Jonathan Coulton Considers a Copyright Case Against FOX

GLEE: THE MUSIC SEASON 4 on gleethemusic.com

Singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton has accused the TV show "Glee" that FOX ripped off his version of rap song ‘baby got back’. He recorded his cover of the 1990s hip hop classic in 2005, mashable.com wrote.

After he found out the song is very similar to his own cover, he twitted and his fans started to help him against FOX. "When I first started talking about this, people became really angry on my behalf," Coulton tells Mashable. He asked about examining the similarities between two on twitter to find real possibility that Glee uses his audio track.

To Read more about this issue, click the links below.
- His first tweet after he found out the music! 
- Two tracks beat-by-beat  

  

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Weekly Korean IP Headlines 01.30. 2013

Bloomberg reported on January 29th, Samsung Electronics co Japan Intellectual Property High Court to dismiss Apple Inc.’s appeal in a patent –infringement case won by the South Korean company in August 2012. Samsung and Apple representatives made their first oral arguments before Judge Shuhei Shiotsuki this week, and the next round will be held March 21, the judge said.

©Wootang01| Apple vs Samsung

In 2011, Apple file an infringement suit against Samsung in Japan and the judge said that Samsung did not violate the patents relating to the synchronization of video and music files with servers.  The case is one of dozens in which the world’s two largest Smartphone makers are using their patents to try to force each other into changing products or removing some models from store shelves according to Bloomberg.  Click here for more detailed information.

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Ray Charles Children won Copyright Dispute

US soul legend Ray Charles' children won a copyright dispute against the Ray Charles Foundation. The foundation had been tried to prevent them from reclaiming copyrights on about 60 of his songs, variety.com reported.

flickr.com | by Alan Light |

Ray Charles foundation had been claimed against children after they filed termination notices in 2010 to have ownership from Warner/Chappell Music. But the Warner/Chappell Music has not challenged the termination notices, the foundation did for royalties from the music. US District Judge Audrey Collins said that the foundation lacked standing to challenge against children’s efforts to recover the music.

The children stared reclaiming works last year including "Blackjack," "Come Back Baby," "Fool for You," "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "I Got a Sweetie," "I've Got a Woman," "Mary Ann" and "This Little Girl of Mine.", Variety added.

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Cosmetic Products Get Smart!

amorepacific.com (left) su-m37.co.kr (right) 

Korea cosmetic industry is developing with advanced technologies. When a product gets great hit, the other companies start to make similar product. In 2008, Amore Pacific, one of biggest cosmetic manufacture company, has launched a new product ‘IOPE Air Cushion’. 

They registered a patent application, and launched 6 more products with same technology. LG Household & Health Care launched ‘sum Air Rising Moist Cushion’ with similar to ‘IOPE Air Cushion’. Amore Pacific sued LG for infringement of patent and they want LG to stop making new products and discard all the products they already made.

                   

kipris.or.kr             

The liquid composition of the cosmetic product has viscosity that does not be poured from the case. The urethane foam holds the composition and the foundation puff technology are also patented.

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Funny Advertisements with creative stories

Introducing Funny Advertisements! 

ibelieveinadv.com

There is a handlebar, a saddle and 2 wheels around a panda and he is eating a leaf.
This scene tells us our cute panda ate the body of bicycle which made of bamboo. This is simple and cute story, and we can see the bicycle is really eco-friendly.

ad.co.kr

Ariel is a detergent for laundries from Sweden.  

The ad is on the back of white wedding dress and there is a muddy water stain in the middle.

And cartoon around the stain tells what happened to this dress and how the dress got dirt.

A woman holding a dress is coming out from a shop and dogs are running fast toward a pretty puppy. We all can imagine the next scene of it! 

ad.co.kr

This is a home monitoring system ad with funny stories.

The home monitoring system can watch inside of the house and tells the real story. A babysitter and kids are lying about how a baby kidnapped by aliens and a dragon set a fire. But the real reasons are on the screen of a mobile. This is an interesting ad and it tells people why their service is important.

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Design Protection System of South Korea and North Korea (1)

Korea went through a war, which resulted in the tragic division of the country.  50 years of division resulted differences in language, circumstance, life style, law and Intellectual Property System as well.  WIPS compared and researched ‘Design Protection System’ of both South and North Korea based on Design Map.


© NASA Goddard Photo and Video | Heavy Snow on the Korean Peninsula

The Transition Process of Design Protection System

South Korea enforced a law under the name of ‘Design Law’ in 1961 to protect design rights.  However, the enactment of South Korean design law reluctantly imitated Japanese design law.  After then, South Korea updated the design law several times and changed the name of the law to Design Protection Act in 2005.  

North Korea enforced a law under the name of ‘The Regulation of Trademark and Industrial Design’ in 1968 to protect trademarks and designs.  It was split into two different ‘Trademark Law’ and ‘Industrial Design Law’ through the revision in 1998.  

©  jordan_lloyd | Flickr

The Requirement of Design Registration

South Korean Design Protection Act Section 5 specifies that the design should meet the substantial requirements including novelty, creativity, industrial applicability, and non-violation of the enlarged concept of novelty.  In contrast, North Korean Industrial Design Law doesn’t specify prerequisites of the design registration.  

However, before North Korea revised the ‘Industrial Design Law’, ‘The Regulation of Trademark and Industrial Design’ had to meet the requirements including novelty, creativity, and applicability. 


Both South and North Korea similarly specify the restriction of design rights for the designs similar to the national flag and character of the international agency, and if the design reduces public morality, harm traditional custom in the Section 6 and Section 20 of each country’s Design Act.  However, North Korea added the section of restriction of design rights for the designs or trademarks similar to or same as the registered ones which is not exist in South Korea.  South Korea only has the adjustment section regarding breaking of trademark right and design right.

In South and North Korea, when the designer lost novelty due to the publication of the design, those cases are subject to a ‘The Exception to Loss of Novelty Regulation.’  South Korea requires the application for registration in 6 month from the loss of novelty; North Korea requires the application for registration in 3 month from the loss of novelty. But, North Korea limits the case only the industrial design or its prototype exposed in the exhibition. 

 

To be Continued...

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French Publishers Rejected Google's €50m Copyright Offer

flickr.com | by meneame comunicacions, sl |

Google failed to win a copyright deal with French publishers with €50m (USD $66.6m) offer. The French publishers said Google’s offer of €50m to index web content was too low and they wanted €100 million, Gigaom reported. (Originally reported in Le Monde) 

According to the article, French publishers rejected the €50moffer and demanded €70m to €100m.

French publishers also didn’t agree the way Google propose to disburse the money. They complained that Google spent too much money on sales.

Gigaom added that Google also had similar issue with Belgian newspapers in Dec. Google said they paid about $6m as a partnership venture, not a copyright fee. Read more about this case, clickhere.

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WIPS Sponsored 2013 KAUTM Annual Conference

January 16th to 18th, ‘2013 KAUTM (Korea Association of University Technology Transfer Management)’s Annual Conference of Technology Transfer & Commercialization’ has held at Jeju Island, Korea.


©WIPS | 2013 KAUTM Annual Conference

KAUTM, KARIT (Korea Association of Research Institute Technology Transfer Managers), and Korea Center for R&D Performance Support co-hosted this 17th KAUTM Annual Conference.  The main aim of the Conference was to share the good commercialization examples, discuss the vitalization of Educational–Industrial Cooperation and main business subjects, and build commercialization networks and patent strategies.

WIPS CO., Ltd. also took a part as a sponsor of the Conference.

WIPS held a presentation on the second day of the conference with the title of ‘The Methodology of Technology Transfer and Technology Commercialization Trend Analysis (RFID field) from the introduction of Technology Point of View’ by Jaesung Kim, the team leader of strategy analysis of WIPS.


©WIPS | 2013 KAUTM Annual Conference

After the presentations, an official meeting time was offered by KAUTM with TLO, companies, technology transfer specialized companies, and Patent offices.  WIPS also had consulting sessions with companies, institutions, and Education-Industrial Cooperation about technology transfer and commercialization.  

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Russian Railway Company Sues Apple over Copyright Infringement

Russia’s national railway company filed a lawsuit against Apple, Russia Today reported. It said that Apple infringed copyrights for using their logo. The company claimed $65,000 for the use of its logo illegally. They are trying to defend their right of logo in Apple’s online shop, a spokesperson for Russian Railways told that Rapsi legal news agency. The logo was used as part of a “Railway Tariff” app. The application provides estimates of cargo delivery costs and times across Russia.

Apple has already accused with this issue. Applewas accused by Swiss Railways and Cartier for copying designs, Russia Today added. Swiss Railways claimed that Apple uses its clock design in the new iOS6, and it was settled with $21 million of licensing fees. Cartier sued Apple for using its logo in 2009.

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Weekly Korean IP Headlines 01.23. 2013

This week, we would like to introduce Graphene indistry of Korea and its patent status based on BBC News article which quoted Cambridege IP and Korean Chosun Biz.

According to Korean Chosun Biz on January 17th,  Korea became the leading research country of the ‘wonder material,’ grapheme field.   UK’s BBC News quoted Cambridge IP on 15th, “Most striking of all the figures is that the South Korean electronics giant Samsung leads the corporate field with an immense total 407 patents.  America’s IBM is second with 134.” 

Graphene is a ‘honeycomb’ sheet of carbon just one atom thick basking in a sea of de=localized electrons. Since its discovery, grapheme has been seen to have great potential for many different areas of technological innovation. There are high hopes that one day it will be a replacement for silicon as the material for transistors in electronics. Andre Geim and Konstantin Noveslov of the University of Manchester win the Nobel Prize for Physics as a result of their breakthrough with this ‘wonder’ material.  According to BBC News, it is “far stronger than diamond, much more conductive than copper and as flexible as rubber.” 

© BBC | Graphene

It is also worth to noting that Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University leads the grapheme research with 134 patent publications among worldwide university institutes. From the international perspective, China leads the way with 2,200 patents to the US’s 1,754, and South Korea a close third at 1,160 and the next is UK with 54 patents. 


© BBC | Research Institue rank of number of graphne patent publicatiosn

It is considered that Korea became the leading country of grapheme research because entities recognized the value of grapheme, invested and cooperated with university institutes.

Professor Geim, told that many Western companies lack the ability to pursue research.  “Industry is more worried not about what can be done, but what competitors are doing – they’re afraid of losing the race.  There is a huge gap between academia and industry and this gap has broadened during the last few decades after the end of Cold War, so I try as much as I can to reach to the industry.  If something is happening in Korea it’s because Samsung have an institute-there is nothing like that in this country”

© BBC | Professor Geim

Transparency, strength, conductivity and the substance’s flexible and stable nature means that graphene has immense potential in the development of touch screens.  Other theoretical uses included enhancement of solar cells, aiding drug delivery and building new tissue in medicine.

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Korea's Best Intellectual Property Online Service, WIPS

WIPS is the only authorized government-designated private company in South Korea in the fields of Patents, Trademarks, and Industrial Designs. As the authorized IP search company by KIPO, over 200 intellectual property experts, attorneys, and many other our special members cover all clients to have the best IP research and analysis services. WIPS will continue developing online IP services and Korean IT technology. 

Please check our online services below. WIPS’ IP Search provides a full range of services for intellectual property rights - including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and industrial designs.

                         

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WIPS filmed YTN’s “Super Recruit”

WIPS filmed TV broadcast ‘Super Recruit’ 
from YTN Science Channel on November 19^th to 21^st 2012. 

The program is a reality survival show format, which encourages small and medium companies to hire science majored employees. WIPS participated as an employer who wants to hire a passionate and innovative science majored employee.

The episode was aired on January 21th 2012. 

First mission was 'blind interview'. The challengers had to have blind interview and pass the “missions” related to patent and innovation as applicants of total patent company, WIPS. 

The final passed applicant Sangho Lee became a real employee of WIPS.

Two days of filming has finished with the final announcement of CEO of WIPS, Hyoungchil Lee.  Here is the URL of full episode from YTN Science.

 

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Dutch court, Samsung Galaxy Tablet does not Infringe iPad’s Design

▲ Galaxy Tab

Samsung's Galaxy tablets do not infringe Apple's design patents, Dutch Court has ruled. Reuters wrote that the devices of Samsung electronics with round corners (Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and Galaxy Tab 7.7) did not copy from Apple’s iPad. The Dutch court also noted that the tablets have similar rectangular shape and rounded corners, but the design and presentation of devices are different, BGR.com added.

"We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples," Reuter added Samsung’s comment.

The German court also ruled that Samsung’s tablet did not copy from Apple’s rectangle corner design last year. The court said that there were “clear differences” between the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and the iPad, Reuters’ report.

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Apple, Amazon Ordered to Settle 'app store' Trademark Suit

Judge ordered Apple and Amazon to talk and settle negotiations over use of term “app store”, Bloomberg reported. Lead attorneys of both companies who have full authority to negotiate will meet on March 21 and settle the case.

amazon appstore 

Apple has applied the term “App Store” and started use “App Store” in 2008 as a trademark. Apple filed suit against Amazon which started its service “Amazon Appstore” in 2011, and Amazon said that Apple doesn’t have exclusive right for the term. 

The App Store has been successed with lots of applications and users. Appsore is available on Apple's mobile devices, and it announced earlier this month that App Store downloads have exceeded 40 billion, and almost half of those occurred in 2012 alone, appleinsider.com added.

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Instagram Loses Users after Copyright Policy Backlash

▲ Instagram Google Play capture

According to ibtimes, Instagram lost half daily users in a month. AppStats provided data, and it showed that Instagram lost more than half of all active users after changing its privacy policy and terms of use. It had 16.3 million daily active users in mid-December, but records only about 7.6 million daily users on 14 Jan.

▲ AppStats

Last month, Instagram decided to change its policy and terms of use. They introduced new terms of use that it could sell photos for advertising. Instagram got negative reactions from users and reverted to its old policy. But still, it lost users.

Here is the link to the new policy on instagram.com.

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YouTube and GEMA Fail to Copyright Damages Negotiation

flickr.com | by Rego-d4u.hu |

German royalty collection society GEMA has demanded YouTube to pay for its copyright damages after the negotiation between them broke down, musicweek reported.

GEMA filed a lawsuit last May and the court ruled that Youtube liable when users upload copyright-protected music without permission. Youtube decided to appeal and a spokeman of Youtube said “Even though the court confirmed that YouTube is a hosting platform, the ruling to implement filtering would be damaging for innovation and freedom of expression online,", pcworld wrote.

GEMA represents German composers and songwriters’ copyright. It also demanded that YouTube should have legal responsibilities for the videos that are blocked in Germany because of the license.

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