YouTube assures the court in their copyright case that it will be installing the latest filtering technology.

Is this a civil liberties issue? Some time back, Fred VL argued--even assumed--that it was. Looking at the issue closely, though--and the case law--it seems that it

Continue reading YouTube Filter Update--and Civil Liberties . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:01 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Enforcement & Remedies , Liberty and IP , Privacy and Security

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On remand, Ebay get's a break on "Buy it now." Buy it now, the court in effect says, ("it" being the patent), or later. ; ) No injunction.

Coverage from the WSJ is here.

And from ZDNet.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:47 AM | Enforcement & Remedies , Patents , Supreme Court

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More nonsense, explained in, "Intel in Euro-Land", July 31, 2007; Page A14 of the WSJ. Intel is being criticized for offering rebates:

In Europe, a firm's size and success are the determining factors of its alleged violations. The same commercial practices would be entirely legal if the company in question were not considered "dominant." This leaves companies in the absurd position of being free to compete as hard as possible until they reach a certain market share -- at which point their hitherto legal behavior becomes unlawful. This is the kind of reasoning that has damaged the Commission's credibility, as Europe's highest courts overturn one major antitrust decision after another.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:28 AM | Antitrust , International

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Commentary on recent real estate woes in Second Life. I've been thinking of opening an office there. Sort of a retreat. An asylum, as it were.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:24 AM | Games

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Hayek coined the term "fatal conceit" to refer to the errors of economic central planners, particularly socialists. The idea is that central planning suffers from a misplaced faith in rationally designed human institutions, as opposed to evolved, decentralized orders. (A similar point is made by leftist James C. Scott in his book, Seeing Like A State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed; and others have previously worked the same turf, though without the historic importance of Hayek's particular application, which of course considerable predates his last book).

After a while, one starts seeing fatal conceits everywhere. Occasionally, they even crop up in libertarian circles. One example: some libertarian critiques of intellectual property lean heavily on the importance of contract as a possible substitute for copyright. Where's the problem here? Considerable faith in the institution of

Continue reading Fatal Conceits I . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:33 AM | Books , Liberty and IP

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Jim Harper from the Cato Institute recently wrote-

I don't care one whit about the thousands of companies around the world that own software patents. I devote the small measure of care to people. Companies, and the patent system, exist to produce things for people. If they are producing less than they should, I wouldn't hesitate a moment to change things so that they produce more.

Update- previously, Harper commented, "Microsoft's high and persistent profitability signals likely inefficiency and a lack of competition... [with the goal of consumer welfare]." Big profits as a per se indication of consumer harm? It appears Harper takes the simple approach that weakening innovators will help consumers.

posted by Noel Le @ 5:15 PM | General

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A technology manager at Sun Microsystems looks into IBM's recent announcement that it will provide general access to patents related to a set of industry standards:

"If you look at the wording, [IBM] talk about this thing called 'necessary claims'," [James Eagleton] says. "Basically it leaves a little window of opportunity there where [IBM] can apply a 'necessary claims test' [to prove] whether it was necessary to use that standard and if they could have done it by some other means. It leaves a little window of opportunity to come later on for IBM to follow up with some action."

posted by Noel Le @ 5:11 PM | Patents

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I earlier posted our amicus brief in the Cablevision case, along with most of the others, here.

The brief of Americans for Tax Reform, affiliated with the Property Rights Alliance, is here in two parts:

Part I
Part II

Continue reading More Cablevision Briefs, and Further Thoughts . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:47 AM | Enforcement & Remedies , Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , Prices, Terms, and Licensing

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Professor John Duffy's latest work suggests that the appointment process for Administrative Patent Judges (APJ’s) of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences is unconstitutional. See John F. Duffy, Are Administrative Patent Judges Unconstitutional?, 2007 Patently-O Patent L.J. 21 (July 23, 2007 ). The law generally requires that administrative officers be appointed by a cabinet level official; however, the board is appointed by the PTO director, under 35 U.S.C. 6.

Dennis Crouch of Patently-O comments here on the fallout.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:31 AM | Academia , Patents

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Intellectual property counsel, Nancy Prager, has an insightful article on CNet-

Since the Napster 1.0 days, people who have chosen to transfer creative content unlawfully over the Internet have used a litany of excuses to justify their behavior. The most popular excuse seems to be that only large corporations suffer from the lost sales. Recently, file sharers have claimed that they are opinion makers and style influencers.

Contrary to popular belief, digital file sharing has a direct impact on independent artists as well as major label artists.

posted by Noel Le @ 6:15 AM | Free Culture Movement

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 7:56 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Media: Video, Music... , Prices, Terms, and Licensing

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 2:23 PM | Patents

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:43 AM | Legislation and Legislators

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:06 AM | Enforcement & Remedies , Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:12 AM | International , Media: Video, Music...

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:04 AM | International , Media: Video, Music...

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:25 AM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , Prices, Terms, and Licensing

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:14 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Infrastructure , Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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posted by Noel Le @ 7:48 AM | Free Culture Movement

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posted by Noel Le @ 7:46 AM | Academia , Patents

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posted by Noel Le @ 6:30 AM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:18 AM | Patents

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:14 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:11 AM | DMCA , DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Software

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 7:47 AM | Enforcement & Remedies , Media: Video, Music... , Prices, Terms, and Licensing

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:15 AM | International

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posted by Noel Le @ 7:33 AM | Academia , Patents

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posted by Noel Le @ 9:24 PM | Patents

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:25 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Privacy and Security , Software

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posted by Noel Le @ 5:25 PM | General

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posted by Noel Le @ 8:26 AM | Academia , Patents

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posted by Noel Le @ 7:45 AM | Patents

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:50 AM | International

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posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:45 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Prices, Terms, and Licensing , Standards

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