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Intellectual Property News
Users May Be Unaware Of Threats From Filesharing Programs
The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has released a report that concludes that the distributors of five popular filesharing programs repeatedly deployed features that they knew or should have known could cause users to share files inadvertently. The report, Filesharing Programs and “Technological Features to Induce Users to Share,” identifies five features in recent versions of five popular filesharing programs that could cause users to inadvertently distribute to others downloaded files or their own proprietary or sensitive files.
“Computer programs that can cause unintended filesharing contribute to copyright infringement, and they threaten the security of personal, corporate, and governmental data,” noted Jon Dudas, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property—the Bush Administration’s point person on copyright policy.
The report shows that distributors of filesharing programs deployed features that could cause inadvertent sharing even after repeated warnings that these features could facilitate identity theft and breaches of personal and national security. For example, in 2003, two Congressional hearings were prompted by research indicating inadvertent sharing could be caused by search-wizard and share-folder features. After the hearings, many distributors adopted a Code of Conduct that prohibited use of these features. Nevertheless, in 2004 and 2005, many of these same distributors kept deploying more aggressive versions of search-wizard or share-folder features. Many distributors also deployed other features, like partial-uninstall and coerced-sharing features, that also had a known or obvious potential to cause inadvertent sharing. Read more at uspto.gov.
Intellectual property can be loaned out.
Intellectual property is treated as an asset that can be sold, bought, licensed, or even given away free.
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News about Intellectual Property cases in Alabama and nationwide:
Guilty Plea In Trade Secrets Case
Colm F. Connolly, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware; William D. Chase, Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore Federal Bureau of... Read more >
Definition:
In the United States, a grant by the federal government to an inventor of the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention.
Suggestive Term
Definition:
Is considered to be inherently distinctive and needs no proof of secondary meaning for registration or protection in court. For example, polar bear for parkas and coats merely suggests the kind of protection that a polar bear has from the cold.
License
Definition:
A contractual agreement from the copyright owner and another person, allowing them to exercise on or more rights is considered a license to use the work. Licenses are usually paid for in terms of royalty or fees.
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