Jan
24
Narrow view of CFAA in N.D. Ill.
Posted by Dirk Avery at 1:41 pm under Internet, Trade Secret.
In a slip opinion (Garelli Wong & Assoc. v. Nichols, N.D. Ill., Jan. 16, 2008), Judge Kocoras dismissed a civil claim under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for failure to state a claim. Nichols, a former employee of Garelli Wong, allegedly took confidential information from GW’s database of “candidate and client activity […]
Jan
23
MPAA’s bad math
Posted by Dirk Avery at 12:20 pm under Copyright, Internet.
In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry’s domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus….But now the MPAA…has told education groups a “human error” in that survey caused it to get […]
Jan
23
Congrats WordPress!
Posted by Irene Soto at 8:15 am under Internet.
The 110,872 votes are in and WordPress has won two Crunchies!
The Crunchies are awards given to recognize and celebrate the most compelling startups, internet and technology innovations of the year.
Most Likely to Succeed– Site most likely to meet with future financial success (may be defined as revenue creation, a big exit, or other future accomplishment)
Best […]
Jan
22
Oprah and Patents: Quick Change
Posted by Irene Soto at 11:11 pm under Internet, Patent.
How I love it when I can talk about two of my favorite things in one post!
Appearing on Oprah’s How’d They Do That episode, David Maas and his wife, Dania Kaseeva, performed “Quick Change,” a costume-switching act in which they change into several elaborate costumes in just moments. Here they are on America’s Got Talent: […]
Jan
22
eBay’s “Progressive Auctions”
Posted by Irene Soto at 9:59 pm under Internet.
Disclaimer: I am a huge eBay fan. I buy, sell, and browse like it’s my job. Soon, I hope to explore eBay’s copyright and trademark policies re: knock-offs and fraudulent auctions. For now, I present the greatest confusion that eBay has offered me.
Go to eBay.com. Search for “mystery box,” and you’ll likely find nearly 1,000 […]
Jan
22
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em: Free video games
Posted by Dirk Avery at 8:41 pm under Copyright, Internet, Video games.
Copyright law is often used for renting seeking. Most often, the rent is in the form of advertising. Television and radio both are all about selling stuff. The commercials are the point. The content: the TV shows, the songs, is just the vehicle to get people to watch the commercials. […]
Jan
22
Great Googly-moogly
Posted by Dirk Avery at 8:01 pm under Internet.
Remember that great Snickers commercial from the 90s where an old guy screws up the spelling of Chiefs in the endzone? He mutters, “Great googly-moogly.” I find myself muttering the same thing when Google’s US search-engine market share slips, with Microsoft taking up the slack.
Jan
18
Time Warner’s pricing tiers
Posted by Dirk Avery at 12:25 pm under Internet.
Watch out, Beaumont, Texas! The 100,000+ residents of this town will soon be paying for Internet based on usage. If all goes well, expect the same type of pricing structure to spread to the rest of the country and broadband players (Comcast, AT&T).
Warner defends its position by asserting that 5% of users can […]
Jan
17
Patent exhaustion at the Supreme Court
Posted by Dirk Avery at 5:14 pm under Patent, Supreme Court.
Maureen Mahoney, Quanta’s lawyer, [contends] under the legal doctine of “patent exhaustion,” once Intel made a sale of the chips to Quanta pursuant to its license with LG, LG could no longer seek royalties from companies downstream in the manufacturing process.
Several justices, including Stephen Breyer, seemed to agree.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_7987537
Patent exhaustion background: “[T]he patent […]
Jan
17
Incentive and the public domain
Posted by Dirk Avery at 8:57 am under Copyright, DMCA, Incentive.
Meritocracy or Innovation Desert?
What would happen if incentives to create under copyright, including the DMCA, were decreased? I know, I know. The concept brings gasps. Despite the parade of horrors often offered, the world would get along just fine.
A Utilitarian Model
Intellectual property in the US is decidedly utilitarian as a result of the IP […]