H1 2013 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP)

By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan

Copyright

* France is scaling back its three-strikes policy because “suspending Internet connections was incompatible with the French government’s hopes of spurring growth in the digital economy.”  Given its horrendous track record of anti-Internet regulations, it’s little late for those hopes, isn’t it, France?

* TorrentFreak: Verizon’s“Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Measures Unveiled. Prior blog post.

* EFF: Don’t Be Fooled: “Six Strikes” Will Undoubtedly Harm Open Wireless.

* Jammie Thomas says she would do it all over again.

* Search Engine Land: Google Avoids Link Tax But Ambiguous New “Ancillary Copyright” Law Sets Up Legal Battle To Come.

* Cathy Gellis wrote a chapter entitled Navigating the DMCA that I thought was a useful and efficient summary of the state of play.

* EA and Zynga settle. Prior blog post saying “this case will almost certainly settle.”

* Kate Darling: What Drives IP without IP? A Study of the Online Adult Entertainment Industry. Given its salacious topic, this paper packed the house at IPSC 2012.

* See my Amazon.com review of Copyright Unbalanced: From Incentive to Excess, a short anthology edited by Jerry Brito.

* It may be advocacy, but this white paper from Kim Dotcom also raises crucial and troubling issues we can’t ignore. Prior blog post.

NY Times: Broadcasters Circle Wagons Against a TV Streaming Upstart.

* Remember when the entertainment companies were upset that Google could blast out a warning about SOPA to its audience?  It looks like Big Media has decided to strike back by skewing its editorial coverage of technology companies that they are suing.

* Congress technologically blocked Spotify for using P2P technology.

* Slate: Same Old Song? Not Exactly.

Trademarks

* Scorpiniti v. Fox Television Studios, Inc., 2013 WL 252453 (N.D. Iowa 2013):

With respect to Scorpiniti’s argument regarding initial interest confusion, the court finds it unnecessary to address Scorpiniti’s argument because the parties’ services are not similar.

Related blog post.

* Kinbook v. Microsoft, No. 12-1488 (3d Cir. January 10, 2013).  The appeals court summarily dismissed Kinbook’s appeal.  Prior blog post.

* Scooter Store, Inc. v. SpinLife.com, LLC, 2012 WL 4498904 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 27, 2012): Buying keyword ads and referencing a trademark in a keyword metatag can’t be blurring if consumers don’t “see” the trademark usage.  Prior blog post.

* H&R Block Eastern Enterprises, Inc. v. Intuit, Inc., 2013 WL 2269072 (W.D. Mo. May 22, 2013).  Intuit TV ad claimed “more Americans trusted their federal taxes to TurboTax last year than H&R Block stores and all other major tax stores combined.”  Court dismisses H&R Block’s trademark lawsuit on a motion to dismiss.

* Multi-Time Machine’s lawsuit over Amazon’s internal search engine has appealed its trademark suit against Amazon to 9th Cir.  Prior blog post.

* Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat’s Attorneys Sue Scribblenauts Videogame For Copyright and Trademark Infringement

* Domain News: .GMC is the 15th new gTLD Application Withdrawn.

Patents

* Techdirt: Over 90% Of The Most Innovative Products From The Past Few Decades Were NOT Patented

* Judge Koh has some sharp words about patent litigation