MM450

Woman indicted for stealing trade secrets
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/schaumburg/news/873800,sc-indicted-040208-s1.article

Hanjuan Jin of Schaumberg, IL was arrested for attempting to take millions of dollars worth of trade secrets into China. She took a leave of absence from her place of employment, “Company A,” and then received a position at “Company B” in China. She returned to “Company A” and download thousands of secure files relating to the company’s trade secrets. She then booked a ticket to China and sent in her resignation to “Company A.” She was stopped at the O’Hare Airport in Chicago and found to be in possession of the documents from the company. If she is convicted, she could receive ten years of prison and a $250,000 fine per offense. She is still awaiting trial. This relates to the class discussion of trade secrets because it shows the serious penalties that infringement can have as well as the process companies can take to catch infringers.

OC Man Accused of Selling Secrets to China Released on Bond
http://www.knbc.com/news/15272837/detail.html

Dongfan Chung, a naturalized US citizen from China, is accused of taking trade secret information from his job at Boeing and taking it to China. He was discovered after the arrest of Chi Mak, who used Chung as an agent to receive the information. Chung faces counts of economic espionage, making false statements to the FBI, and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. If convicted, he could face 100 years in prison. The information he was providing gave details of Navy aircraft, spaceships, and aerospace. He is awaiting trial. This relates to the class discussion on trade secrets as it gives an idea of the damage that can be done with the release of certain trade secrets not only to companies, but also to the safety of the country.

Lubrizol researcher accused of selling secrets to South Korea
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/03/lubrizol_researcher_accused_of.html

Kyung Kim is accused of taking trade secrets from the chemical company Lubrizol and giving them to a South Korean competitor, SK Chemicals. Kim met with executives from Sk Chemicals several times and was paid for his travel expenses as well as $10,000 per meeting for his information. Currently, he is believed to be cooperating with authorities. Lubrizol uses adequate measures to protect their trade secrets, such as confidentiality agreements, which Kim had also signed. The case is still under investigation. This relates to class discussion on trade secrets as it shows a way that a company can try to protect their trade secrets, such as through confidentiality agreements, and how they can be effective.

Marilyn Manson Wins Privacy Order in Lawsuit
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/03/25/marilyn_manson_wins_privacy_order_in_law

Marilyn Manson was sued by former band mate Madonna Gacy for breach of contract, claiming that he used the group’s money for personal reasons. As part of the litigation, Manson requested a privacy order against his financial records, as the public knowledge of them could affect his worth. The privacy order was granted, upsetting Gacy. Gacy’s lawyers, however, still had access to the records. This relates to the class discussion of privacy as it shows how the courts can grant privacy orders in order to protect someone.

Libel Suit Against Erie Times-News Dismissed by Judge
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003704870

The Erie Times-News is being accused of defamation by attorney Joseph Hudak. Hudak had previously been to court over civil matters with his clients, which the paper reported as a crime. Hudak argued that the paper had written about it as a crime to create better headlines. The case was thrown out by a federal judge, although Hudak still plans to appeal. This relates to class discussion of defamation, as it shows how the media can be held responsible for their actions when they may defame others.

Japanese Court Rejects Defamation Lawsuit Against Nobel Laureate
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/world/asia/29japan.html?_r=3&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Kenzaburo Oe, a Nobel Laureate in literature, was sued for defamation by World War II veterans who objected to the content of his book. In the book, he described Japanese military involvement in the mass suicides in Okinawa. This was something that prime minister Shinzo Abe had been trying to remove from the Japanese history books. However, he was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda who replaced the information. The court then threw out the case against Oe, after many protests from survivors and their families. This relates to the class discussion of defamation as it shows that sometimes defamation can be used improperly in the courts.

Apple patent seeks to marry TiVo, podcasts, and iTunes Store
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080221-apple-patent-seeks-to-marry-tivo-podcasts-and-itunes-store.html

Apple has recently applied for a new patent regarding their podcasting technologies. Up until now, Apple has allowed podcasting to be a free market. Aside from adding podcasts to the iTunes store, users have had free range to create and using podcasting as they please. This new patent would allow users to create specific podcasts based on their interests by combining clips from multiple podcasts. However, holding a patent on podcasting would prevent others from using the product in the ways they are accustomed. This relates to the class discussion on patents as Apple will be holding the patent on something in order to keep others from using it.

Obscure company hits hardware giants with patent lawsuit
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080221-obscure-company-hits-hardware-giants-with-patent-lawsuit.html

The multimedia company Implicit Networks has filed a lawsuit against several large corporations for patent infringement, including Intel, NVIDIA, and Sun. The company holds a patent on a data processing system that sorts data into different categories. They believe that these corporations are using this technology in their devices. While the patent was granted in 2003, they are just now entering into litigation. It is possible that this is because they were attempting to secure licensing agreements. However, it is unlikely that such a small company will be able to withstand the financial costs of a court battle, especially against industry leaders. This relates to the class discussion on patents about how infringers are found and are either shut down or forced to license.

Tessera: Market Wrong, Patents Valid
http://circuitsassembly.com/cms/cms/content/view/6245/95/

Tessera has several patents for chip packaging technology. These patents are being reexamined by the Patent and Trade Office. The company feels that their wording in the patents may have been misunderstood by competitors. The examination must be fully completed before a verdict is decided. This relates to class discussion on patents in that they must be properly written and through in order to be approved by the patent office.

A Tight Grip Can Choke Creativity
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/business/09nocera.html?_r=1&ei=5070&en=86b62c8af0d41d9a&ex=1203224400&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Warner Brothers and JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, are taking RDR Books to court for their attempt to publish a Harry Potter dictionary. Rowling claims that because the stories came from her head, they are her intellectual property, so therefore she should have final say in how her characters are used. The creators of the dictionary already ran a Harry Potter Lexicon site, but it provided the information for free. Now that they are publishing something where a profit can be made, the problem arises. This will be a debate for fair use. Rowlings feels the material belongs to her and the book creators feel it is fair use. This relates to the discussion in class about fair use, as each of the four tests will have to be used for the courts to determine the outcome of the case.

Flash DRM could put Dramatic Prairie Dog on endangered list
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080224-flash-drm-could-put-dramatic-prairie-dog-on-endangered-list.html

Adobe is developing a digital rights management system for Flash content. It will be implemented in its desktop media player and as a plug-in for browsers. The purpose of it will be to block copyright infringement, but because of the DMCA, it will also block non-infringing uses. While many aspects of the remix culture online are in fact infringement, there are also other times when they are not. One example of this was the extremely popular Dramatic Prairie Dog video on YouTube that created a large number of remixes. With this new DRM on flash content, that would not be possible. This relates to class discussion of the DMCA in terms of fair use, because the implementation of this software hinders fair use.

Co-Blogger Identity Isn’t Disclosed via 512(h), but Takedown Letters Are Copyrightable
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2007/12/takedown_letter.htm

An anonymous blogger posted a blog that stated negative things about Melaleuca. In response, Melaleuca sent the blog a takedown notice. Another blogger got a hold of the takedown notice and posted it on the blog. Melaleuca then sued for copyright infringement of the takedown letter. The issue here is that the takedown letter should not be able to be copyrighted. It is a standard form used for any kind of takedown the lawyer feels is necessary. However, even if the takedown letter could be copyrighted, it provides a form of public interest. Therefore the use of the letter would be considered fair use. This relates to the class discussion on fair use copyright as it covers what is considered to be copyrightable and what is considered fair use.

Can DivX’s Safe Harbor Protect It from Stage6 Pirates?
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63562-can-divxs-safe-harbor-protect-it-from-stage6-pirates?source=feed

Universal Music Group takes DivX to court for the website Stage6. Stage6 is a video sharing website similar to YouTube. UMG sent sent DivX cease and desist letters for UMG’s content that had appeared on their site. DivX took the material down. Later, UMG approached DivX and wanted them to pay $30 million dollars in licenses for the material that had been on the site. DivX is taking them to court, claiming protection under the DMCA’s safe harbor provision. This related to our study of the DMCA, particularly in its similarity to the YouTube vs. Tur case.

ECA crosses ESA on DMCA
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2007/10/26/news_6181808.html

The Entertainment Consumers Association is boosting its efforts to lobby for a change to the DMCA. The change would affect the fair use provisions and the anti-piracy provisions. They are supporting a change that would allow the circumvention of certain anti-piracy technologies under certain circumstances, such as personal archiving and research. However, the Entertainment Software Association is resisting this change. They are claiming the fair use provision is sufficient. This relates to our study of the DMCA, particularly in respect to the beginning discussion in Chapter 1 of the Lamoureux textbook.

Court Says DMCA Takedown Recipients Can Fight Back On Their Home Turf
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080129/185928115.shtml

The copyright holder for the artist Erte filed a takedown notice to users on eBay who were selling products infringing on copyright. However, the user sued the copyright holders in the state court in Colorado, claiming fair use. However, the copyright holders were based in Connecticut and the UK, giving the eBay users more of a bias in their court. This was ruled as being allowable, even though copyright is typically a federal issue. This relates to the DMCA in that it is notable how someone accused of infringement can fight back against the corporations that have threatened legal action against them.

Standing Up to Takedown Notices
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101802453.html

Universal Studios sued a woman for posting a video of her small child dancing to a clip of a Prince song on YouTube. They claimed it was a violation of copyright. YouTube has been sued many times for hosting copyrighted material and is attempting to find ways of filtering the material posted before the industries can notice the infringement. However, there has been an increase in the backlash against the copyright complaints. The idea of fair use states that the usage must be transformative in nature, but some claim the notices are issued to get right of criticism. Several posters have have fought back against the takedown notices that they believed were a critical view of an issue rather than a copyright infringement.

Mashups, DVD Ripping, and Fair Use
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2008/mashups-dvd-ripping-and-fair-use

The website, Slate, posted a video mashup of clips of Hilary Clinton and from the movie “Election.” The clip uses only pre-existing footage, but it presents the media in a new and interesting way. While this should easily fall into the domain of fair use, the footage from the movie was ripped from a DVD. This is in direct violation of the DMCA, which states that it is illegal to circumvent the anti-piracy protection on media. At this time, however, there have been no claims brought against the creator, possibly due to a legal battle that may create changes to the DMCA so that it better accomodates fair use.

2008 Shaping Up to be Year of the Filters at Colleges, ISPs
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080115-filtering-could-come-to-isps-colleges-in-2008.html

A congressional bill is in the works that may require colleges to filter  the traffic of their students in order to circumvent peer to peer sharing and illegal downloading. However, many colleges have expressed concern over the cost of a software program that could do this. A free open source program was released, but it did not adhere to the correct standards by not publishing their code, and therefore had to be taken down. While the bill to require college filtering is in progress, a push is also being made for ISP filtering. AT&T is jumping on board, but no definite system has been designed to make it possible.

Scrabble Maker Asks Facebook to Yank ‘Scrabulous’ Game
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141415/article.html

One of the most popular Facebook applications, “Scrabulous” is being considered a copyright infringement. The application is almost identical to Scrabble, the board game owned by Mattel.

Second Life Millionaire retracts DMCA Claim
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39285484,00.htm

Guntram Graef filed a DMCA complaint against a youtube video which depicted his wife’s Second Life avatar, Anshe Chung, being attacked with vulgar images. He is now retracting that complaint. He states that while he found the video to be offensive, the use of the avatar was covered under fair use. One reason behind the original complaint was that youtube makes the DMCA complaint for readily available on the site, while forms for other complaints are not. The video is no longer available as it was deemed by youtube to violate the terms of service.

Warner Sues Playable Search Engine, Tests DMCA safe harbor
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080125-warner-sues-playable-search-engine-tests-dmca-safe-harbor.html

Warner Brothers Records is suing the search engine SeeqPod. The search engine links users to streaming music that plays directly in the browser. While other search engines like this exist, they only link to music that they have permission to use and are paying copyright loyalties to through advertising. SeeqPod claims that their actions are not illegal because they are not actually hosting the media provided. They are simply searching it and providing users with the links to find it.