Thursday, August 28, 2008

Government Documents

"Copyright Office Proposes Amendments to Regulations Regarding Section 115." U.S. Copyright Office. 17 July 2008. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2008/349.html.

This was an interesting view on the ways in which copyright laws can be changed within the U.S. Government. With the rapid growth of technology, it has become vital that the government find ways to grow and change with the times. In this press release, the U.S. Copyright Office is attempting to pass an amendment that will allow for legal downloads of music through phonorecords. With this passed, it could create for more opportunities for businesses to generate revenue from their own intellectual property. As copyright piracy has become more and more prevalent, the government has attempted to find ways to alleviate some of the revenues lost for these artists.

"Copyright Office Releases Online Registration of Claims." U.S. Copyright Office. 30 June 2008. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2008/346.html.

This press release shows the U.S. Government's decision to begin allowing copyright registration to take place on the Internet. I was surprised that the government had not already been doing this by this time. Being able to allow artists to register their work through the Web will be beneficial to all parties. The government will not have to face the ungodly task of reviewing every caseload file. They will now have a more neat and organized file to look up electronically. I was surprised, reading this, that they had not made an electronic registration form available to the public much sooner than this. An electronic registration form will now make copyrights a much easier task to finish. It is important that the artists are able to easily register their intellectual property in an organized manner.

International Websites

Intellectual Property and International Trade. Australian Government Department Foreign Affairs and Trade. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.dfat.gov.au/ip/.

This site showed a different view of intellectual property. It is important to see how other countries view this field. According to this Web site, the field of intellectual property in Australia is valued at around $30 billion. Even though that seems like such a great deal of revenue, it is amazing to know that that is just a fraction of the value of intellectual property in the United States. With most of the top movie studios grossing over $1 billion per year, along with the top studios in other fields, the United States makes a great deal of money from intellectual property. This site also explores into the details of the exploitation of intellectual property. Protecting one's property is a big issue for the government with the convenience of being able to just take the property without having to pay for it.

International Intellectual Property Institute. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.iipi.org/index.asp.

I found this site to be quite "all-encompassing" when it comes to international intellectual property law. It covers every region of the globe, from Africa to Asia and back to the United States. Any news that is relevant, pertaining to intellectual property, will be presented on this site. I also like that it covers every distinguishable area of intellectual property law as well. It has topics ranging from arts and entertainment to news in the medical field. Within each region, you are introduced to workshops and events that are taking place to further the field of learning in intellectual property law. The main goal for this site is for the world to work in unison in regards to intellectual property in order to reach economic sustainability in the field for all people.

Statistically-based Sources

Hayes, Simon. "Piracy Stats Don't Add Up." Australian IT. 7 Nov. 2006. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,20713160-15306,00.html.

I liked this source because it really brought to issue one of the biggest dilemmas in the field of intellectual property law. Copyright piracy is something that artists and their lawyers have been battling since the beginning of the World Wide Web. With the Internet, a person can easily find intellectual property and download it without facing a cost to own the work. When a person does this, the artist that created the work does not benefit from owning the property. In this article, it is stating that Australia lost nearly $361 million in revenue for intellectual property. This article is also stating that the numbers may be a little overblown, causing a hyperbole of statistics. Either way, it is still obvious that the advent of the Internet has caused some great financial loss for artists.

"WIPO Patent Report: Statistics on Worldwide Patent Activity (2007 Edition)." World Intellectual Property Organization. 2007. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/patent_report_2007.html.

This site was absolutely stocked with statistics for patents in the world. I really learned a great deal of information that would be great for an article about patents. According to this site, there were 1.66 million patents filed worldwide in 2005. This was a 7% increase from the year before. This was interesting because the increase was more than was the norm every year since 1995. Since 1995, the average increase of patents filed each year was 4.7%. This site also goes into more detail by breaking the statistics into smaller categories, such as country of origin, residents filing for patents, non-residents filing for patents and many more. I feel that this is a must-have site for a journalist writing about this field because of the abundance of information it gives you. I recommend this site.

Government Agencies

Intellectual Property Rights Training Program Database. 2008. Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. 28 Aug. 2008. http://www.training.ipr.gov/.

This is quite the site! I received a great deal of links from this database. This site was formed from the IPR Training Coordination Group which is responsible for offering information and training to professionals within the field. It also gives a great deal of information about TRIPs, which is Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. TRIPs is the worldwide agreement about the trading of products that are considered intellectual property. It states that countries owning the intellectual property in question are protected from losing their control of the property across foreign lands. Another thing I really like about this site is the fact that it also has many links to other sources for intellectual property. As a journalist, it is important to be able to view as many sources as possible, and this site is great for that.

United States Patent and Trademark Office. 25 Aug. 2008. The United States Department of Commerce. 28 Aug. 2008 http://uspto.gov/.

This was another great government site. The United States Patent and Trademark Office is the premier site to go to to find new breakthroughs and information in the field of intellectual property. This site shares all top news about governmental projects being undertaken. It is also the home for all documents and legislation within this field. I browsed through this site for a great amount of time and was amazed at the abundance of material available to the public. Anyone, from an IP lawyer to an average joe, can access this site and learn about patents, copyrights and trademarks. There are topics on here to show artists and inventors how to file for patents and copyrights on the site. I found this site very easy to navigate and recommend this site for any journalist looking to do some background research on this field.

For-Profit Businesses

American Intellectual Property Law Association. 2008. AIPLA. 28 Aug. 2008 https://www.aipla.org/template.cfm.

This site seems very beneficial to be a part of if you are an intellectual property lawyer. It has a great deal of variety from the site. It is a site that you have to pay to receive all the information you may be looking for though. That makes the site seem a little too excessive. There are other sites that do not ask for a fee that can give you the information you are looking for when writing an article. One thing this site does have is more background information about the basics of intellectual property. I found this site interesting because, as someone who is interested in possibly pursuing a career in this field, it offers every opportunity to learn more about the field and appreciate its intricacies and differences from other fields of law. It also offers many contacts that are ready to help answer any questions a person may have about the field.

The New York Intellectual Property Law Association. NYIPLA. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.nyipla.org/.

This site is much like the one above but with more of a regional feel. The site above was based on a more national level while this site focuses on the work taking place within the New York area. One thing I liked about this site more than the AIPLA site was that it was more direct with its basic information. Because the site is focused on a smaller area, it is a smaller more compact site. I was able to find background information very easily. I liked that they put all of their information in basic terms. For example, they spelled out all aspects of trademarks and copyrights. I had a better understanding of the terms just by reading their thorough definitions. Although much of the information on the site would only be suitable for one area of the country, it offers links to other sites that could also be of assistance.

Non-Profit Associations

National Intellectual Property Researchers Association. 2000. NIPRA. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.nipra.org/.

The National Intellectual Property Researchers Association is a site that really surprised me. I was amazed at the amount of work this site does, especially for a non-profit organization. Their site states that they work each day to "have rapid and unhindered access to patent and trademark information, and that the information the USPTO disseminates be of the highest possible accuracy, reliability and retrievability". They act as a watch dog of the government and their handling of the field of intellectual property law. They review patent, trademark and copyright filings each day. They are an interesting source because of the amount of research they do on the field. The NIPRA is a site to check out for sure.

World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO. 28 Aug. 2008 http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en.

Talk about a site with some variety! The World Intellectual Property Organization is a by-product of the United Nations and its goal is "developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest". This site includes a great deal of information about international treaties between countries as well as background information about intellectual property law. This site also offers a great deal of news and event information pertaining to the field, as well as training databases to teach people about the uses of intellectual property and how to protect your own work.

Online Reference Sites

Nayak, Anuradha, and Manish Lakhawat. "Cybersquatting and Trademark Infringement." ICFAI Journal of Cyber Law 7 (2008): 54-60. Aug. 2008. Ohio University. EBSCOhost. Alden Library, Athens. 28 Aug. 2008.

EBSCOhost did a great job, like always, with helping me find a great article that would be very helpful for this field. This article covered information about cybersquatting and trademark infringement. I learned, from this article, that cybersquatting is the act of controlling a Web site that is not owned by that person. By cybersquatting on a site, you are able to receive the profits from a site that someone else had earned. I also learned about trademark infringement, which involves a business of some sort using the trademark of another business in order to make profits. This was a great site that offered so many examples about problems within the field of intellectual property. Lets face it, as a journalist, we will probably be writing most articles about problems that took place within the field. This site gives great information to make any journalist seem like an expert.

Segan, Sascha. "Copyrights- and Wrongs." PC Magazine Aug. 2008: 54-54. Aug. 2008. Ohio University. EBSCOhost. Alden Library, Athens. 28 Aug. 2008.

I really liked this article as well. I also found this through EBSCOhost. This article shows a negative view on intellectual property law. The man who wrote this article is against the idea of copyright laws. This is because he feels that copyrights take away from the progress of science. He is against the thought of profiting from a copyright 50 years after creating the work. In today's society, once you copyright something it is yours for life and also is your property years after your demise. I do agree with what this writer is saying and it really gives you a great break from all of the positive, monotonous news about intellectual property law. It does not provide a great deal of facts but helps give journalists a feel for what some of the public feels about intellectual property law.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Experts

Schalnat, Ria, Patent Attorney, Frost Brown Todd LLC, Cincinnati, OH, (513) 651-6426, rschalnat@fbtlaw.com

Ria Schalnat is an established patent attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. I actually had the pleasure of speaking to her for my interview portion of the class. She was an incredibly bright, passionate person who loves her area of work. She is an attorney for one of the largest law firms in the country, Frost Brown Todd LLC. She has been practicing law in the field of intellectual property law for over 15 years. She is also the president of CincyIP, which is the main authority for intellectual property law in Cincinnati. I found Ria to be one of my best sources for information when it came to this field of research.

Crowne, James, Director of Communications, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Washington, D.C., (703) 412-4353, jcrowne@aipla.org

James Crowne was another person I had the pleasure to speak with during the interview portion of the course. He spoke with such eloquence and intelligence about the subject of intellectual property law. As Director of Communications for the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Crowne is responsible for educating politicians and political workers about new trends and laws coming into place in this field. As a veteran in IP, with more than 25 years of experience, Crowne is someone that is happy to help out journalists with information about the field and educating anyone who has an interest.

Brauneis, Robert, Director of the Intellectual Property Law Program, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., (202) 994-6138, rbrauneis@law.gwu.edu

Professor Robert Brauneis is one of the world's leading authorities in the field of intellectual property law. As Director of the Intellectual Property Law Program at George Washington University, Brauneis leads one of the top IP law schools in the nation and is responsible for making sure the school maintains such a stellar reputation. A Harvard Law grad, Brauneis was a full-time lawyer for over 20 years in Washington D.C. As a leader for one of the top IP law schools in the country, he is aware of the trends involved in intellectual property, thus making him a viable source for this field.

Menell, Peter, Intellectual Property Law Professor, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, (510) 642-5489, pmenell@law.berkeley.edu

This man is absolutely brilliant. His academic credentials are absolutely amazing. The man went to M.I.T. for undergrad, got his master's from Stanford, his law degree from Harvard and then his Ph.D. from Stanford. He is one of the most tenured professors at the top Intellectual Property Law School in the nation. As a professor at Berekeley, Menell has access to the best minds in the country and is in the area where intellectual property law was first created. He is the author of many books within the field and is sought after for interviews in regards to intellectual property law. If there is a question you need answered in this field, Professor Menell would be on a short list of people to talk to get the best information possible.

Armstrong, Timothy, Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, (513) 556-0171, timothy.armstrong@uc.edu

Professor Timothy Armstrong is another great mind in the field of intellectual property law. Another great thing about him is that he has a very open schedule which allows him to help out his students or other people that have questions about the field. As a journalist, being able to find a resource that has time to help is something that is so invaluable. He has done a great amount of research within the field of IP and is well-versed with government actions in regards to the field. As a professor, he spends a great deal of time studying and staying up-to-date on the trends of intellectual property. Someone like Professor Armstrong is a perfect source to use.

Multimedia Resources


“Intellectual Property” Youtube. 1 May 2008. 25 August 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eejH0ANk-M.

This was quite the interesting short video. The video features J. Craig Williams, an intellectual property lawyer for the Williams Lindberg Law Firm in Newport Beach, California. It focuses on the problems IP lawyers face in intellectual property. Mr. Williams talks about the problems businesses face in regards to copyright piracy and trademark infringement. It is interesting to hear a lawyer talk about this instead of having to read an article because you get a better feel for how the lawyer responds to each issue. It makes writing about a certain topic more interesting. I thought this was a great video when needing sources involving IP problems and issues. I would most definitely take another look at this resource if I ever needed more information on those topics.

"Intellectual Property Law: Patents & Trademarks" Youtube. 15 June 2008. 25 August 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yp_Xj6YshM.

This video gave more of a background to the field of intellectual property law. This video features Michael N. Cohen, an intellectual property lawyer. It really gives you a thorough background of the terms and aspects of intellectual property. This lawyer appears to have a great knowledge for the field which makes this video more interesting to watch. His descriptions are well thought out and intelligent, which makes getting information from the video easier. It's really the same as much of the information that has been found in articles, but it makes it easier to get through since the man is fairly interesting to listen to. I would recommend this site if you really need background information. It will not be helpful if you are looking for more in-depth material.

"Copyright & Piracy part 1" Teacher Tube. 7 March 2007. 25 August 2008. http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0760af59d0baf5acbb84.

I absolutely LOVED this video. It was so entertaining and informational. I truly wish that all videos could encompass the education and entertainment the way that this video had. As a journalist, you do not feel like you are doing research when these are the types of videos you get to learn from. I felt like I was watching a video on MTV or something, but the difference in this video is that it gave me a great deal of information about copyright piracy. I really love learning about copyright piracy because it is such a prevalent issue in the world today. The music and movie industries are losing millions upon millions of dollars because of copyright piracy. This video exploits the fact that the public is taking advantage of these industries due to the ways a person can take this property without having to spend a dime. Very interesting video. I recommend this to all journalists working this beat!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Newspaper/Magazine Articles

Eskicioglu, Ahmet. "Protecting Intellectual Property in Digital Multimedia Networks." July 2003. IEEE Computer Society. 20 Aug. 2008 http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/dlabstoc.jsp?resourcepath=/dl/mags/co/&toc=comp/mags/co/2003/07/r7toc.xml&doi=10.1109/mc.2003.1212689

This was an interesting article that went into detail about protecting intellectual property in various forms of mediums. It becomes a difficult task to protect intellectual property once it hits the Internet. This article goes to lengths to discuss the ways in which many businesses have tried to avoid getting full pieces of work from hitting the Web site. I thought that this was an intriguing article because it gives the reader some feel for what businesses and artists go through to save their work from being exploited in this area. I believe that this article can give a great background to a writer that needs some assistance with problems in intellectual property.

Granelli, James. "AT&T to target pirated content." Los Angeles Times. 13 June 2007.20 Aug. 2008 http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/13/business/fi-piracy13.

Wow. I am amazed with this article. I read it over about five times and it is incredible that some of the things have happened the way they have in intellectual property law. I loved the writing that Mr. Granelli provided to the reader. This article is about AT&T, the largest Internet provider in the United States, has teamed up with the major U.S. movie and music studios to find the most frequent offenders. According to this article, the major U.S. studios lost $2.3 billion in 2006 to online piracy and an additional $3.8 billion to bootleg DVDs. They are now fighting back, by tracking users and monitoring their illegal habits. They do all this without breaking any privacy laws. This is a must-read article for anyone writing material for intellectual property law.

Crutsinger, Martin. "12 Nations Put on Copyright Piracy List." Washington Post. 30 Apr. 2007.20 Aug. 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/ar2007043000501.html.

This was another great article that brought to light the struggles the United States has with international copyright laws. The Internet has the ability to reach anyone across the globe. This may be an amazing tool, but it has also been a curse for people involved with intellectual property. The fact that the Internet does not have boundaries means that all areas of the globe can get access to free materials. Once material has hit the Web, protection for the intellectual property can become very shaky. There are many nations that do not always hold up their part of the copyright protection laws. This is the reason why President Bush placed 12 nations on a watch list to monitor their control of copyright piracy. These countries have allowed their residents to basically steal property of American artists without any repercussions. Great article.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Print Reference Books

Gader-Shafran, Rachel. Intellectual Property Law Dictionary. New York: Law Journal P, 2004.

This is a very good resource for for any term used within the intellectual property field. Within this field, there are a great deal of terms that the average person would not understand. The IP lawyers have a language and lingo different from that of most people. Terms such as exclusionary rights will need to be broken down in a more base language for the average reader will have an understanding for what is taking place within this field. It is also important for the journalist to have a great understanding for the work so I feel like this is a great source to use when dealing with unknown terms.

Elias, Stephen. Nolo's Intellectual Property Law Dictionary (Patent, Copyright & Trademark: A Desk Reference to Intellectual Property Law). 1st ed. Berkeley, CA: NOLO, 1985.

This is another dictionary that gives the journalist a great background on the unknown terms and terms that are too complicated to understand. I feel that these are the most important sources because it is of the utmost importance to be able to understand the language of the field if you are writing articles for it. Whether it be this source or the source above this, it is key to be able to use one of these references when reporting this beat. Intellectual property law is not the simplest form of law and it is important to understand the language and then be able to translate that to the public.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Trade Magazines and Scholarly Articles

Carson, Dale L. "Trade Secret Law". Wiggin and Dana Publications. 31 Oct. 2000. 25 Aug. 2008 .

This article is not one to use in every case when dealing with intellectual property law. This deals more with patent infringement and some of the ways in which the government allows some corporations to avoid breaking patent infringement when working on certain inventions. These type of examples deal with the creation of new medicines and other types of scientific advancements. It gives a great deal of examples of when these situations have taken place and the actions that took place. This article is one that could be used in regards to research when a journalist is facing a piece about patent infringement or something involving the government pardoning groups to use materials that are protected by these laws.

Scotchmer, Suzanne. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Cumulative Research and the Patent Law." Journal of Economic Perspectives 5 (1991): 29-41.

This is another source that can only be used when dealing with certain areas of intellectual property law. This article went into great statistical detail about Patent Law and the development of the practice over the years. I found some of the statistical information to be very intriguing. Patent laws have changed over the years and this research shows the areas in which it has expanded. I think that, as a journalist writing in this field, it is important to know the numbers behind the actions so this is a great source to come back to if the issue of patent infringement arises.

Vaver, David. Intellectual Property Law: Copyright, Patents, Trademarks. Canadian Journal of Communication. 1998. 3 Aug. 2008 http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/1043/949.

Now this is an article for the ultimate intellect! What an absolutely deep article about intellectual property law. Mr. Vaver wrote with such eloquence and intelligence with this article. I feel that I learned a great deal of information about the field and I am looking at the field in a different way. This article talks about the way copyright laws and trademark laws are carried out as well as the patent laws. There were parts of this article that were too intelligent for my understanding which may make this a difficult source to use at times. If you are a journalist, and want to use this source, just use it with caution. Make sure you are using the source correctly and in the way you intended.

Online Blogs

Claessen, Rolf. IP Newsflash. 3 Aug. 2008 http://www.ipnewsflash.com/.

This was a really great blog that I ran across. They boast the fact that they present all the up-to-date news in the field of intellectual property law. I found it very convenient to be able to browse one page to find any relevant or news breaking stories that would be important to report on. According to the blog "IP Newsflash is for time-hungry patent professionals who want to stay up to date but dislike the tedious task of browsing through countless sources of information". With the amount of work lawyers and journalists do each day, it is great to find a blog that can offer you the IP news in such an organized manner. This is definitely a site to come back to.


New, William. Intellectual Property Watch. 3 Aug. 2008 http://ip-watch.org/index.php.

This blog covers the field of international intellectual property law. I found this interesting because many of the blogs that I came across only covered a certain region within the United States. This blog actually covers the entire globe, covering the drama and deals that take place between nations and the work that takes place in other countries. Especially with the advent of the Internet, international intellectual property law is as prevalent as ever. The ways in which we get along with other nations in regards to this subject can decide if people make money from their property or if it will continue to be pirated as it is in other countries. This site is spread out, unlike the blog above. It is not as concerned about convenience, but it appears that they have a very professional site and that is what is most important. As an international blog source, I do like this site.

Books

Buchaca, John, and Henri J. Charmasson. Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks. New york: For Dummies, 2008.

Who doesn't love the For Dummies franchise of books. Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks For Dummies makes the field of intellectual property law seem like the easiest concept to grasp. Of course, this is not the case but it does do a great job of dumbing down the material to make anyone understand this field. Each area of intellectual property is described from top to bottom and leaves the reader feeling as if they could practice as an IP lawyer (or atleast fill out a patent registration form). A journalist could open this book and close it feeling confident that they could cover IP law. I could go on about the positives of this book, but I think I have reached my word limit!


Elias, Stephen. Patent, Copyright & Trademark. Ed. Lisa Goldoftas. Berkeley: NOLO, 2007.

Another great source that offers an abundance of background information for intellectual property law. I read a great review of this book on Amazon. They said that "The laws covering intellectual property--those products of the imagination with commercial value, such as fictional writing, software designs, product names, and mechanical inventions--have long boggled the minds of the uninitiated. With the advent of online commerce and publishing, the issues have only gotten more confusing. The new edition of Patent, Copyright & Trademark: A Desk Reference to Intellectual Property Law, by attorney Stephen Elias, offers plain-English explanations and practical advice on this increasingly complex topic. Elias covers everything from the laws themselves to their specific applications in different media". This book makes you appreciate the complexities of the field of intellectual property.

Landes, William M., and Richard A. Posner. The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law. New York: Belknap P, 2003.

This is another source that shows the complexities of intellectual property law. This goes into great detail about the economic side of the field. There is so much money available in the field and this book makes the common person aware of that. According to Amazon "this book takes a fresh look at the most dynamic area of American law today, comprising the fields of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secrecy, publicity rights, and misappropriation. Topics range from copyright in private letters to defensive patenting of business methods, from moral rights in the visual arts to the banking of trademarks, from the impact of the court of patent appeals to the management of Mickey Mouse. The history and political science of intellectual property law, the challenge of digitization, the many statutes and judge-made doctrines, and the interplay with antitrust principles are all examined".