IM 350

Intellectual Property Law and New Media

Ed Lamoureux, Ph. D.

Steve Baron, B.A., J.D.Mandell Menkes, LLC

© Ed Lamoureux/Steve Baron, 2015

Quiz 1

• Put your name on the sheet

• List 9 IP protections

• Turn in

Here is our new product. How are we protecting this?(can you find nine protections?)

Modified with apologies to our buddies down the hill

First things First

• We’ll meet Professor Baron another day

• Review syllabus

• Draw your attention to a few examples, then

• Introduce basic course perspectives

Copyright examples

• U.S. court finds file-hosting service Hotfile infringed copyright, says MPAA, August 29, 2013

• Music publisher uses DMCA to take down Romney ad of Obama crooning

• Offering P2P File-Sharing Software for Downloading May Be Copyright Inducement--David v. CBS Interactive

• Videogame App Developer Breaks the Rules on Copyright Infringement

Patent examples• Judge bars sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in U

S• Apple wins EU-wide ban on Galaxy Tab 7.7; Tab

10.1N not covered• Judge says RIM owes $147 million in patent infrin

gement damages

A trademark example

• It’s real difficult for companies to protect their trademarks in the new media era. For example, as hard as Disney works this area (hard) there’s still the fan site:– DisneyHeaven.com

Among others. Here we have trademark & copyright infringement

Domain names, search terms, and meta-tags are also trademark issues

Court Declines to Review LRO to [.delmonte], Saying gTLDs Aren’t ‘Domain Names’ for Cybersquatting Purposes

Fourth Circuit's Rosetta Stone v. Google Opinion Pushes Back Resolution of Keyword Advertising Legality Another 5-10 YearsAlthough, in many ways, arguments about trademarks in search are “over” (and Goggle’s model wins), there are still cases filed and decisions that question the status quo.

We’ll also examine

• Trade Secrets (but if we tell you about that today we’d have to kill you);

• “Content Torts” including defamation, privacy (related to personality), and rights of publicity;

• The complexities of International IP issues;

• IP law in virtual environments.

The Principle Course Goals:• Investigate the relationships among and between:

– Concretized ideas/creativity/innovation– Property (ownership)– Law– The Commons

• The system is supposed to encourage creativity/ideas/innovation by using the legal protections of property to provide rewards that bring culturally enriching outcomes/products into citizens’ lives.

The Primary Assumptions:

• Nothing has changed

• Everything has changed

Nothing has Changed

• There are, always have been, always will be, creative artists.

• Artists often transfer their property rights and protections to others.

• US intellectual property law has been in place for over two hundred years, is still in force, and is evolving daily.

• America is tied to capital & property.

Everything has Changed• Digital technologies have driven the means of production and

distribution within reach of “every-person.”• “The Law” has been (and continues to be) developed by the

professional legal community, working for the professional production community. However, that same law must now “apply” to every-person, in mundane circumstances.– It’s difficult for “every-person” to understand/deal with (including

difficulties in changing the laws).– Corporations employ lawyers; private citizens could do so, but probably

can’t afford to.– The law was developed to mediate between corporations. Now it has to

stretch to “me and thee,” and us to it.

• Digital technologies are recombinant by their nature, thereby challenging in-place notions of “creativity.”

Some Important Issues for 350• What are the laws? What is the status quo under which the ground shifts?• What’s an artist/producer to do? What’s a gate keeper to do? What’s an

average citizen to do?• What are the most interesting developments?

– How does the law evolve and can it keep pace with with the evolution of technology?

– Where are the current/future battlegrounds on the intellectual property front?

• What’s best for society/the public?– Does the law promote or inhibit creative endeavors?

• How does the law protect those who create?• Why should students of Interactive Media care about intellectual property

law?• How does the law punish those who misappropriate?