By Andrew Jacobs

Marine Corps Bans Social Networking Sites

In a directive issued Monday, the U.S. Marine Corps banned the use of social networking sites on its Marine Corps Enterprise Network, Wired and InformationWeek report. Characterizing these sites — including Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter — as “a proven haven for malicious actors and content,” the Corps hopes the ban will protect the network from cyberattacks and keep adversaries from acquiring user-generated information leaks. The directive does not limit Marines’ access to social networking sites on non-military networks, and a follow-up press statement encouraged the use of social media by Marines on their own ISPs.

Senate Hears Debate on Radio Performance Rights

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard debate Tuesday on the proposed Performance Rights Act, which would compel terrestrial radio stations to pay royalties recording artists, Ars Technica reports. Under current copyright law, webcasters and satellite radio stations pay royalties to both a song’s writer and its performer, while terrestrial stations are only obliged to pay songwriters. The debate pits two powerful interest groups, among others, against each other: the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) staunchly opposes the bill, while the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has voiced its strong support.

FTC Takes New View of Online Privacy

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times report new FTC consumer protection head David Vladeck plans to shift the agency’s approach to online privacy protection. In a New York Times interview, Vladeck states he hopes to address the “notice and consent” framework that he considers “no longer sufficient” online, as it has resulted in privacy disclosures that are rarely read or understood. He also plans to consider not only economic harm, but also the “dignity interest” that arises in online information collection. Though no new rulemaking is yet planned, updated FTC privacy guidelines are expected next summer.

Blogger’s Use of Unaltered Copyrighted Photos Deemed Legal Fair Use

By Tyler Lacey – Edited by Amanda Rice
Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. v. Delsman, No. C 09-1468 SBA, July 17, 2009

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted the defendant blogger’s motion to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit following its determination that the blogger’s use of unaltered copyrighted photos is fair use and therefore not violative of copyright laws. The court held that Delsman’s use of two photographs of Sedgwick’s upper management, although unaltered, was fair use because Delsman’s use of the photographs was transformative insomuch as the images were used for a critical purpose, rather than Sedgwick’s original promotional purpose. Also important to the court’s fair use analysis was the fact that Delsman’s use of the images did not affect the commercial market for the original images in a legally important manner, since no market existed for the images anyway.

Eric Goldman has posted a summary of the order on his Technology and Marketing blog. Loeb & Loeb provides a thorough description and analysis of the order. Eugene Volokh notes that the court’s “fair use analysis strikes [him] as quite right” on his blog, “The Volokh Conspiracy.” (more…)

By Sarah Sorscher

European Court of Justice Cracks Down on International News Search Engine

Slashdot reports that on July 16, Europe’s high court held in Infopaq International v. Danske Dagblades Forening that newspapers have a claim against a media monitoring service providing 11-word excerpts from newspaper articles. DDF, a group representing newspaper interests, has sued Infopaq, a service that searches newspaper articles for key words and then shares snippets with clients. The court ruled that the news articles were covered as copyrighted material by several directives of the European Parliament, and remanded the case to the national courts to determine whether the copyright laws in each state would be subject to the ruling.

Class Action Seeks Compensation for Use of Likeness of Former NCAA Players

By Ian B. Brooks – Edited by Sarah Sorscher
Class Action Complaint, O’Bannon v. NCAA, No. CV 09-3329 (N.D. Cal. July 21, 2009)
Complaint

Former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) player Edward C. O’Bannon, Jr. filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of former NCAA student-athletes in the US District Court for the Northern District of California against the NCAA, the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), and multiple alleged co-conspirators for unlawful use of class member’s images. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and injunctive relief for violations of the Sherman Act and unjust enrichment of the defendants as well as accounting of licensing revenues. In support of his complaint, O’Bannon cites sources of NCAA licensing of players images for which the players receive no direct compensation including DVDs, rentals of game films, on-demand sales of game footage, cable and network broadcasts of games, photographs, action-figures, posters, and video games. The complaint further seeks injunctive relief on behalf of current students with respect to their rights to control the use of their image and likeness.

Sports Illustrated provides an overview of the case and Projo Sports Blog provides background. Kevin Arnovitz and Rush the Court have weighed in their support in favor of the athletes. (more…)

Federal Circuit Finds Infringement Even After Product No Longer Meets Claim Limitations At Final Sale

By Ezra Pinsky – Edited by Sarah Sorscher
Gemtron Corp. v. Saint-Gobain Corp., No. 2009-1001 (Fed. Cir. July 20, 2009).
Slip Opinion

On July 20^th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court (Western District of Michigan) decision to grant a permanent injunction against Saint-Gobain because their refrigerator shelves infringed on Gemtron’s patent. The district court held that the patent encompasses shelves that are “relatively resilient” and flexible “when glass is being inserted into the frame” and not only “in the finished product.” It therefore covered several types of Saint-Gobains shelves and the court granted a partial summary judgment of infringement against those particular models.  In an ensuing trial, a jury found that several other Saint-Gobains models infringed on the patent as well. The court then entered judgment in favor of Gemtron and granted a permanent injunction against further infringement. Writing for the Court of Appeals, Judge Linn affirmed both the lower court’s grant of summary judgment and its permanent injunction.

Patent law blogs PatentlyO, The Patent Prospector, and Gray on Claims summarize the court’s opinion and reasoning.  Barry Barnett at Blawgletter examines the question of how Saint-Gobain could have infringed the U.S. patent when the shelves met the claim limitations only during their assembly in Mexico. (more…)