Category Archives: IP

Intellectual Property issues and news

Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware

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Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform “unauthorized” repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time.

Source: Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware – Motherboard

A license agreement John Deere required farmers to sign in October forbids nearly all repair and modification to farming equipment, and prevents farmers from suing for “crop loss, lost profits, loss of goodwill, loss of use of equipment … arising from the performance or non-performance of any aspect of the software.”

John Steele Pleads Guilty, Admits Entire Scheme

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In short, Steele admits that he and Hansmeier used sham entities to obtain the copyright to (or in some cases film) porn, uploaded it to file-sharing websites, and then filed “false and deceptive” copyright suits against downloaders designed to conceal their role in distributing the films and their stake in the outcomes. They lied to courts themselves, sent others to court to lie, lied at depositions, lied in sworn affidavits, created sham entities as plaintiffs, created fraudulent hacking allegations to try to obtain discovery into the identity of downloaders, used “ruse defendants” (strawmen, in effect) to get courts to approve broad discovery into IP addresses.

Source: Prenda Saga Update: John Steele Pleads Guilty, Admits Entire Scheme | Popehat

The wheels grind slowly, my friends, but they do grind.

Techdirt lawyers ask judge to throw out suit over “Inventor of E-mail”

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n the end, this isn’t a debate about facts, say Masnick’s lawyers. Both Ayyadurai and Masnick acknowledge that the MAILBOX program was created at MIT in the 1960s and that Ray Tomlinson created the “@” symbol protocol in 1971. The two draw different conclusions, however. Ayyadurai calls the ARPANET creations “command-line protocols for transferring text messages” or “primitive electronic communication systems.” In Masnick’s view, Ayyadurai doesn’t dispute the historical facts, but instead “attacks Techdirt’

Source: Techdirt lawyers ask judge to throw out suit over “Inventor of E-mail” | Ars Technica

Microsoft Azure now offers patent troll IP protection

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Microsoft quotes a report from Boston consulting group which estimates a 22% rise in IP lawsuits relating to cloud products over the last five years in the U.S. alone. It also observes that non-practicing entities have increased their spending on cloud patents by 35% over the same period of time.

Source: Microsoft Azure now offers patent troll IP protection

A potentially fatal blow against patent trolls

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If law firms think they may be forced to pay defendants’ enormous legal bills, it could undermine the entire business model of patent trolls.

Source: A potentially fatal blow against patent trolls

Patent trolls directly threaten the industry of ideas. They dilute the value of legitimate patents while making honorable companies suspicious of legitimate patent complaints. This was never what patents were all about. They were designed to protect inventors who came up with truly innovative ways of doing things.

FTC Report Sheds New Light on How Patent Assertion Entities Operate; Recommends Patent Litigation Reforms

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“The FTC recognizes that infringement litigation plays an important role in protecting patent rights, and that a robust judicial system promotes respect for the patent laws. Nuisance infringement litigation, however, can tax judicial resources and divert attention away from productive business behavior,” the report states. With this balance in mind, the FTC proposes reforms to:

  • Address the imbalances between the cost of litigation discovery for PAE plaintiffs and defendants;
  • provide the courts and defendants with more information about the plaintiffs that have filed infringement lawsuits;
  • streamline multiple cases brought against defendants on the same theories of infringement; and
  • provide sufficient notice of these infringement theories as courts continue to develop heightened pleading requirements for patent cases.

Source: FTC Report Sheds New Light on How Patent Assertion Entities Operate; Recommends Patent Litigation Reforms | Federal Trade Commission

Fox ‘Stole’ a Game Clip, Used it in Family Guy & DMCA’d the Original

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Whether Fox can do that and legally show the clip in an episode is a matter for the experts to argue but what followed next was patently absurd. Shortly after the Family Guy episode aired, Fox filed a complaint with YouTube and took down the Double Dribble video game clip on copyright grounds. (mirror Daily Motion)

Source: Fox ‘Stole’ a Game Clip, Used it in Family Guy & DMCA’d the Original – TorrentFreak

The Illegal Map of Swedish Art

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It also used to include useful photos of each statue. Not any more. The Supreme Court of Sweden has ruled that it is illegal to provide free access to a database of art photographs without the artists’ consent. Therefore Offentlig Konst can no longer show you a picture of a work of art, even when the artwork is in public ownership, on public display and sited in a public area,

Source: Maps Mania: The Illegal Map of Swedish Art

Indian Patent Office Says No to Software Patents

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The 2015 guidelines could have resulted in making it difficult for software developers to innovate with expansion of scope of patentability in the field of software. Prasanth Sugathan, counsel at SFLC.in, who represented the organisation at the consultations said: “The legislature by limiting the scope of patentable subject matter in the field of software wanted our software professionals and industry to innovate and not be stifled by companies holding a stockpile of patents. We are grateful to the Government and the patent office for listening to our feedback and suggestions and preserving the freedom of our coders and entrepreneurs to innovate without shackles.”

Source: Press Release: Indian Patent Office Says No to Software Patents

Amid court battle, Yosemite park plans to change some iconic names

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Bid farewell to some of Yosemite National Park’s most iconic names.In an extraordinary move, the National Park Service announced Thursday that it was changing the names of The Ahwahnee hotel, Curry Village and other beloved park sites. The move, officials say, was forced on them by an intellectual property dispute with the park’s departing concessions company.

Source: Amid court battle, Yosemite park plans to change some iconic names | The Sacramento Bee