Re:Marks on Copyright and Trademark

Reposted from DLA Piper's Media Intelligence Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

The Department of Justice has published a landmark legal opinion that could pave the way for internet gambling in the United States.

On 20 September 2011, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel reached its decision on whether the proposals by the states of Illinois and New York to use the internet and out-of-state transaction processors to sell lottery tickets to in-state citizens would violate the Wire Act 1961 (the "Wire Act"). The Wire Act prohibits wagering over telecommunications systems that cross state or national borders, therefore preventing use of the internet by states to sell lottery tickets even to adults within their own borders.

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Media Intelligence Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

HarperCollins Publishers LLC ("HarperCollins") has filed a law suit against digital publisher Open Road Integrated Media ("Open Road") for copyright infringement in relation to the e-book rights to the children's book, 'Julie of the Wolves' (the "Work").

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Lawmakers appear to be backing away from the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the wake of this week’s widespread Internet protest.

As previously reported, a number of the Web’s highest profile sites were blacked out or otherwise unavailable on Wednesday in opposition to the legislation. The bills, which were designed to combat foreign-based piracy of digital content, but which opponents claim would have wider undesirable consequences for Internet businesses and consumers, now appear to be dead in both the House and Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today canceled the vote on PIPA, which was previously scheduled for January 24. Shortly thereafter, at the urging of Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) indicated that SOPA would be moved to the back burner.

With the future of SOPA and PIPA as we know them now in doubt, it remains to be seen whether alternative legislation such as the OPEN Act will gain traction, or whether reworked versions of the bills will resurface in the House and Senate at some future date. Of course, we will be closely monitoring further developments as the occur.

Undoubtedly today’s widespread Internet protest, which has darkened web sites ranging from Wikipedia to reddit to Flickr, has raised public awareness of the looming legislative and public relations battles associated with the Stop Internet Piracy Act (“SOPA”) and the Protect IP Act (“PIPA”), which are currently under consideration in the House and Senate, respectively. While the debate over the merits of these largely similar bills is still heating up (a vote on PIPA is expected as early as January 24), Congressman Darrell Issa (R) of California has announced plans to introduce competing legislation in the form of the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (“OPEN Act”).

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Follow up post to SUPREME COURT WILL DECIDE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF REMOVING WORKS FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

By Tom Zutic and John Nading

In a 6-2 decision today in Golan, et al. v. Holder, et al., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld U.S. Copyright protection for foreign works which had fallen into the public domain prior to the U.S. joining the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1989.  See Slip Opinion.  Under the Berne Convention, signatories agree to treat authors from fellow signatory countries as they would treat their own.  

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