Archive for the ‘Web & Online’ Category
Netflix & Blockbuster In Patent Battle Royale
” Online DVD rental services that deliver movies by mail are growing quickly, with more than 5 million subscribers nationwide. Now the company that pioneered the business, Netflix, is accusing Blockbuster of trying to copy its patented Internet business model.
“Netflix launched its service seven years ago in response to the founder’s frustration with late fees at video stores. Netflix subscribers can keep DVDs as long as they want. As soon as one is returned, a new movie is sent out from the customer’s online wish list. Netflix says that Blockbuster duplicated key features of that service when it launched its own online offering 19 months ago.”
Scott Horsley. Netflix Challenges Blockbuster Over Online Rentals. National Public Radio. April 10, 2006.
See also:
Eric Chabrow. A Patent Blockbuster. InformationWeek. April 10, 2006.
Gina Keating. Netflix May Face Tough Fight In Blockbuster Patent Suit. WashingtonPost.com. April 5, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Disney Sells TV Online
“Never underestimate the Walt Disney Co.’s willingness to venture into uncharted technological territory. Disney took one big step in October by becoming the first in its industry to offer TV shows for Apple’s video iPod. Now, it’s journeying even further into the world of offering TV shows over the Net. It promises to be, at the very least, a bumpy ride.
“On April 10, Disney announced it will begin testing the market for letting people download from ABC.com the same shows that Disney provides to cable companies and ABC affiliates. The two-month test will include such hot programs as Lost and Desperate Housewives, as well as its less successful Geena Davis show, Commander in Chief.”
Ronald Grover. Disney’s Internet Adventure. BusinessWeek Online. April 11, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
BusinessWeek Profiles YouTube
“All Chad Hurley and Steve Chen wanted to do was share some videos from a dinner party with a half-dozen friends in San Francisco. It was January, 2005, and they couldn’t figure out a good solution. Sending the clips around by e-mail was a bust: The e-mails kept getting rejected because they were so big. Posting the videos online was a headache, too. So last February the two buddies got to work in Hurley’s garage, determined to design something simpler.
“What they came up with is now called YouTube. In 11 months the site has become one of the most popular on the Net. It shows 30 million videos a day and drew 9.1 million people in February, says Web measurement service Nielsen//NetRatings. That makes the upstart one of the biggest providers of videos on the Net, ahead of Yahoo! and Google and just behind Microsoft, according to the Nielsen//NetRatings estimates.”
Heather Green. YouTube: Way Beyond Home Videos. BusinessWeek Online. April 10, 2006.
See also:
Mark Glaser. YouTube CEO Hails ‘Birth of a New Clip Culture.’ April 4, 2006.
Updates:
Dawn C. Chmielewski. Studios Not Sure Whether Web Video Innovator Is Friend or Foe. LATimes.com. April 10, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Internet Archive Sued for Copyright Infringement
“An ongoing lawsuit between a company and a popular archive of Web pages raises questions about whether the archive unavoidably violates copyright laws while providing a valuable service, according to attorneys and an independent law expert.
“The San Francisco-based nonprofit Internet Archive was created in 1996 to preserve Web pages that will eventually be deleted or changed. More than 55 billion pages are stored there.
“A health care company claims the archive didn’t do enough to protect copyrighted information that helped a competing firm win a trademark suit.”
Joe Mandak. Internet Archive’s Value, Legality Debated in Copyright Suit. MercuryNews.com. March 31, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Industry-Supported Net Neutrality Bill Killed in Committee
“A Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday defeated a proposal that would have levied extensive regulations on broadband providers and forcibly prevented them from offering higher-speed video services to partners or affiliates.
“By an 8-to-23 margin, the committee members rejected a Democratic-backed “Net neutrality” amendment to a current piece of telecommunications legislation. The amendment had attracted support from companies including Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and their chief executives wrote a last-minute letter to the committee on Wednesday saying such a change to the legislation was ‘critical.'”
Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache. Republicans Defeat Net Neutrality Proposal. News.com. April 5, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Trademark Keyword Cases Reach Different Results
Several outlets over the last few days have discussed a pair of federal cases that analyze the trademark implications involved in using ad keyword systems on major search engines. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the most recent decision, in Merck v. Mediplan Health Consulting.
Last year, pharmaceuticals giant Merck sued several Canadian online pharmacies for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and a state claim of false advertising. Merck alleged the pharmacies had used the company’s ZOCOR trademark on Web sites and in ad keywords. (Zocor is a drug used to lower cholesterol.) The defendants moved to dismiss the trademark infringement claim because it did not constitute trademark use in commerce.
According to Marquette law professor Eric Goldman, the Merck court concluded that keyword purchases are invisible to consumers and therefore do not constitute a trademark use in commerce. As a result, the defendants are able to dispose of the claims over the keyword purchases on a motion to dismiss.
One of the reasons this decision is significant is because the Southern District of New York (and by extension, the Second Circuit) is one of the most influential courts in the country on intellectual property cases.
The other case is Edina Realty, Inc. v. TheMLSonline.com, in which the District of Minnesota determined that there was enough of a likelihood of trademark infringement to move the case forward to trial. This result is fundamentally opposite from the holding in the Merck case.
Elinor Mills. Ruling Adds To Confusion Over Legality of Keywords. News.com. March 31, 2006.
See also:
Eric Goldman. Keyword Purchases Not a Trademark Use — Merck v. Mediplan Health Consulting. March 31, 2006.
43(b)log. Important Keyword Decision from SDNY. March 31, 2006.
Eric Goldman. Competitor’s Keyword Ad Purchase May Be Trademark Infringement — Edina Realty v. TheMLSonline. March 29, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
FOIA Reveals Extensive DOJ Subpoena List
“In its effort to uphold the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA), the U.S. Department of Justice is leaving no stone unturned. Its widely reported issuance of subpoenas to Internet search companies AOL, MSN, Google, and Yahoo is just the tip of the iceberg: The government has demanded information from at least 34 Internet service providers, search companies, and security software firms.
“Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by InformationWeek, the Department of Justice disclosed that it has issued to subpoenas to a broad range of companies that includes AT&T, Comcast Cable, Cox Communications, EarthLink, LookSmart, SBC Communications (then separate from AT&T), Symantec, and Verizon.”
Thomas Claburn. Justice Department Subpoenas Reach Far Beyond Google. InformationWeek. March 29, 2006
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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