual Property Watch) (IPKat) (Excess Copyright)
Getty Images sues removals firm JA Coles for alleged use of copyright image on its website (Out-Law)
Movie goer searched for camming kit, threatened over candy (TorrentFreak)
Sun Microsystems denied summary judgment in trade secrets case relating to product configuration software brought by Versata Software (Law360)
Two things to keep in mind when Google calls for patent reform (Promote the Progress) (Patent Prospector)
Red Hat criticised for staking out patent claim on standard (Ars Technica)
Amazon – Discovery Communication sues Amazon for patent infringement in connection with Kindle 2 (Excess Copyright) (ContentAgenda) (Ars Technica) (Promote the Progress) (Law360)
Amazon – Sony fights Kindle juggernaut with public domain e-books (Ars Technica) (ContentAgenda)
Autobytel – Automotive website companies Autobytel, Edmunds settle patent dispute (Law360)
Cisco – XpertUniverse files patent infringement and trade secrets lawsuit against Cisco after business agreement between the pair soured (Law360)
DataTern – DataTern, Martha Stewart settle database patent row (Law360)
Edge Capture – Edge files patent infringement suit against Barclays Bank, UBS, Wolverine Trading (The Prior Art)
Fenner Investments – 3Com settles node patent suit with Fenner (Law360)
GraphOn Corp – Juniper launches suit alleging GraphOn infringement of transmitting data patent (Law360)
Intel – AMD, Intel x86 patent fight likely to be long and messy (Ars Technica) (Patent Prospector) (Law360)
Microsoft – Microsoft sues TomTom over Linux-based products; TomTom countersues Microsoft alleging infringement of four of its patents (Managing Intellectual Property) (Philip Brooks’ Patent Infringement Updates) (ZDNet Australia)
Research in Motion – In patent suit filed by Visto, RIM counterclaims Visto has already admitted some of its patents are invalid in past litigation (Law360)
Roommate.com – Roommate.com settles lawsuit brought by Data Match over database management system (Law360)
Skype Technologies – Skype seeks stay in Net2Phone VoIP patent suit (Law360)
Spansion – ALJ Bullock grants joint motion to stay flash memory chips ITC investigation to gain necessary approvals to bring settlement between Spansion and Samsung into effect (ITC 337 Law Blog)
Tendler Cellular of Texas – Tendler files patent infringement suit against AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and US Cellular over ‘location based information system’ (The Prior Art) (Law360)
Tip Communications – TC, subsidiary of RIM, files suit against Motorola in retaliation for earlier suit filed by Motorola against RIM (The Prior Art)
VoxPath – Nuvio becomes 4th to exit Voxpath VoIP patent spat (Law360)
Google says 37% of DMCAs are not valid copyright claims, or they are, or they aren’t (The Trademark Blog)
MPAA matches RIAA in massive layoffs (Techdirt)
Why Spotify may spell the end of ownership; the new music website shows us how we will access our entertainment in future (ContentAgenda)
Sentencing commission ponders extra jail time for proxy users (Ars Technica)
District Court S D New York: Perez Hilton wins copyright infringement lawsuit: Silver v Lavandeira (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)
District Court M D Pennsylvania: News obituaries aren’t hot news: Scranton Times v Wilkes-Barre Publishing (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)
Amazon – Amazon sends DMCA takedown notice to MobileRead to block ebooks purchased from retailers other than Amazon to work on Kindle (Techdirt) (ContentAgenda) (Public Knowledge)
Apple – Apple adds still more DRM to iPod Shuffle (EFF)
Guns N’ Roses – Department of Justice seeks jail time for pre-release leak of Chinese Democracy for non-commercial music-sharing (EFF)
RIAA – Middle aged Mavis Roy ‘thought it was a scam’ when RIAA sued her for downloading songs like ‘Jigga My Nigga’ using BearShare (Ars Technica)
RIAA – Harvard professor files apology to judge, RIAA lawyers (Ars Technica)
Tetris Co – Tetris file copyright infringement and unfair competition suit against BioSocia over alleged knockoff of Tetris’ block puzzle game (Law360)
Utah HB 450 (concerning keyword advertising regulation) dies in Utah Senate without a vote (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)
District Court S D New York: Union organisers’ activist/gripe sites don’t support trade mark claims: Cintas v Unite Here (Technology & Marketing Law Blog)
9th Circuit: No laches found where defendant had not invested in brand awareness for infringing domain name during period of delay in bringing suit: Internet Specialities West, Inc v Milon-DiGirgio Enterprises, Inc (IP Law Observer)(The IP ADR Blog) (The IP ADR Blog)
CitiGroup – CitiGroup brings in rem action against various CITI-variant domain names (The Trademark Blog)
CaseWare International – CaseWare hits US Securities and Exchange Commission with trade mark suit over IDEA (Law360)
Yahoo – 5th Circuit denies Yahoo home court advantage in trade mark battle with American Airlines (Law360)