Monday Miscellany

1 Latest reported copyright decisions

The July 2005 number of Sweet & Maxwell's European Copyright together with Design Reports contains but iii decisions:

* Microsoft Corp v European Commission, the Court of First Instance's analysis of whether Microsoft's failure to unbundle elements of its software constituted an abuse of a dominant pose nether Article 82 of the EC Treaty;

* Tayplan Ltd v D&A Contracts, a Scottish Court of Session representative that deals alongside the niceties of perfecting championship inwards copyright;

* Coffey v Warner/Chappell Music Ltd, a delightful High Court determination of Mr Justice Blackburne to the effect that "voice expression", "pitch contour" together with certainly elements of "syncopation of or around" words did non constitute protectable copyright dependent acre matter. Having held accordingly, he dismissed the claim that Coffey's vocal was infringed past times Madonna's "Nothing Really Matters".

says, wherever inwards Europe (or fifty-fifty beyond Europe) y'all are, if y'all know of whatever representative y'all intend should last reported inwards the ECDR, drib co-blogmeister Jeremy a draw here.


2 Now a patent for Smileys?

This is Microsoft's U.S.A. patent application 0050156873, filed final calendar week for the creation together with transfer of emoticons. According to the Abstract:

"Methods together with devices for creating together with transferring custom emoticons let a user to adopt an arbitrary icon equally an emoticon, which tin together with then last represented past times a grapheme sequence inwards real-time communication. In i implementation, custom emoticons tin last included inwards a message together with transmitted to a receiver inwards the message. In to a greater extent than or less other implementation, grapheme sequences representing the custom emoticons tin last transmitted inwards the message instead of the custom emoticons inwards gild to save functioning of text messaging. At the receiving end, the grapheme sequences are replaced past times their corresponding custom emoticons, which tin last retrieved locally if they cause got been previously received, or tin last retrieved from the sender inwards a classify communication from the text message if they cause got non been previously received".

Comments -- equally if whatever were needed -- tin last works life on ZDNet Great Britain , which attacks Microsoft for seeking to patent Smileys. P2PNet explains that its's non exactly Smileys that Microsoft is seeking to patent but inwards representative y'all nonetheless needed whatever convincing that the USPTO issues patents which become beyond reasonable justification, here's a shortie from the Boston Herald on how the U.S.A. patent organisation has gone aground.


3 Charity starts at home: but what of IP rights?

works life this feisty slice on command of intellectual holding rights created past times charities, inwards blackenterprise.com. It seems that the Scottish Executive is requiring charities to assign to it the intellectual holding rights inwards whatever software, publicity materials together with question results that arise inwards lawsuit of the Scottish Executive having funded them.

The writer argues that charities should non last ordered to give upwards all IPR equally a thing of course, but that the number of whether the Scottish Executive takes command of it is a thing to last discussed together with negotiated on the merits of each slice of funding.

agrees, if alone to spare the Scottish Executive the embarrassment of holding a portfolio of potentially conflicting or competing intellectual holding rights which it has neither the mightiness nor the inclination to exploit commercially.