March, 2013

University of Pennsylvania Law School I.P. Symposium “Creation Nation: IP & The Rise of Prosumerism” Friday, March 29, 2013

Am honoured to be speaking on a panel with Greg Lastowka and Mark Methenitis on modding and video games. The entire program (which is excellent  and covers legal challenges in fan fiction and 3D printing as well) is here: 2013 Symposium » Penn Intellectual Property Group.

There will be a live stream of the event which should be up about ten minutes before it formally convenes at 2 PM EST. Accodingly you should be able to link to the stream beginning around 10:50 AM PST here:  https://www.law.upenn.edu/newsevents/live/webcast.php?vid=rooms/videogk100

jon

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News of the Week; March 27, 2013

1. Bug in EA’s Battlefield Play4Free allows attackers to hijack players’ PCs: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/03/bug-in-eas-battlefield-play4free-allows-attackers-to-hijack-players-pcs/

2. Kaiju Combat Kickstarter Suspended Over Trademark Infringement Claim: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/21/kaiju-combat-kickstarter-suspended-over-trademark-infringement-claim#.UU9pWb_R1Lx

3. Video Game Retailers Receive High Marks from 2012 FTC Secret Shopper Survey: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/25/video-game-retailers-receive-high-marks-2012-ftc-secret-shopper-survey#.UVHvg7_R1Lw

4. New Research Suggests Extended ‘Screen Time’ Does Not Breed Bad Behavior in Young Children: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/26/new-research-suggests-extended-screen-time-does-not-breed-bad-behavior-young-children#.UVI0xr_R1Lw

5. Pratchett: Nobody talks about how well Nathan Drake represents men: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-21-pratchett-nobody-talks-about-how-well-nathan-drake-represents-men?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=european-daily

6. Developer takes aim at gun control debate: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-20-the-best-amendment-game-tackles-gun-control?

7. Piracy and plush counterfeits key to Plants v. Zombies’ surprise success in China: http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/26/4146676/plants-vs-zombies-china-great-wall-edition-gdcs

8. Oculus Rift: Seeing is Believing: http://www.gamespot.com/events/gdc-2013/video.html?sid=6405910

9. Wiretap laws apply to text messages, court rules: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/03/27/technology-telus-text-messages-scc-decision.html

10. Microsoft Releases Report on Law Enforcement Requests: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/microsoft-releases-report-on-law-enforcement-requests.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130321&_r=1&

11. What You Didn’t Post, Facebook May Still Know: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/technology/facebook-expands-targeted-advertising-through-outside-data-sources.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130326&_r=0

12. Is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act the ‘worst law in technology’?: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/20/computer-fraud-abuse-act-law-technology

13. Why Nevada’s first online gambling license is more symbol than substancehttp://gigaom.com/2013/03/26/why-nevadas-first-online-gambling-license-is-more-symbol-than-substance/

14. US Senate votes in favor of proposed nationwide internet sales taxes: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/23/4138388/us-senate-marketplace-fairness-act-of-2013-symbolic-vote-results-internet-sales-tax

15. Judges as Bad Reviewers: Fair Use and Epistemological Humility by Rebecca Tushnet: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2230071

jon

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Pennsylvania stadium adds video games to bathrooms

How do we feel about “hands-free” urinal video games?

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/27/pennsylvania-stadium-aims-to-please-fans-with-urinal-video-games

I guess my concern is, how does a hands-free game publish top scorer names without players touching anything?

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Microsoft XBox Panned for Virtual Thefts, Disputed Charges

take a look at this CBC article from March 25, 2013, that deals with “virtual theft” of a young gamer’s players that he purchased on-line.  Our own Professors Jon Festinger and Joel Baken of UBC Law also provide some expert commentary on this situation.

link:http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/2013/03/22/bc-fifa-hacking.html

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Your Children are not Your Children: Why NYT public editor is Wrong on Children’s Right to Privacy

“Your Children are not Your Children: Why NYT public editor is Wrong on Children’s Right to Privacy” by Zeynep Tufekci is a must read after our class this past week. Ordinarily would just include in the weekly News of the Week round-up. However this piece deserves special mention at the very least for its relevant to us timing – and as you will read – for a good deal more then that: http://technosociology.org/?p=1234

jon

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News of the Week; March 20,2013

1. Nintendo found guilty of patent infringement over glasses-free 3DS technology: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/13/4100924/nintendo-guilty-of-patent-infringement-3ds-technology

2. Major vulnerability in EA’s Origin platform lets hackers overtake PCs: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4124456/major-vulnerability-ea-origin-hackers-overtake-gamer-pcs

3. Defeating mobile game clones: Why copyright protection is not enough: http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/16/defeating-mobile-game-clones-why-copyright-protection-is-not-enough/

4. Research: Playing Shooters Improves Visual Search: http://gamepolitics.com/2013/03/15/research-playing-shooters-improves-visual-search#.UUTATKXR1Lw

5. Video Games and Societal Violence: Cause for Urgent Action or a Bridge Too Far?: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-levine/video-games-and-societal-_b_2859598.html

6. Reading, Writing and Video Games: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/sunday-review/reading-writing-and-video-games.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130318

7. Modder Shows How SimCity Can Be Played Offline: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/14/modder-shows-how-simcity-can-be-played-offline#.UUK0CKXR1Ly

8. (U.S.)   Supreme Court Rules That First Sale Doctrine Not Limited by Geographyhttp://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/03/19/supreme-court-rules-first-sale-doctrine-not-limited-geography#.UUj8zqXR1Lw

Issues in Kirtsaeng ‘Significant’: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/56444-grimmelmann-issues-in-kirtsaeng-too-signifcant-to-end-with-supreme-court.html

+ Link to decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons(SCOTUS): http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf

9. Appeals court rejects record label’s effort to neuter DMCA safe harbor: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/appeals-court-rejects-record-labels-effort-to-neuter-dmca-safe-harbor/

+ Link to Veoh (US 9th Circuit) decision: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/03/14/09-55902.pdf

10. (U.S.) Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Appeal in $222,000 File-Sharing Case: http://torrentfreak.com/supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-appeal-in-222000-file-sharing-case-130318/

11. Hacker Case Leads to Calls for Better Law: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/technology/outcry-over-computer-crime-indictment-of-matthew-keys.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130318&_r=0

12. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGIME IN CANADA – Report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (March 2013): http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/HOC/Committee/411/INDU/Reports/RP6038442/411_INDU_Rpt03_PDF/411_INDU_Rpt03-e.pdf

13. The head of the Copyright Office says the law is broken — but can she fix it in time?: http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/3/20/4126936/copyright-register-today-will-embark-on-mission-to-overhaul-us

+ Register Of Copyright Suggests That Personal Downloading Should Not Be Seen As ‘Piracy’: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130320/13493222399/register-copyright-suggests-that-personal-downloading-should-not-be-seen-as-piracy.shtml?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

14. MIT And Aaron Swartz’s Lawyers Argue Over Releasing Evidence: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130320/00571422386/mit-aaron-swartzs-lawyers-argue-over-releasing-evidence.shtml?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

15. Privacy is dead: http://www.technollama.co.uk/privacy-is-dead

16. Collateral Censorship and Freedom of the Press – Christina Mulligan: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2224058

17. Jonathan Zittrain on Google Glass (audio): http://stitcher.com/s/player.php?eid=22175195&refid=eml20130104

18. Elon Musk Refuses To File Patents At His High-Tech Private Space Company: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-some-companies-are-not-filing-patents-2013-3#ixzz2NjKy6h8W

19. SC5 pays salaries in Bitcoin: http://blog.sc5.fi/2013/03/sc5-pays-salaries-in-bitcoin/

 + US regulator: Bitcoin exchanges must comply with money-laundering laws: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/

And in the not really relevant category:

20. Applicants face significant hurdles in registering flavour and scent trademarks in the U.S.: http://www.canadiantechnologyiplaw.com/2013/03/articles/intellectual-property/trademarks/applicants-face-significant-hurdles-in-registering-flavour-and-scent-trademarks-in-the-us/

And in the sometimes all you have is sarcasm department:

21. BREAKING: Girls Play Video Games, Local News Discovers: http://m.kotaku.com/5991151/breaking-girls-play-video-games-local-news-discovers

 jon

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UK Intellectual Property Office helps law students with term papers

Thanks to “The 1709 Blog” for noting and posting links to some very useful largely empirical studies commissioned by the UK IPO. These may be very helpful to those doing papers on related subjects. Having taken a look through as there is tons of good stuff here, especially on the economic impact on copyright holders (actually non-economic impact) of certain classes of use.

Link to the original blogpost from The 1709 Blog: http://the1709blog.blogspot.ca/2013/03/parody-pastiche-private-copying-ukipos.html?m=1

Link to the IPO page: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/pro-ipresearch.htm?debugdate=15.03.13&debugtime=9:30

Link to “Evaluating the impact of parody on the exploitation of copyright works”: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-parody-report1-150313.pdf?debugdate=15.03.13&debugtime=9:30 

Link to “The Treatment of Parodies Under Copyright Law in Seven Jurisdictions”: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-parody-report2-150313.pdf?debugdate=15.03.13&debugtime=9:30   

Link to “Copyright and the Economic Effects of Parody”: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-parody-report3-150313.pdf?debugdate=15.03.13&debugtime=9:30   

Link to “Private copying”: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-private-150313.pdf?debugdate=15.03.13&debugtime=9:30

jon

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News of the Week; March 13, 2013

1. Top 10 New IP Paper Downloads: http://writtendescription.blogspot.ca/2013/03/top-10-new-ip-paper-downloads.html

2. Appeals Court: ‘Ed Sullivan’ Clip in ‘Jersey Boys’ is Fair Use: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/appeals-court-ed-sullivan-clip-427260

3. US Supreme Court limits standing to sue in a case that will likely impact privacy and data breach plaintiffs: http://www.edwardswildman.com/files/News/543d63b5-4962-48f6-b71f-e0d2192720f6/Presentation/NewsAttachment/3e09a485-a60e-4fc4-b513-4d34f91e09f3/2013-CA-USSupremeCourtLimits-March-v2.pdf

4. Google Concedes That Drive-By Prying Violated Privacy: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/technology/google-pays-fine-over-street-view-privacy-breach.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&

5. Aaron Swartz’s lawyer accuses prosecutor of misconduct – Lawyers will move to unseal evidence against Swartz later this week: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/aaron-swartzs-lawyer-accuses-prosecutor-of-misconduct/

6. 3D printing gunmaker forms company to flout copyright law, à la the Pirate Bay: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/3d-printing-gunmaker-forms-company-to-flout-copyright-law-a-la-the-pirate-bay/

7. Fifteen Years of DMCA Abuse: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/fifteen-years-dmca-abuse

8. Copyright and car crashes: do sports have an author?: http://ipkitten.blogspot.ca/2013/03/copyright-and-car-crashes-do-sports.html?m=1

9. A Feminist Reviews Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/03/12/a-feminist-reviews-tomb-raiders-lara-croft/

10. Ridley Scott and Machinima team up to produce 12 original sci-fi shorts: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/11/4091192/ridley-scott-and-machinima-team-up-to-produce-12-original-sci-fi

11. Zynga VP calls debate over copying games ‘vastly overblown’: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/11/4089056/zynga-vp-calls-debate-over-copying-games-vastly-overblown

12. Steam Box is exciting – but don’t expect it to be “Open”: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-08-steam-box-is-exciting-but-dont-expect-it-to-be-open

And in the not really relevant category:

13. Judge Blocks New York City’s Limits on Big Sugary Drinks: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/nyregion/judge-invalidates-bloombergs-soda-ban.html?emc=na&_r=0

jon

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News of the Week; March 6, 2013

1. I’m a Victim of Gun Violence. I’m Also a Video Game Developer: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/28/a_victim_of_gun_violence_who_is_also_a_video_game_developer_weighs_in_on.html

2. Gun Control Debate: Violent Video Games Actually Decrease Violence, Study Finds: http://www.policymic.com/articles/28280/violent-video-games-actually-decrease-violence-study-finds

3. “SIX STRIKES,” PIRACY, AND YOUR INTERNET: http://ihogeek.com/2013/03/01/sixstrikes/

4. The Corporate Coup Over Copyright Infringement: http://clearancebinreview.com/2013/02/28/dr-geek-the-corporate-coup-over-copyright-infringement/

5. A Rational System of Design Patent Remedies (paper by Mark Lemley): http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2226508

6. Opening Arguments in Nintendo 3D Patent Infringement Case: http://gamepolitics.com/2013/02/27/opening-arguments-nintendo-3d-patent-infringement-case

7. Licensors beware! Second Circuit decision confirms policy concerns in patent law trump contract law: http://www.hodgsonruss.com/Home/News_Seminars/Articles_and_Alerts/LicensorsBewareSecondCircuitDecisionConfirmsPolicyConcernsinPatentLawTrumpContractLaw

8. Square Enix “investigating” after Tesco stores break Tomb Raider street date: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-04-some-tesco-stores-have-broken-tomb-raider-street-date

9. 38 Studios’ Schilling wants fraud lawsuit dismissed: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-05-38-studios-schilling-wants-fraud-lawsuit-

10. EA Backtracks A Bit On The Whole “Microtransactions In Every Game” Thing: http://consumerist.com/2013/03/06/ea-backtracks-a-bit-on-the-whole-microtransactions-in-every-game-thing/

11. Kids Reveal The Real Flaws Of Free-To-Play Games: http://kotaku.com/5988036/kids-reveal-the-real-flaws-of-free+to+play-games

12. Games Workshop and the Space Marine trademark spat (Jas Purewal): http://www.gamerlaw.co.uk/2013/games-workshop-space-marine/

13. What the Harlem Shake can teach us about copyright: http://the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/what-harlem-shake-can-teach-us-about.html?m=1

14. Egyptian protestors trade ‘Harlem Shake’ taunts with Islamist regime: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/3/4061498/harlem-shake-meme-becomes-political-in-egypt

15. Life Inside the Aaron Swartz Investigation: http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/13/03/life-inside-the-aaron-swartz-investigation/273654/

16. Google’s ‘Ingress’ augmented reality game puts Android users into a battle against worldwide mind control: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/15/3649668/google-ingress-augmented-reality-game-beta

17. A Museum’s Games Are Not on Pedestals: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/arts/video-games/a-museums-games-are-not-on-pedestals.html?nl=technology&emc=edit_tu_20130304&_r=0

18. A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 2600 Video Computer System/VCS: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131956/a_history_of_gaming_platforms_.php?print=1

19. The glorious propaganda of Eve Online: http://killscreendaily.com/articles/news/glorious-propaganda-eve/

And in the not really relevant category:

20. I Sold My Video Games To Pay For My Wedding, And Said Goodbye To Part Of Myself: http://kotaku.com/5988493/i-sold-my-video-games-to-pay-for-my-wedding-and-said-goodbye-to-part-of-myself

21. Oakland Rapper Pope Emeritus Threatens Lawsuit: http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/02/oakland-rapper-pope-emeritus-threatens-lawsuit.html

22. A new twist to Chubby Checker: http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/detail.aspx?g=ffb56d7f-6a77-400c-8dce-9b6c393d6bc6

jon

 

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