Intellectual Security

Already a major force in the economy, worth over £52 billion a year, the digital and communication sectors are growing in significance as the country faces up to current financial and market challenges. Vital to underpinning global economic activity, they are critical to every business in our economy, acting both as a catalyst for creativity and allowing efficiency gains. And they have a major impact on our culture and quality of life.

Washington Post staff writer Brian Krebs has published an insightful report on the attempt by the U.S. state of Kentucky to seize international domain names belonging to overseas Internet gambling companies.

An effort by the state of Kentucky to seize more than 140 online gambling Web site names is raising novel legal questions about the physical location of digital property and the reach of local and regional governments on the global Internet.

Consumers should be extremely wary of buying discounted software or downloading free software from certain dubious Internet sites, according to a report released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

The report, entitled Online Software Scams: A Threat to Your Personal Security, describes the growing scope of the Internet piracy problem, the links to identity theft and other forms of cyber crime, and the steps that are needed to reduce Internet-based piracy. The report comes at the start of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Continue reading Online Software Scams

In the waning days of this congressional session in the United States, US lawmakers are passing a flurry of intellectual property-related bills, wrote Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch. Further, she goes on to say;

One of the bills awaiting President Bush's signature would create a position of a top intellectual property official in the White House. Another bill would add protection to works whose rights owners are unknown, and a further bill would extend negotiations on internet radio royalties.

This article really does a nice job of shedding more light on what's at stake in the bid to tighten controls and oversight related to Intellectual Property Law. To read it in it's entirety, visit Intellectual Property Watch.

Last Friday, the U.S. Senate passed the controversial Pro-IP Bill, which would effectively create a "copyright czar" answering to the President. According to the Senate bill, the IPEC will chair a committee made up of representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the DOJ, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Patent and Trademark Office, the Department of Homeland Security, the FDA, and others.

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Attention counterfeiters: The world leader in imaging technology and materials science is aiming its digital artillery at you.

Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) announced the launch of KODAK Security Solutions, a suite of products and services designed to help protect against the growing global problem of counterfeiting and piracy. Kodak’s proprietary technologies include new invisible markers embedded during the manufacturing or printing process that can be instantly and reliably authenticated in the field in a way that no counterfeiter can bypass.

The United States and China today concluded the second meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED). President Bush and President Hu established the Strategic Economic Dialogue in September 2006 as a focused and effective framework to address shared priorities and mutual concerns. For the meeting held May 22 and 23 in Washington, 17 U.S. Cabinet officials and agency heads joined Secretary Paulson for discussions with China's Vice Premier Wu Yi and a delegation of 15 ministers and representatives from a total of 21 Chinese government ministries and agencies.

Association Encourages IPR Protection To Foster Creativity, Prosperity And Knowledge-Based Economy

Dubai, UAE - April 25, 2007: Business Software Alliance (BSA), the international association established by the software industry to promote a safe and legal digital world, has today (Thursday, April 26, 2007) united with international organisations to celebrate the 2007 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Day, an initiative designed to educate the public about how the protection of IPR nurtures creativity, prosperity and a knowledge-based economy.

Failing to make cyber security a priority is costly for small businesses and customers.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) April 24, 2007 -- This spring, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) challenges small businesses to make cyber security a top priority. While the public is fixated on high-profile corporate and government database breaches, hackers and identity thieves are increasingly targeting millions of small businesses. According to a 2005 FBI Cyber Crime Study, 90 percent of small businesses had at least one cyber security incident within the past year. Not taking the correct cyber security precautions and approach makes small businesses’ computer networks easy targets. Hackers can easily steal from and use these networks as launching pads to attack others, send phishing emails, and even steal from home users.