Archive for January 21st, 2005
Canada Files Brief in RIM Case
"The federal government has stepped into the middle of a high-stakes patent infringement battle between Research in Motion Inc. and a U.S. company, claiming a recent U.S. court ruling against the creator of the iconic BlackBerry communications device threatens to chill innovation by Canadian firms and give extra-territorial reach to U.S. patent law.
"At stake are not only millions of dollars worth of royalty payments on the sale of BlackBerry handhelds in the U.S. every month, but also issues of how old laws for guarding intellectual property are applied in a new era when technology is increasingly blurring national boundaries and economies.
"In what legal experts say is an unusual move, the Canadian Department of Justice filed an amicus curiae brief (.pdf) with a U.S. federal appeals court on Jan. 13, urging it to grant RIM’s request for a re-hearing before all 15 judges of the federal appeals circuit."
Simon Avery. Ottawa Intervenes in RIM Patent Infringement Battle. The Globe and Mail. Jan. 17, 2005.
Editor’s note: See also SNTReport.com’s prior story on RIM’s patent infringement case.
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NIH Revises Open Access Plan
"An ambitious proposal to make the results of federally funded medical research available to the public quickly and for free has been scaled back by the National Institutes of Health under pressure from scientific publishers, who argued that the plan would eat into their profits and harm the scientific enterprise they support.
"The initial plan, encouraged by Congress and hailed by patient advocacy groups, called for the results of NIH-funded research to be posted on a publicly accessible Web site within six months after they are published in a scientific journal. Most research results now are available only by subscription to the journal — at a cost that often reaches into the thousands of dollars — or on a pay-per-article basis that can cost $100 or more for two or three articles.
"In the final version of the plan, however, the recommended six-month deadline for posting results has been stretched to a year. That change has angered many advocates of public access, who have argued it isn’t fair that taxpayers must either wait or ante up to see the results of research they have already paid for."
Rick Weiss. NIH Revises Plan for Quick, Free Access to Study Results. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 18, 2005.
(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
A Roundup of Photo Sharing Services
"These days, nearly everyone has a digital camera or camera phone. And many new online services offer varying features for people who want to share their pictures, post them to blogs, or tag or comment on others’ photos.
"Here’s a roundup of four of the best of these services."
Daniel Terdiman. Photo Sites Share and Share Alike. Wired News. Jan. 17, 2005.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
COPYCENSE 