Category IP Policies

Google’s Expanded Functions Spark More Lawsuits and Debate

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
Google is turning the intellectual property world on its head as it battles challenges to its search, book publishing and online video activities. The outcome of the debate over whether any are compatible with copyright law is by no means certain, legal experts said this week.

Yet Google doesn't think it is shaking up copyright law, said Rachel Whetstone, director of European corporate communications and public affairs.

Seminar Addresses Liability, Filtering Of User-Posted Online Content

By John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch
WASHINGTON, DC - "What goes up on the Internet must come down because of copyright infringement until it goes up again," according to James DeLong, moderator of a 16 March seminar in Washington, DC. The seminar heard views on liability, filtering and copyrights related to user-generated content online, and offered a voice to Viacom to explain its legal attack on Google's popular video upload site YouTube.

EU Enforcement Directive Stuck: What Is ‘Commercial Scale’ Infringement?

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
For the third time since December, the European Parliament committee vote on an EU directive on criminal sanctions against infringers of intellectual property rights has been postponed. This is a signal that there are great difficulties with the text, say observers from non governmental organisations, who argue that the European Commission should kill it or rewrite it from scratch.

But a compromise is near, according to the vice chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI), Rainer Wieland (EPP).

Mobile Phone Cases Test Royalties’ Link To Patent Quality

By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch
When should a patent be considered higher quality? Qualcomm, the United States mobile technology firm at the heart of countless patent infringement court cases, has justified the royalties it charges on mobile phone patents in a paper released earlier this month.