Way more than an everyday interest in IP
Well, what a year it has been, with so much more in store for 2016. Here at IP Whiteboard we thought we would run a highlights reel of some key trade mark decisions reported on “arguably the world’s favourite IP blog” during 2015.
Taylor Swift was sued by R&B singer Jesse Braham for US$42 million for alleged copyright infringement in the lyrics of her chart toppings song “Shake it Off”. Two weeks later, the claim was dismissed. It seems that every famous singer these days has been sued for copyright infringement. Think Pharrell Williams, Beyonce, Jay Z, Sam read more…
The answer may scare you …
Last week, the Productivity Commission released the Issues Paper in accordance with its comprehensive review of Australia’s IP regime (Inquiry). In a previous post, we outlined the scope of the Inquiry and the key areas of the IP regime which the Federal Government had directed the Commission to examine and report on by August 2016. read more…
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was concluded on 5 October 2015, after 8 years of negotiations. Its twelve signatories, who together account for 40% of world GDP, are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States and Vietnam. The details of the agreement have yet to be released, but a number read more…
Our European colleagues have summarised the recent decision of the European Court of Justice dealing with the EU-US privacy safe harbor. This is a big deal – the US Secretary of Commerce has been quoted as saying that the decision “puts at risk the thriving trans-Atlantic digital economy”. The plaintiff in the case, Mr Schrems, read more…
There has been a lot of talk lately about the “Dancing Baby” lawsuit (a.k.a Lenz v Universal Music Corp). For those readers who haven’t heard of the case, the basic story will be relatively familiar: a video, uploaded to YouTube, was then removed pursuant what is known as a “DMCA takedown notice” following an allegation read more…
We don’t waste any time with monkey business over here at IP Whiteboard…until it involves one of our favourite stories of recent times, combining our love of selfies with copyright and cute animals. This story is of course the tale of wildlife photographer David Slater, who claimed copyright ownership over some selfies taken by macaque monkeys read more…
Posting a cringeworthy meme can often cost you a few Facebook friends. But what if the next meme you post costs you almost $900? German blog Geeksisters found out the hard way when Getty Images asked them to pay €785.40 in back licensing fees for posting the famous Socially Awkward Penguin meme to their website. read more…