Earlier this week Google's CEO Eric Schmidt was quoted saying that YouTube is “very close” to turning on a filtering system that should prevent copyright content from being uploaded to the video site. At the moment it is not clear how exactly this filtering system will work. A clue might hide in previous news reports suggesting a cooperation between YouTube and companies that specialize in digital content filtering technology. Read more about How close is "very close"?
Alexander Ponosov is a teacher in a small Russian village who was prosecuted for violating Microsoft’s intellectual property rights by installing illegal versions of Windows operating system and Word software (see Balazs Bodo’s post here). Ponosov claimed to his defense that the 12 new computers at issue were delivered already with the unlicensed software installed. Read more about Who said Russia doesn’t enforce IP rights?
When I first started my research on legal aspects of domain names about five years ago (the result is available here) I had the feeling that I was beating a dead horse. The U.S. Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) was already up and running for about three years, the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) of ICANN too. Many people had the feeling that the game is over for cybersquatters. Read more about WIPO Report on Domain Name Disputes in 2006
Professor Robert Merges has commented recently on the remix debate, making the point that present copyright law should not be fundamentally changed in order to accommodate the needs of DJs, remixers, mash-uppers and the like, who use snippets, cuts and elements of existing copyrighted material for their own productions. Read more about Remix and Fairness
There is one thing about the 9th Circuit’s decision in Kahle v. Gonzales that I could not find any discussion about – namely, the international copyright law implications of the issue. The basics first. Article 5(2) of the Berne Convention provides:
The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to any formality
For those of you who are interested in domain names issues I have made this piece available on my SSRN page. It addresses the interface between registration of domain names and trademark rights, provides technical and historical background to domain names disputes and moves to focus on particular matters of interest, e.g., regulation in the U.S. and via ICANN, conflict of laws, international aspects, potential abuse of regulatory mechanisms, litigation strategies and freedom of speech issues. Read more about Domain Names and Trademarks
Earlier this year the German Federal High Court held trademarks metatagging unlawful. The “impuls” holding (in German) available for download here. According to the full decision published recently, metatagging in the hidden source code of the web page is “trademark use” giving rise to infringement liability.
The Court further held that such use created likelihood of confusion (under a theory similar to the U.S. “initial interest confusion” doctrine), as the tag used by defendant was identical to the mark of plaintiff, both offering health insurance services. In other words, it did not matter that users could immediately be de-confused by clicking on defendant’s link and realizing that this is not where they had wanted to go. Read more about The Battle over Metatagging in Germany is Over
