Net Neutrality, CLE, Blurred Lines, and Recent Events

Your Action Needed to Restore Net Neutrality


Senator Ed Markey introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution in the Senate, and Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Mike Doyle have introduced a CRA resolution in the House of Representatives that would restore net neutrality.  We encourage you to check out these web pages for CNN, Public Knowledge and Fight for the Future for further explanation of the resolution and information on steps you can take to tell Congress you support the use of the CRA resolution to restore net neutrality.

 

 

Highlights from IIPSJ's 15th Annual IP and Social Justice CLE Program at the Howard University School of Law

Check out our website for highlights from this year's CLE program.  We take a look back at 15 years of providing CLE programming on IP and Social Justice, as well as provide a summary of the event and some of the panels including student reporting on various panels available at the specified links

 

 

Update on Blurred Lines

As reported last month, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the jury verdict in favor of Marvin Gaye's Estate. As this blog post by author and creator David Newhoff demonstrates, the debates in the music world are far from over.  Check out this blog post by David Newhoff, Blurred Lines in More Ways Than One - Part III.

"As mentioned in Part II, I didn’t expect to write several posts about this litigation, but it turns out that “Blurred Lines” (Williams v. Gaye) raises several copyright issues—doctrinal, cultural, and historical—worthy of consideration and not easily condensed into a single article. In the first post, I alluded to an editorial written in 2015 by scholars Lateef Mtima and Sean O’Connor supporting the outcome in Williams from a historical perspective, asserting that traditional means of registering works and identifying infringement disfavored artists of color."  Click the link in the title to read more.

 
IIPSJ Community IP Education and Outreach

On April 19, 2018, IIPSJ co-sponsored the community IP Education program  “Respecting IP: What Aspiring Innovators and Entrepreneurs Should Know” which was hosted by the Washington D.C. Chapter of Young African Professionals (YAP). The program keynote was given by Karen Temple, Acting Register of Copyrights and panellists included Prof. Mtima, Mariessa Terrell, and Adia Burriss Coleman.  For more information, visit http://www.yapdc.org.

 

 

 

Thursday, April 26 was World IP Day.  This year's theme was: Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity.  More information on this year's celebration can be found on WIPO's website.

 

by iipsj

For Graffiti Artists, Musicians, Small Business Owners, and more

This month's newsletter includes links to information on:
-  Copyrights and graffiti artists;
-  IP legal clinics (free & low-cost legal services);
-  Update on the Blurred Lines litigation and the impact on
Marvin Gaye's estate and other African American artists; and
-  IP resources for small business owners.

 
Copyright Claims for Graffiti Artists

In the article Graffiti: Copyrightable Art, Illegal Activity or Both? on the IP Watchdog website, author Katie Scholz discusses copyright claims for use of graffiti art without the artist's permission.

 

Copyright Claims for Graffiti Artists

In the article Graffiti: Copyrightable Art, Illegal Activity or Both? on the IP Watchdog website, author Katie Scholz discusses copyright claims for use of graffiti art without the artist's permission.

 

 

A Deep Dive on Legal Clinics in the Field of IP Law

Professors and IP Law Clinic Directors Cynthia Dahl and Victoria Phillips have written a research paper detailing the increasing need for and role of legal clinics in the field of IP.  You can download their paper, Innovation & Tradition: A Survey of Intellectual Property & Technology Legal Clinics here.

And check out the Legal Services page under the Resources tab on our website for a list of some of the programs providing pro bono services in the field of IP.

 

 

Blurred Lines Decision a Social Justice Win?

Professors Sean O'Connor, Lateef Mtima, and Steven Jamar have written the op-ed, 'Blurred Lines' Ruling Brings Justice to Composers Like Marvin Gaye, which was published in The Seattle Times.  In it, they explain why the decision advances social justice for songwriters that are aural composers and don't use European-based sheet music.  Check out the article for the full discussion.

If you would like to read a more in-depth analysis of the jury verdict and the trial court's decision (affirmed by the Ninth Circuit) and the social justice implications, take a look at the IIPSJ Scholarship page which includes the 2015 Mtima article The Blurred Lines Controversy: Attaining IP Social Justice for African American Composers.

 

Small Business IP Resources

-  World Intellectual Property Organization's practical guide on trademarks for small and medium-sized businesses.

-  The U.S. Small Business Administration has a variety of online courses for small business owners including courses on IP.  To start, check out their video Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights.

by iipsj