PTAB Not Such a Threat to Patents, Report Says (Big Law Business) According to a report released yesterday by the legal analytics firm Lex Machina, reactions to patent holder losses are overblown.  The report found that in the 2,700 decisions in the Board’s first three years in existence, patents survive the process 66 percent of the time. After Five Years of Conflict with Apple, some Samsung Phone Features are Banned (Ars Technica) Apple finally won its years-long patent battle with Samsung which will ban the sale of certain Samsung smartphones. Most of these phones are older models that are no longer sold anyways. Apple Tried to Kill More Patents Than Anyone Else, By Far (Fortune) A new report shows that Apple has filed more patent challenges than anyone else at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.  The report shows that as of September 2012, Apple filed 252 PTAB challenges. GM’s Newly Acquired Patent Could be a Problem for Uber (Wired) GM will be bri ...

Intellectual Property Roundup

t seems the Copyright Office has one more gift to give before the end of the holiday season.   Tomorrow, the Federal Register will issue a Notice of Inquiry to assess the operation of section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,17 U.S.C. § 1201.  That provision prohibits the circumvention of technological measures designed to prevent unauthorized access to copyrighted works, and forbids people from trafficking in technologies designed to crack those measures. Section 1201 also contains a triennial rulemaking proceeding that permitted the Librarian of Congress to issue exemptions (on the Register’s recommendation) for certain classes of works if the proponents of that exemption could make an evidentiary showing that the presence of the circumvention ban was interfering with noninfringing uses.

Senate Judiciary to markup trade secrets, Judicial Redress Bills (Politico Pro) The Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled the Defend Trade Secrets Act and the Judicial Redress Act on its agenda for markup this week.  This bill would give companies the means to go after trade secret thieves in federal court.

In the internet environment, copyright enforcement often begins with filing a John Doe suit against unknown infringers identified by IP addresses, figuring out which ISP owns those addresses, and then obtaining information from the ISP about the identity of a particular subscriber.  In Killer Joe Nevada v. Leaverton, the Eight Circuit held that a district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to award attorneys’ fees when a copyright plaintiff voluntarily dismissed a case against a particular individual that was identified by IP address.

A new Congress and a reinvigorated Administration mean legislation of interest to SIIA’s members is likely to pass in 2015.  We intend to be pro-active and vigilant to ensure that this legislation responds to the broad public interest, including preserving and advancing the business interests and opportunities of SIIA’s member companies.

DOC Announces Creation of Chief Data Officer, Private Sector Advisory Council

SIIA Event to Explore Real-World Impact of Big Data & Policy Implications

SIIA Submits Statement on Copyright First Sale for the House IP Subcommittee Hearing