News and Commentary
Another one bites the dust. MIT announced that it will end its contract negotiations with the publisher Elsevier, as “Elsevier was not able to present a proposal that aligned with the principles of the MIT Framework for Publisher Contracts.”
A “flurry” of DMCA takedown notices sent by the RIAA to Twitch puts many of the live streamers in jeopardy. Twitch claims it hasn’t seen such a rush before, and it’s possible that they’ll modify their three-strikes permaban rule for copyright infringement to accommodate this, but streamers are justifiably worried about this wave of claims.
Jonathan Band has an excellent summary of the most recent DMCA 2020 hearing, pointing out: the risks associated with a switch to a “notice-and-staydown” system; the pivot to small creators opposed to the current framework while at the same time downplaying the benefits to small creators who do; the generational divide between the pro- and anti-512 framework; and the lack of attention paid to the safe harbors provided by internet providers.
At Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok argues that the prospect of a vaccine improves the wellbeing of all stocks, but until vaccine manufacturers and developers can capture all of the gains associated with their products government funding to increase manufacturing capacity is the best bet to reap trillions in benefits from billions in costs.
The GAVI vaccine alliance plans to launch an advance market commitment (AMC) to secure COVID-19 vaccines for those in developing countries. AMCs in developing countries for other vaccines have been successful in the past.
Beau Phillips provides context for the Thryv v. Click-to-Call technologies decision, on its face a relatively narrow procedural question about the ability of the PTAB to determine deadlines for the challenging of a bad patents. Phillips calls attention to Justice Ginsberg’s statements about the need to invalidate bad patents which threaten innovation, which requires a well-functioning PTAB.
Following claims of patent infringement by Google from the audio company Sonos in January, Google has returned the favor and sued Sonos for patent infringement.
Senators Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) have introduced a bill requiring the President to report to Congress on the theft of U.S. intellectual property by foreign firms and individuals, and includes penalties like sanctions against those who violate U.S. intellectual property rights.
The right-t0-repair organization iFixit and Calpirg, a public interest group, are the leading edge of a movement to make publicly available manuals and other technical materials needed for hospital technicians and other medical support staff to repair ventilators. Last month, Steris Corporation demanded manuals for their products posted by iFixit be taken down.
When NASA broadcast the launch of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, the footage was in the public domain automatically due to NASA’s status as a government entity. But that didn’t stop a (likely automated) copyright claim from NBC Universal on all footage of the launch–including NASA’s. National Geographic did the same thing for a lunch the following Saturday.
New Research
A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research examines the positive effects on innovation that WWII-era research and development had on future innovation. In addition to boosting technological progress, it also had the effect of creating technology clusters through agglomeration forces.
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