News of the Week; October 21, 2020

GAMES

  1. Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against EA in Canada Over Loot Boxes
  2. EA facing Canadian class action lawsuit over loot boxes: Two plaintiffs seeking damages as suit calls out “unlicensed, illegal gaming system” in over 60 titles
  3. Mark Sutherland and Shawn Moore v. Electronic Arts Inc. (Notice of Civil Claim The Supreme Court of B.C., September 30, 2020)
  4. Rune 2 lawsuit alleges deliberate sabotage from Bethesda, ZeniMax
  5. ZeniMax, Bethesda, Roundhouse added to lawsuit over Rune 2: Ragnarok accuses companies involved in Human Head demise and Roundhouse formation of sabotaging Rune 2 and a game based on the Oblivion Song comic
  6. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is running an Among Us stream to drive voter turnout
  7. AOC makes explosive Twitch debut with over 435,000 Among Us viewers
  8. AOC’s debut Twitch stream is one of the biggest ever: And she’s genuinely pretty good at Among Us
  9. 439,000 People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Take On Top Content Creators In ‘Among Us’
  10. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Storms Twitch: More than 400,000 people tuned into AOC’s stream of a marathon Among Us session with representative Ilhan Omar and Twitch luminaries.
  11. US Rep Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch stream drew 439k peak viewers: Among Us stream with fellow Representative Ilhan Omar and popular Twitch streamers saw highest peak of any politician on Twitch
  12. AOC’s record-breaking Twitch stream is the future of politics: Young, tech-savvy, meme-literate, and accessible
  13. Twitch purges videos after “thousands” of requests from music labels: Streaming site offers content creators the ability to delete all videos as it issues “a one-time warning to learn about copyright law”
  14. Women and gamers of color detail experiences with online harassment in games like Call of Duty
  15. More allegations surface against Rooster Teeth’s Ryan Haywood: Former Achievement Hunter host described as “predatory,” allegedly taking advantage of power imbalance to solicit sexual favours from young women
  16. A lawyer’s perspective on the industry’s abuse problem: Toxic family notions, favoritism and lack of regulation all lead to abuse, says legal expert Siobhán Crawford
  17. Summer video game reveals showed record number of female protagonists: But Feminist Frenquency’s annual analysis warns this may be a “one-off statistical anomaly”
  18. Liar Liar, Mobile Game Ads Under Fire — ASA Bans Misleading Ads for Mobile Games
  19. Epic vs. Apple is losing PR steam | Opinion: Sensible rulings in Epic’s legal dispute with Apple have pared the case back to its core question — and shown just how disruptive Epic’s demand really is
  20. Take-Two Opposes Trademark For An Entertainment Company Running An Axe-Throwing Facility
  21. NBA 2K21 adds unskippable ads to loading screens: 2K Sports introduces new monetization method to latest basketball title weeks after launch
  22. Players slam 2K after publisher inserts unskippable ads into NBA 2K21
  23. Sega takes flak for releasing Golden Axe prototype made ‘under crunch conditions’
  24. Sega criticised for launching Golden Axe prototype created “under crunch conditions”: Sega edited the Steam page and said in a statement that it “didn’t mean to dredge up painful memories”
  25. Bungie cease and desist pulls Destiny 2 cheat tool offline
  26. GameStop’s Microsoft partnership reportedly lands it a cut of digital Xbox revenue
  27. Microsoft will give GameStop a share of Xbox’s digital revenues
  28. Xbox’s GameStop deal: lifeline or table scraps?
  29. Microsoft will share digital revenues with GameStop on every Xbox it sells: Investment advisor says retailer will even get a share of DLC sales if physical game was purchased from another company
  30. Microsoft confirms Xbox Series X|S launch titles: 30 games will be “fully optimized” for next-gen system upon release, none exclusive to next-gen
  31. Xbox Series X unleashed: Our unrestricted preview
  32. Phil Spencer: Xbox could recoup Bethesda acquisition without PlayStation releases
  33. Xbox head: Bethesda purchase wasn’t to keep games away from other platforms – While each game’s platforms will be decided case-by-case, Phil Spencer says Elder Scrolls doesn’t need to be on PlayStation to recoup costs
  34. What happened with Microsoft’s Switch publishing experiments? 
  35. Nintendo Nukes ‘Zelda’ Fan Game, As Per Usual
  36. Switch game discovery – look on the bright side?
  37. Nintendo Switch shines on Amazon’s Prime Day | UK Boxed Charts: 29 out of the Top 40 jumped in sales week-on-week
  38. One-third of US gamers surveyed plan to buy a next-gen console this year: Baird finds purchase intent for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S roughly equal, Call of Duty expected to top holiday sales
  39. The PlayStation 5 user interface is an instant hub that prioritizes gameplay
  40. PlayStation 5 UI revealed: “Activity” shortcuts, picture-in-picture
  41. PlayStation Store to drop PS3 content and Wishlists on desktop and mobile: PS Vita and PSP games will also be gone as part of incoming store revamp
  42. PlayStation clarifies how its voice chat reporting tool will work on PS5
  43. Future PS5 updates will optimize cooling based on data from individual games
  44. PS5 will use downloadable updates to control game-by-game fan speed
  45. Google Stadia’s free demos could prove the value of game streaming
  46. Amazon Luna is live, and it’s already out-streaming Google Stadia
  47. Luna, Amazon’s take on cloud-based gaming, launches in (limited) early access
  48. Growth in UK games industry fastest ever recorded: Games development headcount is at an all-time high of 18,279 in the UK
  49. Lessons in community building from EVE Online
  50. YouTube: Among Us videos reached 4bn views in September – Video platform’s report shows US as largest audience, but viewers flooding in from around the world
  51. Unity creates Social Impact Division to support non-profits
  52. Unity launches Social Impact Division backed by $67m fund: New division will provide grants for work in education, sustainability, and health and well-being
  53. FIFA download launch sales spike 31% over last year | UK Digital Charts: Overall sales down only slightly over last year’s entry
  54. EA Motive boss: ‘player autonomy’ is key to studio’s future
  55. Avengers assembles September sales chart heavy on new releases: Square Enix’s latest just one of seven games debuting in the top 20 as NPD’s total US game sales for the month rise 10% year-over-year
  56. Marvel’s Avengers’ next-gen version delayed to 2021 to ensure product quality: Crystal Dynamics is taking its time after initial launch that “was not without turbulence”
  57. Report: China-owned mobile studio Playtika is chasing an IPO in the U.S.
  58. Mobile game publisher Playtika files to go public in window for game IPOs
  59. Playtika files IPO draft: Publisher behind Best Fiends, June’s Journey has confidentially submitted preliminary paperwork to go public
  60. MAG Interactive reports $25 million in sales: Revenue at the mobile games company also grew 28% from June to August 2020
  61. Game rental shop GameFly acquired by Alliance Entertainment group
  62. GameFly sold to distributor Alliance Entertainment: New owner says it will expand US rental-by-mail service’s selection of games, as well as hardware, accessories, and collectibles for sale
  63. ‘Fortnite’ Taps J Balvin For Latest In-Game Concert In Honor Of Halloween
  64. New nonprofit organisation Hit Save to support games preservation: The community-driven organisation is based in the US but will operate globally
  65. Z Event raises €5.7m for Amnesty International: The live streaming event broke the record for the most money raised for charity on Twitch
  66. Talent Firm Loaded Adds Pro Gamer Maria ‘Chica’ Lopez To Starry Roster
  67. Facebook Gaming Streamer Avori Henderson Signs With Ford Models’ New Esports And Gaming Division
  68. Blizzard winding down development on StarCraft II after over a decade
  69. Blizzard no longer developing new content for StarCraft 2: Developer will continue to issue balance fixes and work with partners on esports
  70. New ex-Blizzard game studio formed to pick up a fallen RTS mantle
  71. Ex-Blizzard devs land $4.7m for new studio Frost Giant 
  72. EVOS Esports closes $12m Series B round: Southeast Asia-focused esports firm has raised more than $16m in its lifetime
  73. Devolver Digital acquires Serious Sam dev Croteam
  74. Devolver Digital acquires Serious Sam developer Croteam: Publisher further cements partnership following decades of publishing deals
  75. How the Nemesis system got an indie makeover in Star Renegades
  76. Ubisoft Connect announced as a ‘refreshed’ replacement for Uplay and Ubisoft Club
  77. Overcoming AR’s limitations with Mario Kart Live Home Circuit: Velan Studios president Guha Bala on reinventing Nintendo’s best-selling racing franchise for augmented reality
  78. Sony Unveils ‘Spatial Reality Display’ with Eye-tracking for Glasses-free 3D Viewing: Priced at $5,000 and launching in November
  79. PSVR Not Compatible With PS5 Camera, New Japanese Bundles Include Adapter for PS4 Camera
  80. Oculus Quest 2 quietly drops support for Oculus Go games
  81. Facebook Develops Hand Tracking Method to Touch Type in VR Without a Keyboard
  82. Cliff Bleszinski may return to games development “slowly and cautiously”: Fall Guys and Among Us has given Gears of War designer hope as he reflects on the mistakes of Boss Key Productions
  83. Devolver brings in head of licensing to put Fall Guys ‘on the licensing map’
  84. Ken Williams doesn’t know how his design philosophy could work today: Sierra On-Line co-founder talks about his new book, disconnecting from the games industry, and what’s changed since he left nearly 25 years ago
  85. Tides of Chaos: How Baldur’s Gate 3 tackles the pure RNG of D&D-inspired dice rolls
  86. Learn how Supergiant brought Hades’ hand-painted characters to life
  87. Rocket League’s appeal isn’t rocket science | Why I Love
  88. Blog: Networking into the games industry as a new grad
  89. Blog: The in-app purchase merchandising playbook – Part 1 
  90. Video: How Criterion Games improved its studio leadership
  91. Video: Why your game community is now a marketing asset
  92. Video: The developers of Ghostrunner discuss the making a cyberpunk platformer
  93. Don’t Miss: The undying allure of the Metroidvania
  94. Don’t Miss: Crafting GoNNER’s modular abilities
  95. Don’t Miss: How the developers of New Vegas took back Fallout
  96. Don’t Miss: Crafting Danganronpa to surprise players
  97. Don’t Miss: The designer is god–or the devil–in The Talos Principle
  98. Q&A: Designing for seasons in bumbling platform royale Fall Guys
  99. Data Deep Dive: Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale on Steam
  100. New non-profit Hit Save! wants to help preserve video games and their history
  101. The Video Game History Foundation is working to save our source code
  102. French charity steam Z Event raises $6.7 million for Amnesty International
  103. U.S. Patent no. 9,492,740: Remote and/or distributed equipping of video game characters
  104. U.S. Patent No. 10,625,156: Method and system for sharing video game content

DIGITAL

  1. Justice Dept. files long-awaited antitrust suit against Google
  2. What we know about the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google so far
  3. Bill Barr’s Google ‘Antitrust Inquiry’ Is A Weaponized Farce
  4. Trademark Genericide And One Big Way The DOJ Admits That Its Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Is Utter Garbage
  5. Supporters Of Using Antitrust Against Big Tech Should Be Very Disappointed In How Weak The DOJ’s Case Is
  6. AOC makes explosive Twitch debut with over 435,000 Among Us viewers
  7. Facebook and the Group That Planned to Kidnap Gretchen Whitmer: Extremist groups and conspiracy theorists like to connect with each other just like everyone else.
  8. Facebook Is So ‘Biased Against Conservatives’ That Mark Zuckerberg Personally Agreed To Diminish The Reach Of ‘Left-Leaning’ Sites
  9. Cambridge Analytica’s Crime Was Not Violating Your Privacy Or Taking Data From Facebook, It Was A Massive Campaign Finance Scam
  10. Facebook to pause all political advertising—after the election
  11. Facebook Will Temporarily Ban All Political and Issue Advertising After the Presidential Election
  12. Facebook Abuses Trademark To Give New Prominence To Group Of Facebook Critics Who Are Trying To Shame Company Into More Moderation
  13. Facebook announces ban on anti-vaccination ads
  14. Facebook Bans Ads That Discourage People From Getting Vaccinated
  15. Facebook’s Oversight Board: what is it and will it make a difference?
  16. Six Russians accused of the world’s most destructive hacks indicted
  17. DOJ Says Trump’s Tweets Declassifying All Russia Investigation Docs Doesn’t Mean Anything; Judge Says They Better Go Ask Him
  18. Twitter abruptly changes hacked-materials policy after blocking Biden story
  19. Twitter Fixes Its Bad Policy On Blocking ‘Hacked’ Documents
  20. How Not to Cover Voter Fraud Disinformation: Journalists should treat systematic disinformation campaigns from President Trump no differently than from Russian propagandists and Facebook clickbait artists (Yochai Benkler)
  21. Court Says Trump Appointee Had No Authority To Fire Open Technology Fund Board; Says They Remain In Place
  22. How Zello Became A Recruitment & Organizing Tool For The Far Right
  23. CARU Says: Discord Is Not Directed At Children Under 13
  24. How a Road Trip Through America’s Battlegrounds Revealed a Nation Plagued by Misinformation
  25. Google search being searched for Anti-trust
  26. China Micro-Censors The VP Debate In The Most Hamfisted Way
  27. Mumbai Police Help Indian Prime Minister Modi Scrub BuzzFeed Of Images That Offended His Delicate Sensibilities
  28. Democracy & Dragons
  29. Against Platform Determinism
  30. Trolling for Truth on Social Media
  31. Global disinformation campaigns and legal challenges
  32. Hacking democracy: managing influence campaigns and disinformation in the digital age
  33. Global competition and the emerging challenge to open data
  34. The Law and Political Economy of Workplace Technological Change (Brishen Rogers)
  35. Where Platform Capitalism and Racial Capitalism Meet: The Sociology of Race and Racism in the Digital Society
  36. Wired Norms: Inscription, resistance, and subversion in the governance of the Internet infrastructure (Niels ten Oever)
  37. Replicating Silicon Valley? Law and Human Capital in the Making of China’s Tech Startups (Li-Wen Lin)
  38. Forget TikTok. IRS Inquiry Shows The Continued Abuse Of Location Data Is The Real Scandal.
  39. WeChat and TikTok Win Preliminary Injunctions Against Trump Administration’s Efforts to Ban the Apps
  40. Pakistan Reverses TikTok Ban, But Has Stipulations
  41. TikTok Unboxing Videos Are Driving Record Sales For Mini Brands, VIP Pets
  42. LinkedIn Isn’t a State Actor–Perez v. LinkedIn (Eric Goldman)
  43. DOJ Seizes Domains, Claiming They Pushed Iranian Disinformation; Should Raise 1st Amendment Concerns
  44. The GOP’s Blisteringly Hypocritical Road From Whining About Net Neutrality To Supporting Trump’s Idiotic Attack On Social Media
  45. While Trump Continues To Complain About 230, It’s Copyright Law That Once Again Actually Gets His Content Removed
  46. League Of California Cities Want Congress To Change Section 230… To Let Cops Spy On Everyone Using Social Media
  47. Section 230 Liability Shield Continues to Receive Scrutiny
  48. Section 230 Basics: There Is No Such Thing As A Publisher-Or-Platform Distinction
  49. Another Anti-Section 230 Bill? Sure, Why Not?
  50. Justice Thomas Writes a Misguided Anti-Section 230 Statement “Without the Benefit of Briefing”–Enigma v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
  51. Blatant Hypocrite Ajit Pai Decides To Move Forward With Bogus, Unconstitutional Rulemaking On Section 230
  52. FCC Announces Section 230 Rulemaking
  53. Chairman Pai: FCC to Address Social Media Immunity Under Section 230
  54. Jeffrey Toobin’s Zoom Dick Incident Is The Perfect Example Of Why We Need Section 230
  55. FCC trying to help Trump win election with Twitter crackdown, Democrats say
  56. FCC cites Title II in defense of helping Trump’s attack on social media
  57. FCC Too Afraid To Go On Record To Truly Support Trump’s Dumb Attack On Social Media
  58. Ajit Pai says he’ll help Trump impose crackdown on Twitter and Facebook
  59. Insights: With Zoom And Its Many Competitors, We’re All Livestreamers Now
  60. Ted Cruz Once Insisted That Net Neutrality Was The Gov’t Takeover Of The Internet; Now Demands That Twitter Host All Nonsense
  61. Republicans, Who Have Made Sure The Federal Election Commission Can’t Do Anything, File A Complaint About Twitter’s Moderation Practices
  62. Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook’s Internal ‘Hate Speech’ Guidelines Appear To Leave Protected Groups Unprotected (June 2017)
  63. Content Moderation Case Study: Apple Removes Games Containing Confederate Flags (June 2015)
  64. Content Moderation Case Study: Handling Trolls Invading A Community (1993)
  65. Assessment of the Code of Practice on Disinformation
  66. Instagram Agrees To New Measures To Curb “Hidden” Influencer Advertising In The U.K.
  67. Quibi Is Shutting Down
  68. Quibi streaming service shutting down after less than 1 year
  69. YouTube cracks down on QAnon conspiracists
  70. YouTube Bans Content Endorsing QAnon, Pizzagate
  71. YouTube Expands COVID Misinformation Policy To Ban Vaccine Conspiracies
  72. New Google Nest Hub experiment nixes the “Hey Google” voice hotword
  73. Google Chat goes free in 2021, while Hangouts loses features this month
  74. Google wants to turn YouTube into QVC with new shopping features
  75. Can You Avoid Creator Burnout By Working The YouTube Algorithm? Is More Actually Less? We Take A Look.
  76. YouTube Unveils First 5 Originals Produced By Its $100 Million ‘Black Voices’ Fund
  77. YouTube Gives Premium Subscribers Exclusive Access To Test New Features
  78. YouTube Testing Ecommerce Tools That Turn Creator Videos Into Product Catalogs
  79. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 10/05/2020
  80. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 10/12/2020
  81. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 10/05/2020
  82. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 10/12/2020
  83. Is The Creator-Owned “Smart YouTuber Mafia” A New Standard For Digital Content?
  84. Blast off with Scott Manley as he discusses his top 1,000 YouTube comments
  85. Google shuts down Trusted Contacts, its emergency location sharing app
  86. Google kills the Nest Secure, its $500 home security system
  87. David Dobrik, Emma Chamberlain, James Charles Lead This Year’s Pack Of Streamy Nominees
  88. MrBeast’s ‘Creator Games’ Sequel Sets YouTube Record With 1 Million Concurrent Viewers
  89. YouTube Exec Ryan Wyatt Says Valkyrae Is “The Fastest-Growing Livestreamer In The Entire World”
  90. France Passes Law Giving Child Influencers Same Protections As Young Actors, Models
  91. Snap Hits Record $50 Billion Valuation After Significant Q3 Growth In Revenue, DAUs
  92. Snapchat Launches ‘Sounds’, Enabling Users To Orchestrate Snaps, Stories With Licensed Music
  93. Teespring Will Now Let Creators Vend ‘Digital Products’, Like Photo Presets And Ebooks
  94. Reels Rolls Out New Content Discovery, Sharing Features
  95. Twitter Disables Core Functions To Prevent Spread Of Election Misinformation
  96. Joe Biden Taps Portal A For #ImVotingFor Influencer Campaign On Instagram, Twitter
  97. Twitter Will Turn Off Some Features to Fight Election Misinformation
  98. QAnon/8chan sites back online after being ousted by DDoS-protection vendor
  99. Google Music shuts down smart speaker support and music store
  100. Logan Paul’s Pokemon Card Unboxing Stream Gets 300,000 Concurrent Viewers, Raises $130,000 For Charity
  101. Facebook Unveils Free Tool Enabling Creators To Test Video Post Performance Before Publishing
  102. Spotify Now Lets Podcasters Use Its Entire Music Library In Their Shows
  103. Riot Games and Spotify team up
  104. Brooklyn-Based Startup MSCHF Wants To Pay Influencers To Take Down “Evil” Brands
  105. Stupid Use Of Profanity Filter Makes A Mess Of Virtual Paleontologist Conference
  106. IBM to split into two companies by end of 2021
  107. Insights: Could The Streaming Services Killing Movie Theaters Save Them Instead?
  108. Netflix Nixes Free Trials In U.S.
  109. ‘Ratched’ Hooks 48 Million Viewers In 28 Days, Becoming Netflix’s Most-Watched Debut Of 2020
  110. Following Staff Exodus, Bon Appetit Relaunches YouTube Channel With 8 New And 3 Returning Hosts
  111. Apple pays $288,000 to white-hat hackers who had run of company’s network
  112. Microsoft thumbs its nose at Apple with new “app fairness” policy
  113. Trickbot—the for-hire botnet Microsoft attacked—is scrambling to stay alive
  114. 1980s MTV is back, sort of: Apple launches Apple Music TV channel
  115. Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work
  116. Targeting Ontological Security: Information Warfare in the Modern Age
  117. We’re touching our smartphones more than ever. And it’s changing the ancient connection between the body and the brain
  118. The pernicious contagion of misinformation: False statements – about Covid-19 and so much else – spread like a virus online. Scientists should study them like one.
  119. The Internet is full of business cats: Dealing with the breakdown of the work/home divide
  120. A giant cat picture was just discovered among the Nazca Lines: Archaeologists haven’t yet located an accompanying giant meme caption.
  121. Another Significant Cryptocurrency Decision: SEC v. Kik Interactive Inc. and Token Offerings Under the Securities Laws
  122. Unpacking the DOJ’s cryptocurrency guidance: Enforcement priorities and industry implications
  123. DOJ’s Evolving Framework for Cryptocurrency Enforcement
  124. The US Department of Justice issues Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework forecasting increased scrutiny of activities involving cryptocurrency
  125. Chinese City Issues Digital Currency in Pilot Program
  126. A Map for the New World of Blockchain
  127. New Export Controls: Emerging Technologies
  128. New Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy launched at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy

A.I.

  1. Waymo finally launches an actual public, driverless taxi service
  2. The Unforeseen Benefits of Driverless Transport during a Pandemic
  3. Trustworthy artificial intelligence 
  4. Are we being too hard on HAL? Some thoughts on the legal need for “explainable” artificial intelligence. 
  5. AI and Your Legal Analysis
  6. Artificial Intelligence Licensing: What You Need to Know
  7. The Losers of automation. How the introduction of robotics changed the European occupational class structure
  8. To Surveil and Predict: A Human Rights Analysis of Algorithmic Policing in Canada
  9. Expanding Biometric Class Actions Beyond Illinois 
  10. AI and the fight for inventorship – DABUS patent knocked out in UK High Court
  11. ‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI 
  12. Human Judgment in algorithmic loops: Individual justice and automated decision‐making
  13. Algorithmic Censorship by Social Platforms: Power and Resistance
  14. Is Facebook too big to know? The Markup has a plan (and a browser) to wrap its arms around it: The CBP will pay Americans to monitor the choices that tech company algorithms are making for them.
  15. Artificial intelligence – from principles to practice
  16. Doctor Alexa will see you now – regulating artificial intelligence in healthcare
  17. USPTO Releases Report on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy
  18. Government Data Practices as Necropolitics and Racial Arithmetic
  19. Artificial Intelligence improves clinical trials
  20. Legal industry ramping up adoption of artificial intelligence, says AI platform partner

COMMUNICATIONS

  1.  How Can Linking to an Article be Immoral When the Media Source Itself Does the Posting? (Michael Geist)
  2. How Can Linking to an Article be Immoral When the Media Source Itself Does the Posting, Part 2: A Day in the Life of the Toronto Star on Facebook (Michael Geist)
  3. Forget Link Licensing and Cross-Subsidies: When it Comes to Tech, Canada Should be Focused on Competition Law and Tax Policy (Michael Geist) 
  4. Class dismissed: CRTC finds OneClass in violation of Canada’s anti-spam legislation
  5. NASA and Nokia are putting a 4G network on the moon
  6. AT&T plans thousands of layoffs at HBO, Warner Bros., rest of WarnerMedia
  7. AT&T Is Taking An Absolute Bath On Its DirecTV Merger
  8. AT&T Gives Up On DSL, Leaving Many Out Of Broadband’s Reach 
  9. Comcast says gigabit downloads and uploads are now possible over cable
  10. Verizon’s New ‘Nationwide’ 5G Isn’t Nationwide, Barely Faster Than 4G
  11. Successful 5G implementation
  12. Half Of Smartphone Users Incorrectly Think They Already Have 5G
  13. FCC Adopts Final Rule Formalizing Team Telecom Foreign Ownership Review
  14. FCC Adopts Rules Codifying Foreign Investment Process
  15. The November Election and the FCC: Predictions for Five Key Policies
  16. Wisconsin Gets Wise To Foxconn’s Grift, Blocks New Subsidies
  17. Employees Say Foxconn & Donald Trump’s Wisconsin Factory Scam Was An Absurdist Hellscape 
  18. Access to Infrastructure: using existing ducts and pipes to install new fibre broadband
  19. Five Bar Owners Arrested In France For Not Logging Internet Use By Patrons Using Bars’ WiFi Connections

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1. Supreme Court of Canada to Hear York University/Access Copyright Appeals
  2. Justice Luc Martineau is new chair of Copyright Board of Canada
  3. Google gets mixed reception in Supreme Court clash with Oracle: Justices held a low-tech telephone session in one of the biggest software fights in American history on Wednesday
  4. Google’s Supreme Court faceoff with Oracle was a disaster for Google 
  5. IP Alert | Supreme Court Hears Arguments in “Copyright Case of the Century”
  6. Supremes won’t review the morality of whitewashing graffiti art
  7. Denial of Certiorari Leaves in Place Ninth Circuit En Banc Decision Finding No Infringement in “Stairway to Heaven”
  8. hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn Corp., the Web Scraping Saga Continues
  9. Music in Podcasts – As Podcasts Shut Down Following Infringement Notices, Looking at the Required Music Rights
  10. 512(f) Claim Survives Motion to Dismiss–Brandyn Love v. Nuclear Blast America (Eric Goldman)
  11. By the Book: Unauthorized Material Doesn’t Forfeit Training Guide’s Copyright Protection
  12. Nicki Minaj’s Experimentation with Tracy Chapman’s Classic “Baby Can I Hold You” Qualifies as a Fair Use Under Copyright 
  13. NY Art Disputes Highlight Fame’s Role In Copyright Suits 
  14. “Can’t Hold Us” Liable: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Win Affirmance in Copyright Suit
  15. We Interrupt This Hellscape With A Bit Of Good News On The Copyright Front 
  16. DMCA Takedown Notices: A New Opponent for Twitch Streamers 
  17. Twitch blasts streamers with vague, unhelpful DMCA takedown emails
  18. Lessons from a pandemic: long-term impacts on Canadian trademark practice 
  19. The Cousteau Society, Inc. v. Cousteau: Court holds granddaughter of Jacques-Yves Cousteau cannot escape trademark infringement based on unauthorized use of Cousteau’s trademarks in film projects and materials.
  20. Microsoft Wields Its IP For Good, Cripples Botnet Via Trademark Litigation 
  21. Will Disney’s newest Toy Story 4 character go ‘caboom’?
  22. Boston University students launch “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” campaign, University files a Trademark application
  23. Lehman Brothers is Gone but Not Abandoned 
  24. EU: What does Brexit mean for EU trade marks and designs?
  25. Comparative aspects of trademark dilution between the United States and China
  26. Versace ripped off the Canucks’ spaghetti-skate logo 
  27. Depreciation of goodwill with cannabis trademarks 
  28. Determined not to tumble: British Gymnastics’ trade mark dispute and IP protections for sports properties
  29. The Third Circuit Shares Some Food for Thought on the Bounds of Trade Dress Protection 
  30. Court of Appeal Upholds Interim Injunction in Trade Secrets Case
  31. How to Keep Trade Secrets Secret
  32. New Trade Secret Protections in China
  33. Protection of store layout under IP law
  34. Protecting Recipes and Food as Intellectual Property
  35. $644-million award for patent infringement upheld on appeal; Accounting of profits remedy removes “economic incentive to infringe”
  36. IP monitor: Quebec Superior Court dismisses application for disavowal of a IP monitor – Quebec Superior Court dismisses application for disavowal of admissions of patent invalidity
  37. Federal Court Freezes Out Motion to Vary Injunction in Patent Case
  38. US Patent Boss Says No Evidence Of Patents Holding Back COVID Treatments, Days Before Pharma Firms Prove He’s Wrong
  39. Federal Circuit Restores Induced Infringement Verdict Against Teva
  40. Watch Out: The Patent Maximalists Are On The Warpath To Destroy Innovation And Empower Patent Trolls 
  41. Applying the Broadest Reasonable Interpretation of the Claim in Light of the Specification, Federal Circuit Revives Claims in Heart Valve Patent
  42. Why Is My Company Being Sued For Patent Infringement In Waco, Texas?
  43. Beyond borders: Extraterritorial reach of Australian patents
  44. Inadequate Translation of a Non-English Application Leads to US Patent Invalidation
  45. Skinny Label Does Not Prevent Finding of Induced Infringement 
  46. Expert Testimony Stricken Where Expert Did Not Show Non-Infringing Alternatives Were Available in the United States 
  47. Worried about being sued for patent infringement in multiple jurisdictions? Three ways to gain control 
  48. New Grape Varieties – Raisin Awareness of Plant Patents 
  49. High Stakes: Protecting Your Cannabis Intellectual Property 
  50. Nobel Prize 2020: A Chemistry Patent Attorney’s View 
  51. Key IP Agreements for Startups
  52. Blowing away the competition: design evolution, and what it’s like to be Head of IP at Dyson

PRIVACY

  1. Canadian privacy and data protection basics for emerging companies
  2. Sask. privacy commissioner finds clinic’s loss of Dictaphone with patient info was privacy breach
  3. Location Data Obtained By CBP Comes From Phone Apps, Is Capable Of Tracking People On Both Sides Of The Border
  4. H&M fined €35.3m under GDPR for ‘Return to Work’ practices
  5. Fancy Bear imposters are on a hacking extortion spree
  6. COVID-19 Is Driving The Uptake Of Chess — And Of Surveillance Tools To Stop Online Players Cheating
  7. Adblockers installed 300,000 times are malicious and should be removed now
  8. Privacy as an aggregate public good
  9. United States: California Privacy Rights Act – what you need to know
  10. Schrems II Series: United States Defence 
  11. In wake of the Schrems II, CNIL challenges use of Microsoft cloud storage to host public health data lakes (the Health Data Hub case – Part 1)
  12. Judge Shuts Down Vallejo PD’s Illegally-Obtained Stingray
  13. SF Chronicle Op-Ed: “Prop. 24 is the Wrong Policy Approach, at the Wrong Time, via the Wrong Process” (Eric Goldman)
  14. The Right to be Forgotten

CREATIVITY

  1. Quebec court acquits fiction author of child pornography charges
  2. DOJ Is Suing Melania Trump’s Ex-Friend Over Her Book, Despite Never Being A Government Employee
  3. Administration Officials (Again) Break The Law By Investigating Voice Of America Journalist For ‘Anti-Trump Bias’
  4. Devin Nunes Asks Appeals Court To Invalidate Bedrock Supreme Court 1st Amendment Ruling
  5. ICE Spent Your Tax Dollars Dragging A Journalist Through The Internet Sewer Over A Mistake She Apologized For
  6. Federal Judge Ridiculously Says That Holding A Sign Telling People Cops Are Ahead Is Not Free Speech

Jon