Reissue Patents
A patent can be reissued under a limited set of circumstances. Generally, if an error is discovered which renders the patent wholly or partly inoperative, reissue may be the vehicle to correct the...
View ArticleJeepers Peepers! Peeple, the Yelp for People App Redefines Privacy
People may choose to avoid social media for any number of reasons. Refusing to engage with social media does not make you a luddite or old-fashioned. Instead, the decision to minimize one’s online...
View ArticleProposed German law: telecoms must store customer data on airgapped servers
(credit: Julian Herzog) The German Bundestag (parliament) has passed a controversial law requiring telecoms and Internet companies to store customers' metadata and to make it available to law...
View ArticleUS: Drones will soon need distinctive markings, just like aircraft tail numbers
(credit: John Jackson) In a new regulatory filing, the Department of Transportation has suggested that it will require new drone owners to have “aircraft identification and marking” on their aircraft,...
View Article'Back to the Future II" From a Legal Perspective: Unintentionally...
The inside story of Crispin Glover's lawsuit over George McFly: Was an actor hired to mimic another actor playing a character?read more
View ArticleJames Turrell: I Was Not Involved
A play on the cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” song (photo via @vacancyprojects/Instagram) For those of you that thought a serious artists was seriously collaborating with a non-serious pop-artist,...
View ArticleWikiLeaks publishes e-mail from CIA director’s hacked AOL account
CIA Director John Brennan (center) last month at a hearing on "World Wide Cyber Threats" at the House Intelligence Committee in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WikiLeaks has...
View ArticleNorthern District Transfers Copyright Infringement Litigation for Lack of Venue
Fort Wayne, Indiana - District Judge Jon E. DeGuilio of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana transferred a lawsuit alleging copyright to the Southern District of...
View ArticleTax Court Ruling on Deductions a Victory for Artists
If you say you are an artist, but you make little money from selling your art, can your work be considered a profession in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service? The answer is…yes.
View ArticleThe World’s Cutest Dog too commonly shaped to be copyright protected
Here, courtesy of Denise Verdoold (Banning), is a gripping tale of some canine capers from the Netherlands. This is what she writes:Boo looking coolRecognise the act of spending an entire afternoon...
View ArticleHappy “Back to the Future II” Day!
Ann Robl As you probably have been reminded by now, October 21, 2015, is the date to which Doc, Marty, and Jennifer travel in the second “Back to the Future” movie. As an example of reality copying...
View ArticleAppeals court reverses itself, gives Amazon a trademark win over watchmaker
Amazon corporate office building in Sunnyvale, California. (credit: Getty Images) A panel of federal appeals judges has taken the unusual step of reversing a position it reached just three months ago...
View ArticleFCC hopes to shut down robocallers by publishing numbers weekly
On Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission said that it would begin releasing a spreadsheet every week of numbers belonging to robocallers and telemarketers in the hopes of making it easier for...
View ArticleA Glimpse into the Future: Driverless Cars Have Arrived
By Naazaneen Hodjat To much fanfare, Tesla Motors announced the release of its Autopilot version 7.0 which effectively allows its Model S to use a “combination of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and...
View ArticleOverview of Comments on the USPTO's July 2015 Update to the Interim...
By: Robert R. Sachs In late July, the USPTO issued its July 2015 Update to the 2014 Interim Section 101 Patent Eligibility Guidance (IEG). The July 2015 Update addresses a number of the issues and...
View ArticleThe Retransmission Consent NPRM: An Overview as the Comment Deadline Approaches
Here’s your chance to let the FCC know how to assess the “good faith” of parties to a retrans negotiation. While many (if not most) television licensees are likely trying to sift through the several...
View ArticleForward Thinking: FCC Plans Ahead for Importers, Aims to Saves Trees
Import declaration rules waived for second half of 2016 Regular visitors to CommLawBlog know that the FCC maintains technical rules for radio transmitters and certain other equipment. These rules...
View ArticleCorporate Personhood May Be More than a Legal Concept
Corporate personhood – the idea that business entities may have some of the same legal rights and responsibilities as human beings – is a contentious legal concept. However, in his recent Mind and...
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