This Blog Is in Trouble

. . . if THIS patent application ever issues.  "Business method protecting jokes."

"Priorities and Special Projects of the United States Copyright Office"

The Copyright Office has released a document entitled "Priorities and Special Projects of the United States Copyright Office."  This discusses the Office's goals for the next several years.

2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers Patent Litigation Study

The 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers Patent Litigation Study is now available.  PWC often comes up with interesting observations, particularly regarding non-practicing entities (NPEs) and patent litigation.  See page 7 for the summary.

Oral Argument in Viacom v. YouTube

On Tuesday, October 18, 2011, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in Viacom v. YouTube and Premier League v. YouTube.  Although no transcript is available, articles about the oral argument are here, here, here, here and here.  Mark Lemley's opinion piece on the lawsuit is here.

My favorite line from the reported articles is a comment by YouTube's lawyer, responding to the plaintiffs' arguments that YouTube should have done more to screen or filter for allegedly infringing works:

"We've done A, B, C and D and plaintiffs are saying, 'You should have done E and F,'" he said. "If we did E and F, they would say, 'You should have done G and H.'"

A decision is likely to take at least several months.