Google Image Labeler … Community Intellectual Property Cops?

Google has a new “product” in beta. Called the “Google Image Labeler,” it is “a feature of Google Search that allows you to label images and help improve the quality of Google’s image search results.” You are partnered with another person and are shown a series of images over a two-minute period. Both of you enter labels for a shown photo (without seeing one another’s responses) and when you both type in the same label, a new picture is shown. As a reward for your hard work, Google gives you “points.” Interesting concept…and surprisingly fun.

Now…think about the implications to trademark/copyright owners. Suddenly, a Google images search for “Nike logo” may turn up more examples of infringing uses on websites. Hmm…community policing of trademarks/copyrights.

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Flowcharts on IP for Clients…

Add this to my to do list! Law Department Management blog on “Uses of flow charts and short summaries, including to explain choices to clients.”

Reminds me of: Erik J. Heels’ “Drawing that Explains Copyright Law,” or Bromberg-Sunstein’s “Flowchart for determining when U.S. copyrights in fixed works expire.”

Know of any others out there? Have any you use that you’d be willing to share? Let me know.

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Listen to Internet Radio? Not for long.

I’m a big fan of Pandora. I’ve even bought a number of CDs of artists I found via Pandora (The Black Keys, Gotan Project, others). I’ve also listened to Internet radio stations via iTunes, last.fm, WinAmp and others. I love Internet Radio. I listen to it at home. I listen to it at work. I can even listen to it through my TiVo.

That’s why it greatly saddened me to hear that the new manner of figuring royalties for streaming music on the Internet means that someone like Pandora likely has “a royalty obligation might exceed the total proceeds of all their recent rounds of venture capital plus all their sales revenues to date.” The founder of Pandora went as far as to say that the RIAA’s new royalty rates will kill online radio!!

Reminds me of a story I heard about a goose and a golden egg….

Everything you need to know on this topic can be found in this article: RAIN: Webcast Royalty Rate Decision Announced.

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Copyright Graphical Flowchart

This is worth checking out…a very interesting visual explanation of U.S Copyright Law.

Copyright Navigator
A Digital Annotated Concept Map of the Fundamentals of U.S. Copyright Law
by Lionel S. Sobel
Professor, Southwestern University School of Law
Editor, Entertainment Law Reporter

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Idaho IP Lawsuits

One of the excellent services we offer over that Rethink(IP) is called RSS Mojo…a blend of pay and free listings of recently filed patent, trademark and copyright lawsuits.

In example…here is a listing of the IP cases filed in Idaho (Federal) in the past few weeks:

Coldwater Creek Inc et al Vs. Online Reward Center et al 
2:2006cv00307 

Electronic Controls Company v. Wolo Manufacturing Corp 
1:2006cv00315 

Keynetics Inc. et al v. R U On the Net Inc. d/b/a Keynetlinks 
1:2006cv00312 

Interestingly, all three were trademark cases. 

RSS Mojo is a great resource for keeping your clients updated regarding lawsuits against them and/or between competitors.

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The RIAA vs. John Doe, a layperson’s guide to filesharing lawsuits - The Digital Music Weblog

Very interesting: The RIAA vs. John Doe, a layperson’s guide to filesharing lawsuits - The Digital Music Weblog.

See also this list of recently filed copyright lawsuits:  Rethink(IP)’s - Copyright Lawsuit Filing Update

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Explain Patents v. Copyrights

A client asked me a question earlier that I didn’t know the answer to.  Perhaps one of my readers does:

Why are there criminal infringement penalties for copyright law, but not for patent law? When were they added to copyright law? Why? Why didn’t patent law get the same treatment?

Inquiring minds want to know…

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Reminder: Copyright Office Fees Increased July 1

Yeah, yeah, yeah…so I’m late in posting a reminder to all of you that:

The U.S. Copyright Office  increased basic registration fees to $45 per application effective July 1, 2006. Fees
that changed include registrations, document recordation, supplementary
registration, search services, certificates, and additional
certificates. Any request received in the U.S. Copyright Office on or
after July 1, 2006, for a service whose fee  increased on that date must be accompanied by the new fee.

Details here.

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Patents v. Trademarks v. Copyrights…which is most valuable?

Patent attorneys (being the self centered snobs we are) like to say “patents are the broadest protection you can have, then trademarks…and copyrights are really narrow.”

How does that crude logic stack up when you look at what they are worth–dollar value?

James E. Hawes has analyzed that question…and has some interesting results: IPThoughts–Values of IP

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Protecting your photos on the Internet

Exposure blog on “How Much Can You Protect Your Photographs on the Internet?”

Oddly, filing a copyright application was not mentioned as one of the points.

And why might you want to file a copyright application??? Cutting through the legalese, legal remedies if you don’t file a copyright application before infringement/within 90 days of “publication”: their profit OR your losses (good luck computing that) AND a court order telling them to not do it again. No statutory damages, no attorneys fees, no court costs…ouch. Thus, unless some mega-corporation infringes your copyright it is unlikely you’d ever have damages making it worth your time to hire an attorney and sue.

Thus, if you can afford to do so, it may make sense to timely file copyright applications covering your photographs (so you can get statutory damages/attorneys fees). Consult with an attorney that practices copyright law for more details.

For those of you who want more information (before you consult with an attorney), the Copyright Office has a page…

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