Google Claims Progress in Copyright Campaign; RIAA Says Work Remains
12 September 2012
Google claimed progress on its four initiatives to tackle the problem of copyright infringement online in a September 2011 posting to its public policy blog. “We’ve made considerable progress on each front, and we will continue to evolve our efforts in all four areas in the months to come,” the company said.
Google’s initiatives include acting on reliable copyright takedown requests within 24 hours. The statement says the efforts are being successfully used by more than a dozen content industry partners who together account for more than 75% of all URLs submitted in Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedowns for Web Search. “Our response time for these partners is now well below the 24 hour target. In the coming months, we will be making these tools available more broadly to those who have established a track record of submitting valid takedown requests,” the company said.
Other efforts include preventing terms that are closely associated with piracy from appearing in Autocomplete, improving its AdSense anti-piracy review and improving visibility of authorized preview content in search results.
“We have launched Music Rich Snippets, which allow legitimate music sites to highlight content in the snippets that appear in Google’s Web Search results,” the company said. “Rhapsody and MySpace are among the first to implement this feature, which has been developed using open web markup standards, and we are looking forward to more sites and search engines marking up their pages.”
Steven Marks, executive vice president and general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), says there is much more that needs to be done.
“There is no doubt that Google has taken steps to combat content theft online and we are one of many that have commended these improvements,” Marks wrote on the RIAA website. “We have appreciated the dialogue we have had with Google, and the progress we have made to date.”
Marks notes that in a recent hearing in the House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Google was a key witness at a hearing that focused on illegal foreign websites that traffic in counterfeit goods.
“That hearing demonstrated that there is much, much more that Google must do if it wants to play a responsible role in keeping the internet secure from these illegal parasites,” Marks says. “For example, Google’s ad services, such as AdSense, AdMob, and DoubleClick, continue to service illegal sites that offer unauthorized music, despite our flagging of these sites. Given the significant benefits Google receives from these services and its commitments via the official guidelines that regulate advertisers, Google should do more to ensure that it does not place and profit from ads on sites that offer illegal content.”
Marks says the RIAA also continues to run into problems with the efficacy of Google’s takedown procedures.
“Google’s Blogger tool continues to serve as a forum for the posting of links to unauthorized music,” he says. “Google has improved its take down speeds upon receiving notices, but it has not been effective in terminating repeat offenders who are aware of Google’s policies and know there are no consequences to reposting illegal content.”
While Google has taken down some mobile apps that facilitate infringement, Marks says takedown times are long, and too often the RIAA sees the same or substantially similar apps from the same developers re-appear a few days later. “Google could also take a more proactive role by screening and evaluating apps before they are made available,” he says. “Most importantly, too many apps created to harvest links to unauthorized files remain available and popular on the Android marketplace, resulting in widespreadinfringement of copyrighted works.”
AIPF Elects Board of Directors
The Association of Intellectual Property Firms (AIPF) elected a new Board of Directors at its 2011 Annual Meeting in Chicago. Directors elected for two-year terms are Jennifer C Bailey, Hovey Williams; Robin Browne, Hepworth Browne; Robert C Faber, Ostrolenk Faber; Cynthia J Lee, Thomas, Kayden, Horstmeyer & Risley; Todd Van Thomme, Price Heneveld; and Martin M Zoltick, Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck.
Directors elected for one year terms are Diallo T Crenshaw, Sughrue Mion; Marcus Gallie, Ridout & Maybee; Cristina Guerra, Guerra Advogados Associados; Korbinian Kopf, Maiwald; and Eric S Marzluf, Caesar, Rivise, Bernstein, Cohen and Pokotilow.
AIPF is an international association of independent specialty law firms that devote a majority of their practice to patent law, trademark law and copyright law. Member firms provide expert patent litigation support, portfolio strategy advice and protection against copyright and trademark theft.
Google Acquires Motorola Mobility
Google has agreed to to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings for approximately US$12.5 billion. The acquisition includes Motorola Mobility’s portfolio of more than 17,000 patents and 7,500 pending patent applications as well as its hardware manufacturing operation.
The purchase price represnted a premium of 63% over the closing price of Motorola Mobility on August 12, 2011, the date the acquisition was announced.
A Google statement said the acquisition would enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android; Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.
“Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies,” said Google CEO Larry Page. “Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers.”
“A compelling motive for Google acquiring Motorola Mobility may be to monetize Android by emulating Apple in offering wireless products combining innovative hardware and software,” said Doug Jarrett, a Washington-based partner at Keller and Heckman.
Now is the Time to Register Your .xxx TLD
ICM Registry, the company administering the new .xxx top-level domain, intended for use by those in the adult entertainment industry, will permit trademark owners to block registration of their marks in domain names ending in .xxx until October 28, 2011, says Michele P Schwartz, a partner at Andrews Kurth in Dallas.
“The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers recently approved the .xxx top-level domain,” says Schwartz. “While this may be a positive for those in the [adult entertainment] industry, third parties could potentially register your mark in a .xxx domain name and tarnish your goodwill and reputation.”
Schwartz says that ICM Registry’s website at www.icmregistry.com provides instructions on how to block a trademark or service mark from being registered by a third party with the .xxx ending.
“It will become more complicated and expensive to prevent use of your mark in a .xxx domain name after October 28,” says Schwartz. “It would be prudent to take action if you are concerned that your marks may be registered in the .xxx domain names by third parties.”
