Posts by Kristie Prinz
Copyright Office Issues Response to Backlog Reports
The Copyright Office has issued a response to last week’s reports of a backlog at the Copyright Office. In an email sent out to Copyright Office subscribers, the Copyright Office stated as follows: A recent Washington Post article focused on the lengthy processing times the Copyright Office is experiencing in wake of its transition from…
Read MoreCopyright Office Announces Fee Increases Effective August 1, 2009
The Copyright Office has announced that a new fee increase will be effective August 1, 2009. Attached is the Analysis and Proposed Fee Adjustment Schedule submitted by the Copyright Office to Congress. I spent a few minutes reviewing the new pricelist, and in my opinion, the increases are fairly modest and should not be much…
Read MoreBacklog Issues No Longer Limited to USPTO; Copyright Office Also Experiencing Long Delays
The Washington Post reported last week that the backlog issues, which once were limited to the Patent Office have now spilled over into the Copyright Office as well. According to the Washington Post, the delays mean that it now takes eighteen months instead of six months to receive a copyright registration, and the expectation is…
Read MoreBlogosphere Reacts to Licensing Terms for Amazon’s New Kindle Publishing for Blogs
Amazon has just released the beta of its new Kindle Publishing for Blogs, and the blogosphere is starting to react to Amazon’s new licensing terms in its terms and conditions. What are bloggers saying? Well, the early consensus seems to be that while the concept of blog content licensing to Kindle is good, the required…
Read MoreTrade Secret Litigation on the Rise Against Laid Off Employees
Given all the employee layoffs and the many companies struggling to survive the bad economy, it is almost inevitable that we would be seeing an upswing in trade secret litigation against former employees. Law.com reported this week on the trend, stating that much of this litigation is over information that the employee is taking out…
Read MoreCopyright Infringement on the Internet: Problem is No Longer Confined to Entertainment industry
Have you done a search on the web lately to see if any of your company’s creative works have been infringed? Well, according to an article by The Mercury News discussing these new trends in digital piracy, publishers and authors are increasingly discovering that unauthorized copies of their works are being sold over the Internet…
Read MoreCollaborating Can Create Legal Headaches if the Appropriate IP Agreements Are Not in Place
If you run a small business, you have probably given some thought over this recession to how you might be able to collaborate with other businesses to generate some additional revenue for your business. I know that this is definitely something that I have been thinking about for my practice, and it is something that…
Read MoreGenetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Interviews Kristie Prinz on Patent Reform
To follow up on our coverage of the patent reform debate which has been revived in Congress, I wanted to share with you an interview I gave with Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News earlier this month on the patent reform issue. The article explored the competing interests of the biotechnology and high tech industries on…
Read MoreCongress Set to Consider Leahy-Hatch, Kyl Patent Reform Bills
Congress is set to consider two newly introduced patent reform bills. The Leahy-Hatch bill, also known as the Patent Reform Act of 2009, was introduced on March 3, 2009. The full text of S. 515, the Leahy-Hatch bill is attached. Following the introduction of the Leahy-Hatch bill, Senator Kyl introduced a second bill, S 610, which is also…
Read MoreDecision Reached in Case that Challenged Patent Rulemaking Authority by USPTO
The Federal Circuit has reached a decision in Tafas v. Doll, which is a case that challenged the rulemaking authority of the USPTO. As I explained at the California Biotech Law Blog, the particular patent rules at issue are Rules 75, 78, 114, and 265, which are as follows: Final Rule 78: This rule provided…
Read MoreAnticipating Likely Copyright Battle, Amazon Backs Down Over Kindle 2 Audio Feature
Anticipating a likely copyright battle over its new Kindle 2 audio feature, Amazon has backed down on its previous position and announced that publishers and authors will be able to decide whether to enable the feature. The Author’s Guild first signaled that a fight was brewing when it issued a February 12th alert over the…
Read MoreFacebook Adopts Townhall Format to Allow Users to Comment and Vote on New Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
Reversing its course again for the third time in less than a month, Facebook has proposed another new set of terms and conditions and is adopting a townhall format to allow users to comment and even vote on the new changes. CEO Mark Zuckerburg explained the new changes at the Facebook Blog as follows: We…
Read MoreFacebook Reverses Decision and Announces Temporary Return to Prior Terms and Conditions
Following up on our blog posting yesterday regarding the recent controversy over a Facebook decision to amend its terms and conditions, Facebook has decided to reverse its previous decision and temporarily adopt its previous terms and conditions. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the change of policy late last night, stating as follows: Many of us…
Read MoreFacebook Licensing Controversy Prompts Public to Take Closer Look at Social Networking Site Terms and Conditions
Following on the heels of a 2007 controversy over its privacy and advertising policies, Facebook has now set off a new controversy on the web with its decision to amend its terms and conditions, which deal with the licensing of content posted to its site. The provision at the heart of this controversy states as follows: You are solely responsible for…
Read MoreMaintenance Agreements: How to Ensure Your Revenue Stream Continues Through the Recession
It’s inevitable: in a recession, most businesses are trying to cut costs wherever they can. Every business owner is seeing the effects of this all around them. So, if you are a software company, how do you keep your maintenance agreements from being the target of one of these cuts? The Software Licensing and Master…
Read MoreShould You Look to Your Intellectual Property Portfolio to Get Through This Recession?
Most companies and individuals are looking to cut expenses right now, but have you considered looking to your intellectual property portfolio to generate additional capital? According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, many companies and even individual inventors are doing just that right now: while the rest of the economy is sinking, business is…
Read MoreAssociated Press Alleging Artist Stephen Fairey Infringed President Obama Photograph
Did artist Stephen Fairey commit copyright infringement when he painted the image of President Obama and based that painting on a photo owned by the Associated Press? The Associated Press has approached Mr. Fairey and is claiming that he has in fact infringed their copyrighted photo. A photo of course is generally protected under Copyright…
Read MoreMore on Renegotiating Contracts in the Bad Economy
Following up on my blog posting earlier this week on how the Bad Economy Presents an Opportunity to Renegotiate Contracts, I came across today a timely article addressing the same issue by The Wall Street Journal. According to The Wall Street Journal, small businesses are having a lot of success in renegotiating contracts in the…
Read MoreIs Your Business Infringing on the Intellectual Property in Other Companies’ Logos?
Increasingly, I have noticed a trend with websites: more and more, companies are displaying other companies’ logos on their websites. In fact, when my new website was in development, my developers proposed that I do the same. However, if you are displaying other companies logos on your website, there is a high likelihood that you…
Read MoreBad Economy Presents Opportunity to Renegotiate Contracts
While the bad economy has stopped much of the deal activity going on in the business world, the poor economy presents one opportunity that you may have overlooked: the opportunity to renegotiate your contracts. Why does a bad economy provide such a good opportunity for renegotiation? Well, the answer is fairly obvious: in a bad…
Read MoreShould Your Business Conduct an IP Licensing Audit?
Entrepreneur.com ran an article this month, which advised business owners to practice “preventive lawyering” or “litigation avoidance” by conducting audits in some key areas of the business such as contracts and intellectual property. I agree with the advice in this article. Regardless of their size, businesses need to conduct a periodic review of their operations…
Read MoreCopyright Reform: Is it Time to Take Patent Reform Off the Table and Work on Copyright Reform?
Given where we are on the patent reform debate, is it time to move patent reform off the table and work on copyright reform? If you haven’t heard many calls for this lately, you are not alone, but according to Wired, Judge Miriam Hall Patel, who presided over the Napster case has had time to…
Read MoreShould the Blogosphere Adopt the Creative Commons Licensing Model?
A posting by Kevin Smith on the Scholarly Communications @ Duke Blog explores the argument that the academic world should consider adopting the Creative Commons Licensing system for their academic works. The article got me to thinking: should the blogosphere consider adopting the same model? Smith’s argument is that the problem with the current copyright…
Read MoreRetired NFL Players Win Verdict Against Union For Failing to Include Them in Licensing Deals
A verdict was reached yesterday in an interesting case filed by retired NFL players against the players union for failing to include them in lucrative licensing deals involving video games and other sports products. NFL Gridiron Gab reported on the verdict as follows: NFL Players Association was ordered by a jury on Monday to pay…
Read MoreUnited States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Read MoreU.S. Copyright Office
U.S. Copyright Office
Read MoreLicensing Executives Society, Silicon Valley Chapter
Licensing Executives Society, Silicon Valley Chapter
Read MoreTrade Secrets Case Provides Important Lesson to Employers and Employees on the Significance of Employment Agreements
The case making headlines today regarding an ex-Intel Corporation employee accused of stealing trade secrets and giving them to his new employer, rival Advanced Micro Devices, provides some important lessons to employers and employees on the significance of employment agreements. The Mercury News reported on the case against former engineer Biswamohan Pani as follows: Federal…
Read MoreCorporate Designs: Does Your Business Really Have the Rights to its Designs?
When I speak with the average small business owner about what I do for a living, 9 times out of 10 they advise me that they wish they could use me, but that there is business just does not have intellectual property to protect. However, in most cases, when someone tells me this, they are…
Read MoreCutting Legal Costs by Investing in Good Templates
In a recent blog post, AdamsDrafting suggested that the recession should prompt companies to look at overhauling their contract template process. AdamsDrafting wrote A recession should provide a greater incentive for a company to do something about the considerable amounts of time and money that it’s wasting due to its mediocre templates and primitive contract…
Read MoreOpen Source Licensing: Is it a Viable Business Model?
Open Source Software Licensing in its “pure” form is not a viable business model, reported CMS Wire on a study recently conducted by the 451 Group. According to the CMS Wire report, the 451 Group study looked at the business strategies of some 114 open source vendors, and found as follows: -The majority of open…
Read MoreLicense Grant Language: How Should it be Drafted?
Ken Adams at Adams Drafting raised an interesting question about the proper drafting of a license grant in a software license. In particular, Adams questions the drafting of the following clause: Acme hereby grants Widgetco a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, worldwide license to the Software (that license, the “License“). I agree with Adams…
Read MoreConsortia Licensing: Is this an ideal way to license intellectual property?
The Licensing Handbook Blog ran an interesting posting today on consortia agreements. I am currently in the middle of a consortia negotiation, so the posting caught my attention. The Licensing Handbook Blog posting responded to a posting by SpendMatters, which had stated that participating in purchasing consortia can be an excellent means of leveraging resources…
Read MoreYahoo Music to Shut Down Service, Issue Refunds to Customers
Yahoo Music has advised its customers that it will be shutting down its digital rights management (“DRM”) service on September 30, 2008, but will be issuing refunds to customers who request them, reported Techspot. According to Techspot, Yahoo Music has decided to shut down its DRM licensing service in order to become part of Real…
Read MoreBlog Content Licensing: Is there a market for it?
PlagiarismToday raised an interesting question today when it asked if blog content licensing was dead. I have given several presentations on blog law issues now, but I must say that I had never really given thought to the issue of whether or not there was really a market for blog content licensing–beyond, of course, thinking…
Read MoreiTunes Music License: Is it Really Enforceable?
Is the iTunes Music License really enforceable? This is the question raised by F. Scott Kieff in a recent article for IP Law & Business. According to Kieff, the issue is as follows: the iTunes contract for service allows the customer to copy a song for a small number of times–the license provides that users…
Read MoreIP Licensing Lawyer Kristie Prinz Shares A Brief Guide to Intellectual Property
A Brief Guide to Intellectual Property (PDF, 24kb)
Read MoreInternet Lawyer Kristie Prinz shares Recording “Employee Blogs and Websites: How to Protect Your Company from the Legal Risk of Workers Going Online”
To view a recording of the presentation available in The Prinz Law Store, click here.
Read MoreBlogosphere Reacts to Associated Press Assault on Fair Use Doctrine
Should the Associated Press have the right to set its own standards as to how much quoting from an Associated Press article constitutes fair use and how much requires the payment of a royalty? The Associated Press (“A.P.”) apparently thinks so, based on recent coverage of its plans to adopt blogging guidelines for quoting A.P.…
Read MoreIP Licensing Lawyer Kristie Prinz shares Recording on Leveraging an IP Portfolio in the Development of Partnering Relationships
To view a recording of the presentation available in The Prinz Law Store, click here.
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