In its 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, the United States Trade Representative warns: “Commercial-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting cause significant financial losses for U.S. right holders and legitimate businesses, undermine critical U.S. comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of American workers, and pose significant risks to consumer health and safety.” […]
Tag Archives: congress
Momentum in Congress Builds for… Something
July 4, 2019
Patent
In last May’s newsletter we told you about proposed changes to the patent statute to, hopefully, correct some of the damage that the Supreme Court has done to the U.S. patent system over the last decade. Among other things, the Supreme Court has expanded the judge-made categories of inventions that cannot be patented to include […]
Congress Takes a Swing at Patentable Subject Matter
June 20, 2019
Patent
There are some great inventions that cannot be protected by patent. Laws of nature, such as electromagnetism , cannot be patented. Abstract ideas, such as mathematical formulae , cannot be patented. Natural phenomena, such as a naturally occurring bacteria, cannot be patented. These judge-made exceptions to ‘patentable subject matter’ do not appear in the statute.* In recent years, the Supreme Court has issued decisions that […]
Ask Dr. Copyright – Music Modernization Act
October 18, 2018
Ask Dr. Copyright, Copyright
Dear Doc: Barry Pincus sang, “I write the songs” back in 1975. (You probably know Barry as Manilow. But Bruce Johnston (of Beach Boys fame) actually wrote “I Write the Songs”, and it was first recorded by The Captain and Tennille (who were more famous for “Muskrat Love” which, it seems, was a favorite of […]