http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com Copyright law from black to white and everything in between Fri, 03 May 2013 13:49:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This lawsuit stems from the Google Book Project, an ambitious program launched by Google in 2004 to digitize the library collections of the University of Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Oxford and the New York Public Library and make the collections available for searching online. In 2008, a group ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2013/05/03/round-one-to-hathitrustwins-fair-use-ruling/ Last week I had the privilege of addressing the Dallas Bar IP Section on the subject of the current controversy over copyright and prior art submissions in patent prosecution. Four lawsuits have been filed by publisher John Wiley & Sons and the American Institute of Physics against law firms alleging ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2012/09/30/patently-fair-or-patent-nonsense-prior-art-submissions-copyright-and-fair-use/ On April 5, the Second Circuit issued its highly anticipated opinion in Viacom v. YouTube, reversing the District Court’s grant of summary judgment and remanding for further proceedings.  Significantly, the opinion marks the first time that a court has drawn a meaningful, substantive distinction between actual and “red-flag” knowledge under ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2012/07/13/2nd-circuit-finds-the-beefreverses-summary-judgment-grant-in-youtube/ On June 8, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeal heard oral argument in the Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset filesharing case. The oral argument addressed two issues: (1) whether the Copyright Act grants a copyright owner the exclusive right to "make available" works to the public; and (2) whether a ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2012/06/15/they-built-this-lawsuit-on-rock-n-rollthomas-rasset-oral-arguments-available/ Today the jury issued a partial verdict in the Oracle v. Google copyright infringement lawsuit.  In that suit, Oracle accuses Google of infringing elements of its Java programming platform in developing its Android mobile software.  The jury found that Google infringed 37 Java API packages.  The jury did not reach a result on the ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2012/05/07/partial-verdict-in-oracle-v-googlethe-partys-not-over/ My esteemed partner, Lawrence Siskind, will be delivering his annual talk, "Nuts and Bolts of Trademark Law," at the San Francisco Bar Association on July 12, 2012 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.  It doesn't get any more fun than this!  I've attended before, and the program is both entertaining and ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2012/04/19/trademarks-make-the-world-go-roundcant-miss-program-on-nuts-and-bolts-of-trademarks/ Last week, the Supreme Court issued its eagerly awaited ruling in Golan v. Holder, holding that Congress acted within its authority in passing legislation that restored copyright in certain foreign works that were previously in the public domain in the United States.  The Court found that its earlier opinion in Eldred ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2012/01/23/eldred-conquers-golans-heightssupreme-court-upholds-copyright-restoration/ I have been an active member of the Copyright Society of the USA for years, and am currently a member of its Executive Committee. It's a terrific group for those interested in copyright issues, and maintains chapters throughout the country. I thought readers of this blog might like ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2011/07/22/appealing-youtube-the-experts-debate/ My partner, Larry Siskind, will be delivering his annual talk, "Nuts and Bolts of Trademark Law," at the San Francisco Bar Association on July 14, 2011 at noon. I've attended this presentation before, and it is both informative and entertaining. All that and an hour of CLE credit ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2011/07/08/trademarks-shouldnt-be-this-much-fun-but-they-are/ A couple of weeks ago, I reprised my talk on secondary liability and the DMCA for the State Bar of California's IP Section. I updated my original talk - initially delivered last fall to the ABA - to reflect the current status of the UMG v. Veoh and Viacom ... http://www.shadesofgraylaw.com/2011/07/05/second-roundwhos-on-second-a-look-at-secondary-liability-and-the-dmca/