Recently in copyright Category

Juries Award Larger Damages in Patent Cases; Plaintiffs Win 35 Percent of the Time

NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Intellectual property enforcement actions protect patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets and continue to be a key area of litigation. However, the number of patent infringement actions has declined, according to the 2007 Patent and Trademark Damages Study released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. While filed patent cases increased more rapidly than growth in patent grants during the past 15 years, filed patent cases have been declining in the past two years, the study finds.

Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel laureate in economics and professor at Columbia University, said all of these items have at some point been considered intellectual property-creative work with economic value that is protected by copyright and patent laws.

Continue reading "Nobel laureate speaks on intellectual property"

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, while speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit, highlighted the Justice Department's efforts to protect intellectual property rights, and announced a comprehensive legislative proposal entitled the "Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2005," which would strengthen penalties for repeat copyright criminals, expand criminal intellectual property protection, and add critical investigative tools for both criminal and civil enforcement.

"This is a comprehensive legislative package designed by the Department of Justice to help overhaul and update America's intellectual property statutes," said Attorney General Gonzales. "This legislation is a reflection of the sustained commitment on the part of the Bush Administration, including the Department of Justice, to ensure that we are doing everything we can do to combat this problem."

On October 12, 1998, the U.S. Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ending many months of turbulent negotiations regarding its provisions. Two weeks later, on October 28th, President Clinton signed the Act into law.

The Act is designed to implement the treaties signed in December 1996 at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Geneva conference, but also contains additional provisions addressing related matters.

Some authors and publishers have cried foul regarding Google's digital library initiative, sparking debate about intellectual property rights in an online age. Beyond the specific legal challenges emerging in the wake of such a sea change, there are deeply important public policy issues at stake. We must not lose sight of the transformative nature of Google's plan or the public good that can come from it.

To read more of this article, click here.

Almost as interesting as the article written by Mary Sue Coleman, published in Saturday's Washington Post, called; Riches We Must Share... is the tracking provided by Technorati to display how many Blogs are writing about this article. The writer is president of the University of Michigan, whose library is one of five that have partnered with Google on its digitization project. Here's an excerpt with a link at the bottom to the full story.

Some authors and publishers have cried foul regarding Google's digital library initiative, sparking debate about intellectual property rights in an online age. Beyond the specific legal challenges emerging in the wake of such a sea change, there are deeply important public policy issues at stake. We must not lose sight of the transformative nature of Google's plan or the public good that can come from it. To read more click here.

Pirated music, videos and software and counterfeit goods have become big business in Brazil, with organized crime often reaping the profits.

By Jim Landers -

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Luiz Antonio de Medeiros tells a story of organized crime, corrupt police, a frightened judge and a $2 million effort to buy his silence.

Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. -

Eight years ago I published a book of short stories in Israel. The publishing house belongs to Israel's leading (and exceedingly wealthy) newspaper. I signed a contract which stated that I am entitled to receive 8% of the income from the sales of the book after commissions payable to distributors, shops, etc. A few months later (1997), I won the coveted Prize of the Ministry of Education (for short prose). The prize money (a few thousand DMs) was snatched by the publishing house on the (dubious) legal grounds that all the money generated by the book belongs to them because they own the copyright.