Small Claims System For IP Disputes May Be On The Horizon: Copyright and Trademark Offices Sponsor Discussion

The U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and recently hosted a roundtable to discuss the potential for creating a more affordable small claims system that would avoid pricing out small publishers and rights owners wishing to protect their intellectual property rights.  The discussion, which was conducted at George Washington University Law School, included several prominent intellectual property experts.

David Kappos, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, explained that small rights holders have long believed that litigation in Federal courts is not a viable option due to the significant expenses involved and that small rights holders are priced out of the market. He described the need to protect content creators and to provide a model for other countries around the world.  U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante explained that small presses and small rights holders are also priorities at the Copyright Office and that their experiences with Google Books - - the Google Inc. service that searches full text of scanned books and magazines in its digital database - - and resulting disputes and tensions between Google and copyright owners was instructive.

The discussions focused on copyright and patent rights and breakout sessions were conducted in each of those areas.  Pallante noted that the Copyright Office is conducting a study related to the issues, which is expected to be submitted to Congress next Fall.  The USPTO promises to continue to work on these issues with the Copyright Office and Kappos has invited people interested in the issue to post comments here. 

Jury Renders Mixed Verdict in Oracle-Google Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

That silent battle being waged behind the screen on that device on your nightstand grew louder today as a Federal jury sitting in San Francisco issued a split verdict in favor of Oracle Corp and against Google in a major copyright infringement lawsuit.  The jury found Google liable for copyright infringement in connection with its use of Oracle's Java interfaces in Google's development of the Android operating system. However, the jury found that Google did not violate significant elements of the Java software.

The Android operating system is a Linux-based operating system used in tablet computers and smart phones. Java is a computer programming language that was originally developed at Sun Microsystems, which later merged into Oracle.  Java's website describes its platform as being so ubiquitous that it is what "allows you to play online games, chat with people around the world, calculate your mortgage interest, and view images in 3D, just to name a few. It's also integral to the intranet applications and other e-business solutions that are the foundation of corporate computing." 

The verdict reportedly included a finding that Google infringed Oracle's copyrights in connection with the overall structure of the Java software. But, according to The New York Times, the Jury's verdict means that Google will not have to redesign the Android operating system.  Reports also reveal the jury could not decide whether the fair-use doctrine applied to permit Google a limited use of the subject materials, and that it appears unlikely that Oracle will be awarded the $1 billion in damages that it was seeking.

But don't expect that hitting the snooze button on your device of choice will quite things down for long; this phase of the case concerned Oracle's copyright claims.  Further litigation, including a patent infringement phase, has already begun.

The Great Blackout of 2012: Websites to Protest Online Piracy Act

As prominent websites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, and thousands of others prepare to participate in a global web blackout to protest the terms of pending intellectual property legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act ("SOPA"), there are growing reports that the legislation already may have been shelved.

As detailed in my November post, SOPA and two other similar bills making their way through Congress - -  the PROTECT IP Act and the Online Protection and Digital ENforcement Act ("OPEN") - - have drawn Hollywood and the tech community to opposite sides of the IP battlefield. Proponents of the proposed new law argue it is necessary to protect against piracy and copyright infringement by offshore "rogue sites." However, many have opposed the bill because proposed to penalize innovators, not only infringers, and will punish inventors in a manner that violates the First Amendment. 

Many law professors, tech companies, free speech advocates and political figures have taken issue with the legislation which, among other things, permits the U.S. attorney general to obtain court order against targeted website that would result in Internet service providers having to take the accused sites offline. For example, section 102 of SOPA provides that, once a service provider is served with such an order, the service provider must take "technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof)" within five days after being served with a copy of the order.  Critics point to that provision as constituting a draconian measure that will chill speech and allow websites to be shuttered before charges are ever proven in court, and even if they are only tangentially involved in the accused conduct.

On Monday, Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, announced on Twitter that Wikipedia would join the blackout protest, in which participating websites plan to go dark for 24 hours on Wednesday, January 18, 2012.  Google has announced it will participate in the protest, but without shutting off its services.  And President Obama joined the fray over the weekend, opposing the current version of SOPA, OPEN and the PROTECT IP Act.  While recognizing that online piracy harms the U.S. economy, threatens jobs and hurts certain innovative companies and entrepreneurs," the White House announced, "[a]ny effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small."

Darrell Issa, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced that he had received assurances from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that the anti-piracy legislation would not move to the House floor without a consensus. He also postponed his committee's hearing on the impact of Domain Name Service ("DNS") and search engine blocking on the Internet, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, the day of the blackout protest.

Watch this space for further developments, although not necessarily on Wednesday.