Those are my exclusive rights, hon
Sometimes intellectual property can get you very hot under the collar.
Way more than an everyday interest in IP
Sometimes intellectual property can get you very hot under the collar.
On Tuesday 25 January 2011, a bill to reform patent law in the US was introduced into Congress with bipartisan support. The reform bill aims to simplify the patent application process, improve patent quality and keep the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) independently funded. It marks the fourth consecutive time the Senate has attempted to implement patent reform.
Most of you have accidentally misspelled a website name and journeyed into a forest of links, pop-up ads and webpages offering (admittedly complementary) pornography and Viagra, and would be fully aware of the existence of cyber squatting/typo squatting.
Copyright law’s reason for existence is to encourage the creation of new artistic, dramatic, literary and other works by granting creators the exclusive right (subject to certain exceptions) to decide those who may use the work. This exclusivity gives creators the opportunity to profit from their creative works, and, so the theory goes, enables society as a whole to benefit from the consequential increase in creative output. However, copyright does impose a cost on copyright users, who are usually forced to pay to access creative works that they would otherwise be able read more…
In sad news for pancake-lovers everywhere, the famed American restaurant chain International House of Pancakes have dropped their trade mark infringement action against the International House of Prayer over its use of the IHOP acronym, agreeing to resolve the dispute out of court (see our previous post here).
As readers will know, we’ve been following the copyright cases brought by the Estate of Adrian Jacobs (Paul Allen) against J K Rowling and her publishers in the United Kingdom and, more recently, in the United States. Now, Judge Shira Scheindlin of the US District Court, New York has granted Scholastic summary judgment against Paul Allen. Unless appealed, this brings the US leg of the Willy the Wizard saga to a close.