Several recording companies have sued Russian site AllofMP3.com for copyright infringement. The site is not precisely a P2P sharing network, it is more analogous to “legal” download sites where users purchase individual songs and albums at amazingly low prizes. The problem is that the site does not pay royalties to Read more…
(via IPKat). Halliburton has lost its appeal on its case against Smith international with regards to software for designing drill bits. The software patent involved in Halliburton v Smith protected a software simulation program for designing the drill bits. Halliburton sued Smith, claimed it held patents in both the drill Read more…
The latest issue of SCRIPTed is now online. In this issue: Editorial: Alastair Kent, “Patients and IP – Should we care?” Special Issue on Privacy: Lilian Edwards, “Introduction to the Special Issue” When personal data, behavior and virtual identities become a commodity: Would a property rights approach matter?, Corien Prins Read more…
Continuing the series of stories from Costa Rica, the Costa Rican govenrment has started to implement a series of measures to reduce the digital divide between the information haves and have-nots. Starting in February, the government will be offering computer and internet connections at affordable prices. For as little as Read more…
The Commission on International Affairs of the Costa Rican legislature has approved CAFTA amidst strong opposition from students, intellectuals and union leaders. The vote in the commission was 6-3 in favour of sending the agreement to the plenary for it to be voted. As mentioned earlier, some of the less Read more…
(via Patentingart list) It is true that to many of us IP is a source of income, but is it a matter of life and death? One man in Chicago thought so. Truck driver and sometimes inventor Joe Jackson murdered patent lawyer Michael McKenna and two other people at the Read more…
I may be the only UK-based technology and IP blogger that has not yet mentioned the Gowers report. Because I’m in Costa Rica, I’ve been tempted to ignore writing about the report because so many people have already commented intelligently on it. Perhaps my only take is to stress again Read more…
Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias Sánchez met in the White House with George W. Bush to talk about debt, democracy in Latin America, and of course CAFTA. As mentioned in earlier posts, Costa Rica has yet to ratify and implement the agreement. Bush was briefed about Read more…
A Spanish court in Pontevedra has ruled in favour of the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE) against a café named Direccion000. SGAE initiated action against the cafe to claim royalties for de public performance of music in the locale, while the owners claimed that they did not have Read more…
In the age of broadband, Blackberries, 3G and wireless, we have come to expect 24/7 online access all the time. But what happens when the Internet breaks? Costa Rica and the rest of Central America are connected to the Internet through two fibre optic cables: Maya-1 and most importantly Arcos-1. Read more…