New and Proposed United States Patent and Trademark Office Rule Changes Seminar to be Held September 6

Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch (BSKB), a leading international intellectual property law firm, will be hosting an interactive seminar on September 6 for in-house patent practitioners involved with biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and chemical patent applications.

This exclusive two-hour seminar, one morning and one evening session, will be held in the firm’s West Coast Office located in San Diego (CA). There is no charge to attend either session.

Prominent featured speaker will be Nicholas Godici, the former Commissioner of Patents at The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and executive advisor to BSKB. Godici will present an insider’s look into how these new rules will impact patent applications and the effect on the scope of claim protection with new and existing patent applications.

The seminar will focus on the USPTO final rules on continuation applications and claim examination, and the proposed new rules on Markush claims traditionally utilized in the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to obtain broad, generic coverage.

In addition to explaining the new rules, Godici will provide strategic advice for applicants to consider for possible actions prior to the November 1 implementation date, as well as counsel on strategies for filing and prosecuting patent applications following the implementation of the new rules.

To register for the 7:30 a.m. or the 5:30 p.m. seminar session, contact Will Gorman at (858) 792-8855 or e-mail gormanw@bskb.com. Space is limited. Registration deadline is August 31.

GetAmnesty.com Helps Copyright Holders to Recoup Lost Revenues Due to Piracy

Nexicon Inc. has launched its new Anti-Piracy initiative: GetAmnesty.com.

GetAmnesty.com uses Nexicon's advance peer to peer file sharing intelligence to bill illegal down loaders for titles they hold on their computers. The system allows the pirates the chance to come clean for a marginal price to avoid prosecution in the future from the specific rights holders.

Nexicon's GetAmnesty(TM) Anti-Piracy Enforcement Program is the most comprehensive solution to digital piracy available today. The Program arms copyright owners with specific, accurate and extremely useful information about infringers and their content preferences, and equips copyright owners to convert infringers into paying customers. The GetAmnesty(TM) Program enables copyright owners to identify violators with precision, document specific copyright infringements perpetrated by the same infringer, and obtain compensation efficiently and cost effectively. GetAmnesty(TM) is the next generation of anti-piracy technology because it not only provides much more information for enforcement purposes, but also enables content owners to derive significant incremental revenue from their anti-piracy programs, recasting anti-piracy as a revenue enhancer, rather than as an expense.

Nexicon developed the GetAmnesty(TM) Program at the suggestion of a major copyright owner trade association. The program is the result of an evolution of enforcement techniques in the field of digital copyright protection. It combines unprecedented intelligence gathering and data manipulation tools using the most flexible and highly evolved search and data mining functionality available today. The entire Program provides an unrivalled means for identifying and documenting copyright violations. The Program offers significant and distinct advantages over existing anti-piracy methods. It identifies many more of an infringer's activity. It also has an extremely low rate of "false positives" -- avoiding potentially embarrassing situations in which a user is incorrectly identified as having violated copyright laws. The Program thereby reduces copyright owners' costs in targeting digital pirates, as fewer resources are wasted on mistakenly prosecuting legitimate users.

Next Generation Online Video Piracy Suite

Competitrack Inc. has introduced advanced video fingerprinting technology for policing online video piracy and copyright infringement. This solution can effectively help video sharing websites like YouTube and Metacafe avoid unlawfully displaying copyrighted materials.

A combination of rack-mounted hardware and client software invented by German developer Dr. Ulrich Hienzsch, this technology uses advanced digital pattern recognition technology and can locate content from movies, music videos, television programs, and even B-roll. Full motion and still video clips each have their own unique fingerprint of sound and light patterns that are detectable with advanced software algorithms.

Already used by the majority of performing rights organizations in the U.S., Competitrack’s system is superior to other fingerprinting technology because instead of analyzing just the audio or closed caption portion of a video track, this system identifies both sound and video luminescence patterns on a frame-by-frame basis. In addition, the system generates few ‘false positives’ and is fully automated, which greatly reduces resource allocations and staff involvement. Quality of the pirated content is not an issue. Grainy, low quality, and even resized and bitrate-converted formats have been properly detected in current client implementations. Competitrack’s solution can detect pirated content with clips as short as 5 seconds long, and no audio is required at all. Other video fingerprinting systems recently introduced into the market can only recognize content clips of 30 seconds or more, and typically require that the audio tracks remain unchanged from their original source.

Website: http://www.competitrack.com/

Illegal Use of Copyrighted Articles Costs Knowledge Networks $300,000

The Software & Information Industry Association, the principal trade association for the software and content industry, today announced the first settlement in its Corporate Content Anti-Piracy Program (CCAP). SIIA reached a $300,000 agreement to settle copyright infringement claims against Knowledge Networks, Inc. Knowledge Networks agreed to work with SIIA and its member companies to initiate a proactive internal program to avoid future infringement. The program will include educating executives and professionals on copyright compliance and licensing and ensuring that proper licenses are obtained for use of copyrighted materials.

Knowledge Networks is a mid-sized market research company with offices in San Francisco, New York and several other cities. The firm's marketing group had been distributing "press packets" internally to certain employees on a regular basis. The packets sometimes included -- without authorization or license -- copyrighted articles owned by SIIA members such as the Associated Press, Reed Elsevier, and United Press International.

SIIA learned of the infringement though a confidential tip and a subsequent investigation verified its reliability. As a result of the settlement, the individual who reported the case to SIIA is receiving a reward of $6,000 under the SIIA reward program.

The Knowledge Networks settlement represents the latest victory in SIIA's aggressive efforts and industry leadership in fighting content and software piracy. Recently, SIIA reached a $205,000 settlement in an eBay software piracy case.

SIIA offers rewards ranging from $500 to $1 million to eligible individuals who report infringement by a corporation or other organization. Individuals interested in learning more about the reward program, or submitting a piracy report, can do so through SIIA's hotline at 800.388.7478 or SIIA's online Piracy Report Form at http://www.siia.net/piracy/report.

Hip-Hop Superstar Daddy Yankee Sued For Copyright Infringement

Reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee has been sued for copyright infringement in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (CV07-5060 DDP (AGRx)). Victor M. Lopez, Jr., a Latin hip-hop songwriter and performer, alleges in the lawsuit that Daddy Yankee used a musical composition belonging to Lopez for use on "Salud Y Vida," a track on Daddy Yankee's breakthrough album "Barrio Fino." Daddy Yankee and the record companies that helped produce and distribute his album, including Universal Music, also included Lopez’s musical composition on a DVD, a music video, and other products.

According to Lopez's lawyers, Peter Afrasiabi and Chris Arledge of the law firm Turner Green Afrasiabi & Arledge LLP, the defendants' theft of Lopez's music is particularly shocking in light of the fact that there is no dispute as to Lopez’s authorship. Indeed, the album cover for "Barrio Fino" gives Lopez songwriting credit.

“Daddy Yankee’s representatives tried to negotiate a deal with Lopez to include the song on the “Barrio Fino” album, but when negotiations broke down, they simply used the composition without permission,” explained Afrasiabi.

According to Arledge, Lopez intends to recover copyright infringement damages from Daddy Yankee, all of the record companies involved in the project, and the retailers and others who have profited from Lopez’s allegedly stolen work.

PC Tools Warns Global Virus “Storms” Are on the Rise

PC Tools malware researchers warn the latest epidemic of the Storm Trojan which is being disguised as e-cards and infecting computers world–wide, is only the tip of the iceberg.

"The malware writers of this latest influx are suspected to be based in Russia or the Ukraine and their attacks are extremely sophisticated using advanced evasion techniques to get on and stay on victims' PCs," explains PC Tools Chief Threat Officer Kurt Baumgartner.

"What we are seeing with these latest attacks are typical social engineering emails telling recipients they have received an e-card from a friend, loved-one or colleague then enticing the user to click a link to view the card. Once the link is clicked a wave of malware is unleashed by taking the victim to a webpage that exploits their browser and infects the PC without any additional action required," explains Baumgartner.

"Consumers are naked against this new plague of zero-minute attacks. We are talking about new exploits, in large volumes, sometimes every 30 seconds. This next generation of malware requires automated computer systems to combat large volumes of malware as human manpower is simply not enough.

"With thousands of malware threats being released every day, or even every minute, how can products which are solely reliant on signature-based solutions detect rapidly changing exploits? They can’t, the only solution is behavioural-based protection – such as those being developed by PC Tools’ advanced research team," said Baumgartner.

“This is what has brought us into the era of Malware 2.0. Without an automated response present signature-based solutions cannot handle the job.”

Baumgartner explains, “Traditional anti-virus products are unable to decrypt, analyse and effectively distribute signatures for thousands of undetected and rapidly changing malware binaries in this extremely small window of time. Their scanners are ineffective against the newest variants at the moment of infection and by the time the signatures catch-up it’s too late.”

“The e-card threats not only collect email addresses to be used for sending SPAM but current variants are installing rootkits – which hide themselves and unknowingly change the function and performance of the victims’ computers.”

Baumgartner further explains, “Technically, the current variants are installing rootkits that run hidden processes and add the victim’s computer to a large peer-to-peer (P2P)1 network that not only will link it to a large spam producing botnet2, but will slow computer performance.

“Furthermore, these e-card threats are also designed to kill popular anti-virus products when it detects them starting, ensuring a persistent bot-enabled system once the malware is installed and the system rebooted. The threats also leave the system exposed to possible back-door and remote exploits, meaning all the data on the machine is being put at risk.”

Baumgartner cautions these new Malware 2.0 threats are infecting computers on a global scale.

PC Tools has posted a detailed technical analysis, generated by their automated threat analysis system Threat Expert, of the latest Storm variant. The report can be viewed online at http://www.pctools.com/threat-expert/sample/report/storm/.

Thirteenth Annual Advanced Patent and Licensing Seminar

Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, a leading international intellectual property law firm, has announced plans for its 13th Annual Advanced Patent and Licensing Seminar to be held September 10 - 21 in the firm's East Coast Office located in Falls Church, Virginia.

This annual two week seminar will include presentations on the enforcement of U.S. patents, the avoidance of infringement of U.S. patents by competitors, validity and negotiation techniques directed toward patent licenses, and other settlement agreements, according to Leonard Svensson, Managing Partner of the firm’s West Coast office located in San Diego.

"The lectures and breakout sessions will focus on the legal significance to biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical, chemical, computer, electrical and mechanical technology industries,” Svensson said. “This valuable practical training cannot be obtained through legal texts, and the forum includes open discussion and active participation by the attendees."

"Other topics to be presented will include the doctrine of equivalents, prosecution history estoppel and the 'all elements rule', with relevant court decisions," Svensson further explained. “Workshops will also be held so attendees can analyze patent validity and infringement issues, participate in licensing and settlement negotiations and discuss litigation strategies.”

To register for this exclusive seminar contact Andrew D. Meikle or Paul C. Lewis by e-mailing apls@bskb.com or by calling BSKB at 1-703-205-8000 or 1-858-792-8855. A reasonable knowledge of patent law is required.