By Joey Seiler Google Buzz Gets Privacy Groups Talking—and Filing Complaints When Google launched Buzz, its new social media function, on February 9, the Internet giant moved into Facebook territory by sharing information and connecting social groups. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s complaint to the FTC, Google may have also moved into Facebook territory by violating users’ privacy. (PaidContent covered EPIC’s FTC complaint against Facebook when the company changed its privacy settings in December 2009.) The New York ... Read More...

By Kassity Liu India’s Stringent Patentability Standards Cause Corporate Dissatisfaction On February 12, the WSJ Law Blog reported that India’s standards for patentability may be leading to a lack of significant patent protection for important pharmaceutical drugs. Before 2005, India offered patent protection to processes for making pharmaceutical drugs, but no protection to the products themselves. After the patent system was extended to cover the products, a large number of multinational drug companies began to market their products in India. ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Affirms Infringement but Reverses Findings of Damages in Software Patent Case By Andrew Segna – Edited by Gary Pong ResQNet.com, Inc. v. Lansa, Inc., No. 2009-1030 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 5, 2010) Slip Opinion The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a per curiam decision, affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for further proceedings a patent infringement decision made by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The ... Read More...

Third Circuit Panels Rule Differently on MySpace Parody Cases By Abby Lauer – Edited by Alissa Del Riego Layshock v. Hermitage School District, No. 07-4465 (3d Cir. Feb. 4, 2010) Slip Opinion Snyder v. Blue Mountain School District, No. 08-4138 (3d Cir. Feb. 4, 2010) Slip Opinion Two different Third Circuit panels handed down seemingly contradictory decisions last week after considering whether offensive parody profiles of school principals created by students using MySpace outside of school were protected by the ... Read More...

First Circuit Holds That Artists Have Moral Rights In Unfinished Works By Debbie Rosenbaum – Edited by Alissa Del Riego Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation v. Büchel, No. 08-2199 (1st Cir. Jan. 27, 2010) Slip Opinion On January 27, the First Circuit affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for further proceedings the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the Museum of Contemporary Art, holding that artists have moral rights in unfinished artworks. The First Circuit decided ... Read More...