Trade Secrets Law

For those interested in intellectual property law, especially the national and international world of trade secrets, a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report, Protection of Trade Secrets: Overview of Current Law and Legislation, provides an expert, objective summary of the subject.  It covers topics from the historical development of trade secrets law to the current landscape of federal, state, and international law in this area, and trade secrets legislation in the current Congress. This is a good place to start for students researching or writing on the subject.

To keep up with current developments in trade secrets law, including new case decisions and legislation, the resources in BNA's Intellectual Property Resource Center, especially Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law Daily, Patent Trademark & Copyright Journal, and World Intellectual Property Report are some of the best available.  You can link to the BNA Intellectual Property Resource Center through the Law Library web site's Online Resources Subject List, or search the Intellectual Property BNA resources on Bloomberg Law from the "BNA Titles" page.     

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

No Copyright Protection for Pi Music

According to the Pi Day website, Pi is "an irrational number, meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating."  If you want to see the first million digits of Pi and more information about Pi, visit their website HERE.

Pi has long been thought to be a mystical number and movies have been dedicated to finding the Meaning of Pi.  (See Pi, (1998), where "A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/)

Recent litigation explores whether the music of Pi is copyrightable.  An Oregon court recently said no in the ruling of "Erickson v. Blake, 2012 WL 847327 (D. Oregon March 14, 2012). The complaint. A prior ruling in the case transferring it from Nebraska to Oregon for jurisdictional reasons. Techdirt's coverage (1, 2)." (Read more here)

Eric Goldman of the Technology and Marketing Law Blog says, "[t]his case could be an instant copyright law classic. It provides a textbook illustration of a critical copyright doctrine (the idea-expression dichotomy), it involves musical principles that everyone--especially students--can relate to, its facts could be easily adapted to a law school exam, and the subject matter provides endless punning opportunities." (Read more here)

Investigate the subject of the litigation on Lars Erickson's Pi Symphony page, as well as a performance on YouTube.  New Scientist also has a video of Pi Music that is not to be missed.

And NOT to be copyrighted.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Copyright and Twitter

Does posting a picture to Twitter via TwitPic give all other Twitter users an implied license to use your picture, including for commercial gain?

You wouldn't think so, and the Southern District of New York did not think so in the recent decision Agence France Presse v. Morel, but copyright law as applied to the internet can be such a complicated mess that Agence France Presse was able to make that argument with a straight face and have it answered with a lengthy decision.

Stephen Kramarsky analyzes the case and its implications for Law Technology News here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Copyright Watch

While prowling the web this week, I was led to Copyright Watch, a newly launched website created by copyright experts from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Information for Libraries and other international groups. The focus of Copyright Watch is global, as it aims to be a comprehensive, up-to-date and user friendly online repository of national copyright laws and developments. Users can select a continent or browse for a country. The brief country descriptions include links to relevant international organizations of which the country is a member. In addition to providing quick access to foreign copyright laws and monitoring copyright developments around the world, the site and its blog will be updated to include proposed amendments and commentary from national copyright experts.

Copyright Watch is a great resource for foreign and comparative law research, and for anyone who wants to keep up with global copyright law and its impact on business and information access around the world.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New Google Digital Book Settlement

For Google-watchers and those interested in copyright, antitrust law, and the legal controversy over the use of millions of books that Google has scanned and digitized from library collections, the latest news is that the parties met yesterday's federal court deadline to file an amended settlement. The revised settlement is an attempt to address the concerns that authors, publishers, European governments, the U.S. Copyright Office, the Department of Justice, and other groups had with the original settlement filed earlier this year. The Author's Guild summarized the "big changes" here . The official documents are available at googlebooksettlement.com.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

YouTomb

If you have an interest in copyright, open access, and culture, you might want to check out YouTomb, a research project of MIT Free Culture, a student organization at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. YouTomb tracks videos on YouTube that have been removed for alleged copyright violations. Copyright holders can submit takedown notifications under the Digital Millennial Copyright Act that cause YouTube to remove the video. YouTomb continually monitors the most popular videos on YouTube for copyright-related takedowns, and provides information about the video, including how many days ago it was removed, how long it had been viewable, and the name of the copyright holder. There's more about YouTomb here.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Press for Public.Resource.org

There was a good article in the Times last week about Carl Malamud's effort to makes laws and regulations, including things like building codes, available for free online. It's worth checking out for anyone interested in how copyright law relates to government information. (There is more on whether states can copyright their laws on this Harvard blog.)



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Superman

As reported in the Times, the suit on the termination of transfer of copyright for the Superman character (noted in our display case in January) has partially resolved with a grant of partial summary judgment--awarding the heirs of Jerome Siegel a share of the character (from the time the termination took effect, in 1999). William Patry has only good things to say about the opinon, which is also commented on and made available here.




Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat