News of the Week; July 1, 2020
GAMES
- Newzoo: There will be over 3 billion gamers by 2023
- Report: Games market to generate $159 billion in 2020 (Newzoo)
- Global games market value to reach $159bn in 2020: Revenue and audience growth booms in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America
- Roblox hacked by Trump supporters: More than a thousand users’ profiles changed, telling kids to ask their parents to re-elect US president
- Pokemon Go Developer Niantic Wins Battle Over 3D Virtual Thematic Environment Patent
- Niantic partners with immersive theatre company Punchdrunk: Sleep No More creators to work with AR developers on multiple, unannounced projects
- Confederate flag and other “notorious iconography” banned in Forza: Anti-police brutality phrases such as a ACAB and FTP also banned
- Cyberpunk 2077 will be censored in Japan: Sexual references, nudity and dismemberment to be toned down
- Cyberpunk 2077’s big summer trailer: Braindance your way into Keanu
- Twin Galaxies says Billy Mitchell “flirts with perjury” in high-score case
- Are Loot Boxes Considered Gambling? UK Needs More Evidence
- Global Game Jam in turmoil following Black Lives Matter silence: Bullying allegations surface after resignation of executive committee member over refusal to issue statement on BLM
- IGDA criticizes industry for ignoring harassment allegations: Developer group says it will compile resources for studio leaders to create safe and positive company cultures
- Ubisoft reportedly places executives on leave amid abuse investigation: Tommy François and Maxime Béland each face at least three claims of misconduct
- Ubisoft to investigate rampant sexual assault and harassment accusations
- Report: Ubisoft suspends two executives accused of sexual and physical abuse
- Ubisoft CEO sanctions formation of ‘multidisciplinary working group’ to tackle abuse
- The Ubisoft paradox: How the publisher enabled a culture of abuse and control
- Leaders, members, sponsors depart top WoW guild amid assault, abuse allegations: Multiple people allege that Method protected member accused of sexual assault and preying on minors
- Abuse in the industry isn’t down to a few “bad apples” | Opinion: The story can’t end with the outing of individual abusers — ending predation in the games industry requires cultural and institutional change
- EA pledges to investigate allegations of abuse and support victims
- Twitch suspends Donald Trump’s channel for hateful conduct: Streaming platform cites the president’s comments portraying Mexicans as criminals
- Twitch Temporarily Bans Donald Trump, Citing Newly Reviewed Policies Against Hateful Conduct
- Twitch Executive Hassan Bokhari Accused Of Sexual Assault As Platform Begins Permabanning Alleged Abusers
- Twitch addresses sexual abuse allegations with permanent ban pledge
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director steps down after misconduct allegations
- DrDisrespect banned from Twitch again: Guy Beahm’s latest ban is reportedly permanent, but reason for the punishment remains unclear
- Dr. DisRespect Was (Probably) Not Permabanned For Trying To Develop A Twitch Competitor
- Twitch will issue permanent suspensions to abusers on its platform: Investigation is ongoing as Twitch takes additional steps to combat abuse and hate within its communities
- EA urges employees to come forward with experiences of abuse: Publisher offers resources for both its staff and community members who may have experienced harassment or abuse
- Avast finds 17 Trojan gaming apps still available on Google Play: Online security firm reported 47 Trojan gaming apps to Google, which have been downloaded 15 million times
- The Last of Us Part 2 sells 4 million: Naughty Dog sequel tops Spider-Man to become fastest-selling first-party PS4 exclusive over first three days
- The Last of Us Part II sold over 4 million copies in three days
- 3DS, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Last of Us Part 2 lead UK Charts: Stock clearance sees cult 3DS RPG Bravely Second take No.2
- Roblox player spending passes $1.5bn on mobile: May was the game’s biggest month ever with revenue of over $100 million
- Amazon’s latest PC game to be delisted from Steam after less than two months
- Amazon’s Crucible retreats into closed beta: Following rocky launch, competitive free-to-play shooter will close its doors to new players
- Sonic the Hedgehog film producer snaps up Disco Elysium screen rights
- Plans revealed for Disco Elysium TV series: Adaptation will be produced by DJ2 Entertainment, which is run by Sonic The Hedgehog movie’s co-producer
- Starbreeze seeks $26m to fund ongoing development of Payday 3: COVID-19 lockdown interrupted publisher negotiations for the next Payday game
- Discord is pivoting away from games to become ‘your place to talk’
- Discord raises $100m to further expand beyond games: Communications platform redesigned to be more accessible to non-gamers, company reportedly valued at $3.5 billion
- Admix raises $7m in funding for “non-intrusive” ads: London-based startup allows developers to place programmatic advertising space within their games
- Sinespace dev partners with Unity to let Asset Store creators sell models in-game
- European retailers can no longer sell download codes for Nintendo-published titles
- Microsoft reportedly stops advertising on Facebook: But Xbox firm is still redirecting Mixer users to the social network
- Microsoft exiting the retail store business, closing 83 locations
- Report: Latest Xbox Lockhart rumors point towards an August announce
- Microsoft plans to reveal Xbox Lockhart model in August
- Mixer just saw its second-best quarter ever – Streamlabs: Twitch smashed viewership records in Q2 2020, with over 5 billion hours watched
- Mixer Shuts Down, Showing Again Why You Don’t Need To Freak Out By Copycat Competitors
- Descenders’ weekly sales increased five times thanks to Xbox Game Pass: No More Robots says subscription service has “elevated the game to heights we couldn’t have imagined”
- Nintendo Switch game sales: the three biggest misconceptions
- Nintendo reportedly stops sale of digital download codes for EMEA retailers: Third-party digital titles, add-on content, and eshop funds will still be available in stores
- Report: Apple scraps deals with some Apple Arcade devs in pursuit of more engagement
- Apple reportedly ending some Arcade contracts, seeking higher retention: Tech giant said to be honing in on titles that will keep users subscribed to its service past the free trial
- Gaming on Apple platforms is set for some big changes—here are a few
- New hack runs homebrew code from DVD-R on unmodified PlayStation 2
- PlayStation now has a dedicated initiative for indie games: PlayStation Indies
- Why this month’s PC port of Death Stranding is the definitive version
- Tencent starts US studio to make AAA games for next-gen consoles: Led by Rockstar veteran Steve Martin, LightSpeed LA will debut with an open world game for PS5 and Xbox Series X
- Harmonix’s Fuser wants to make you a DJ… but only up to a point – Preview: Successor to DropMix succeeds where DJ Hero failed, but is that enough?
- Crysis Remastered delayed for additional polish: Development team acknowledges mixed feedback to trailer leak
- How to navigate the modern world of games publishing
- Gamers more trusting of brands than non-gamers, says Gameloft: Report from mobile publisher’s advertising arm finds gamers see elevated benefits from companies like Tesla, Amazon, and Lexus
- Focus Home Interactive acquires Lords of the Fallen dev Deck13 for $7.9M
- Keywords buys development engineering provider Coconut Lizard for $2.47M
- PlayBrain raises $6m to grow Japanese esports events infrastructure: Bitkraft Esports Ventures leads investment, bringing total funding to $8 million
- Guild Esports launches with David Beckham as co-owner
- Guild Esports breaks cover with David Beckham as co-owner: Startup is also backed by Blue Star Capital, with Overwatch League exec Carleton Curtis at the helm
- Pressure Mounts for Xbox’s Missing VR Strategy as PSVR Revenue Exceeds $2 Billion
- Facebook Says It Has Developed the ‘Thinnest VR display to date’ With Holographic Folded Optics
- How holographic tech is shrinking VR displays to the size of sunglasses
- Google Glass 3.0? Google acquires smart glasses maker North
- Google Acquires North, the Startup Behind ‘Focals’ Smartglasses
- Google gives Android depth sensing and object occlusion with ARCore 1.18
- Ken Levine: “You don’t come up with amazing things by being completely normal” – Founder of Ghost Story Games discusses the difficult balance between creativity and efficiency in game development
- A Neverwinter Nights intro to game design | Why I Love: Little Chicken Game Company’s Erik Kors shares how the world of Faerûn led him to the world of game development
- Umurangi Generation’s approach to modernizing cyberpunk: Naphtali Faulkner talks about the inspirations and intentions behind his sci-fi photography game
- Shawn Layden: COVID-19 is an opportunity to build a better industry: “If we don’t take something positive from this extended period of quarantine, we’ve really squandered the opportunity”
- You should play Namco’s lost arcade-action classic, Mr. Driller DrillLand
- The astronomical challenge of recording The Outer Worlds: How did Obsidian handle voice work for a game with almost 350 characters, 40 voice actors, and recording studios in different countries?
- Kongregate shuts off game submissions as Flash’s final days approach
- Super Nintendo World park opening reportedly delayed due to COVID-19: Universal Studios Japan reopened just over a week ago with special safety restrictions
- How to move your role-playing game nights online
- The Last of Us Part II is PlayStation Studios’ fastest-selling PS4 game
- Prioritizing accessibility early on was vital for The Last of Us Part 2’s robust features
- Don’t Miss: The evolution of CD Projekt’s quest design for Cyberpunk: 2077
- Don’t Miss: Blizzard’s postmortem of Diablo II
- Don’t Miss: Designing CrossCode to stand out in the retro RPG market
- Don’t Miss: Incorporating level design in melee combat systems
- Video: Devs share their experiences going from corporate to indie and back again
- Video: An architectural approach to video game level design
- Video: The mechanics of explosive growth in Roblox
DIGITAL
- New commission exploring impact of digital media on democracy includes McLachlin, Dodek
- YouTube Bans 6 White Supremacist Channels, Including David Duke, Richard Spencer, Stefan Molyneux
- Lawsuit by Black YouTubers against YouTube faces “uphill battle”
- Twitter’s Least-Bad Option for Dealing With Donald Trump: Every plausible configuration of social media in 2020 is unpalatable.
- Bogus Ideas Have Superspreaders, Too
- Twitter not liable in Devin Nunes’ beef with cow account, judge rules
- Facebook will label rule violations as Coke, Pepsi, Starbucks join ad “pause”
- Verizon joins growing Facebook advertiser boycott
- Facebook executive admits to “trust deficit” on call with advertisers
- Reddit bans pro-Trump /r/The_Donald for “rule-breaking content”
- Twitch And Reddit Ramp Up Their Enforcement Against ‘Hateful’ Content
- Reddit bans r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse as part of a major expansion of its rules
- You Purged Racists From Your Website? Great, Now Get to Work
- Filmmakers and Others Take on the U.S. Government Over Social Media Surveillance
- Three cops fired after accidental dashcam activation captures racist rants
- Running Geotargeted Advertising Confers Personal Jurisdiction–UMG Recordings v. Kurbanov (Eric Goldman)
- hiQ Files Opposition Brief with Supreme Court in LinkedIn CFAA Data Scraping Dispute
- Confusion Over Plug-Ins, Cookies and Wiretapping…Will Facebook Petition the Supreme Court, and What To Do In the Interim
- How the ‘Karen Meme’ Confronts the Violent History of White Womanhood
- Ken and Karen are White Supremacists
- Doomscrolling is slowly eroding your mental health
- Jenna Marbles Announces Indefinite YouTube Hiatus, Privates Videos With 2 Billion Views After Apologizing For Past Racist Clips
- Shane Dawson Apologizes For Blackface, Pedophilia Jokes, And Willow Smith’s Family Isn’t Having It
- Liza Koshy Apologizes For ‘Perpetuating Racist Ideas’, Cultural Appropriation With Past Character Creations
- David Dobrik Apologizes For Any Past Videos That Made Viewers Feel Unwelcome, Uncomfortable
- YouTube Has Suspended Monetization On All 3 Of Shane Dawson’s Channels
- An embattled group of leakers picks up the WikiLeaks mantle
- DOJ Proposes Curb to Antitrust Immunity Under Communications Decency Act of 1996
- Section 230 Protects Twitter from the “Devin Nunes’ Cow” Lawsuit–Nunes v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Another Day, Another Bad Bill To Reform Section 230 That Will Do More Harm Than Good
- Senator Loeffler’s New Section 230 Reform Bill Would Threaten Encryption And Pressure Websites To Keep Spam & Porn
- ‘But Without 230 Reform, Websites Have No Incentive To Change!’ They Scream Into The Void As Every Large Company Pulls Ads From Facebook
- My Interview With Mathew Ingram Regarding Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- Author Of Section 230 Chris Cox Says All The Critics Are Wrong About The History And Intent Of 230
- I’d Bet Ted Cruz Will Start Supporting Section 230 Once He Realizes He’s On The Hook For Parler’s Legal Expenses
- As Predicted: Parler Is Banning Users It Doesn’t Like
- Just Like Every Other Platform, Parler Will Take Down Content And Face Impossible Content Moderation Choices
- Parler Speedruns The Content Moderation Learning Curve; Goes From ‘We Allow Everything’ To ‘We’re The Good Censors’ In Days
- Knight Foundation Grant To Copia To Research Content Moderation, Governance, Rules & Norms For Internet Infrastructure
- Brands and influencers beware: UK and Netherlands zooming in on fake likes and reviews
- Brazil’s Proposed ‘Fake News’ Law Says Internet Users Are Guilty Until Proven Innocent, Demands Constant Logging From ISPs
- New Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes involving multiple countries
- Millions of Americans Depend on Libraries for Internet. Now They’re Closed: From big cities to tiny towns, librarians are getting scrappy to meet the need
- Court Upholds Formation of a Lengthy Contract Presented on a Mobile Device–Hidalgo v. AAU (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Expands Fan Subscriptions To Creators In 7 Regions, Introduces Live Stream Ads And More Video Analytics
- Fintech Startup ‘Karat’ Raises $4.6 Million To Launch Credit Card Exclusively For Digital Creators
- Social Video Views Climbed for Latin American Creators During Quarantine
- Netflix Embraces YouTube, TikTok, And Instagram For ‘Pride’ Event
- YouTube Users Watch 450 Million Hours Of Content On TV Screens Each Day
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/29/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/29/2020
- YouTube TV jumps 30% in price effective immediately
- YouTube TV Hikes Subscription Price To $65 After Adding Suite Of ViacomCBS Channels
- At Brandcast, YouTube Renews Originals From James Charles, MrBeast, Markiplier, And Marques Brownlee
- YouTube Cancels Its Longest-Running Original—Joey Graceffa’s ‘Escape The Night’
- After A Decade, Ingrid Nilsen Emotionally Closes Chapter On Her YouTube Career
- Tati Westbrook Accuses Shane Dawson, Jeffree Star Of Coercing Her Into James Charles Takedown Video
- At NewFronts, TikTok Brings Ad Offerings To The Fore With New ‘TikTok For Business’ Platform
- Spotify Duo for couples is cheaper than the standard family plan
- New domain name dispute resolution policies for .AC, .IO and .SH
- Microsoft’s “new approach” to retail stores: Closing them forever
- Microsoft closing its retail stores: Xbox maker closing 82 Microsoft Store locations, will run “Microsoft Experience Centers” in London, New York, Syndey, and Redmond
- Cutting off tech’s nose to spite the West’s strategic face?
- Three cops fired after accidental dashcam activation captures racist rants
- Search engine startup asks users to be the customer, not the product
- Chinese bank requires foreign firm to install app with covert backdoor
- Lessons from China – The Formation of a Social Credit System: Profiling, Reputation Scoring, Social Engineering (Paul Langer)
- COVID-19 spread 4X faster in one Amazon warehouse than local area
- Amazon pays $1.2 billion for self-driving startup Zoox
- Uncovered: 1,000 phrases that incorrectly trigger Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant
A.I.
- Detroit police chief cops to 96-percent facial recognition error rate
- Facial Recognition Software Finally Gets Around To Getting An Innocent Person Arrested
- Tesla driver blames Autopilot for crash, faces negligent driving charge
- Voicemod raises $8m for AI-powered ‘voice avatars’: Technology enables players to alter their voice and apply effects that match the in-game action
COMMUNICATIONS
- FCA Upholds Constitutionality of CASL CEM Provisions and CRTC Approach to B2B Exemption and Conspicuous Publication Implied Consent
- FCC helps Charter avoid broadband competition
- New Bill Would Kill State Laws Blocking Broadband Competition
- Small ISPs “stunned” by FCC move to ban Huawei/ZTE gear during pandemic
- AT&T Ditches $15 TV Service It Used As Regulator Bait To Seal Time Warner Merger
- Comcast’s data cap and overage fees return tomorrow after 3-month break
- ISPs To Bring Back Usage Caps After Brief Pandemic Hiatus
- T-Mobile Is Already Trying To Wiggle Out Of Its Sprint Merger Conditions
- Dish buys Boost prepaid biz from T-Mobile, finally enters wireless market
- Telehealth Use Surges Around the World Amid COVID-19
- Landmark EU General Court ruling on Hutchinson-Telefónica UK merger reframes the threshold for proving competitive harm
- $100 billion “universal fiber” plan proposed by Democrats in Congress
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Access Copyright and York University File Leave to Appeal Material in the Supreme Court of Canada (Howard Knopf)
- Copyright Board Activity in 2020: Launch of Twitter Account and Guidelines for Economic Evidence (Howard Knopf)
- Florida Law Will Allow College Athletes to Profit from Name, Image, and Likeness Starting Summer 2021
- Can copyright law help Brompton ride out an IP storm?
- Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc.: Ninth Circuit reverses dismissal of copyright claims against The Shape of Water film, ruling that dismissal on pleadings was premature because additional evidence could aid.
- The fair remuneration provisions in the new Copyright Directive
- Copyright: Hyperlinks and the Communication to the Public Right
- John Bolton Doesn’t Need Copyright Protection
- Companies Issuing Bogus Copyright Claims To Hide Police Training Materials From The Public
- Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Benchslapped And Sanctioned AGAIN In A Massive Filing Detailing Pages Upon Pages Of Him Lying Under Oath
- Supreme Court says generic domains like booking.com can be trademarked
- Prosecco People Move On From Bullying Puns Over Trademark To Bullying Portmanteau Over Trademark
- Captain Tom Moore – a positive pandemic trade mark story
- Vegan food fight: Does Nestlé’s Incredible Burger infringe Impossible Burger?
- EU law on the “technical result” and “substantial value” exclusions for shape marks
- Where Claimed Points of Novelty Have Primarily Functional Purpose, They Fail “Ornamental Design” Patentability Requirement
- Federal Circuit Affirms Use of Common Sense for Obviousness Determination
- Falling short of a sufficient disclosure
- Patent claim ambiguities and their interpretations
- Upheaval for patent law of sufficiency from the UK Supreme Court
- Patents diary June 2020: UK Supreme Court holds Regeneron’s transgenic mice patents invalid
- Supreme Court Decision: Regeneron v Kymab
- Territorial licensing: “start at the end before you begin”
PRIVACY
- Tim Hortons Mobile App Under Investigation For Data Privacy Concerns
- Tim Hortons scaling back data collection as four privacy watchdogs announce joint investigation into app: Probe by federal, Alberta, Quebec & B.C. commissioners comes after report on coffee chain’s data collection practices
- Contact Tracing Apps in Canada: Province of Alberta launches, and Federal Government Announces Nationwide Initiative
- The Most Important Privacy Case You’ve Never Heard Of
- Foreign adversaries likely to try exploiting critical networking bug, US says
- TikTok and 32 other iOS apps still snoop your sensitive clipboard data
- UK Information Commissioner Says Police Are Grabbing Too Much Data From Phones Owned By Crime Victims
- Indiana Supreme Court Says Compelled Decryption Of Smartphones Violates The Fifth Amendment
- Instagram Users, Beware Of Copyright Infringement Warning You May Receive In DMs
- Insights: Apple’s Latest Privacy Push Further Complicates Competitors’ Data Handling
- Does the CCPA apply to cookies that are used for data analytics?
- Moral Data Markets: Human-Centric Data Protection
- Two record DDoSes disclosed this week underscore their growing menace
- Comcast And Mozilla Partner Up To Help Encrypt DNS
- Privacy Questions Raised By Distance Learning
CREATIVITY
- Charles Harder Tries And Fails To Censor Another Book About His Most Famous Client, The President
- NY Judge Apparently Unaware Of The Supreme Court’s Ban On Prior Restraint: Puts Temporary Restraining Order On Trump’s Niece’s Book
- Goldman Sachs Created A Font, But You Are Forbidden By Its License To Critique Goldman Sachs Using It
- German Minister Files Criminal Complaint Against A Journalist Who Said Police Officers Are ‘Trash People’
Jon
News of the Week; June 24, 2020
GAMES
- Class action lawsuit brought against Apple over loot boxes: Loot boxes are indisputably gambling under California law, argues 100-member lawsuit
- Starting in July, iOS games will require gov’t approval to launch on China’s App Store
- California court dismisses Magic Leap lawsuit against competitor Nreal
- Magic Leap’s lawsuit against competitor Nreal thrown out of court: “From the beginning we’ve firmly stated that Magic Leap’s claims against Nreal are meritless,” says Nreal founder
- ‘The Sims’ Becomes An Outlet For Would-Be Protesters Who Cannot Attend Protests
- FDA First: Agency Approves Video Game Treatment For ADHD, Requires A Prescription
- Dozens of YouTubers, Twitch Streamers, And Gaming Executives Face Sexual Abuse Allegations
- Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone accused of sexual assault and harassment
- As streamers face harassment allegations, Twitch sees boycott threat
- Mass DMCA Takedown Requests Issued on Twitch
- A wave of abuse allegations sweeps the games industry
- Ubisoft and Insomniac face allegations over mistreatment of women
- Insomniac responds to allegations from former staff about culture of harassment
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director leaves project: Takes leave of absence from Ubisoft after accusations of marital infidelity
- Ubisoft ‘deeply concerned’ with sexual assault allegations against multiple employees
- Industry’s abuse problem brought into focus by latest wave of allegations: Less than a year since high profile industry figures named, dozens of streamers, influencers and developers called out for abusive behaviour
- Hearthstone pro says he was blacklisted after spouse criticized Blizzard: Janne “Savjz” Mikkonen says he was punished because Christina Mikkonen “spoke up about the injust practices” of Blizzard
- Cheeky Devils left Red-faced – High Court rejects Manchester United’s procedural request in video game case
- Police cars removed from Epic Games’ Fortnite: The Wall Street Journal alleges that police vehicles were removed in response to the killing of George Floyd
- Valve looks to stem tide of racist bots in Team Fortress 2: After months of inaction, Valve quietly works to “mitigate the use of new and free accounts for abusive purposes”
- Bot mafias have wreaked havoc in World of Warcraft Classic
- Too little, too shy: The gaming industry’s response to #BLM | Opinion: Gaming companies want to get away with tokens of sympathy for #BlackLivesMatter — Don’t let them
- How the games industry can put its diversity pledges into action | Opinion: The industry’s diversity problems aren’t new, but willing developers have all the tools they need to take action
- Zynga launches $25 million charity fund to foster inclusion and diversity
- Kowloon Nights launches $2 million game investment fund for Black creators
- Former Microsoft employee accuses Mixer manager of racist comments: Milan Lee has a meeting with Microsoft’s Phil Spencer to discuss an experience that made him leave the company
- Microsoft is killing its game-streaming service, folding it into Facebook’s
- Microsoft is shutting down Mixer, redirecting its users to Facebook Gaming
- Microsoft Shutters Mixer, Looks To Shepherd Creators To Facebook Gaming As Part Of New Pact
- Microsoft announces the closure of streaming platform Mixer, will partner with Facebook Gaming
- Microsoft shutting down Mixer: Streaming service closing July 22 with partners being transitioned to Facebook Gaming; exclusive streamers like Ninja, Shroud free to leave
- Lone Echo developer Ready at Dawn acquired by Facebook
- Humble’s ‘Fight for Racial Justice’ bundle has raised over $4.3M for charity
- Humble Bundle raises £3.5m for Black Lives Matter: Bundle of more than 50 games and books was bought by 130,000 people
- App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store (David Nieborg, Chris Young, Daniel Joseph)
- Guinness reinstates Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong, Pac-Man records
- Twitch sells CurseForge to Overwolf: Mod management platform will become stand-alone app supported by subscriptions, in-app advertising
- EA pledges tougher stance on toxicity with Positive Play Charter: The publisher has removed more than 3,500 player-created assets featuring “inappropriate and hurtful” language in recent weeks
- EA and the war against toxicity: Chief marketing officer Chris Bruzzo on why Electronic Arts is ramping up its efforts to stamp out hate speech in games
- Report: Microsoft could launch xCloud streaming service as part of Xbox Game Pass
- Xbox Series X difference will be immersion more than visuals, Spencer says: Head of Xbox talks about what will separate Microsoft’s next-gen, says cell phone-like All Access payment program will be “critical” this generation
- Lack of Smart Delivery won’t prevent PS5 owners from playing Cyberpunk 2077
- PlayStation posts bug bounty to track down PS4 and PSN security issues
- EA: “PS5 and Xbox Series X games will feel different, better and more visceral” – Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele on breaking down platform barriers, making games more inclusive, and COVID-19
- EA Sports renews exclusivity deal with La Liga for FIFA franchise: The extended deal includes a “joint commitment” to pushing further into esports
- The Sims 4 records peak high of 10 million monthly active users
- The Sims 4 hit 10m MAUs in the last quarter: EA’s six year old title also added 2.5m new players in the last two months, ahead of its relaunch on Steam
- EA is bringing seven games to the Nintendo Switch in the next 12 months: Including Burnout Paradise: Remastered and Apex Legends
- Evercade’s retro portable made me fall out of love with game cartridges
- Activision follows Crash Bandicoot remakes with the first new Crash game in a decade
- This War of Mine is now recommended reading for Polish high school students
- This War of Mine will be added to school reading list in Poland: “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a game being officially included in the educational system on a national level as school reading”
- CEX staff report concerns as stores re-open: Employees take issue with inconsistent rules, no quarantine period on trade-ins, no reduction in opening hours
- Facebook prepares to wage war over release of Gaming app on iOS
- Apple repeatedly rejects Facebook Gaming app for App Store inclusion: Platform’s rules ban apps whose main focus is distributing other games
- Apple App Store Has Denied Hosting Facebook’s Standalone Gaming App At Least 5 Times Since February (Report)
- New App Store review processes will let devs challenge guideline violations
- Apple to allow developers to challenge App Store Review Guidelines: New systems will put devs in a stronger position to appeal Apple’s decisions and change problematic App Store rules
- Stadia Share launches in beta with Crayta in July: Creators will be able to generate shareable links directly to their game sessions
- The mystery Pokemon project being developed by Tencent is a cross-platform MOBA
- Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed again—this time to November
- Cyberpunk 2077 delayed two more months: CD Projekt Red pushes release back to November 19 saying more time needed for balancing and bug fixing
- Population Zero and the dangers of Early Access hype: Three key lessons from a game made by a studio of 60 people, that had a very rough launch
- South Australian government extends 10% rebate to its games industry: The production rebate is the first of its kind to be extended to game developers in Australia
- Shawn Layden: “I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15 hour AAA game” – At Gamelab Live, the former PlayStation exec discussed the industry’s need to rethink the spiralling costs of AAA development
- Call of Duty: Mobile reaches 250m downloads after eight months – Sensor Tower estimates show sharp increase in revenue and downloads since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Report: Digital games market revenue reached $10.2 billion in May (SuperData)
- Digital games spending reaches $10.2b in May as COVID-19 restrictions relax: Grand Theft Auto 5, Civilization 6 see PC spending surges thanks to free Epic Games Store release
- The Last of Us Part 2 smashes sales records | UK Charts: It beats Uncharted 4 to become Sony’s fastest-selling PS4 game
- Examining the indie ins and outs of today’s game distribution platforms
- Epic Games Store hit 61m MAUs during “The Vault” game giveaway: Epic’s Steam competitor reached 13m peak concurrent users during campaign in which Grand Theft Auto 5 was given away for free
- One tricky racing sim: Assetto Corsa Competizione is now on consoles
- ‘Fortnite’ To Test Full-Length Film Screenings With Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception,’ ‘Batman Begins,’ ‘The Prestige’
- Fortnite is a masterclass in flexibility | Opinion: Epic’s battle royale is a cultural phenomenon due to a will to challenge fundamental ideas about what a game is and what its players want to experience
- FaZe Clan Takes Ownership Stake In Meal Replacement Shake Startup ‘CTRL’
- Cloud Gaming – Opportunities and Risks for eSports
- Igniting the fire of eSports regulatory reform
- Esports as sport
- EA: Playing ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ in VR Will Be “more like being a real pilot”
- Facebook acquires Ready at Dawn: Oculus parent picks up Lone Echo franchise studio to work on VR content
- Oculus will start offering Quest software regardless of quality
- Oculus is winding down Oculus Go support to instead double down on Quest and Rift
- Oculus Go headset discontinued: VR company will stop adding developers’ apps and updates to Oculus Store this December, pledges to open up Quest distribution options
- Quest-curious VR devs will be able to officially bypass the Oculus Store in 2021
- The digitisation of Pokémon: The Pokémon Company’s Peter Murphy discusses the release of the new Isle of Armor DLC
- How playtesting influenced the last days of Control’s development
- Blog: Game composers and the importance of themes – Part 1
- Don’t Miss: A level designer breaks down The Last of Us 2’s trailer level
- Don’t Miss: The untold story of Lumines: Electronic Symphony
- Don’t Miss: What went right (and wrong) during Deadly Premonition’s development
- Video: High-performance animation transitions in Gears of War
- Video: Using deep learning to combat cheating in Counter-Strike
- Unity’s Learn Premium suite of game dev courses is now available for free
- Unity makes premium learning tools free on a permanent basis: More than 350 hours of online courses are now available to everyone due to ongoing impact of COVID-19
- Minecraft, King’s Quest, and more join the World Video Game Hall of Fame
- U.S. Patent no. 10,325,266: Rewarding classes of purchasers
DIGITAL
- TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally: Did a successful prank inflate attendance expectations for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Okla.?
- In the UK, social media use associated with COVID-19 conspiracy theories
- Four Black Creators File Suit Against YouTube, Alleging Racial Discrimination In Algorithm
- Jukin Media Steps In With Copyright Claim After Trump Posts Doctored Video Of Hugging Toddlers
- Trump’s Plan To Turn US Global Media Operations Into State-Sponsored Breitbart… Could Threaten The Open (And Encrypted) Internet
- Google, Amazon condemn Trump order cutting off foreign worker visas
- Civil Rights Organizations Call for Facebook Advertising Boycott
- Facebook Ordered to Turn Over Internal Investigation Documents to Massachusetts Attorney General
- Court Denies Facebook’s Motion to Stay Order Compelling Production of Documents
- Facebook pulls Trump campaign ads for featuring Nazi-associated image
- Facebook’s New Content Moderation Appeals Process
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Facebook Kicks Off Anti-Racist Skinheads/Musicians While Trying To Block Racists
- Viral TikTok Video From Black Artist Kirby Prompts Pepsi To Rebrand ‘Aunt Jemima’ Products
- TikTok faces scrutiny from EU watchdogs over data practices: Last month, Dutch data-protection commission investigated company’s policies to protect children’s data
- Apple caters to China by pulling thousands of “unlicensed” iPhone games
- Apple is changing parts of its app review process after the Hey controversy
- Vice Calls Out Brands For Deeming George Floyd, ‘Black Lives Matter’ Content Unsafe For Advertising
- Instagram Unveils Suite Of Programming, Tools, And Resources In Honor Of Juneteenth
- Sweating the Details: Court Analyzes User Interface to Uphold Online Arbitration Clause
- Southern District Says the Post Is the Story: Paparazzo’s Cardi B snaps are fair use when it comes to lipstick and hurled shoes
- Snap Says It Reaches More 13 To 24-Year-Olds In The U.S. Than Facebook, Instagram, And Messenger Combined
- FTC COPPA Settlement with App Developer Highlights Penalty Policy Considerations
- Twin Proposals Would Reform Section 230’s Liability Protections and Broadly Affect Online Content
- President Trump Loves Section 230 for Himself, Just Not for Anyone Else
- Judge Sides With Twitter Over Devin Nunes In Case Over Satirical Internet Cow: Section 230 Removes Twitter From Frivolous Case
- Americans Would Probably Love Section 230—If They Understood It (Eric Goldman)
- Further Thoughts On Moderation v. Discretion v. Censorship
- “There’s Always a Tweet” Applies to Trump’s Anti-Social Media Rhetoric
- Risk Mitigation For Social Media Cos. In Light Of Trump Order
- Another Court Rejects Turo’s Eligibility for Section 230–Turo v. Los Angeles (Eric Goldman)
- Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act
- Online harms: what progress in the UK and EU?
- The Communication Decency Act and the DOJ’s Proposed Solution: No Easy Answers
- Social Media Posts During Turbulent Times: FAQs on Employee Rights and Employer Responsibilities
- Electronic Data exclusion cries out for Judicial Interpretation
- Using the internet to cause emotional distress is a felony?
- Google to start fact-checking Google Images
- Google pushes “text fragment links” with new Chrome extension
- Masked arsonist might’ve gotten away with it if she hadn’t left Etsy review
- Twitter terminates DDoSecrets, falsely claims it may infect visitors
- Kim Kardashian West Signs With Spotify For ‘Innocence Project’ Podcast
- CBD Advertisements: What Celebrity Influencers Need to Know
- Reviewing the Americans With Disabilities Act’s Application to Websites–Martinez v. SDCCU (Eric Goldman)
- Insights: Can YouTube’s $100M Black Lives Matter Program Fuel A New Generation Of Marginalized Creators?
- YouTube’s ‘Cobra Kai’ To Kick It At Netflix, Starting With Season 3
- YouTube Launches Virtual Summer Camp With Arts, Sports, And STEM-Related Content
- Select Management Signs Slew Of YouTube Stars, Including Kelsey Darragh, Aaron Burriss, Hey It’s Fei
- YouTube Introduces New Shoppable Ads, ‘Video Action Campaigns’ For High-Traffic Marketing Spots
- Jessica Alba Drops Beauty Interview Series On Newly-Launched YouTube Channel
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/22/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/22/2020
- NBA All-Star Stephen Curry To Host YouTube Competition Special ‘Ultimate Home Championship’
- With YouTube Music, Google is holding my speakers for ransom
- Philip DeFranco Signs With Semaphore To Seek Out Licensing Opportunities
- Hulu’s NewFronts Presentation Unveils Interactive Ad Format ‘GatewayGo,’ Nielsen Ad-Targeting Integration
- Roku Kicks Off Virtual NewFronts With Tools To Help Advertisers Weather Pandemic
- Condé Nast Unveils Podcast Network, Tap-To-Buy Video Ad Product At First NewFronts Outing
- Whistle To Launch Social Video Network In Collaboration With Survivalist Host Bear Grylls
- Barstool Sports Touts 950K Views Per Day For Founder Dave Portnoy’s Day Trading Show, Launches Branded Content Division
- Can you 3D print Damascus steel? Pretty much, yeah
- The Coronavirus Laid Bare Our Empty Lip Service To Fixing The ‘Digital Divide’
- Five practical steps to ensure due process during virtual hearings
- TV writers, like all of us, are developing a love-hate relationship with Zoom
- The long, winding, technological road to GPS in every car
A.I.
- China Won’t Win the Race for AI Dominance: Authoritarians Love Data, but Innovation Matters More
- Police arrested wrong man based on facial recognition fail, ACLU says
- In A First, TikTok Lifts Veil On Inner-Workings Of #ForYou Page Algorithm
- Artificial Intelligence and the Boardroom Risk
- The artist and the algorithm: how YouTube is changing our relationship with music
- Endure and survive – The AI of The Last of Us
COMMUNICATIONS
- Pay to Link?: Canadian Heritage Minister Guilbeault Backs Bringing the Link Tax to Canada (Michael Geist)
- Heritage Minister raises possibility of link tax for internet companies (Michael Geist)
- Europeans vow to pursue digital tax plans after US “provocation”
- Charter seeks FCC OK to impose data caps and charge fees to video services
- FCC’s O’Rielly Musters A Tiny Bit Of Courage To Almost Acknowledge Trump’s Executive Order Is Unenforceable Gibberish
- AT&T Has Now Eliminated 41,000 Jobs Since Its $42 Billion Trump Tax Cut
- AT&T Says Being Misleading About ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans Was Ok, Because Reporters Told Consumers It Was Being Misleading
- The Fastest ISP In America Is Community Owned And Operated
- Yet More Layoffs Hit Sprint/T-Mobile, Despite Promises This Assuredly Wouldn’t Happen
- T-Mobile already trying to get out of merger conditions on 5G and hiring
- If T-Mobile’s giant outage affected you, now’s your chance to tell the FCC
- FCC Skeptical About Space X Satellite Broadband Claims
- FCC Seeks Further Comment on TRACED Act’s Traceback Consortium’s Role
- FCC Seeking Comment on the Origination of Programming by FM Translators
- Fifteen Year Drought Over: How the Defense in Evonik/PeroxyChem and T-Mobile/Sprint Successfully Litigated the Fix
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Publishers Sue Internet Archive for free access to E-books
- Second Circuit Declines to Decide if Human Skin Can Be a Tangible Medium of Expression under Copyright Law and Affirms Dismissal of Makeup Artist’s Lawsuit
- Second Circuit Avoids “Making Up” Copyright Ruling Finding Artist’s Claims Preempted
- Copyright and memes: Drake effect, exceptions to infringement
- Ninth Circuit Decision Solidifies the Importance of Adhering to Registration Formalities
- Get ready to explore the boundaries of copyright on a bike before the ECJ (Case C‑833/18 (Brompton))
- A ride towards copyright for functional designs: could the iconic Brompton folding bike enjoy copyright protection? The view from Milan
- Copyright: Text and Data Mining – New Rules?
- Political Campaigns and Unauthorized Music
- Software patentability in Canada and beyond
- Copyright Gets In The Way Of Chef Andres’ ‘Recipes For The People’; Because The DMCA Takedown System Is Still Broken
- Cheez-It Issues A Bogus DMCA Notice To Nuke A Picture It Didn’t Like, Receives Dozens Of Offensive Images In Response
- Copyright Filters And Takedowns Are Broken: Questlove Says YouTube Flagged Him For Playing His Own Tracks
- Amazon and Valentino v. Kaitlyn Pan: contractual breach and counterfeiting
- Kawhi Leonard’s Fight for the “Claw”: An Oregon Court Holds that Nike Owns the “Claw Design” Logo
- Too vague: Prince Harry and Meghan’s trade mark application refused
- Another blow for Meghan and Harry’s trade mark strategy? Let’s investigate…
- Harry & Meghan’s ARCHEWELL US trade mark – not as hopeless as some reports suggest
- Netflix Outsmarts POTUS On Space Force Trade Mark
- Don’t Let Your Trademark Go Up In Smoke: “smoking is cool” Branding Is Prohibited Under Canada’s Cannabis Act
- Supreme Court rules in favour of Apple on trademark debranding
- NOKIA v Kokiya: the letters of the law
- Restaurant Industry Insight – Registering a Descriptive Restaurant Name
- In the company of Jedi´s
- Unfair advantage? Burlington Arcade successful at CJEU
- Three key differences between U.S. and Canadian patent law that can affect patent filing strategies in Canada
- Dropbox’s Patents Invalidated for Patent-Ineligible Subject Matter
- U.S. District Court Again Finds Patents for Updating Toolbar Without User Intervention Invalid
- Federal Circuit: Prior Dismissal Bars Customer Lawsuits
- Non-Infringement Need Not “Be Actually Litigated” to Invoke Kessler Doctrine
- Non-Infringement Need Not Be “Actually Litigated” to Shield Accused Products From Infringement Liability in Subsequent Actions
- Regeneron v Kymab and the effect of claim scope on the requirement of sufficiency of disclosure
- Rights of patentee or general Welfare of the public: which way should the scales tilt?
- Lifecycle of a smart idea: Patent strategy – Optimising life sciences patents
- Aces of the skies – the patent dogfight between DJI and Autel
- FibroGen & Astellas v Akebia & Otsuka – Lord Justice Arnold returns to the Patents Court for monster six patent trial
- Federal Circuit Patent Update
- Fun summer inventions and patents
- A Brief History of Patents & Slavery In Honor of Juneteenth
- Intellectual property in the time of COVID-19
- Brexit: implications for holders of intellectual property rights and domain names
- IP Post-NAFTA: What CUSMA Coming into Force Means for Canadian IP Law
- Revised draft Guidelines operationalizing the Patented Medicines Regulations: notable changes
- Intellectual Property – Top tips for Directors
PRIVACY
- Double-double tracking: How Tim Hortons knows where you sleep, work and vacation: Tim Hortons is logging detailed location data of customers through its app — and many may not realize it’s happening at all
- It’s unconstitutional for cops to force phone unlocking, court rules
- Millions of documents from >200 US police agencies published in “BlueLeaks” trove
- Tech Companies Are Limiting Police Use of Facial Recognition. Here’s Why
- New York City Residents Turn City’s Traffic Cameras Into Cop-Watching Tools
- So Much For Going Dark: FBI Using Social Media, E-Commerce Sites To Track Down Suspects (Including Non-Lawbreakers)
- NIST Releases Cybersecurity Guidance for Manufacturers of IoT Devices
- Alleged Privacy Law Violations Create Potential $5 Billion Issue For Google
- High Court Protects Privacy of Googlers from Insolvency Probe
- Google LLC loses appeal against French Data Protection Authority decision before France highest administrative Court
- Chrome extensions with 33 million downloads slurped sensitive user data
- Top German Court Rules Facebook’s Collection And Use Of Data From Third-Party Sources Requires ‘Voluntary’ Consent
- Privacy Issues of U.S. Collection of Social Media Information from Visa Applicants
- Privacy Concerns Lead To Deletion Of All Data Collected By Norway’s Contact Tracing App
- FTC Pounces on Maker of Children’s App Menagerie
- Immediate Steps Needed to Prevent Your Pandemic WFH Savior Videoconferencing from Turning Into a Future Litigation Nightmare
- One Of The World’s Largest Web Tracking Companies Leaks Tons Of Personal Info From An Unsecured Server
- To evade detection, hackers are requiring targets to complete CAPTCHAs
- Crooks abuse Google Analytics to conceal theft of payment card data
- It’s Long Past Time To Encrypt The Entire DNS
- Is Data Privacy A Privilege? The Racial Implications Of Technology Based Tools In Government
CREATIVITY
- UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Declares Detention of Sri Lankan Author Violated International Law
- Police Memo Says Officers Raiding A Journalist’s Home Were Instructed To Turn Off Their Body Cameras
- Appeals Court Says California’s IMDb-Targeting ‘Ageism’ Law Is Unconstitutional
- Tennessean Newspaper Apologizes For Running “Horrific” and “Utterly Indefensible” Advertisement
- Advertising Falls within Commercial Activity Exception to Sovereign Immunity
- Reese Witherspoon and Draper James in COVID-19 Giveaway Suit
- Schrodinger’s Classified Info: Trump Argues John Bolton’s Book Is Both False & Classified
- In Defamation Law, Context is Everything.
- The Need For A Federal Anti-SLAPP Law Is Clear And Overwhelming
- ViacomCBS Says It Is In No Rush to Make Major Acquisition
- ‘Wunderkind’ London Art Dealer Arrested by FBI
- The “root-and-branch rethink” of the film and TV production industry
- French Constitutional Council Kills Government’s Brand New Hate Speech Law
Jon
News of the Week; June 17, 2020
GAMES
- Judge rejects defence theory of ‘gaming consciousness’ and convicts man of Marpole murders
- Federal Court Affirms Activision’s First Amendment Rights In Using Humvees in ‘Call Of Duty’ Game
- Activision investigating after Modern Warfare update goes rogue on Xbox
- Nintendo issues cease-and-desist for Switch modchip installation service
- Nintendo Cryptically Points Out That Selling ‘Animal Crossing’ Assets For Real Money Violates ToS
- Rockstar stops hackers from spawning KKK members in Red Dead Online
- FDA approves game marketed as a treatment for ADHD: Prescription-only device is first game-based therapy the US agency has approved for any condition
- May I Have This Dance? Epic Games Prevails in Second Dance Emote Suit.
- Fortnite Defeats Another Lawsuit Over Emote Dance Moves–Brantley v. Epic Games (Eric Goldman)
- Duke Nukem and the Dangers of Acquired IP in Serial Game Development
- Gearbox sues 3D Realms for breach of Duke Nukem acquisition contract: After original Duke Nukem composer sues Gearbox over royalties, developer brings in original IP owner
- Manchester United sues Football Manager makers for trade mark infringement
- Developers remove games from Steam over Valve’s Black Lives Matter silence
- Riot Games exec Ron Johnson resigns following inflammatory George Floyd Facebook post: Johnson exercised “really poor judgement” says Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent
- Little Devil Inside dev apologizes for racist stereotypes shown in trailer
- “The industry hasn’t changed enough — not even close”: POC in Play’s Chella Ramanan and Adam Campbell on the industry’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the effort needed to make a lasting change
- Kowloon Nights launches $2m fund for projects by Black creators: Fairchild Initiative aims to empower Black-owned and led studios worldwide
- The itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has surpassed its $5M goal
- Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality finishes with $8.1m raised: Over 810,000 people purchased the bundle, which contained more than 1,700 games
- Humble Bundle launches Fight for Racial Justice bundle: 100% of proceeds will support NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Race Forward, and The Bail Project
- Humble’s huge ‘Fight for Racial Justice’ charity bundle has already raised over $1.3M
- Applications are open for Humble’s $1 million Black Game Developer Fund
- GDC renews commitments to supporting game developers in marginalized communities
- Square Enix apologises for “insensitive” Marvel’s Avengers tweet: “Now was not the appropriate time to share this content.”
- Tomb Raider and Deus Ex dev Eidos Montreal opens new R&D studio
- Square Enix announces new Eidos-Sherbrooke studio: The newly created R&D studio will be remote, with premises not due to open until early 2021
- The importance of diversity in games
- The chicanery of Penguin Cretins: Valve maintains its signature silence as wayward developers code-swap games on Steam, leaving users frustrated and confused
- UK government to call for evidence that loot boxes should be classed as gambling: DCMS confirms call will begin later this year, findings will be considered alongside a review of the Gambling Act
- The UK Government sets out its plan of action on immersive technologies (mostly video games)
- Capcom bans ex-EVO champion after racist tweet: Ryan “FChamp” Ramirez apologizes for “very insensitive” post, refuses to call it racist
- Xbox demands racist influencer team disassociate from its brand: Brazilian streamers XboxMilGrau has been banned on Twitch and YouTube, reportedly worked with Microsoft in the past
- Virtual concert company Wave nets $30 million to stage more interactive gigs
- Devs can now dig around in the source code for three games from Blendo Games
- Resident Evil becomes first Capcom franchise to surpass 100 million sales
- Neostream will change character designs using racist stereotypes: The developer was criticised following Little Devil Inside’s appearance at the PS5 reveal last week
- EA extends free Xbox Series X upgrade offer for Madden NFL 21 after player complaints: Publisher is not using Xbox’s Smart Delivery tech, but instead using its own ‘Dual Entitlement’ model
- Xbox expands on Smart Delivery, confirms game progress will carry forward
- PS5 will far outsell Xbox Series X, predicts analyst: Ampere’s Piers Harding-Rolls expects PS5 to sell 66 million sold by end of 2024, compared to 37 million for Series X
- Sony unveils PlayStation 5 design, but remains silent on price
- Spider-Man, Ratchet and Clank, Gran Turismo, and more are coming to PS5
- Sony finally reveals PlayStation 5 hardware—and a discless “Digital Edition”
- PlayStation 5’s reveal was all about continuity | Opinion: Laser-focused on game announcements, Sony’s unveiling was an hour-long promise to maintain the software strategy that has driven the PS4’s success
- Sony announces PlayStation 5 Digital Edition: Two versions of next-gen console shown alongside 26 upcoming games
- PS5 Digital Edition exists because “many consumers purchase solely digitally”: PlayStation boss says no news on price but platform holder is focused on “getting the value equation right”
- GTA Online is getting a standalone release on PlayStation 5
- Grand Theft Auto Online coming to PS5 for free in 2021: Standalone version of GTAV’s online game will be available as a free exclusive for three months
- Grand Theft Auto Online is a killer app for PlayStation 5 | Opinion: The deal between PlayStation and Rockstar has the potential to win over millions of fans for Sony’s next console
- Bethesda’s Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will be timed PS5 exclusives – New games from Arkane and Tango Gameworks among a handful of console exclusives at PS5 reveal event
- The PlayStation 5 looks to be the biggest game console in decades
- Data suggests almost half of Xbox One users also own a PlayStation 4
- Google cuts Stadia Premiere Edition price from $130 to $100
- Google Stadia Premiere Edition gets a price cut: But it’s no longer offering three months of Stadia Pro for free
- Ubisoft’s next open-world game leaks as an unfinished prototype on Stadia
- The Evolution of Game Genres: NES, Gameboy, and SNES
- Playable Worlds raises $10 million to beef up cloud-based game tech
- For sale to good home: Warner Bros’ gaming division
- AT&T reportedly looking to sell Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment: Take-Two, EA, Activision Blizzard among potential buyers for potential $4 billion purchase of division
- Analyst says a WBIE deal could “set off a wave” of mergers, acquisitions: Stephens’ Jeff Cohen expects largest publishers will be looking to expand their line-ups going into the next generation
- Report: Fortnite maker Epic could sell stake at $17 billion valuation
- Epic reportedly worth $17 billion in new funding round: Bloomberg reports that the Fortnite firm is about to close a $750 million round
- Fortnite “The Device” event was capped at 12m players: But 8.4 million more watched live on Twitch and YouTube
- Latest Fortnite event attracts 12M in-game players, another 8.4M via streams
- Virtual concert firm Wave raises $30m in funding: Series B round will fund “in-game activations and social experiences at the nexus of gaming and entertainment”
- NPD: May US game sales jump 52% – Despite no new releases in the top 10, software sales up 67% as hardware grows 56% for strongest May numbers since 2008
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe races back to pole position | UK Charts – Ring Fit Adventure holds firm at No.2
- Brawl Stars outpaces Clash Royale on Chinese App Store launch: Supercell’s new game also earned more in one week in China than on its global launch, according to Sensor Tower estimates
- NetEase teams up with Warner Bros for The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War
- New Zealand games industry shrunk 9% in 2019: Rebound expected as next gen console releases loom and subscription service revenue climbs
- The Last of Us Part 2 | Critical Consensus: Naughty Dog’s latest is a great achievement, but a sky-high Metacritic score masks discord among critics about its treatment of violence
- The Last of Us Part 2 review: A less confident, less focused sequel
- Studio 369 formed out of Rune 2 launch disaster
- Unity changes up its business model to prioritize long-term support services
- Playable Worlds lands $10m investment: Galaxy Interactive leads Series A funding for Raph Koster’s sandbox MMO company
- Ziggurat has acquired the BloodRayne franchise and other Majesco licenses
- Ziggurat Interactive acquires BloodRayne and other Majesco licenses: Retro publisher working with BloodRayne dev to revive franchise
- Facebook Gaming Snags TikTok Star Noen Eubanks For Exclusive Livestreaming Deal
- Facebook Gaming Expands Availability Of Key Monetization Tools, Readies New ‘Live Breaks’ Ad Format
- Twitch Looking To Give Creators More Control Over Clips After “Sudden Influx” Of Copyright Claims
- Twitch Faces the Music: A Sudden Influx of DMCA Takedown Notices Hits Twitch
- WWE Lawyers DMCA Tweet With Video Of Independent Wrestling Event, Probably Over A Hashtag That Promotes WWE
- Verizon Inks Three-Year Sponsorship Deal For Riot Games’ ‘League Of Legends’ Championships
- Luckbox closes $3.8m investment round: Esports betting platform prepares to go public after turnover increases 13 times since March
- Is Esports Betting Sports Betting in Iowa?
- Influencers and esports
- COVID-19 & Esports – Part 1 – The Economic and Industry Impact
- COVID-19 & Esports – Part 2 – The Socio-Cultural Context
- COVID-19 & Esports – Part 3 – Implications For the Future
- PlayStation 5 Will Support PSVR, Sony Affirms
- Armed and Gelatinous: Building an arcade cabinet that sticks – Rob Howland and Anthony Prusakowski on taking a goopy game jam title to the arcade, and why that approach might benefit indie developers
- Double Loop’s plans for relaxing mobile games are far from “casual”
- Talking Tiberium: Command & Conquer dev on LAN mode, going open source, and more
- Boomshakalaka: How the original NBA Jam caught fire through chaos
- Pokemon takes another stab at free-to-play with Pokemon Cafe Mix
- Pokemon Go dev Niantic delays plans to end support for 32-bit Android devices
- Pokemon Snap is being revived on the Nintendo Switch
- Over 21 years later, Pokémon Snap is coming back on Switch
- Dissecting the dual-genre design of Disintegration
- Don’t Miss: Creating the ‘hidden horror’ of Observer
- Don’t Miss: Making Insomniac’s Spider-Man do what a spider can
- Don’t Miss: What was it like programming Skyrim?
- Don’t Miss: The game is the boss – Housemarque’s Resogun postmortem7
- Blog: Starcom: Nexus postmortem, an indie dev journey
- Blog: Finding, choosing, and managing moderators
- Video: Golden rules for designing chatbot games
- Watch EA’s Jim Vessella discuss the remastering of Command & Conquer
- Niantic to promote 1,000 small businesses in Pokemon Go for free for a year: Players can nominate favorite local spots across US, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico
- An EVE Online mini-game is helping researchers better analyze COVID-19 data
- EVE Online’s latest citizen science project to help COVID-19 research: CCP Games has announced the third phase of its Project Discovery initiative
- U.S. Patent no. 10,322,346: Interactive collectible card games with defense and offence team formations
- U.S. Patent no. 10,322,351: Matchmaking system and method for multiplayer video games
DIGITAL
- Undress or fail: Instagram’s algorithm strong-arms users into showing skin
- Instagram Users: Post at Your Own Risk. Your Public Content May Be Legally Sublicensed
- Instagram To Review Its Policies, Algorithms For Any Bias Against Black Community
- Two SDNY Courts Post Opposite Conclusions on Instagram Fair Use
- Zoom cites Chinese law to defend censorship of human rights activists
- Amid pressure, Zoom will end-to-end encrypt all calls, free or paid
- Zoom & China: Never Forget That Content Moderation Requests From Government Involve Moral Questions
- Philippines Spits On Free Speech, Convicts Journalist Maria Ressa For Criminal ‘Cyber Libel’
- Amazon Senses US Isn’t Currently Receptive To Its Cop Tech, Puts Rekognition On Mothballs For A Year
- Internet Archive ends “emergency library” early to appease publishers
- Internet Archive Closing National Emergency Library Two Weeks Early, Due To Lawsuit, Despite How Useful It’s Been
- KleptoSettlement: Behavioral Advertising Data Collection in Kids’ Apps Leads to Avoidable FTC Fine
- Brokerage Account Formation Process Upheld–Valelly v. Merrill Lynch (Eric Goldman)
- Justice Department proposes major overhaul of Sec. 230 protections
- Per Section 230, Facebook Can Tell This Plaintiff To Piss Off–Fyk v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Cybersecurity Experts Support Supreme Court Review of Enigma v. Malwarebytes Ruling on Section 230(c)(2)(B) (Eric Goldman)
- Ron Wyden Explains Why President Trump (And Many Others) Are Totally Wrong About Section 230
- Justice Department Releases Its Own Preposterous Recommendations On Updating Section 230
- Devin Nunes’ Lawyer Tells Judge To Ignore Section 230, Because Twitter Is Anti-Devin Nunes
- Senator Hawley’s Latest Dumb Anti-230 Plan Would Wipe Out The President’s Advantage On Facebook
- Senator Hawley’s Section 230 Reform Even Dumber Than We Expected; Would Launch A Ton Of Vexatious Lawsuits
- Trust & Safety Professional Association Launches: This Is Important
- eBay execs sent roaches and “bloody pig mask” to harass journalists, feds say
- eBay Execs Thought Sending Dead Pigs, Live Spiders To Small News Website Was A Good Idea
- Facebook Defends Not Censoring Political Ads – Looking at the Differences In Regulation of Political Speech on Different Communications Platforms
- Facebook to Allow Users to Block all Political Advertising
- Facebook Lets Users Turn Off Political Ads, Launches Voter Registration Campaign
- The Bureau targets privacy: Facebook Inc. to pay the Competition Bureau a $9M administrative monetary penalty for misleading representations
- Why one email app went to war with Apple—and why neither one is right
- EC opens antitrust probe into Apple Pay, Apple’s App Store
- The European Commission opens formal antitrust probes against Apple in relation to Apple Pay and the App Store
- The Antitrust Case Against Apple (Bapu Kotapati, Simon Mutungi, Melissa Newham, Jeff Schroeder, Melody Wang)
- A crackdown on illegal content – but at what cost? Debate around the EU’s online liability overhaul
- Disclosing networks of state-linked information operations we’ve removed (Twitter)
- Has Twitter just had its saddest fortnight ever?: A tool that quantifies global happiness on social media recorded an unprecedented dip in mood starting in May.
- Twitter Introduces Audio Tweets, Enabling Users To Share 140-Second Voice Missives
- No, Google Didn’t Demonetize The Federalist & It’s Not An Example Of Anti-Conservative Bias
- An investigation of Google’s ad personalisation: After 10 years using Google services, here’s what I learned about surveillance capitalism
- Google Updates Ad Targeting Policies to Help Prevent Discrimination
- New Google rule bans discriminatory targeting for housing ads
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/15/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/15/2020
- YouTube Launches $100 Million, Multiyear Fund To Amplify Voices Of Black Creators
- ‘Dear Class Of 2020’ Becomes YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original To Date, Raising $2 Million
- YouTube Pulls Creators’ AdSense Fundraisers, Citing Policy Violations—But Will Donate The Amount They Raised
- YouTube To Introduce Channel Customization, Rolls Out Algorithm-Generated ‘Creator Mixes’ For Each Viewer
- YouTube Rebrands Influencer Marketing Platform ‘FameBit’ To ‘BrandConnect’, Taps Google Vet Lori Sobel To Lead Unit
- Buzzy ‘Dad, How Do I?’ YouTube Channel Links With Lowe’s For Father’s Day Contest
- Linus from Linus Tech Tips looks back on YouTube comments and Internet fame
- OpenZFS removed offensive terminology from its code
- Lawsuit vs. Western Digital wants to end any use of SMR in NAS drives
- Collapse of Quadriga crypto exchange was a result of fraud, says OSC: With company bankrupt and founder dead, enforcement action ‘not practical’
- Machine-learning clusters in Azure hijacked to mine cryptocurrency
- Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns From Board, As Company Agrees To Replace Him With Black Candidate
- Viral TikTok Satirist And Donald Trump Imitator Sarah Cooper Signs With WME
- National Security Threat: TikTok
- Cars, Guns, Cider, And Snapchat Don’t Cause Crime
- District of Columbia AG claims online lender violated usury statutes
- Cameo Adds New Product Tier, Enabling Fans To Chat With Celebrities On Zoom
- WarnerMedia Axes HBO Go, Rebrands HBO Now In Wake Of Max Launch
- Netflix Drops Somber Dave Chappelle Special ‘8:46’ On YouTube, Netting 3.4 Million Views In 24 Hours
- Quibi Predicted It Would Net 7 Million Year-One Subscribers. It’s On Track To Bring In Just 2 Million. (Report)
- Eyeing Living Rooms, Quibi Reportedly In Talks To Create Roku, Amazon Fire TV Apps
- Hulu is ending Hulu VR support for most (but not all) virtual reality headsets
- Hulu is Shutting Down Its VR App on Most Headsets Tomorrow
- Snap Taps Rickey Thompson, Denzel Dion For Original Docuseries; Re-Ups With Disney, ViacomCBS, More For ‘Discover’
- The Young Turks To Drop Non-Political Interview Series On Just-Launched Twitch Channel
- ‘Myth: A Frozen Tale’ is Disney Animation’s First Publicly Released VR Short Film, Now on Quest
- After Libra, Digital Yuan and COVID-19: Central Bank Digital Currencies and the New World of Money and Payment Systems (Douglas Arner, Ross Buckley, Dirk Zetzsche, Anton Didenko)
A.I.
- Why general artificial intelligence will not be realized (Ragnar Fjelland)
- Algo IP: Intellectual Property in AI Datasets, Insights and Outputs – the Growing Importance of Trade Secrets
- Deepfakes aren’t very good—nor are the tools to detect them
- Occupational Change, Artificial Intelligence And The Geography Of EU Labour Markets
- If the shoppers can’t come to the shops, let the shops come to them: can AI save our shops?
- Artificial Intelligence and Europe: Risks, Developments and Implications (Jacopo Scipione)
- The Chinese approach to artificial intelligence: an analysis of policy, ethics, and regulation
- Artificial Intelligence and WIPO
- Will Robots Replace Patent Examiners?
- Who’s a Bot? Who’s Not?: It sometimes seems that automated bots are taking over social media and driving human discourse. But some (real) researchers aren’t so sure.
- Can AI mitigate the climate crisis? Not really.
- Getting it right: Using consumer-facing AI tools wisely
- Don’t Miss: A look at the data-driven AI framework behind Destroy All Humans 2
- Boston Dynamics now sells a robot dog to the public, starting at $74,500
COMMUNICATIONS
- What the Federal Court of Appeal Anti-Spam Law Case Means for the Interpretation of CASL (Michael Geist)
- US Falls Out Of Top 10 Fastest Broadband Speeds
- Another 5G Infrastructure Win for the Wireless Industry
- Senators Wyden And Markey Make It Clear AT&T Is Violating Net Neutrality
- AT&T’s “headcount rationalization”—i.e. job cuts—hits thousands more workers
- U.S. Commerce Department Revises Export Controls on Huawei, Permits Some Sharing of Export Controlled Technology in Setting Standards for 5G and Other Technology
- FCC Republican has “deep reservations” about Trump’s social media crackdown
- FCC Adopts Declaratory Ruling and Starts Rulemaking on ATSC 3.0 TV Datacasting Issues – the Broadcast Internet
- FCC proposes $225m fine for spoofed robocalls and state AGs follow suit
- FCC has “serious doubts” that SpaceX can deliver latencies under 100ms
- FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment Makes Statement on Civil Rights Demonstrations and the Racial Divide
- FCC Reaches $5 Million Settlement with magicJack
- FCC Proposes Largest Fine in Its History for Telemarketing Violations
- T-Mobile Merger ‘Synergies’ Culminate In Massive 12 Hour Nationwide Outage
- The DOJ’s Plan To ‘Fix’ The T-Mobile Merger Is Already A Hot Mess
- T-Mobile’s outage yesterday was so big that even Ajit Pai is mad
- Platform Mergers: Lessons from a Case in the Digital TV Market (Mark Ivaldi, Jiekai Zhang)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Apple, SOCAN highlights changing role of Copyright Board, says IP professor Ariel Katz
- Federal Court of Appeal Issues Two Decisions on the Copyright Act’s “Making Available” Right
- I’m So Tired: IP Rights Exhaustion
- SA Music LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc.: Court dismisses copyright claims, holding distribution of work through digital music store requires transfer or download of file containing copyright work from one computer to another.
- A co-hop-yright clash
- Wheely good news for product designers?
- Brompton Bicycle – far from folded
- Riding copyright in the right direction?
- I want to Ride my (Brompton Folding) Bicycle
- CJEU confirms that original functional shapes may obtain copyright protection
- The CJEU confirms copyright can subsist in functional shapes provided they are original
- CJEU rules that functional shapes are eligible for copyright protection, in so far as they are original works
- CJEU on eligibility of functional shape under Copyright Law
- Can copyright protect technical products? Brompton provides some answers
- The Brompton Bicycle – the collapsible bike with a collapsing monopoly?
- WIPO brings ‘poor man’s copyright’ into digital age
- Copyright protection for Brompton’s folding bicycle? CJEU gives green light to the possibility across Europe
- Karen Hepp v. Facebook, Inc.: Dismisses news anchor’s right of publicity claims against Facebook & others, holding exception to safe harbor based on “any law pertaining to intellectual property” does not apply.
- Do You Like The Creepy Dolls Horror Subgenre?
- Pablo Star Ltd. v. The Welsh Government: Court rejects Welsh government’s motion to dismiss on sovereign immunity grounds finding use of photographs in tourism ads is commercial activity without immunity.
- Social media influencers beware: Street art is protected by copyright
- Inaccuracies in copyright registration doom fabric designer’s big jury verdict against H&M
- Stop Asking Marvel To Keep Cops From Wearing Masks With ‘The Punisher’ Skull On It
- Toys “R” Us Successful in Depreciation of Goodwill Claim Against “Herbs R Us”
- Canada: Protective Orders in Trademark Cases
- Netflix Trumps US Armed Forces in Space Race
- Booking.com: Does a dot.com make a brand name distinctive?
- Yes, your product is incredible, but should you call it that?
- The Kimono controversy: a matter of cultural awareness and risk management
- Dissecting SkyKick
- Supreme Court Suggests Claim Preclusion May Be Less Relevant to Trademark Cases and Questions Its Applicability to a Defense Rather than a Claim
- A trademark tasting session to celebrate World Gin Day
- Time to Brighton up that brand portfolio?
- Trade marks: Don’t register them “purely as a legal weapon”
- The Scent of a Crayon: Unique Complications with Scent and Other Non-Traditional Trademarks in Canada
- 3M Continues to Use Lanham Act to Combat Nefarious Use of 3M Mark for N-95 Masks
- Flag Day Greetings
- My Big Fat Greek Lawsuits
- Ninth Circuit Closes Lips on Confusion Claims Against Pucker Vodka
- Flying on Red Bull’s wings
- UK High Court issues latest decision in MERCK trademark saga
- L’Oreal Appeals $66 Million Trade Secret Judgment
- UK based .eu domain name owners beware – Brexit is coming
- Southern District Of New York Grants Motion To Dismiss Patent And Trade Secret Claims, Finding Patents Ineligible Under Section 101 And That Trade Secret Claim Failed To Identify A Protectable Secret
- Follow the Rules! Recent Changes to Canada’s Patent Procedures
- PTAB Designates As Informative a Decision Instituting Post-Grant Review for a Design Patent Lacking Ornamentality
- Federal Circuit Affirms Rule 12(b)(6) Dismissal Because the Patent Was Directed to the Patent-Ineligible Abstract Idea of Teaching a User to Play the Guitar
- Encrypting/decrypting audio data with reduced latency: technical
- PTAB Decision on Functional Language for a Camera Claim Limitation
- Efficient use of search tools for prior art and patent searching
PRIVACY
- B.C. woman finds photos, videos of herself for sale online. And it’s legal
- High-tech surveillance amplifies police bias and overreach (Andrew Ferguson)
- Quebec Introduces New Amendments to Its Privacy Regimes
- Congressional Reps Demand Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Stop Surveilling Protesters
- Tradeoffs: Facebook Helping The FBI Hack Tails To Track Down A Truly Awful Child Predator Raises Many Questions
- UPnP flaw exposes millions of network devices to attacks over the Internet
- Knoxville shuts down parts of its network after being hit by ransomware
- Intel will soon bake anti-malware defenses directly into its CPUs
- More than 7 in 10 Americans won’t use contact-tracing apps, data shows
- Political groups use “deeply spooky” protester location data, report finds
- Tracking Kids Through Your App? Think Again.
- Data Sharing Without Borders: New ‘landmark’ US-UK data sharing agreement.
- Data protection, gaming affiliates, & direct marketing – processor or controller?
- Highest German Court Rules on Cookie Consent (Planet49)
- Can You Build A Privacy Law That Doesn’t Create Privacy Trolls?
- A tale of two cybers – how threat reporting by cybersecurity firms systematically underrepresents threats to civil society (Lennart Maschmeyer, Ronald Deibert, Jon Lindsay)
- Own Data? Ethical Reflections on Data Ownership (Patrik Hummel, Matthias Braun, Peter Dabrock)
CREATIVITY
- Appeals Court Again Says That The White House Can’t Just Remove A Press Pass Because It Didn’t Like A Reporter Mocking Seb Gorka
- The First Amendment Protects Radio Hosts Covering Online Attacks Against A Sports Referee
- Trump Campaign Is So Pathetic It Claims CNN Poll Is Defamatory; Demands Retraction
- Legally Bombed: Reese Witherspoon’s Clothing Company Earns Failing Grade on ‘Free Dress’ Giveaway
- Stolen Banksy mural rediscovered in Italian farmhouse
- Is it Misleading to Name a Product “Potato Skins Snacks” When the Product Isn’t Made From Potato Skins?
- Retrial Ordered in Libel Case Concerning UK Polish-Language Newspaper
Jon
News of the Week; June 10, 2020
GAMES
- Ubisoft Alleges Rainbow Six Siege Infringement by Ejoy.com
- Sony fined $3.5 million for issuing ‘misleading’ refund advice to PlayStation users
- Investors argue against excessive pay package for Activision CEO
- Activision Blizzard shareholders upset over CEO Bobby Kotick’s compensation: Publisher defends Kotick’s pay despite his “apparent failure” to meet performance targets
- UK government calls for more evidence in ongoing loot box debate
- UK could class loot boxes as gambling to protect children: Ministers call for evidence on video games such as Fifa that charge money for rewards
- Government Response to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies (U.K. Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
- Escape from Tarkov dev Battlestate will clamp down on real world trading
- Brantley v. Epic Games, Inc.: Trademark & related claims targeting use of “Running Man” dance move in Fortnite dismissed; claims pre-empted by Copyright Act & failure to allege protectable trademark.
- Riot exec resigns after blaming George Floyd’s death on his lifestyle
- Riot Games exec placed on leave for Facebook post blaming George Floyd’s death on “criminal lifestyle”: “The sentiment…is…counter to our belief that addressing systemic racism requires immediate societal change”
- Riot pledges $10 million to create pathways for minority-led studios
- Itchio’s Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has raised $2.4M with one week left to go
- Canadian publisher Klei donates $1 million to Black Lives Matter charities
- EA Sports pledges to up efforts to fight toxic behavior in its games: Publisher promises increased resources, in-game tools, better filters amid global protests against racism and police brutality
- Games industry donates to Black Lives Matter and more to support US protests
- Neil Druckmann: The Last of Us Part 2 will “normalise stuff that is normal” – Naughty Dog director reacts to leaks, says people who will “benefit most from this story are the ones yelling the loudest”
- Naughty Dog ramps up accessibility options for The Last of Us Part II
- Red Candle Games’ Devotion is getting a relaunch (in Taiwan)
- Devotion gets a physical release in Taiwan: Red Candle Games’ horror title returns in limited capacity after developer pulled it from Steam last year
- Guinness World Records People Accidentally Claiming Copyright On Tons Of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Speedruns
- Sky Sports working with FIFA devs to artificially fill Premier League stadiums
- EA Access inches closer to Steam launch as more EA games go up for sale
- Epic Games Store scores next Total War game as exclusive: A Total War Saga Troy will only be available through Epic for the first year, will be free for the first 24 hours
- Ahead of PS5 showcase, Microsoft confirms Hellblade II will run on Unreal 5
- Nintendo claims 300K accounts have been hacked after NNID security breach
- Hacks Are Always Worse Than Reported: Nintendo’s Breached Accounts Magically Double
- From Zelda to Civ to Frostpunk—can climate change be fun?
- Online sales up 517% at GameStop, though overall sales are still on a decline
- GAME re-opening stores on June 15: All stores in England and North Ireland will open doors next Monday, but Belong Arenas remain closed
- UK retailer Game will isolate trade-in stock for three days to stop COVID-19
- My.Games offers 90/10 revenue split to devs that promote its store: All other studios will get 70/30 as company seeks to reward those that bring new users to its marketplace
- Cyberpunk 2077 will come to Stadia after console, PC launch
- Sony’s Back Button Attachment is finally back in stock, so here’s our review
- Despite 100GB video games, average download times are decreasing
- How Sega hopes to use Japanese arcades as streaming data centers
- Outer Worlds on Switch: A monumental, messy conversion on weak hardware
- Command & Conquer Remastered Collection review: Loving the smell of Tiberium
- Bungie will cycle out content to keep Destiny 2 fresh well into next-gen
- Destiny 3 may never exist—to that end, the series will wipe older campaign content
- Mobile publisher Playrix acquires Croatian game studio Cateia Games
- Playrix acquires Croatian PC developer Cateia Games
- Kalypso Media has acquired Port Royale developer Gaming Mind Studios
- Australian games industry valued at $3.6b in 2019: Software, hardware, and accessories sales were down, but subscription revenue rose 28% year-over-year
- Guilty Gear dev Arc System Works opens new division to expand globally
- Arc System Works to expand international business with new division: Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari becomes chief creative officer as part of broad restructuring
- Unity report shows massive spike in video game business due to COVID-19
- Unity: Fine-tuning solutions to gaming’s “massive content problem” – Brett Bibby on helping developers to meet a 100x increase in game content, and Unity’s solutions to the spread of remote working
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has sold over 1 million copies worldwide
- Chinese game company NetEase has opened a new studio in Japan
- Tinybuild: Indie publishers must move beyond “transactional relationships”
- You have five seconds: Why you need strong visual design in your indie game: Skelattack’s creator David Stanley on why first impressions are everything, plus art tips so your assets stand out
- YouTube Pacts With Geoff Keighley For Exclusive ‘Summer Game Fest’ Programming
- The Esports Boom: A Temporary ‘Sports Fix’ or in a League of Its Own?
- Boom.tv raises $10m in Series A funding: Bitkraft leads investment round to support Code Red ProAm series, esports entertainment platform
- I choose you: Pokémon Draft League brings pro sports excitement to the game
- FaZe Clan To Release Movie Slate Beginning This Year In Pact With ‘Invisible Narratives’
- SimRefinery, a long lost training simuator from Maxis, has been recovered
- A lost Maxis “Sim” game has been discovered by an Ars reader [Updated]
- Deep Dive: Designing the Super Mario Maker-inspired I Wanna Maker
- Video: Harmonizing the creative and business goals of Dead by Daylight
- Video: Designing Headliner to teach players about media manipulation
- Video: Designing Mortal Kombat 11’s empowering tutorial mode
- Don’t Miss: Big Huge Games’ postmortem of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
- Don’t Miss: A postmortem of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
- Don’t Miss: Making Oxenfree’s narrative unfold like a free-flowing conversation
- Don’t Miss: What went right (and wrong) during the development of Persona 4
- Don’t Miss: As traffic hits all-time high, Jackbox adjusting to dev’ing from home
- Blog: Steam’s wishlist conversions – how hot are yours?
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 5
- Blog: Moving on stairs in a 2D side-scroller
- Blog: Some thoughts about research and upgrades in RTS games
- Blog: Making a SNES game in 2020
DIGITAL
- CDT First Out The Gate In Suing To Block Donald Trump’s Silly Executive Order On Section 230
- Think Of The Kitten: A Crash Course On Section 230
- Twitter Taking Down Trump Campaign Video Over Questionable Copyright Claim Demonstrates Why Trump Should Support Section 230
- Senators Rubio, Hawley, Loeffler And Cramer Ask The FCC To Reinterpret Section 230 In A Totally Ridiculous Manner
- Looking at the President’s Executive Order on Online Media – Part 2, What Real Risk Does It Pose for Media Companies?
- The President Goes on the Offensive Against Social Media Platforms
- My Galley by CJR Interview on Trump’s Anti-Section 230 Executive Order (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Ends Demonetized YouTuber’s Lawsuit–Lewis v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Applies to Publicity Rights Claim–Hepp v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- What is a “True Threat” Online?–In re. R.D. (Eric Goldman)
- #ShareTheMicNow Campaign Seeks To Magnify The Voices Of Black Women On Instagram
- Former NFL Player Emmanuel Acho Launches Viral ‘Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man’ Series
- Facebook Shareholders The Latest Group To Ask Facebook To Drop Its Encryption Plans
- Coming This Summer: Facebook Will Begin Blocking Advertisements From State-Controlled Media Entities In The United States
- The Internet’s most important—and misunderstood—law, explained
- Apple is now worth 1.5 trillion dollars
- Norway Supreme Court Signs Off On Apple’s Harassment Of An Independent Repair Shop
- Instagram just threw users of its embedding API under the bus
- IBM asks Congress for police reform, leaves facial recognition business
- “Culture of workplace fear” leads to COVID-19 spread at Amazon, suit says
- Online content sharing – pay to play?
- Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Film App ‘Whatifi’ Launches With $10 Million In Venture Funding
- YouTube Provides Rare, Robust Window Into Monetization Guidelines For Creators
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/08/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/01/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/08/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/01/2020
- U.S. Kids Spend 86 Minutes Per Day Watching YouTube Videos—And 82 Minutes Watching TikTok (Study)
- Despite National Security Concerns, This Congressman Has Launched A Quippy TikTok Account
- Don Henley Tells Senators: We Must Change Copyright Law… Because The People Like TikTok?
- Jake Paul Charged With Criminal Trespass And Unlawful Assembly After Denying Looting At Arizona Mall
- Instagram and Embedding Photos – An Update and a Bombshell (?) from Instagram
- New CAP/CMA Guidance: #Ad(vice) for Influencers
- Influencer marketing and obvious brand references
- The Playlist: DLA Piper’s music law updates
- Google Meet takes on Zoom with AI-powered noise cancellation
- Zoom defenders cite legit reasons to not end-to-end encrypt free calls
A.I.
- Algo IP: Intellectual Property in Algorithms, Computer Generated Works and Computer Implemented Inventions
- Protecting AI inventions
- Artificial Intelligence Systems and IP
- What if HAL could have IP rights? WIPO joins the conversation on AI and IP
- This bot hunts software bugs for the Pentagon
- Balancing the stealth AI in Splinter Cell: Blacklist
COMMUNICATIONS
- CASL is Constitutional: Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Constitutionality of Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (Michael Geist)
- No Opinions Permitted: Broadcast Panel Rules Jokingly Criticizing Canadian Content During Radio News Segment Violates Code of Ethics (Michael Geist)
- Verizon Appeals NAD Decision Regarding 5G Claims
- 5G Conspiracy Idiots Now Threatening Telecom Workers That Don’t Even Work In Wireless
- Cox slows Internet speeds in entire neighborhoods to punish any heavy users
- Major ISP Cox Begins Throttling Entire Neighborhoods for ‘Excessive Usage’
- Small ISP cancels data caps permanently after reviewing pandemic usage
- Cable Customers Have Paid $3.5 Billion For Sports They Can’t Watch
- Ajit Pai caves to SpaceX but is still skeptical of Musk’s latency claims
- FCC failed to monitor Chinese telecoms for almost 20 years: Senate report
- FCC Delays Law Banning Your ISP From Charging You ‘Rental Fees’ For Hardware You Already Own
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Entertainment Software Assoc. v. Society Composers, (2020 FCA 100)
- CMRRA-SODRAC Inc. v. Apple Canada Inc., (2020 FCA 101)
- Read All About It: SDNY Rejects Newsweek’s Defenses Over Embedded Content Copyright Claims
- Brown v. Netflix Inc.: Use of eight seconds of children’s song “Fish Sticks n’ Tater Tots” in documentary film depicting burlesque dancer in “reverse mermaid” costume was held to be transformative fair use
- Major Publishers Sue The Internet Archive’s Digital Library Program In The Midst Of A Pandemic
- After Taming Open Access, Academic Publishing Giants Now Seek To Assimilate The World Of Preprints
- The Federal Court of Appeal Makes its Making Available Judgment Available: It’s Not Just About “The Vibe”
- Access Copyright v. York University – Some Thoughts on the Federal Court of Appeal’s Judgment (Howard Knopf)
- Judge Orders Down ‘N Out Burger Joint To Hand Over All Signage To In-N-Out, Which Has Almost No Presence In Australia
- Unauthorized Photographs: The Rights Of The People We Capture
- With website blocking and international treaties, copyright law evolves with the digital domain
- Copyright: Works of artistic craftsmanship and Cofemel
- No, California Law Review, Food Plating Does Not Deserve Copyright Protection
- Is 3D printing a threat to the value of IP portfolios?
- Making the best of a bad situation – Canadian trademark trends in a time of change
- Trademarks: Specifications and bad faith
- Supreme Court Helps Trademark Owners: Proof of “Willfulness” Is Not Required To Recover Infringer’s Profits
- Baskin in glory: the Tiger King loses zoo to rival in trade mark battle
- Trump Campaign Gets Parody Cartoon Taken Down Off Redbubble Over Trademark Claim On MAGA Hats
- Infringement Action Under PM(NOC) Regulations Cannot Become Moot
- Traditionally bred plants and animals are no longer patent eligible at the European Patent Office – what is still protectable?
- Impact of COVID-19 on patent ecosystem
- Design Patent Protection for Fashion
- Joint Ownership of Patents: It Is Not Always Nice to Share
- A Non-Precedential Case Study: Federal Circuit Says District Court Did Not Clearly Err in Holding Dosing Patent Invalid Based on Obviousness and Obviousness Type Double Patenting
PRIVACY
- FTC settles with children app developer for COPPA violations
- Iran- and China-backed phishers try to hook the Trump and Biden campaigns
- DEA Wants In On The Fun, Asks DOJ To Give It Permission To Surveil George Floyd Protests
- Senator wants to know if police are using Clearview to ID protesters
- Chicago Mayor Says City’s Police Officers Will Be ‘Stripped Of Their Powers’ If They Turn Off Their Cameras
- Hackers for hire targeted hundreds of institutions, says report
- Schools turn to surveillance tech to prevent COVID-19 spread
- Plundering of crypto keys from ultrasecure SGX sends Intel scrambling again
- Investigation Shows Governor’s Claims That Democrats Tried To Hack The Georgia Election Were B.S.
- Researchers say online voting tech used in 5 states is fatally flawed
- Study Shows Major E-Voting System Open To Numerous Hacking Attacks
- Carnegie Mellon Researchers Design ‘Nutrition Label’ For The Internet Of Broken Things
CREATIVITY
- Fox News Is a Flaming Pile of Garbage, But You Can’t Sue Them for That–WASHLITE v. Fox News (Eric Goldman)
- #NoRightsMatter: US Postal Service, Law Enforcement Team Up To Seize ‘Black Lives Matter’ Facemasks
- Sheriff Goes All In On Violating The First Amendment After Assaulting A Protester For Carrying A ‘F*CK TRUMP’ Sign
- Adam Rapoport: Bon Appetit editor resigns over ‘racist culture’
- Staff Of Bon Appétit Apologized For Being Complicit In Racism: “The deeply offensive photo circulating of Adam is horrific on its own, but also speaks to the much broader and longstanding impact of racism at these brands.”
- New Report Details Pervasive Culture of Racism at Bon Appétit: ‘Nowhere Have I Ever Felt More Isolated’: Business Insider report describes “toxic” workplace in which people of color are regularly sidelined & paid less
- If The NY Times Doesn’t Publish My OpEd On Why James Bennet Is An Incompetent Dweeb, It Must Hate Free Speech
- No, The Resignation Of NYT Editor James Bennet Does Not Mean American Newsrooms Have ‘Turned Into College Campuses’
- Big Little Material Omissions: Reese Witherspoon and Draper James Subject of Class Action Lawsuit
- Guelph Treasure Heirs Respond to U.S. Brief that Argued Nazi Art Theft Was a Domestic Affair
- The F-word’s hidden superpower: Repeating it can increase your pain threshold
- Electric race cars and human drama on display in And We Go Green
Black Lives Matter Online Virtual Issue of the Information, Communication & Society Journal (“iCS”)
Like millions of other academics and citizens worldwide the senior editorial team of the iCS Journal were shocked and appalled by the brutal killing of George Floyd as yet another example of the unrelenting and deep-seated racism in our societies. iCS like many other journals has always sought to publish and disseminate research findings that address questions of race, ethnicity and discrimination in order to expose such injustices. It is of course no surprise that the discrimination found in everyday life is sadly replicated online and through social media. Following the suggestion of one of their Editorial Team, Victor Avila Torres, they have selected the following published articles dealing with online racism, discrimination and discursive oppression for wider circulation. In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter campaign these are now freely available to download and share.
Anastasia Kanjere (2018) Defending Race Privileges on the Internet: How witness uses innocence discourse online
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477972?src=recsys&
Jen Schradie (2012) The Trend of Class, Race and Ethnicity in Social Media Inequality
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2012.665939
Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández (2017) Platformed Racism: the mediation and circulation of an Australian race-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1293130
Summer Harlow and Anna Benbrook (2017) How #Blacklivesmatter: Exploring the role of hip-hop celebrities in constructing racial identity on Black Twitter
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1386705
Andre Brock, Lynette Kvasny and Kayla Hales (2010) Cultural Appropriations of Technical Capital: Black women, weblogs and digital divide
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2010.498897
Kishonna L. Gray (2012) Intersecting Oppressions and Online Communities: Examining the experiences of women of color on Xbox Live
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2011.642401
Apryl Williams and Vanessa Gonlin (2017) I Got All My Sisters With Me (On Black Twitter): Second screening of ‘How to get away with murder’ as a discourse on black womanhood
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1303077
Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert and Christopher Anderson (2016) The Mobile Internet and Digital Citizenship in African-American and Latino Communities
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1243142
Deborah Gabriel (2016) Blogging while Black, British and Female: a critical study on discursive activism
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1146784
Seeta Pena Gangadharan and Jedrzej Niklas (2019) Decentering Technology in Discourse on Discrimination
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1593484
Correa, T. and Jeong, S.H. (2010) Race and Online Content Creation: Why minorities are actively participating in the Web
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2010.514355
Kanjere, A. (2018) Defending race privilege on the Internet: how whiteness uses innocence discourse online
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477972
Lu. J.H., and Steele, C.K. (2019) ‘Joy as resistance’: cross-platform resilience and (re)invention of Black oral culture online
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1575449
Book Reviews:
Yan Wang (2018) Constructing Digital Cultures: Tweets, trends, race and gender by Judith E. Rosenbaum
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1550098?src=recsys
Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius (2019) Algorithms of Oppression: How search engines reinforce racism by Safya Umoja Noble
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1593485?af=R
Jon
News of the Week; June 3, 2020
GAMES
- Keepin’ It Real: Courts Recognize the Legitimate Goal of Video Game Makers
- Something on Which Even Patent Litigators Can Agree: McRO v. Bandai, Inc. Clarifies the Framework for Enablement Challenges and for Enablement Defenses
- EB Games Australia admits to misleading customers over Fallout 76 refunds
- EB Games offers refunds for Fallout 76: Retailer admits to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission it likely misled customers over their rights
- Games industry speaks out in support of black communities amid violence in US: Microsoft, Sony, and Riot Games among those advocating for the unheard as riots and police brutality rock US cities
- Humble is putting $1 million toward publishing games from Black game devs
- Game companies delay events, make donations amid police brutality protests
- Infinity Ward pledges to “do more” to moderate racist content in its games: Call of Duty developer to add more resources to block hateful content following week of protests, police violence
- Gaming’s lost boys embrace their inner censor | Opinion: The Last of Us 2 attracts reactionary fury for depicting diversity — and the erstwhile free speech warriors now find themselves cheering for government censorship
- The Outer Worlds writing team honored with Nebula Award
- GWU Seattle calls for removal of GWU International member over ‘exclusionary behavior’
- The Last of Us Pt. 2 hands-on: You can’t pet the dog—but you can expect terror
- Denuvo security software removed from Doom Eternal and Metro Exodus: Despite speculation, removal of Anti-Cheat and Anti-Tamper was not in response to performance issues
- Denuvo’s Anti-Cheat Software Now Getting Ripped From Games At Record Speed Too
- CS:GO tournament victors banned for cheating: Eagle-eyed viewers catch cheaters after technical issue left flaw in tournament’s anti-cheat measures
- The unexpected and creative ways devs are dealing with remote work
- Sony delays June PS5 event ‘to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard’
- PlayStation 5 games to be revealed on June 4th: Over an hour of new games to be shown next week
- Sony’s Jim Ryan: “We are going to launch PS5 this holiday and we’re going to launch globally”: PlayStation on how COVID-19 has (and hasn’t) changed its launch plans for its next console
- Sony says after July 13th, new PS4 games must be PS5 compatible
- New PS4 games must also run on PlayStation 5 from July, Sony tells devs: Updates to existing games “strongly recommended” to add compatibility.
- Sony requires PS5 compatibility for all future PS4 releases: Games submitted for certification after July 13 must be playable on upcoming console
- Xbox Series X will add HDR support to backwards compatible titles
- Xbox Series X backward compatibility will add HDR, 120 fps support to older games: Thousands of games will be supported on the next-gen Xbox
- Phil Spencer says Xbox Series X on track for worldwide launch this holiday: Xbox boss discusses plans upcoming next-gen console on former Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime’s podcast
- Double Fine winding down Presents publishing label following Microsoft purchase
- Google’s “overpromising” led to Stadia “disappointment,” says RDR2 publisher: If you’re paying $60 for a game, “are you really unwilling to buy a $300 console?”
- Sega reveals Game Gear Micro: Miniature retro handheld confirmed for October Japan launch in four colors, each with a different selection of four games
- Sega’s tiny Game Gear Micro is 92% smaller than the original
- 30 years later, a lost Days of Thunder NES game recovered from 21 floppy disks
- Codemasters secures FIA World Rally Championship license from 2023
- Codemasters to create games based on the World Rally Championship: Racing game specialist signs five-year licensing deal
- Professional Race Car Driver Hires Expert Gamer To Race His Video Game Car
- EA renews Madden NFL license through 2026
- EA renews NFL, NFLPA deal: Multi-year agreement ensures Madden NFL will continue to be the only simulation title with the licenses of the league and its players association
- EA maintains exclusive Madden NFL license in multiyear renewal: NFL, NFLPA extend long-term deals for simulation football video games
- If GTA5 keeps selling, would Take-Two wait to launch GTA6?: CEO Strauss Zelnick responds to concerns of the publisher cannibalizing its own successes
- Take-Two tried to poach entire Kerbal 2 dev team as it cancelled deal with their studio
- Star Theory reportedly shutters after Take-Two takes over Kerbal Space Program 2: Lack of other projects and GDC’s cancellation force studio to close in March
- NetEase to open secondary listing on Hong Kong stock exchange: New listing approved, Chinese publisher reportedly hopes to raise $3 billion
- Rovio acquires (and rebrands) Darkfire Heroes dev Darkfire Games
- Zynga acquires mobile gaming company Peak for $1.8 billion
- Zynga acquires Toon Blast and Toy Blast developer Peak for $1.8 billion
- Zynga to acquire Toon Blast developer for $1.8bn: Acquisition of Peak Games expected to increase Zynga’s global audience by 60%
- African mobile game publisher Carry1st secures $2.5 million to expand operations
- CD Projekt starts 2020 off with a record Q1 as The Witcher series continues its reign
- The Witcher franchise has crossed 50 million sales
- The Witcher series surpasses 50m units sold: That’s up from 40 million around the same time last year
- Mobile gaming sees record weekly downloads amid COVID-19 lockdown: Average weekly installs reached 1.2 billion as downloads increase by 35% from January to March 4
- David Braben: “Physical games will go away in two to three years” – Frontier CEO says investors see games industry as a “safe haven” during recession at today’s Investment Summit Online
- Game discoverability and the Nintendo Switch: What’s selling?
- UK boxed games market delivers strongest April in five years: Latest GfK figures show PS4, Xbox One and Switch sales up 48% for the first four months of 2020
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition takes No.1 | UK Charts: PlayStation 4 sale shakes up the top 40
- Creative Assembly launching Total War Saga: Troy for free on the Epic Games Store
- Sweeney: EGS free game promos boost a game’s Steam and console sales too
- Steam Cloud Play beta lets developers enable GeForce Now integration
- Nvidia launches opt-in process for GeForce Now: Hardware manufacturer responds after multiple game companies pulled their catalogues from its streaming service
- Roblox’s continuing construction of a social, creative space: Matthew Curtis talks about prioritising better monetization, discoverability, and technology for the platform’s creators
- Avakin Life reaches 1.4m daily active users: Online virtual world and social app now has 200 million registered users since 2013 launch
- Life is Strange developer Dontnod opens new studio in Canada
- Dontnod Entertainment opens new Canadian studio: Life is Strange developer alludes to new projects at its first international studio
- Just Cause developer Avalanche is opening a new UK studio
- Avalanche opens new UK studio: New Liverpool-based developer expected to house 50 staff by 2022
- Paradox to sign collective bargaining agreement with Swedish labor unions
- Paradox opens studio in Barcelona to focus on grand strategy development
- Paradox opening Barcelona studio: Europa Universalis designer Johan Andersson will lead Paradox Tinto efforts on grand strategy games
- Lego Ventures: Fortnite is the “first credible metaverse”
- Bandai Namco cancels support for physical 2020 World Tour events: COVID-19 pushes Tekken, Soulcalibur, and Dragon Ball FighterZ tournaments to digital venues
- One Month After the ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Surge, VR Usage on Steam Remains at Record High
- Magic Leap Founder Rony Abovitz to Step Down as CEO
- Magic Leap CEO Ronny Abovitz to step down: Abovitz will continue as CEO until a replacement is found, and remain on the board after the transition
- HTC co-founder reveals new VR headset and social platform: Priced at $599, Mova headset offers hand-tracking and 5G while social platform Manova makes big promises
- VGDC: Brandon Sheffield’s ‘All Time Greats’ article/video picks
- Q&A: Storytelling through erasure in the astonishingly unique If Found
- Video: Achieving high-quality game VFX on mobile devices
- Video: Building intrinsically motivated teams via self-determination theory
- Don’t Miss: Inside the narrative design of Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Don’t Miss: A look back on the usefulness of video game manuals
- Don’t Miss: Creator Alexey Pajitnov on the past, present, and future of Tetris
- Blog: Lessons from the history of mobile 4X strategy
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 2
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 3
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 4
- Blog: A level design breakdown of the Ghost of Tsushima trailer
- Blog: Can Amazon’s first big-budget game succeed as a slow-burner?
- Obituary: Darklands creator Arnold Hendrick
- Control, Sayonara Wild Hearts lead winners of 2020 Nordic Game Awards
- U.S. Patent no. 10,322,336: Haptic braille output for a game controller
DIGITAL
- Russian hackers are exploiting bug that gives control of US servers
- White House, Trump accounts both get Twitter rulebreaker warning
- No, Twitter Fact Checking The President Is Not Evidence Of Anti-Conservative Bias
- Facebook employees revolt over Zuckerberg’s stance on Trump
- Employees, civil rights groups blast Facebook inaction on Trump statements
- Facebook’s Oversight Board Can’t Intervene, So Stop Asking
- President Trump’s Executive Order
- Trump Prepares Order to Limit Social Media Companies’ Protections: The move is almost certain to face a court challenge and signals the latest salvo by President Trump to crack down on online platforms.
- A Quick Take on the May 26 Executive Order on Platforms and CDA 230
- Executive Order “Clarifies” (Rewrites) Online Speech Protections
- Trump’s “Preventing Online Censorship” Executive Order Is Pro-Censorship Political Theater (Eric Goldman)
- The Two Things To Understand About Trump’s Executive Order On Social Media: (1) It’s A Distraction (2) It’s Legally Meaningless
- Executive order targeting social media companies unlikely to change foundational internet law
- Section 230 Executive Order Strikes Back at Twitter, But Legal Impact Likely to be Limited
- Trump’s Executive Order Targeting Social Platforms Could Hurt “Internet Freedom,” Google Says
- President Trump’s Social Media Executive Order Would Restrict Legal Protections for Internet Speech
- Trump Issues Executive Order Aimed at Curtailing Online Platforms’ Immunity for User Generated Content
- Executive Order Aimed at Restricting Civil Liability Protections Afforded to Social Media Companies
- The Implications of Trump’s Executive Order and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
- The President’s Executive Order on Online Media – What Does Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act Provide?
- Trump is desperate to punish Big Tech but has no good way to do it
- Leaked draft details Trump’s likely attack on technology giants
- Joe Biden Wastes A Huge Opportunity To Support Free Speech; Still Wants To ‘Revoke’ Section 230
- The Communications Decency Act Suddenly Is Center Stage Again
- Why the USMCA Locks in the Internet Platform Liability System in the U.S., Canada and Mexico (Michael Geist)
- Trump’s Final Executive Order On Social Media Deliberately Removed Reference To Importance Of Newspapers To Democracy
- Zuckerberg dismisses fact-checking after bragging about fact-checking
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Ridiculously Wrong, Misleading, And Self-Serving Statements Regarding Twitter Fact-Checking The President
- New Study Finds No Evidence Of Anti-Conservative Bias In Facebook Moderation (If Anything, It’s The Opposite)
- Are Targeted Ads the Result of Wiretapping? Facebook Asks the Ninth Circuit to Reconsider.
- DC Appeals Court Dumps Lawsuit Claiming Multiple Tech Companies Are Engaged In An Anti-Conservative Conspiracy
- Court Rejects Another Lawsuit Alleging that Internet Companies Suppress Conservative Views–Freedom Watch v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Court’s Enforcement of Hybrid Clickwrap Agreement to Defeat TCPA Claim Provides Lessons for Marketers
- Consent in online contexts – the German Federal Court of Justice’s decision on Planet49 and Facebook
- Red Pills and NPCs: How geek culture become political (Andres Guadamuz)
- Nest users now covered by Google’s ultra-secure Advanced Protection Program
- FDA and FTC Joint Warning Letters Target Amazon Affiliates Making False COVID-19 Claims
- Court Discovers Rare and Elusive “Enforceable Browsewrap”
- Big Tech goes on pandemic M&A spree despite political backlash
- Everyone’s ordering delivery, but apps aren’t making money
- Western Digital gets sued for sneaking SMR disks into its NAS channel: WD clearly underestimated the consumer outrage they’d face over SMR disks.
- Are Google’s cookies crumbling?
- Amid YouTube’s Pivot Away From Scripted Originals, Axed ‘Step Up’ Series Dances On At Starz
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 5/25/2020
- YouTube makes video chapters official
- YouTube Fully Rolls Out ‘Chapters’ For Easier Video Navigation And Re-Watching
- YouTube Squads Up Dozens Of Creators—Including Typical Gamer, Daithi De Nogla, CouRage—For Charity ‘Warzone’ Tournament
- Insights: HBO Max May Change A Lot, And Complicate A Lot More
- How Social Media Usage Of Popular DIY Hashtags Has Changed
- Video Messaging Startup ‘Loom’ Closes $29 Million Funding Round At $350 Million Valuation
- TikTok Taps Bill Nye, Lilly Singh, Tyra Banks For $50 Million Educational Content Initiative
- Chinese Tech Giant ByteDance Reportedly Working To Bring TikTok’s Operations Stateside
- 3D printing in the time of COVID-19: A triad of legal perspectives
- International Norms Governing Behaviour in Cyberspace: The UN’s Charter
- Website Terms and Conditions: More Important than Ever
A.I.
- ACLU sues facial recognition firm Clearview AI, calling it a ‘nightmare scenario’ for privacy: Alleging Clearview violated a well-known Illinois biometric privacy law
- Clearview Says Section 230 Immunizes It From Vermont’s Lawsuit Over Alleged Privacy Violations
- Securus Quietly Settles Lawsuit Over Illegally Spying On Inmate Attorney Conversations
- Microsoft sacks journalists to replace them with robots: Users of the homepages of the MSN website and Edge browser will now see news stories generated by AI
- Walmart employees are out to show its anti-shoplifting AI doesn’t work
- With a Side of Knowledge podcast talks AI, bias with race and technology expert Mutale Nkonde
- How Artificial Intelligence Can Comply with the Federal Trade Commission Act
- Patent Law Alert – AI Machines Are Not Human Inventors
- Protecting AI and machine-learning inventions
COMMUNICATIONS
- AT&T exempts HBO Max from data caps but still limits your Netflix use: AT&T-owned HBO Max gets special treatment on AT&T network.
- Net Neutrali-what? AT&T’s New Streaming Service Won’t Count Against Its Broadband Caps. But Netflix Will.
- AT&T’s Streaming Headaches Continue As Contract Feuds Keep New TV Service Off Amazon, Roku
- FCC Republican excitedly endorses Trump’s crackdown on social media
- Last Minute Addition To Louisiana Bill Hamstrings Community Broadband
- A $350 “anti-5G” device is just a 128MB USB stick, teardown finds: 5GBioShield uses “quantum nano-layer technology” to restructure reality itself.
- Robocalls Down 50% in Eight Months!: How Changes in Technology and Regulator Priorities Have Accomplished What Lawsuits Never Could
- FCC Waives Broad Outreach Recruitment Requirements to Allow Re-hiring of Employees Laid Off Due to COVID-19
- What’s New in 5G – June 2020
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- JAVEX vs. JAVELO – Federal Court of Appeal applies Vavilov to first Trademark Opposition Appeal
- Lawsuit over online book lending could bankrupt Internet Archive
- Italian Public Prosecutor Says Project Gutenberg’s Collection Of Public Domain Books Must Be Blocked For Copyright Infringement
- Nothing “Fishy” About Use of Children’s Song “Fish Sticks n’ Tater Tots” in Documentary about Burlesque Dancers, Court Rules
- Chalk this One Up to the Utilitarian Nature of a Toy Chalk Holder
- Southern District of New York: Embedding Public Instagram Post Does Not Infringe Photographer’s Copyright
- Leonard v Nike: Copyright in the Klaw
- District Court Mostly Refuses To Terminate The Litigation Testing The Copyright Termination Provision
- Protection of store layout under copyright law: the KIKO case
- Defendant Must Prove that Copied Portion of Copyrighted Work is Unprotectable
- Open Source Software: the Affero GPL, the ‘as a Service’ world and the CAL
- SpaceX launch footage was taken down thanks to bogus copyright claim
- Just As The Copyright Office Tries To Ignore The Problem Of Bad Takedowns, NBC & Disney Take Down NASA’s Public Domain Space Launch
- Copyright Blocks Interview Of Protesters Because Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ Was Playing In The Background
- Copyright Office Finds DCMA Tilts Away From Copyright Owners; Will Congress Act to Change That?
- Conducting Your Way Through Music Licensing: The Most Common Issues
- In The Midst Of A Pandemic And Widespread Unrest, Senate Republicans Think It’s Time To Use Copyright To Make The Richest Musicians Richer
- Reversing Examining Attorney, TTAB Gives the Green Light to Color Mark Application
- Private Prison Company Sues Netflix Over Use Of Logo In ‘Messiah’
- Down N’ Out – Down on their luck
- Lucky Brand Strikes Gold After SCOTUS Rejects Marcel’s Defense Preclusion Argument
- Are GODIVA’s “Belgium 1926” Chocolates Made in Belgium?
- Amended Patented Medicines Regulations will come into force on 1 January 2021
- Federal Circuit: Patent Eligibility Turns on the Content – Not Length – of the Claims
- EPO: Plants and Plant Materials Not Patentable if Exclusively Obtained by Essentially Biological Process
- EPO does not follow the US and JEM on Patentability of Plants
- Our Top 5 Added Matter Drafting Tips
- The importance of IP due diligence
PRIVACY
- Federal Court Says Sneaking A Warrantless Peek At A Cellphone Lock Screen Violates The Fourth Amendment
- Privacy and breach of confidence cases against the media
- Arizona AG Sues Google For Location Data Failures, After Telecom Got A Wrist Slap For Far Worse Behavior
- iPhone privacy prompts discriminate against non-Apple apps, complaint says
- iPhone looters find devices disabled, with a warning they’re being tracked
- Cisco security breach hits corporate servers that ran unpatched software
- Ransomware gang is auctioning off victims’ confidential data
- German Constitutional Court Says Unjustified Surveillance Of Foreign Citizens Is Illegal
CREATIVITY
- California Anti-SLAPP Law Gives Rachel Maddow An Early Exit From Conservative News Network’s Bogus Libel Lawsuit
- Lenny Dykstra Deemed ‘Libel-Proof’ In Defamation Suit Loss To Ron Darling And Publisher
- Some Thoughts About Combating Racist Content in Advertising
- Dallas PD Asks Residents To Snitch On Protesters, Gets A Load Of K-Pop Videos Instead
- Dearth of women in classic Hollywood was result of studio system, study finds
- Cops — Newly Wary Of Looking Like Authoritarian Assholes — Open Fire On, Arrest Journalists
- Bangladeshi Government Decides There’s No Time Like The Present To Censor/Arrest More Journalists
- Scotland’s first “virtual appeal” reaffirms the value of fair comment
- SmileDirectClub Sues NBC For $2.85 Billion, Claims Factual Statements And Quotes From Customers Are Defamatory
Jon
News of the Week; May 27, 2020
GAMES
- Manchester United sues Sega over Football Manager trademark use: Sega and developer Sports Interactive reply that club’s name, logo have been used since 1992 “without complaint”
- Rainbow Six: Siege clone Area F2 has been taken offline following lawsuit from Ubisoft
- The Last of Us Part 2 reportedly banned in the Middle East: Upcoming hit believed to be “banned by the competent authorities” of United Arab Emirates and Saudia Arabia
- Naughty Dog uses new Twitter feature to block Last of Us Part II spoilers
- FTC Settles with Digital Game Company Over Allegedly False COPPA Safe Harbor Claims
- G2A confirms stolen game key sales, pays $40,000 to Factorio devs
- G2A to pay Factorio dev $39,600 after allowing illegal game key sales
- Hackers infect multiple game developers with advanced malware
- First Amendment May Protect Use of Trademarks As Artistic Expression: AM General LLC v. Activision Blizzard, Inc. et al.
- EA and NFL to extend partnership until 2025: Madden publisher could have exclusivity for football simulation games until 2026 if series “achieves certain revenue goals”
- EA is releasing the source code for Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn
- EA releasing source code for Command & Conquer and Red Alert: Code will go open source alongside Remastered Collection next month
- Nintendo Escapes Digital Pre-Order Dispute in EU
- A Place Where We Can Be Together: Animal Crossing has become a place for weddings and graduations
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 3.6m digital units in April – It’s now the top Nintendo Switch title in lifetime digital sales and digital revenue
- Game Discoverability & The Nintendo Switch: Where We’re At
- COVID-19: Video games good for mental health during pandemic, says U of S prof
- NPD: US console sales in April up 163% to $420m – Video games hardware and software generated $1.5 billion last month, making it the biggest April on record
- Report: Video game sales increased by 73% in April, setting new records for the month (NPD Group)
- Worldwide digital games market: April 2020 – Game spending totaled a record-breaking $10.5B in April 2020, showing the continued strength of the medium during the COVID-19 crisis.
- U.S. console-hardware spending hits mammoth $420 million in April
- App Annie: Mobile gaming will widen its lead over console and PC titles in 2020
- Nexon CEO: COVID-19 has spotlighted gaming’s importance – Owen Mahoney suggests that gaming’s resilience in the face of pandemic is reflective of its broader role within entertainment
- The giants of the video game industry have thrived in the pandemic. Can the success continue?
- How COVID-19 is taking gaming and esports to the next level
- Don’t expect huge change in the post-COVID industry | Opinion: Expectations of radical change in the wake of the pandemic are overblown — in-person working will remain the default paradigm
- Why games firms are ready to go back to the office | Podcast: We discuss recent comments from Satya Nadella and Strauss Zelnick, plus PlayStation Now vs Xbox Game Pass
- As traffic hits all-time high, Jackbox adjusting to dev’ing from home
- The IGDA debuts standards, reporting system to curb bad industry behavior
- IGDA: “We’re not looking to call people out — we’re looking to improve the industry” – Renee Gittins on the IGDA’s push to tackle crunch, diversity and more with a database of reported bad behaviour
- UK Charts: Maneater debuts at No.6 as Nintendo dominates: Animal Crossing and Mario Kart claim the top two positions
- Seven Deadly Sins push Netmarble Q1 revenues up – The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross became the mobile publisher’s second biggest game less than a month after worldwide launch
- How the Dauntless community taught Phoenix Labs about trust: Phoenix Labs’ Nick Clifford explores the value of building lasting relationships within your community, and how to get there
- Amplifier Game Invest acquires Italian developer DestinyBit
- Little Nightmares has sold over 2 million copies worldwide
- Don’t expect next-gen console launches in China anytime soon | Opinion: The suspension of the PlayStation Store in China underlines the problems that Sony and Microsoft continue to face, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo
- Stadia exclusivity pushes PS4, Xbox One versions of Serious Sam 4 into 2021: Croteam’s upcoming shooter will launch on Google’s streaming service and Steam in August
- Xbox Family Settings app will help parents manage their kids’ gaming habits
- Xbox boosts responsible gaming strategy with Family Settings app: The platform holder discusses the evolution of its safety ecosystem and the new family features developed for its app
- After some high-profile opt outs, Nvidia GeForce Now swaps to an opt-in library
- Naughty Dog tests new Twitter feature to limit The Last of Us Part 2 spoilers: PlayStation studio cuts off replies following social media abuse over upcoming blockbuster
- Gamestream raises $3.8 million to grow its B2B-focused cloud gaming platform
- Gamestream raises €3.5m to build up B2B cloud gaming technology: Eponyme Partners leads investment round in turnkey cloud gaming service
- Game companies in Spain to benefit from $21.9 million in protective financing
- Spanish game devs to benefit from €20m in government finance: Culture industries hit by COVID-19 pandemic can apply for financing on “beneficial” terms
- Italy announces fund to support country’s game studios during COVID-19 crisis
- Italian government approves €4m fund for games developers: Trade body IIDEA’s First Playable Fund will offer up to €200,000 per prototype
- Slovakian games industry has nearly doubled in size since 2016: Fledgling sector expected to turnover €55 million in 2020
- CD Projekt’s market cap rivals Ubisoft — but not for much longer | Opinion: Polish publisher is riding high on The Witcher and Cyberpunk, but Ubisoft is about to emerge from a year of uncertainty with five AAA launches
- Tencent will be “taking the System Shock franchise forward”: OtherSide Entertainment’s role on the third game unclear after deal with the Chinese publisher
- Tencent acquires 20% stake in Marvelous, Inc.
- Tencent acquires 20% stake in Story of Seasons dev Marvelous for $65 million
- Tencent takes 20% stake in Marvelous for $65m: Investment from Chinese giant will enable Story of Seasons developer to build new and existing IP
- PlatinumGames dispels rumors that Microsoft is buying it – Atsushi Inaba: “That conversation has not come to our doorstep at all”
- Cheating in Esports tournaments – legal arguments for discouraging bad players
- Audi parks driver for using a ringer in charity esports race
- League of Legends putting ads on the playfield: Viewers of official esports matches will see Mastercard, Alienware, other brands featured on in-game banners
- The E-Sports and Gaming Industries Offer Vital Tools to Musicians in the Wake of COVID-19
- Ninja Launches Star-Studded, Six-Week ‘Fortnite’ Tournament On His Mixer Channel
- Ninja Teams With Killer Merch For Clothing Brand Relaunch, ‘Fortnite’ Capsule, Future Streetwear Drops
- Amazon Games and Bandai Namco are bringing a free Pac-Man game to Twitch
- Twitch signs three more exclusivity deals with top streamers: Streaming platform wars escalate as Summit1G, Dakotaz and JoshOG commit to multi-year partnerships with Twitch
- Twitch Inks Exclusive Streaming And Appearance Deals With Summit1G, Dakotaz, JoshOG
- Twitch Launches New Corporate Channel Dedicated To Gaming News, Event Coverage, More
- Fortnite is morphing into a movie theater with help from Christopher Nolan
- Christopher Nolan Premieres ‘Tenet’ Trailer Inside Fortnite, With Another Film Arriving In-Game This Summer
- With Theaters Closed, The Trailer For Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ Debuts In Fortnite Instead
- CAA Signs Facebook Gaming Creator Jonna Mae (Exclusive)
- Markiplier And Jacksepticeye’s Clothing Brand Cloak Digs Up ‘Minecraft’ Partnership
- Minecraft Dungeons review: A smashing good Diablo clone for any age
- Minecraft Dungeons | Critical Consensus: Mojang is commended for making a kid-friendly action-RPG, but critics question its value for more experienced players
- Analyst speculates on Grand Theft Auto release from Take-Two marketing spike: Publisher refutes speculation, saying unusually high marketing commitments for fiscal 2024 are to external parties
- AR Pokemon will soon be able to hide behind real-world objects in Pokemon Go
- Niantic adds ‘reality blending’ to Pokémon Go to make your virtual pals even more realistic: A new AR feature to make pokémon more believably blend with the environment
- Magic Leap raises $350m after mass layoffs: But augmented reality firm withdraws notice regarding potential redundancies for remaining staff
- Magic Leap withdraws conditional layoff notices after raising $350 million
- Why it took five years to build Lego Super Mario: “The only brief was: do something that only these two companies could do together”
- Dread X Collection: Evoking Kojima’s PT in context, not content: Dread XP’s Ted Hentschke says Silent Hill teaser and horror film anthologies inspired his approach to indie horror game dev
- How does a hit like Katana Zero change things for a creator?: Juggling multiple projects helped produce Justin Stander’s breakthrough hit, but he’s now looking forward to creating one thing at a time
- An extensive look at Maxis’ short stint in serious simulation games
- Don’t Miss: A classic game postmortem of Westwood Studios’ Command & Conquer
- Don’t Miss: Designing the Elusive Targets system in 2016’s Hitman
- Don’t Miss: A postmortem look at how Blizzard built Diablo II
- Video: A new strategy for narrative desigers
- Blog: Narrative vs. gameplay – A toolbox for harmonious coexistence
- Blog: Demystifying C#’s under-utilized superpower for game development
- Blog: Launch day depression (and why i’m over it)
- Blog: Highlights of global accessibility awareness day 2020
- Blog: Why new players matter to indie developers
- Blog: Creating stronger bonds between players and NPCs through group conflict
- Game Tech Deep Dive: Gears Tactics – When art meets scalability
- U.S. Patent no. 10,315,119: Video game with concurrent processing of game-related physical objects
- “Abstract Assertion of Breadth” Does Not Prove Non-Enablement: Patent on method of animating faces invideo games
DIGITAL
- ‘Trump’s executive order expected to target Twitter, Facebook and Google
- President to Unveil Executive Order to Address CDA Section 230 Protections
- Newsweek Publishes Facts Optional, Wronger Than Wrong, Piece About Section 230
- So Wait, People Really Think The Barr DOJ’s Investigation Into Google Is In Good Faith?
- Why Content Moderation Codes Are More Guidelines Than Rules
- Proposed bill would ban microtargeting of political advertisements: Just because ads can be targeted to individuals doesn’t mean they should be.
- Facebook Pays Multimillion Dollar Penalty in First Case in Canada to Subject Privacy Policies to Misleading Advertising Laws
- Facebook Executives Shut Down Efforts to Make the Site Less Divisive: The social-media giant internally studied how it polarizes users, then largely shelved the research
- Bombshell report: Facebook has known that it is fomenting extremism for years — and refuses to stop
- Plaintiffs Push For Preliminary Approval Of $550 Million Settlement In Facebook Privacy Class Action
- Grandmother ordered to delete Facebook photos under GDPR: Woman must delete photographs of her grandchildren posted on Facebook and Pinterest without their parents’ permission, a court in the has ruled.
- Facebook launches independent “Oversight Board” for hate speech, harassment and privacy
- Mr Zuckerberg, Tear Down My Wall
- Facebook workers get remote work option—but it could come with a pay cut
- Former NSO Employees Says The Company Impersonated Facebook To Deploy Malware
- Twitter’s first fact-check on President Trump calls out “false claims”
- Trump Is a Problem That Twitter Cannot Fix: When a duly elected president is bent on spreading misinformation, tech companies can rein him in only so much.
- Twitter Grapples Anew With Its Trump Conundrum: The social media company came under fire — again — for not removing Mr. Trump’s posts that contain falsehoods.
- Trump, Twitter, And Free Speech
- When The Problem Isn’t Twitter But President Trump
- Delayed implementation but the UK Government remains committed to regulating online harms
- Neighbouring rights: interim measures imposed on Google in the press sector
- Democrats want to restrict political ad targeting ahead of the 2020 election: Time is running out for new rules to apply to this election
- The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think
- Keeping up with the Kardashians in “Kuarantine”
- The FTC: Influencing the Future of the Influencers
- Deletion Of Comments Criticizing Chinese Government Was A Contextual Error, YouTube Says
- YouTube auto-deletes comments with phrases critical of Chinese government
- YouTube Is Considering Letting Creators Self-Limit The Reach Of Their Videos To Lessen Harassment
- ViacomCBS Snaps Up John Krasinski’s YouTube Web Series ‘Some Good News,’ Will Produce Future Episodes With New Host
- How Does John Krasinski’s Newly Sold ‘Some Good News’ Stack Up Against Late-Night Shows?
- U.K.-Based YouTube Prankster Morgz Signs With A3 Artists Agency (Exclusive)
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/25/2020
- YouTube Kids App Arrives On Apple TV
- BuzzFeed’s Latest ‘Unsolved’ Season Scares Up Record YouTube Traffic
- Netflix Cancels ‘Terrace House’ Production After Death Of Star Hana Kimura
- Instagram Finally Brings In Monetization For (Some) Creators With Purchasable Badges, IGTV Ads
- Amid Pandemic, Target Says It’s The First Mass Retailer To Launch Shoppable Instagram Posts
- SDNY: Instagram Sublicense Protects Against Liability for Embedding of Public Posts
- Addressing Possible Limits of COPPA Safe Harbors
- Insights: Will Apple Plusing Up Its Streaming Service Set Off Another Round Of Hollywood Consolidation?
- Fanbytes Launches ByteHouse, TikTok’s First U.K.-Based Creator Collective
- Fullscreen Looks Beyond YouTube For Latest Fully-Managed Talent Signings
- Digital News Network ‘The Young Turks’ Launches Twitch Channel
- We Lose A Lot When Podcasts Go Closed Instead Of Open
- Intel acquires Rivet, maker of Killer Wireless-AC gaming Wi-Fi gear
- Crypto hedge funds struggle to recover from “bloodbath”
- Gears of war: When mechanical analog computers ruled the waves
- Privacy and Zambonis in the Age of COVID-19: My Ian Kerr Memorial Lecture (Michael Geist)
A.I.
- After watching 50,000 hours of Pac-Man, Nvidia’s AI generated a playable clone
- The Intersection of Artificial Intelligence, COVID-19, and Copyright
- Recent FTC Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms in the Age of COVID-19
- A Neurophilosophy of Big Data & Civil Liberties, and the Need for a New Social Contract
- Uncovering the secrets of Alien: Isolation’s AI
COMMUNICATIONS
- Looking at Changes to the FCC’s Public Notice Requirements for Broadcast Applications
- FCC to Consider Exemption of TV Broadcast Internet Services from Broadcast Ownership Rules and Regulations for ATSC 3.0 Non-Broadcast Services
- FCC Issues NPRM Aimed at One-Ring Scam Phone Calls
- Selective decoupling: phasing out domestic deployment of Chinese telecoms technology
- Team Telecom emerges from shadows and FCC cracks down on Chinese telecoms companies
- Making Internet service a utility—what’s the worst that could happen?
- New Study Tries, Fails, To Claim Community Broadband Is An Inevitable Boondoggle
- The FCC’s ‘Contest Rule’ and how it may affect your sweepstakes
- AT&T still refuses to kill misleading 5GE network icon for 4G service
- AT&T Won’t Stop Lying About ‘Fake 5G’
- Verizon Tries To Temper 5G Enthusiasm After Report Clearly Shows US 5G Is Slow, Lame
- OpenSignal compares 5G experiences across ten major carriers
- Legal challenge to OFCOM’s 5G network auction
- Let’s Talk About ‘Neutrality’ — And How Math Works
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Clorox v Chloretec: The Application of Vavilov in the Trademarks Context
- Chalk One Up to the Knock-Off
- Pencil Shaped Chalk Holder Is a Non-Copyrightable Idea
- Led Zeppelin‘s Stairway to Heaven found not to infringe copyright in Spirit’s instrumental, Taurus
- The Second Circuit Affirms the Dismissal of Copyright Claims against Seinfeld over Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
- Second Circuit Limits Copyright Damages To Three Years Preceding Suit
- Copyright Damages Limited to Three Years Before Lawsuit Filing
- Paparazzi Suit Victims Try Unconventional Plays
- And the winner of the prize for best legal click bait headline from the NYT so far this year is …
- How A Feud Among Wolf-Kink Erotica FanFic Authors Demonstrates What The Copyright Office Got Wrong In Its DMCA Report
- Jerry Seinfeld Gets To Keep Driving Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee*
- Justices form unique alliances in holding Georgia’s annotated code not protected by copyright; Thomas dissent presses for closer review of precedent
- U.S. Supreme Court: States Cannot Copyright Legal Code Annotations
- Eighth Circuit Holds Business Information Database Copyrightable, Affirming $11.2 Million Jury Verdict
- CRS Examines IP Rights Abroad, Considers State Sovereign Immunity in Copyright Suits
- The rental of cars fitted with radio receivers does not constitute an act of unauthorised communication of musical works to the public (case c-753/18)
- Copyright Office Finds Aspects of the DMCA “Unbalanced” in Favor of Online Service Providers
- Designs and copyright protection: UK drifts closer towards Europe
- Stretching Copyright: Protecting online fitness workouts
- Lack of evidence of non-use and confusion result in POKEWORKS trademark remaining on the register
- Three Point Shot: Jordan’s Last Dance in Trademark Dispute Scores Big in Chinese Top Court
- Some Brands Have All the Luck
- US Supreme Court Rejects ‘Defense Preclusion’ in Trademark Suit
- Supreme Court Clarifies Concept of Defense Preclusion Through Lucky Brand Trademark Battle
- Supreme Court Rules Defense Not Barred in Subsequent Action Involving Different Trademarks, Conduct and Claims
- Recent Federal Court Decision Reaffirms Exceptions to First Sale Doctrine for Brands Bringing Trademark Claims Against Unauthorized Resellers
- Tax Service’s Registered Trademark’s Suggestiveness Presented Jury Question
- Replacing Rogers Test with “Genuine Artistic Motive” Test Doesn’t Change the Finale in Dispute Over WILD AMERICA
- The Impact of Romag Fasteners Inc. v. Fossil Inc.: Willfulness Is Not Required For An Award Of Profits In Trademark Infringement
- What the Supreme Court’s Romag Decision means for trademark infringement and damages
- ‘Maybe’ Is Not Enough: Foreign Business Fails to Obtain Declaratory Judgment for Potential Use of Trademark
- Third judgement in Sky v SkyKick – Louise Foster and Sarah Darby provide some take-away thoughts
- Tiger King Trademark Troubles
- A Lesson From Tiger King: Corporate Separateness
- General Court “shades” some light on 3D trademark registration
- Can you trademark a design in the EU?
- The Intersection of Trademarks and Open Source
- Trademarks rocket while designs level off: UKIPO releases latest annual filings data
- Pepper trumps Broccoli: EPO finds products produced by essentially biological processes are not patentable
- A Dynamic Reversal by the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal
- Joint Inventorship Claim for Online Dating Patent Ends in Heartbreak, Attorneys’ Fees Award
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: AR Design Innovations Litigations
- Determining the Article of Manufacture in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Design Patents
- Design Patents: An Underutilized Tool for Protecting Sporting Goods
- Rise in extended reality technology patents suggests market revival
- Common Patent Misconceptions – Myth #3: My idea is too obvious for patenting.
- Clarifying the patentability of medical use inventions in China
- Intellectual Property Issue-Spotting: Common Themes in Recent Ad Campaigns
- Federal Circuit Patent Update
- Protecting intellectual property in the fashion industry – debunking the myths – PART ONE: copyright and patents
- Protecting intellectual property in the fashion industry – debunking the myths – PART TWO: Unregistered Design Rights and Registered Designs
- Protecting intellectual property in the fashion industry – debunking the myths – PART THREE: Registered and Unregistered Trade Marks
- Copyright protection of fashion designs in Spain after Cofemel
PRIVACY
- Facebook Pays Multimillion Dollar Penalty in First Case in Canada to Subject Privacy Policies to Misleading Advertising Laws
- Just turning your phone on qualifies as searching it, court rules
- After FBI Successfully Breaks Into IPhones, Bill Barr Says It’s Time For Legislated Encryption Backdoors
- S-Town Podcast Lawsuit Settled – Reminder on Getting Releases from Podcast Subjects
- Banks Get Payout From Equifax Hack While Consumers Still Wait For Compensation
- The Grubman Ransomware Attack and What It Means for the Cyber Risks That You May Face
- Senate Talking Points Say Warrantless Collection Of Internet Use Data Keeps Terrorists From Killing Us
- Digital Media and the Right to Be Forgotten
- Court Tells Grandma To Delete Photos Of Grandkids On Facebook For Violating The GDPR
- Yes, This Site Uses Cookies, Because Nearly All Sites Use Cookies, And We’re Notifying You Because We’re Told We Have To
CREATIVITY
- FTC Sues Negative Option Marketers
- Judge Dismisses Half-Baked False Advertising Claims Against Ghirardelli
- Judge Sends Devin Nunes’ SLAPP Suits Against CNN And Washington Post Off To Their Proper Venues
- The Law of Defamation and Political Advertising Argued in Trump Suit Against Wisconsin TV Station
- Bakker Claims Coronavirus Prosecution Attacks His Faith
- Kansas City penguins delight in their first art history lesson
Jon
News of the Week; May 20, 2020
GAMES
- Nintendo sues Switch hack resellers in ongoing fight against Team Xecutor: Platform holder continues to crack down on groups enabling pirated games to run on its console
- With new Switch-hacking tech looming, Nintendo targets retailers
- Nintendo notes COVID-19 is delaying Switch production, might hit game development
- Ubisoft suing Google and Apple for selling Rainbow Six: Siege ‘carbon copy’
- G2A and Wube Software settle $40,000 chargeback dispute: Factorio developer “satisfied with the results” after marketplace operators conduct internal audit
- Disney clamps down on Club Penguin clones following abuse allegations
- Disney: If We Can’t Run Club Penguin, No One Can Run Club Penguin
- Top mobile trends (and some surprises) during COVID-19 lockdown: GameAnalytics CEO Ioana Hreninciuc explores the effect of the pandemic on player behaviour around the world
- Blizzard Takes New Stance on Custom Game IP
- Children and online harms
- What the Age Appropriate Design Code means for video games: The ICO’s Statutory Code regarding children’s personal data has implications for video games — Baker McKenzie’s Ben Slinn advises to start preparing now
- Swiss Game Developer Settles FTC Allegations Over COPPA Safe Harbor Claims
- Madden NFL’s technical problems were on full display in ESPN championship
- Gambling revenue around esports set to double in 2020
- More Than A Game: The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Turned Esports Into An Economy Of Its Own
- Esports: a new market for travel businesses after COVID-19?
- Video: How to consider player skill growth in esports-friendly games
- Rooster Teeth Forges Multi-Faceted Pact With U.K. Digital Gaming Brand ‘The Yogscast’
- Twitch unveils new Safety Advisory Council: Group of online safety experts and Twitch partners to advise on policies, products, and trends
- Doom Eternal reverses course, will remove kernel-level Denuvo anti-cheat
- Valve launches Play Next feature to help Steam users choose their next game
- Valve Releases ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Steam Workshop Tools for Making & Downloading Mods
- King has opened up and relinquished control of the Defold game engine
- King makes Defold engine open source: Candy Crush firm sets up Defold Foundation to handle the tech’s development going forward
- Unreal Engine is Now Royalty-free for the First $1 Million in Revenue
- How Epic got such amazing Unreal Engine 5 results on next-gen consoles
- Epic rolls easier refunds, keyless third-party sales into its Epic Games Store
- Epic Games store integrates keyless purchasing with third-party platforms: Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, and Genba Digital join Humble in offering automatic purchases without key entry
- Epic denies disguising load times in Unreal Engine 5 demo: Spokesperson says the goal was to demonstrate the level of detail in the scene
- Controller pros are dominating PC Fortnite thanks to “overpowered” aim assist
- Epic Games confirms Fortnite as launch title for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X: Battle royale will be “optimised” for next-gen consoles, migration to Unreal Engine 5 due in 2021
- Free Grand Theft Auto 5 crashes Epic Games Store: Fortnite creator reports “most users” should now be able to access digital games marketplace
- Hey, Epic, If you’re Going To Boldly Give Away A Historically Popular Game For Free, Make Sure You Can Handle The Demand
- Fortnite surpasses $1b in lifetime spending on App Store alone: Epic’s battle royale sees mobile spending rise with Google Play launch
- Crucible, Amazon’s new online shooter: Alexa, does this game have a chance?
- Amazon throws itself into the Crucible of AAA at last: Lou Castle explains how Amazon’s hero shooter has evolved to be competitive, streamable, and standout in a crowded field
- UK Charts: Animal Crossing holds No.1 in another quiet week – No new releases in the retail charts this week
- Nintendo’s first rumored Mario game for 2020 has come true: Paper Mario in July
- Half of all New Horizons sales in the U.S., Japan, and Europe were digital
- Nintendo confirms 50% digital sales for Animal Crossing: New Horizons: New Horizons has already reached its lifetime sales target, according to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa
- Nintendo warns of potential software delays due to remote working: “Since there are indeed big limitations on what can be done from home, we do think this will have a large impact”
- PlayStation Now has reached 2.2 million subscribers
- PlayStation Now reaches 2.2m subscribers: Sony’s service has doubled its reach in a single year, but still lags behind Xbox Game Pass
- PlayStation Plus reaches 41.5m subscribers: Subscriptions rose by 2.7 million in the first three months of 2020 alone
- Sony’s PS5 reveal will be all about the software | Opinion: The slow drip of PS5 information belies how much technical detail we already know — the real “unveiling” will likely be of a software slate
- Former Xbox exec J Allard is now Intellivision’s global managing director
- Xbox co-founder J Allard heads up Intellivision: Former Microsoft exec will oversee launch of upcoming Intellivision Amico console this October
- Take-Two plans to release 93 full titles in the next five years: Of those, 47 are expected to come from existing franchises, while 46 are new IP
- NBA 2K, GTA, and more push Take-Two’s net revenue over $3B for 2019-20 year
- Take-Two sets net bookings records as Q4 digital sales jump: Publisher looks ahead to a “light year” for new releases, but remains confident in success of back catalog, digital growth
- Game spending in the US reached a record quarterly high in Q1 2020: The NPD Group: Consumers spent nearly $10.9 billion on video games from January through March of this year
- Respawn opens Vancouver studio to focus on Apex Legends development
- Respawn marks its ten-year anniversary with a new Vancouver studio: Dusty Welch, Chad Grenier, Henry Lee, and Steven Ferreira discuss the new studio’s philosophy and goals for the longevity of Apex Legends
- Mobile battle royale game Free Fire has more than 80 million daily users
- The Dark Souls franchise has topped 27 million lifetime sales
- Ubisoft sales dropped by nearly 14% in fiscal year 2019
- Ubisoft beats Q4 forecasts, thanks in no small part to player recurring investment
- Ubisoft prepares for rebound with five AAA titles planned this fiscal year: Publisher reports full-year financials with expected lower revenues after multiple game delays
- Ubisoft offers Assassin’s Creed: Discovery Tour modes for free for one week – Educational explorations of ancient Greece and Egypt made available to encourage learning from home
- Humble’s indie game publishing biz is now Humble Games
- UK Games Fund selects 38 studios for next round of investment: COVID-19 pandemic caused the programme to be revised so more developers could benefit from funding
- Rewriting the playbook: The independent studios making sports work: We explore how developers are carving their own niches in the face of dominating franchises like FIFA and NBA 2K
- 2K and Hangar 13 get in on the classic game remake trend with Mafia: Definitive Edition
- NetEase revenues rise to $2.4bn: Fantasy Westward Journey publisher grows games business overseas with increased playerbase in Japan
- Keywords to raise £100m for acquisition of pandemic-hit companies: Share sale will allow the services firm to buy companies “less able to weather the disruption”
- Sumo Group acquires UK work-for-hire studio Lab42
- Sumo Digital acquires Lab42: Work-for-hire studio to will still operate independently as part of the Sumo group
- Game of War developer Machine Zone acquired by AppLovin: AppLovin will move its headquarters to studio’s Palo Alto office
- AppLovin acquires Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire dev Machine Zone
- Embracer Group sees record shift toward digital due to COVID-19
- Embracer Group’s games business grew by 31% last year
- Embracer Group’s full-year games revenue rose 31%: But the “first AAA games releases since Metro Exodus” won’t arrive until the year ending March 2022
- Mobile battle royale title Free Fire just hit 80 million daily active users
- Minecraft developer Mojang rebrands as Mojang Studios
- Mojang returns to its indie roots with Minecraft Dungeons: The 25-person team on turning one of the world’s biggest games into a dungeon crawler for everyone
- Minecraft has sold 200 million copies in 11 years
- Minecraft has sold over 200m copies to date: Mojang rebrands as Mojang Studios upon game’s 11th anniversary
- Planet Zoo has surpassed 1 million sales in under six months
- South Korean PC gaming cafes take a hit during COVID-19 peak: But the industry appears on the cusp of a rebound as restrictions lift
- Arcades vs COVID-19: How communities can save small businesses – Arcade owners across the world closed to protect their communities — now those regulars are the best hope for their survival
- Net sales down at Square Enix due to lack of major HD game releases
- Tencent is now working on OtherSide’s System Shock game
- Tencent expects revenues to “normalise” after strong Q1: Online and mobile game revenues soared during the COVID-19 pandemic
- 10 games, including Moss and Pistol Whip, have surpassed $2M revenue on Oculus Quest
- More than $100m has been spent on Oculus Quest content: Ten games have earned more than $2m in revenue, including PolyArc’s Moss and Cloudhead Games’ Pistol Whip
- SuperHot VR sells over 2m copies: Sales of all versions of the game passed two million last year
- Connecting through The Legend of Dragoon | Why I Love: Miriam Karina Melgoza on how the classic RPG forged a bond between father and daughter, and the power of games to bring families together
- War Stories: Alan Wake’s transformation emerged from a two-month “sauna”
- How a rejected My Little Pony game helped save a historic tournament
- Breath of the samurai: Sony’s Ghost of Tsushima finally looks like a video game
- Four better ways to talk about immersion in video games
- Game devs hold virtual meeting from hell in Mythic Quest: Quarantine teaser
- The sprawling, must-read history of Maxis’ former “serious games” division
- Q&A: Surviving failed Kickstarters and publishing woes to launch Song of Horror
- Q&A: Making XCOM tighter and more focused with Chimera Squad
- Don’t Miss: A look back at the creation and launch of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
- Don’t Miss: A Postmortem of Double Fine’s seminal classic Psychonauts
- Don’t Miss: Composing the music of Red Dead Redemption
- Don’t Miss: Mafia 3 and the value of putting game developers in a box
- Don’t Miss: A classic interview with Castlevania composer Michiru Yamane
- Video: How Ubisoft handled NPC voice design for The Division 2
- Video: Democratizing real-time filmmaking techniques for indie devs
- Blog: Creating sequels as an indie developer
- Blog: How the Game & Watch impacted Nintendo’s handheld vision
- Blog: Beginning again at Spilt Milk Studios
- Blog: How Niantic’s response to COVID-19 has protected Pokemon GO
- Blog: Steam’s wishlist-to-sales %: thoughts & a call for data!
- Blog: Cultivating curation – A LudoNarraCon 2020 recap
- Blog: Adding life to worlds with dialogue barks
- Blog: Composing the interactive music of SPYDER – Part 2
- Blog: Developing multi-tile creatures in roguelikes
- Blog: The hidden Switch demo upside & more discoverability tricks
- Safe in Our World launches Level Up Mental Health campaign: Games companies unite to commit to supporting better mental health practices
- AccessJam announced to support Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Disabled game developers organisation Accessibility Unlocked kicking off month-long event on May 21
- U.S. Patent no. 10,315,113: System and method for simulating gameplay of nonplayer characters distributed across networked end user devices
DIGITAL
- Facebook to pay $9 million penalty to Competition Bureau
- Misleading Privacy Claims Results in $9 Million Dollar Penalty for Facebook
- High School Can’t Expel Student for Sharing Memes in Private Snapchat Conversation–JS v. Manheim Township School District (Eric Goldman)
- Covid-19 Just Triggered The Worst Quarter Ever For Cable TV ‘Cord Cutting’
- One Of The Few Government Officials Who Actually Can ‘Police Speech’ Whines Ridiculously About Facebook’s Oversight Board
- TikTok accused of breaching US child privacy regulations
- TikTok Broke Privacy Promises, Children’s Groups Say: Twenty consumer groups said the video app had failed to make some changes it agreed to carry out last year to settle federal charges.
- The Architect Behind Disney+, Kevin Mayer, Has Been Named CEO Of TikTok
- Court Tosses Lawsuit From Man Claiming Twitter Discriminated Against Him For Being A Heterosexual Christian
- The Associated Press Has Some Explaining To Do About Its ‘Tweeted Contract’ To Reuse Viral Content
- Failure to delete hate speech could cost Facebook, Google billions in France
- French Government Passes Hate Speech Law, Will Allow Law Enforcement To Run The Internet
- Google pledges not to make custom software for oil and gas extraction
- The COVID-19 misinformation crisis is just beginning, but there is hope
- Think Tank’s Posting of Substantially Cropped Photo of Heartthrob Governor Constitutes Fair Use
- Facebook Acquires GIF Database GIPHY In Reported $400 Million Deal
- Facebook is buying Giphy and integrating it with Instagram: Plans to integrate with Instagram and other apps
- All your reaction GIFs now belong to Facebook, as it buys Giphy for $400M
- Facebook takes on Amazon with online shopping venture
- Luxury and online marketplaces – the next chapter (Coty v Amazon)
- Man shoots down drone, gets hit with felony charges in Minnesota
- Doctors Are Tweeting About Coronavirus to Make Facts Go Viral: As dubious Covid-19 claims circulate online, UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter and others are taking to Twitter
- Twitch Reveals 8-Member ‘Safety Advisory Council’ Stocked With Streamers, Cyberbullying Experts
- How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread Widely Online
- Big Tech searches for a way back into healthcare: Despite past failures, Google and other tech giants see great promise in the sector
- Quarantine is a weirdly good time for animation: Going remote is giving animators lots of opportunities to shine.
- Nvidia ditches Intel, cozies up to AMD with its new DGX A100
- Huawei’s Google app loophole: Just keep re-releasing old devices
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai defends Pixel team, says “hardware is hard”
- Google-Fitbit Merger: Competition concerns and harms to consumers
- No, CDA 230 Isn’t The Only Thing Keeping Conservatives Off YouTube
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/18/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 5/18/2020
- John Krasinski Tearfully Takes Hit YouTube Series ‘Some Good News’ On Hiatus
- YouTube Introduces New Grey ‘Clock’ Monetization Icon So Creators See Less Flip-Flopping
- YouTube’s First Virtual Brandcast Will Focus On Surging TV Viewership
- YouTube’s New Screen Time Management Feature Wants You To Go To Bed
- ‘YouTube Select’ Replaces Google Preferred Ad Program, With New Curated Content Lineups
- YouTube’s Virtual Graduation Ceremony Adds Beyoncé, Mark Rober, Emma Chamberlain To Lineup
- YouTube Music Names Latest Class Of Artists To Join Its Exclusive ‘Foundry’ Program
- Children’s Video Goliath ‘CoComelon’ Pacts With Roku In First Off-YouTube Distribution Deal
- James Charles’ YouTube Original Isn’t Just A Hit. It’s Catapulting The Channels Of Contestants.
- The Ad Council Taps Meghan Trainor, Addison Rae, Molly Burke For Mental Health Awareness Month
- $100 Million Deal Sees Joe Rogan’s Podcast Become A Spotify Exclusive—In Both Video And Audio Form
- Charli D’Amelio Accidentally Deleted — Then Quickly Reclaimed — Her Massive Instagram Account
- Houseparty Throws 3-Day Livestreaming Event Featuring Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg, Addison Rae
- After Years Of Fan Efforts, Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ Cut Is Coming To HBO Max
- Apple TV+ Breaks From Originals-Only Plan To Acquire Legacy Films, TV Series (Report)
- Leaker claims to have seen “Apple Glass” AR glasses, details how they’ll work
- Rumor: Apple AR Glasses Leak Points to Name, Price & Possible Launch Window
- Apple confirms it bought virtual reality event startup NextVR
- Apple Confirms Acquisition of VR Live Streaming Company NextVR
- Apple acquired NextVR, suggesting it still harbors VR ambitions
- Apple reopens some US stores amid COVID-19, but they’ll work differently
- Samsung is Terminating Its VR Video Apps on All Devices
- Zoomism and Discipline for Productive Immobility
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Google Removes Podcast Addict From Play Store Because It Has COVID-19 Related Podcasts
- Rethinking Digital Platforms for the Post-COVID-19 Era: As COVID-19 is a concern, aspects of daily life will be mediated by platforms that see human interactions as content to be moderated, and data to be monetized
- Emergency Room Doctor: Getting Best COVID-19 Treatment Ideas Via WhatsApp
- Is ICANN retiring some top-level domains?
- International online education programs: A global regulatory perspective
- The challenges ahead for online courts
- Digital sources and digital archives: historical evidence in the digital age (Trevor Owens, Thomas Padilla)
- I’m a doctor with quadriplegia—thanks to tech, I’m back at work
- From iOS to SQL: The world’s most incorrectly pronounced tech terms
A.I.
- When audio deepfakes put words in Jay-Z’s mouth, did he have a legal case?
- People who know more about self-driving technology trust it more
- Our AI Future – Sexbots, Toilet Drones, and Robocops?
- Reboot Required: Artificial Intelligence System Cannot Be Named As An Inventor Under U.S. Patent Law, USPTO Says
- USPTO Refuses to Recognize AI Inventorship, but Policy Questions Still Linger
- Using AI to invent therapeutics: should artificial intelligence be recognised for inventive activity?
- OK Computer: the creation and integration of AI in Europe (Bernardo Buarquea, Ronald Davies, Ryan Hynes, Dieter Koglera)
- Artificial Intelligence | How much attention should you pay to legal risks and data governance?
- Blog: Open-world enemy AI in Mafia III
COMMUNICATIONS
- Canadian Wireless Carriers Making A Killing During COVID-19, Won’t Remove Caps ‘For Safety’
- Beware Of Op/Eds Falsely Claiming The US Internet Only Works During A Pandemic Because Lobbyists Neutered The FCC
- Cell-tower attacks by idiots who claim 5G spreads COVID-19 reportedly hit US
- Idiots Begin Attacking US 5G Cell Towers Because, Idiots
- FCC Forced To Fine Sinclair $48 Million For Bullshitting Regulators
- Ajit Pai doubts Elon Musk’s SpaceX broadband-latency claims
- Bill Would Ban Broadband Shutoffs Until COVID-19 Pandemic Eases
- US and Chinese cloud companies vie for dominance in south-east Asia: Google, Amazon and Microsoft challenge Alibaba and Huawei in fastest-growing cloud market
- K-League 1 strikes record broadcasting rights deals following league restart
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- A welcome and timely boost for trade secret protection in Canada
- Fashion House Sued for Lively Snaps
- The makeup of protection of a makeup store layout: a missed chance to apply the Cofemel decision?
- Quaran-streaming: Music licensing and your online business
- Copyright Making Sure That MTV Remains An Irrelevant Relic, Rather Than A Cultural Icon
- What’s the Deal with Comedians?: Too Late for Copyright Claim against Seinfeld
- Victory for Michael Jordan After 8-Year Chinese Trademark Battle
- Google v Oracle: The Copyright Case of the Decade
- IP update: recent development in EU copyright law: stim & sami v fleetmanager Sweden ab & nordisk biluthyrning ab (c-753/18)
- Copyright As Censorship: WSJ Identifies Hundreds Of Bogus News Takedowns; People Blame Google Rather Than Copyright
- Libraries Have Never Needed Permission To Lend Books, And The Move To Change That Is A Big Problem
- Canadian Federal Court of Appeal applies new standard of review in appeal of registrar
- New Nice Classification requirements – do classes matter in Canada?
- Sussex Royal – if at first you don’t succeed…
- What businesses need to consider before a brand (re)launch: lessons from SUSSEX ROYAL
- Federal Circuit Holds Packaging Color Combinations Can Be Inherently Distinctive
- The Parameters of Generic Marks: Booking.com before the Supreme Court
- Don’t SULKA: Trademark Plaintiff Must Demonstrate Intent, Ability to Use Mark
- No Luck Needed for Lucky Brand at the Supreme Court
- Supreme Court Rules Lucky Brand’s Defense Not Barred Under Defense Preclusion
- Get Lucky: U.S. Supreme Court Sides With Lucky Brand in Overturning “Defense Preclusion” Ruling
- The Supreme Court Declines to Revamp Preclusion Law in Lucky v. Marcel Trademark Dispute
- A Lucky Day for Lucky Brand: U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Second Circuit’s Defense Preclusion Test
- Defense in Trademark Action Not Precluded by Failure to Raise Same Defense in Earlier Action
- Romag Fasteners: SCOTUS Holds That Plaintiffs in Trademark Suits Need Not Show “Willful Intent” of Infringement to Recover Damages for Lost Profits
- IP Insight: DC Comics Prevail in Trade Mark Opposition against Magic Box
- HT Media and Hindustan Media Venture c. Brainlink International on hindustan.com: the chess game is underway
- Gömböc: CJEU provides clarity on the protectability of 3D trade marks
- How to bring an intermediary to justice in a domain name dispute
- WIPO data reveals rise in international trademark applications originating from Africa
- Focusing on Functionality, Software Claims Found Patent Eligible
- The “Plotting” Thickens: Claims that Solve Known Problem with Known Methods Are Obvious
- First decision under amended PMNOC Regulations: Federal Court finds Amgen’s filgrastim patent obvious
- G 3/19 – Tomatoes and Broccoli Now Overturned
- EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal Decision G 3/19 and the patentability of plant and animal products in Europe
- European Patent Office denies patentability of plants and animals obtained by essentially biological processes (G 3/19 “Pepper”)
- “Delivery Failed”: Shopping Notification Patent Lost Under § 101
- Managing Your VR/AR IP Portfolio During Covid-19
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Patent Prosecution Update: 2020 Q1 Prosecution Statistics
- Thinking ahead: The impact of insolvency on IP rights
PRIVACY
- Cookies: A Bite in Cybernauts’ Privacy? A Canadian-European Overview
- It’s Impossible To Opt Out Of Android’s Ad Tracking; Max Schrems Aims To Change That
- Court Sends Google Assistant Privacy Lawsuit Back for a Redo
- A Spectacularly Bad Washington Post Story on Apple and Google’s Exposure Notification Project
- Now The Washington Post Misleadingly Complains About Google & Apple Protecting Your Privacy Too Much
- As Some Are Requiring People To Give Up Their Info To Dine, Stories Of Creeps Abusing That Info Come Out
- COVID-19 contact tracing hits Apple devices with iOS and iPadOS 13.5
- Privacy commissioners urge respect for privacy rights in using contact-tracing apps
- Everyone Agrees That Contact Tracing Apps Are Key To Bringing COVID-19 Under Control; Iceland Has Tried Them, And Isn’t So Sure
- The Case For Contact Tracing Apps Built On Apple And Google’s Exposure Notification System
- CSIS says proposed federal privacy reforms could hinder spy operations: Spy agency laid out argument in a 14-page submission to the Justice Department
- FBI Holds Press Conference To Claim Apple Prevented It From [Checks Notes] Verifying Attribution In The Pensacola Air Base Shooting
- iPhone crypto hid al-Qaida link to naval base shooting, AG fumes
- Uh Oh: FBI Serves Search Warrant On Senator Richard Burr, Seizes His Phone
- Senate passes spying bill without search and browsing history protections [Updated]
- Senate Passes Surveillance Reauthorization Bill 80-16 — One Stripped Of Almost All Of Its Reforms
- Can a company charge a fee for responding to a right to be forgotten request?
- Connected Vehicles and GDPR – A Status Update after the Public Consultation
- India was already a surveillance state. Its Covid-19 app goes even further
- Fever-Detecting Drones Don’t Work
- London’s Facial Recognition Rollout Trips Over The Pandemic As Facemasks Render The System Even More Useless
CREATIVITY
- Top Things To Know Before Running a Contest in Canada
- Judge Tells Devin Nunes’ Dad (And Lawyer Stephen Biss) To Put Up Or Shut Up In Defamation Lawsuit Over Esquire Article
- European Film Bonds A/S & other v Lotus Holdings LLC & others [2020]: High Court judgment in favour of film completion guarantors who have successfully avoided a potential liability of over €18 million.
- Seventh Circuit Rejects Court Intervention In Light Beer Ad Wars: Is A New Trend Brewing In False Advertising Law?
Jon
News of the Week; May 13, 2020
GAMES
- Nintendo files lawsuit barrage to take down Super Mario 64 PC port
- A year of Riot’s diversity and inclusivity efforts mean it now employs 1% more women: And US operations have 1% more underrepresented minorities
- Riot “can’t solve society” but commits to combatting player abuse in Valorant: “Harassment and bullying in games is not a status quo I’m comfortable accepting,” says executive producer
- Riot wants to curb toxicity in Valorant without putting the burden on targeted players
- Riot Games’ Social Impact Fund has raised $10m so far: So far, the fund has provided $8 million in grands and funding to over 50 nonprofits
- Gaming Emote Litigation: Battle Royale Ensues Over Fortnite Emotes with Plaintiffs Testing Different Causes of Action
- Fortnite surpasses 350 million registered players
- Crytek Delays Launch of Lawsuit Against Star Citizen Devs Before Suddenly Settling
- Finnish Hockey League Championship Decided Via Stand-In Esports Playoff
- Ex-Respawn devs set up new studio Gravity Well as anti-crunch and pro-remote work
- Can video games depict war responsibly?: On the eve of the 75th VE Day, we explore how developers engage players in military conflict
- Animal Crossing boosts Nintendo sales despite COVID-19
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 11.77 million copies in under two weeks
- Animal Crossing New Horizons hits 13.4m sales
- Animal Crossing New Leaf took six years to reach 12.6m sales — New Horizons surpassed it in six weeks
- UK Charts: Animal Crossing: New Horizons sales surge 135%
- Nintendo praises Switch momentum as lifetime sales eclipse 55 million units
- Switch passes 55m lifetime sales in a strong year for Nintendo: Pokémon and Animal Crossing were the standouts among 27 Switch titles that sold more than one million units
- Sales up at Nintendo due to ‘significant growth’ across the entire Switch family
- Animal Crossing is now the best-selling Switch game of all time in Japan: Island getaway game has sold 3.9 million copies, beat Final Fantasy 7 Remake in latest monthly charts
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons and its impact on a pandemic-stricken world
- Tales From The Quarantine: People Are Selling ‘Animal Crossing’ Bells For Real Cash After Layoffs
- Nintendo forecasts down year amid COVID-19 uncertainty: Switch maker expects to sell 17% fewer games, 9.6% less hardware for the fiscal year that started last month
- PlatinumGames apologises for blank Switch codes following The Wonderful 101 delay: Kickstarter backers complained of malfunctioning or empty codes, Japanese studio working on replacements
- Grand strategy title Stellaris has sold over 3 million copies in four years
- Twitch viewers watched 334m hours of Valorant in April: It was the most popular game on Twitch, and drove the rise of new streamers to the top ten
- Report: games market to generate $159 billion in 2020 thanks to coronavirus (Newzoo)
- Mobile games to see the least negative impact from COVID-19: Newzoo – All platforms will see growth, but low barrier to entry and simpler development will bolster mobile
- Report: COVID-19 spurns 45% growth in livestreaming viewership (StreamElements)
- COVID-19 and the Games Industry: Opportunities and Challenges
- Q&A: How Jackbox CEO Mike Bilder is grappling with quarantine-driven success
- The Resident Evil series has sold 98m units to date: Monster Hunter has sold 63 million total, Street Fighter is at 44 million
- Digital revenue and packaged game sales driving growth at Sega Sammy
- Surge in packaged games drive Sega’s full-year sales to $3.4bn: Boxed products were biggest revenue driver for games business, but future releases may be delayed by COVID-19
- Zynga posts its best-ever Q1 by way of $404 million in revenue
- Zynga COO: We could work from home forever if needed – Matt Bromberg says the social gaming company hasn’t skipped a beat because of social distancing
- Sledgehammer COO: “We’re ready and prepared to work this way indefinitely” – Andrew Wilson says the studio has overcome most work-from-home tech hurdles, but mental health still a challenge
- Sales down, profits up at Capcom
- Capcom posts record profits on sharply down sales: Despite revenues down 18.4% year-over-year, shift to higher-margin digital sales drives Monster Hunter maker’s bottom line
- Playrix sees best month ever as Gardenscapes lifetime revenue nears $2b – Sensor Tower: Mobile games publisher has surpassed 1.1 billion downloads across its entire portfolio
- Rogue Games nets $2 million to expand publishing business
- Rogue Games raises $2m toward expanding its publishing business: In total, the mobile publisher has raised $3.4 million
- Lack of big releases sees Square Enix sales drop to $2.4bn: But profits and operating income still show increases thanks to Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X expansions
- Nexon’s Q1 takes a hit from closure of PC gaming cafes in China: But Korean revenue remains strong due to MapleStory, FIFA Online 4
- Avalanche pushes in a new direction with Systemic Reaction: The Swedish firm’s rebranded self-publishing division is aiming for faster development with smaller teams
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 will be remastered for a second time in Sept 2020
- The Culling is coming back, this time swapping free-to-play for one-free-play-per-day
- Xbox “set some wrong expectations” for next-gen livestream: Microsoft and Ubisoft mollify fans expecting to see promised Xbox Series X gameplay
- Xbox Series X showcase redefines “gameplay” | Podcast: Latest episode available now, focusing on last week’s special episode of Inside Xbox
- Some Xbox Series X games won’t hit 60fps “performance target”
- Microsoft shows off 13 “launch window” games for Xbox Series X
- New IP dominates first Xbox Series X game reveals: Nine new games will use Xbox’s ‘Smart Delivery’ offering that allows gamers to buy a game once for use across all Xbox consoles
- Every Xbox Series X game announced by Microsoft today: That’s a lot of games!
- Epic debuts free Online Services to help devs build cross-platform, cross-play games
- Devs using Unreal Engine won’t owe Epic royalties on a game’s first $1 million
- Unreal Engine is now royalty-free until a game makes a whopping $1 million
- Epic’s next-gen bid to knock down the walled garden: Tim Sweeney, Kim Libreri, and Nick Penwarden discuss Unreal Engine 5, next-gen development, and Epic’s efforts to make both open and accessible
- Epic Games announces Unreal Engine 5 with first PS5 footage: Beginning today, Epic will waive royalties on the first $1 million in game revenue for all Unreal Engine games
- Epic reveals next-gen Unreal Engine 5 tech running on PlayStation 5
- PS4 sales down at Sony, but network services revenue gets ‘significant’ boost
- Sony’s games business declines as new generation looms: PS4 sales passed 110m units in a down fiscal year, but PS5 is still set to launch in 2020
- First-party PlayStation games to be collected under new PlayStation Studios brand
- Sony announces new PlayStation Studios branding for its first-party PS5 games
- PlayStation Studios brand will launch alongside PS5: Check out the video that will open upcoming first-party PlayStation games
- Sony has suspended the PlayStation Store in mainland China to upgrade security
- Sony temporarily closes PlayStation Store in China: Platform holder says it is improving store security, no reopening date given
- Niko Partners: COVID-19 may slow consumer adoption of next-gen consoles
- UK: Ads on social media for esports betting come under the microscope
- Activision Blizzard brings in betting monitoring firm to observe its esports leagues: Overwatch League, Call of Duty League enter multi-year partnership with Sportradar
- Esports & the global pandemic
- Electronic Arts shifts playbook for all-digital esports events
- Fantasy sports firm Sleeper turns to esports after $20m round: Series B funding round closes ahead of new League of Legends fantasy esports game
- We talk esports vs. a pro racing simulator with Jaguar’s Mitch Evans
- Hologate Wants Its New VR Arcade Hygiene Standards to Inspire Confidence in a Wary Public
- Researchers Say Head-mounted Haptics Can Combat Smooth Locomotion Discomfort in VR
- VR could seize its moment — if the big players would cooperate | Opinion: VR has an opportunity to break out, but the mess of competing standards is holding back the whole sector
- Maze Theory raises £1.4m for Doctor Who VR trilogy: Studio receives investment from UK Creative Content EIS Fund, plus a second grant from government programme
- Can video games depict war responsibly?: On the eve of the 75th VE Day, we explore how developers engage players in military conflict
- Growing mobile games through user acquisition: Nordeus’ Andrej Kugonič takes a deep dive into UA for the GamesIndustry.biz Academy
- Starbreeze cuts losses by $7.2 million, calls Payday 3 publishing talks ‘positive’
- Starbreeze cuts losses to $9.9m: Payday 3 publishing plans hindered by travel restrictions
- Streaming startup Parsec raises $7m in funding: Series A round will fund push into streamed gameplay and remote development
- Scavengers Studio ends active development on Darwin Project
- How World of Warcraft has evolved with the Internet
- Here’s the surprisingly sweet origin story behind New Horizons’ sea bass gag
- Don’t Miss: Writing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided to ‘hold a mirror up to the world’
- Don’t Miss: Chris Crawford wants game devs to do long-term planning
- Don’t Miss: Ken Rolston’s development secrets of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- Don’t Miss: A postmortem of Treyarch’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for the Dreamcast
- Don’t Miss: Paradox Development Studio’s postmortem of Stellaris
- Q&A: Re-imagining 1998’s Half-Life for a 2020 audience in Black Mesa
- Video: Behind the beautiful audio of PSVR game Paper Beast
- Video: Balancing visuals and performance while art directing Forza
- Video: Using deep reinforcement learning for NPCs and playtesting
- Video: Understanding different specialties & approaches in game production
- Blog: Understanding open world level design – Part 1
- Blog: A data-filled deep dive into LudoNarraCon
- Blog: The calming effect of low stakes games4
- Blog: Tilemaps – More than a grid
- Insights: With Metaverse Talk Common Amid Pandemic, We’re Ready To Be ‘Player One’ Almost Anywhere Else
- U.S. Patent no. 10,315, 108: Local application quick start with cloud transitioning
DIGITAL
- Facebook will pay $52 million in settlement with moderators who developed PTSD on the job: Current and former moderators will all be paid a minimum of $1,000
- Facebook Agrees To Pay $52 Million To Content Moderators Whose Work Affected Their Mental Health
- Facebook settles moderator suit for $52M as hate speech on site increases
- As Facebook Agrees To Pay $52 Million In PTSD Payments To Moderators, Why Are Some Demanding More Human Moderators?
- Facebook’s Supreme Court Is In Place… And Everyone Hates It, Because Facebook Makes Everyone Hate Everything
- Amazon Sued For Saying You’ve ‘Bought’ Movies That It Can Take Away From You
- Amid Pandemic, Dozens Of Health Professionals Petition For Tech Companies To Curtail Misinformation
- Anti-Trump Ad Demonstrates Both The Streisand Effect & Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem
- How covid-19 conspiracy theorists are exploiting YouTube culture: Covid-19 conspiracy theorists are still getting millions of views on YouTube, even as the platform cracks down on health misinformation.
- YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter Crack Down On COVID-19 Conspiracy Film ‘Plandemic’
- Twitter failing to curb misinformation “superspreaders,” report warns
- Twitter Making It Easier To Study The Public Discussions Around COVID-19
- ‘Smart’ Home Platform Wink Changes The Deal, Suddenly Imposes Subscription Fees
- Beyond Netflix and Spotify, what subscriptions are worth keeping in quarantine?
- Netflix’s first interactive sitcom: Good for laughs, deserves a better app
- Hamilton is coming to Disney+ a year early—just in time for Fourth of July
- YouTube Accelerates Launch Of Connected TV Ad Products Amid Coronavirus Viewership Boom
- YouTube’s FameBit Shutters Self-Service Influencer Marketing Platform To Prioritize In-House Matchmaking
- YouTube TV Adds BET, MTV, Comedy Central, Nick In Multi-Year Deal With ViacomCBS
- YouTube TV Adds ‘Court TV’ To Expanding Channel Lineup
- Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Company that Added “Blockchain” To Its Name
- Twitch Developing Weekly Slate Of Unscripted, Interactive Shows (Report)
- ‘Twitch Roulette’ Spins Up Random Streamers With Few Viewers
- Jeffrey Katzenberg On Quibi’s 1.3 Million Active Users: “It’s Not Close To What We Wanted”
- Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Ego Decides That COVID-19 Must Be Why Quibi Totally Sucks And No One Wants It
- Studio71 And YouTube Animator Alex Clark Are Crowdfunding A Card Game
- YouTube Creator Corey La Barrie Has Tragically Passed Away On His 25th Birthday
- Family Of Late YouTuber Corey La Barrie Launches GoFundMe For Memorial Expenses
- Paul Vasquez, YouTube’s Joyful ‘Double Rainbow Guy,’ Has Passed Away Age 57
- YouTubers Kristin And Marcus Johns Both Recovering From Surgery After Devastating Hit-And-Run
- Studio71 UK Is Bringing TLC YouTube Series ‘Countdown To I Do’ To The Small Screen
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/11/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 5/11/2020
- How Ad Council, Collectively, And Digital Brand Architects Are Evaluating Social Good Campaigns During COVID-19
- To compete with Gmail, Microsoft reveals plans for new Web-based Outlook features
- Bon Appétit’s Beloved ‘Test Kitchen’ Crew To Host Coronavirus Benefit Dinner On Instagram Live
- Charli And Dixie D’Amelio No Longer Affiliated With ‘The Hype House’ As A Business
- NBC Picks Up ‘A Little Late With Lilly Singh’ For Season Two, But Won’t Film Remotely
- BroadbandTV Signs Competitive Eater Matt Stonie, Jesse Wellens, Others
- English Law Challenges in Recovering Cryptocurrency Ransoms
- Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs scraps its ambitious Toronto project
- Thunderspy: What it is, why it’s not scary, and what to do about it
- Coronavirus: Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
- Google unifies messenger teams, plans “more coherent vision”
- Google Play Music dies this year, YT Music library imports begin today
- TikTok Goes On Hiring Spree In London, Which Will Serve As Center Of European Ops (Report)
- Facebook’s New Features Are Meant To Help Small Businesses See More “Virtual Foot Traffic”
- Zoomism and Discipline for Productive Immobility
- Choose your quarantine meme house: A taxonomy of the pandemic’s greatest meme hits.
- Bitcoin’s “halving” is bad for miners, good for everyone else
- What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy (Steven Vallas & Juliet B. Schor)
A.I.
- Thomson Reuters Accuses Ross Intelligence of Using Bot to Hijack Westlaw Data: Lawsuit against San Francisco-based Ross Intelligence could outline the often adversarial coexistence of copyrights and artificial intelligence.
- ROSS Fires Back At Thomson Reuters Over Data Case
- France is using AI to check whether people are wearing masks on public transport: The technology won’t be used to identify and punish individuals
- Blurring the Lines: When AI Creates Art Is It Copyrightable?
- CAA Signs Its First Virtual Client: Computer-Generated Instagrammer Miquela
- Shuttered restaurants, bars, hotels speed up TV cord-cutting even more
- All’s Clear for Deepfakes: Think Again
- Why Fake Video, Audio May Not Be As Powerful In Spreading Disinformation As Feared
- FTC Consumer Protection Director Provides Guidance on Use of Artificial Intelligence in Automated Decision-Making
- This ‘Beat Saber’ Project Uses AI to Generate Custom Beat Maps for Any Song
- Building the AI of F.E.A.R. with goal oriented action planning
- Response to the European Commission’s White Paper on Artificial Intelligence (Elettra Bietti)
- U.S. AI and IoT Legislative Update – First Quarter 2020
- Regulating Text and Data Mining in the European Union: Issues and Challenges
COMMUNICATIONS
- Why “Taking On” Google and Facebook Isn’t the Cure for the Media Sector’s Ills (Michael Geist)
- Shuttered restaurants, bars, hotels speed up TV cord-cutting even more
- No, Congress Can’t Fix The Broken US Broadband Market In A Mad Dash During A Pandemic
- COVID-19 Is Exposing A Virulent Strain Of Broadband Market Failure Denialism
- FCC fines Sinclair $48M, refuses to revoke its broadcast licenses
- FCC Makes it Easier for Broadcasters and Cable Operators to Rehire Laid Off Employees
- US military is furious at FCC over 5G plan that could interfere with GPS
- ISPs Finally Lifted Data Caps. It Only Took A Global Pandemic
- Comcast resists call to open home Wi-Fi hotspots, cites potential congestion
- Verizon’s nationwide 5G will only be a “small” upgrade over 4G at first
- Study Shows US 5G Is An Over-hyped Disappointment
- New AT&T CEO Says You’re A Moron If You Don’t Use AT&T Streaming Services
- Democrats try to ban Internet shutoffs until pandemic is over
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Wiseau Studio, LLC et al v Harper et al, (2020 ONSC 2504)
- Ontario Court finds room for fair dealing in documentary on The Room
- Intellectual Property litigation in the Federal Court
- Second Circuit Clicks “I Agree” Affirming Website Agreement Protects Web Application from Misappropriation by Users
- Fair Use Protects a Highly Cropped Photo–Harbus v. Manhattan Institute (Eric Goldman)
- “I’m [Not] Yours”
- “I’m Yours” Not Theirs: Jason Mraz Settles Dispute Over Beer Ad’s Allegedly Unauthorized Use of Performance Footage on Instagram
- Court Of Appeals Affirms Lower Court Tossing BS ‘Comedians In Cars’ Copyright Lawsuit
- Sixth Circuit Concurrence Fears Courts May Be Groovin’ to the Wrong Tune in Copyright Cases
- Eleventh Circuit: Guitar Designer Wasn’t Taking a Solo
- Second Circuit Limits Copyright Damages To Those Incurred Within Three Years Prior to Suit
- Does copyright subsist in the Brompton Folding Bicycle?
- Does the Cofemel decision mark the end of “artistic value”?
- Copyright protection for fabric designs
- Monkey Business (and Other Animal Non-Rights)
- Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Has Two Separate Courts Sanction Him For His Ongoing Copyright Trolling Failures
- Supreme Court: Willfulness Not Required for Profits Awards in Trademark Infringement Actions
- Supreme Court Holds Trademark Infringement Does Not Require a Finding of “Willful” Infringement To Recover an Award of Profits
- Without a Willfulness Requirement, Is the Path Clearer for Brand Owners to Pursue and Recover Trademark Damages?
- Supreme Court clarifies rules for remedies in trademark litigation
- Whether or not there’s a will, there’s still a way to infringers’ profits in Canadian trademark litigation
- Trademark Law Alert – A Book Title Sometimes May Prevent Registration of the Same Term for Other Goods
- 2(b) Prohibition On “Flag Marks” Bars Use of Flag as Part of a Mark
- Coachella may not be cancelled – but its EU trade mark has been
- Say It With Me Now, Australia: Beer And Wine Are Not The Same Thing, Not Even For Trademarks
- Freedom of expression counts in trademark law
- [Insert Yell Here]: Rapper Pitbull Receives Trademark Registration for “EEEEEEEYOOOOOO!” Sound Mark
- NCAA Issues New Name, Image, Likeness Guidance
- The Face(David)Off
- Bongo’s Bingo and Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah cause IP Hoo-Hah
- SkyKick: High Court narrows Sky’s trade mark protection and criticises the use of trade marks as a weapon
- Justices Voice Reservations About a Bright-line Genericness Test in Booking.com
- Can a mathematical mystery be registered as a trade mark?
- Tiger King – Battle of the Big Cat Trade Marks
- National Geographic Defeats Trademark Suit Over ‘Wild America’ and ‘Untamed Americas’ Claim
- Patent Filings Doom Registered Trade Dress in Seventh Circuit
- Combination Litigation: Recent Software Disputes at the Intersection of Trade Secret, Copyright and Patent Law
- Federal Circuit Rules that Moving Software to the Cloud Alone Is Obvious
- Importance of Determining Inventorship Prior to Patent Issuance
- Patentability of Covid-19 smartphone apps at the EPO
- Fed. Cir.: Threat of Suit Over Past Infringement Confers Standing
- The Federal Circuit Dismisses Pfizer’s Appeal for Lack of Standing
- Object detection in an augmented reality image: insufficiently disclosed
- Obvious to the Bone: Teva Wins Opposition against Eli Lilly’s Patent Application Covering Osteoporosis Blockbuster FORTEO®
- Analysis of the innovativeness of “zanubrutinib” from a patent perspective
- Finite Methods as a Ground for Obviousness
- The deadlock on the unified patent convention
- Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Germany’s Highest Court tells SEP implementers that simply saying that you are willing to license is not enough, and hold-out will not be tolerated
- The UKIPO investigates AI-powered prior art searches
- How combining blockchain technology and AI could benefit patent analysis
- The Inventinator: May AI “Inventors” get Patents?
- USPTO: Artificial Intelligence Systems Cannot Legally Invent
- Creative COVID-19 Collaborations – IP Agreements that Work
- White House Identifies Amazon Foreign Domains as “Notorious Markets” for Counterfeit Goods
- Federal Circuit Patent Update
- IP Litigation Quarterly Update
PRIVACY
- India is forcing people to use its covid app, unlike any other democracy: Millions of Indians have no choice but to download the country’s tracking technology if they want to keep their jobs or avoid reprisals.
- Zoom Reaches Agreement with New York Attorney General to Resolve Privacy and Security Issues
- Zoom to Implement New Security Measures in Deal with NY Attorney General
- Utah Pulls Plug On Surveillance Contractor After CEO’s Past As A White Supremacist Surfaces
- Google’s Privacy Policy Can’t Save it From Smartphone Spying Claim: California Privacy Laws Tested in Suit Alleging Big Tech is Letting Subcontractors Listen in on Your Conversations
- Cookie walls invalidate consent, says EDPB
- In Response To Getting Sued, Clearview Is Dumping All Of Its Private Customers
- EU Data Protection: Updated EDPB Guidance on Consent Clarifies the Mechanism for Cookie Consent
- The EU is trying to fix its abysmal cookie consent policy: The pain of cookie consent mechanisms is an international problem
- EUROPE: New privacy rules for connected vehicles in Europe?
- Conflict Between the Right to Privacy and the Right to Public Health: Global Phenomenon and Coronavirus Outbreak
- Your Boss May Soon Track You At Work For Coronavirus Safety
- Privacy litigation in the age of coronavirus
- As More Students Sit Online Exams Under Lockdown Conditions, Remote Proctoring Services Carry Out Intrusive Surveillance
CREATIVITY
- “Happy Cows” False Labeling Theory is Just “Half Baked”: Court Dismisses False Advertising Claims Against Ben & Jerry’s
- Counterclaims on the Cutting-Room Floor: How a Central District Court Cut Down the Writers Guild’s Countersuit Against Hollywood’s Talent Agencies
- HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Limited [2020] EWHC 1058 (Ch)
- Bud Light’s win on “corn syrup” ad offers valuable lessons on false advertisement claims
- Whoops! Whooper ad banned by the ASA
- The Impact of COVID-19 on Media and Entertainment Industry Transactions
- Art Law: Introduction
- First-step analysis: art law in USA (New York)
- Top 3 Legal Predictions on Fashion Law for 2020
Jon
News of the Week; May 6, 2020
GAMES
- Microsoft facing controller drift suit: Plaintiff in class-action suit says Xbox One controllers have problems with faulty analog sticks
- Who Owns the Ink?
- Billy Mitchell suing Twin Galaxies over disqualified Donkey Kong scores: Former record holder asserts leaderboard site “at least implied [that he was a cheater]”
- Billy Mitchell takes his Donkey Kong high-score cheating case to court
- No More Monkeying Around – Donkey Kong High Score Record Holder Sues Video Game Leaderboard For Defamation
- Drama in iRacing as IndyCar champ wrecks F1 star on purpose
- Why the makers of Plague Inc. are building a mode where you destroy the virus
- Sony says The Last of Us Part 2 leak didn’t leak from employees
- Sony says major The Last of Us Part 2 leak didn’t come from employee
- Proposed Anti-Spying Legislation May Not Be Cause for Alarm for Gamers in Congress
- Australia integrity boss eyes corruption threat in online games
- Gambling Games by Another Name? District Court Offers Clarity On Line Between Social Gaming and Gambling.
- ESRB and PEGI Introduce Loot Box Warnings
- Video Games: What’s in for the ‘Look and Feel’?
- Are bootleg game soundtracks damaging the industry?: The popularity of video game music clashes with its lack of availability in physical formats — we examine both sides of this complex issue
- Report: Work-from-home issues to blame as Nintendo axes June Direct
- Fans Port Mario 64 To PC And Make It Way Better, So Of Course Nintendo Is Trying To Nuke The Project
- Generating Game of Thrones characters in Skyrim’s character creator
- Beyond emulation: The massive effort to reverse-engineer N64 source code
- Shooter genre sees the most growth on PC in the midst of social isolation
- Roblox believes user-generated content will bring us the Metaverse
- Roblox Corp launches $2 million fundraiser to support COVID-19 charities
- Xbox Game Pass now has over 10 million subscribers
- Xbox Game Pass now has more than 10 million subscribers
- Why Gears Tactics is an important release for modern Xbox
- Phil Spencer says COVID-19 could delay Xbox Series X launch titles
- Amid “Significant Reduction” In Q1 Ad Buys, Video Game Marketing Is Showing “Relative Strength,” Facebook Says
- Rovio profits soar to $14 million as UA spending is cut by almost half
- Gaming viewership, playtime surged in China under lockdown: Niko Partners – But ad revenue dropped, and players gravitated toward familiar, not new, titles
- The “COVID bounce” in games shouldn’t obscure what lies ahead | Opinion: The spike in interest and revenue is temporary, says MIDiA Research’s Karol Severin, and will likely give way to recession and harder times
- MicroProse brand, known for X-COM and Civilization, has been revived
- MicroProse returns after two decade absence: The storied publisher is back with three new games, 18 years since its last release
- The resurrection of MicroProse and return of “Wild Bill” Stealey: The original publisher’s co-founder explains how he’s helping the new MicroProse’s CEO restore the brand to former glories
- Multiple EA titles are headed to Nintendo Switch this year: Publisher also planning a fourth sports title, an HD remake, and next-gen upgrades for some current games
- Electronic Arts beats investor expectations with $1.39 billion in Q4 revenue
- Live services drive fiscal 2020 rebound for EA: Publisher enjoys record net revenues, plans for continued focus on live services into 2021
- UK Charts: FIFA 20 reclaims No.1 from Animal Crossing New Horizons – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe speeds back into the top five
- Animal Crossing Pocket Camp enjoys halo effect from New Horizons: April was the mobile title’s highest ever month for revenue, according to Sensor Tower’s data
- How Animal Crossing’s fake industries let players afford real rent amid COVID-19
- Activision Blizzard bookings up 21% amid pandemic: New Call of Duty on track for fall, two other Activision IP titles in the works for current fiscal year
- Activision Blizzard posts $1.79 billion Q1 revenues as pandemic creates gaming surge
- Activision Blizzard raises full year outlooks as Q1 revenue beats expectations
- Activision Blizzard now fully WFH and covering employees’ COVID-19 costs
- Sensor Tower receives $45m investment: Private equity firm Riverwood Capital invests following record year for Sensor Tower
- After deadline issues for Doom Eternal’s OST, a new composer will score its DLC
- THQ Nordic and Koch Media trade IPs: Franchise swaps put Red Faction and Risen series closer to their original developers; Painkiller, Sacred, and more change hands
- Google’s Stadia controller will finally work wirelessly with computers starting this week: But it still won’t work wirelessly with a phone
- Cloud Gaming: Why It Matters And The Games It Will Create
- The impact of one streamer on a game after release
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla won’t be launching on Steam
- New Guild Wars 2 content won’t have voice acting at launch due to COVID-19
- Indivisible publisher 505 Games says release tool mishap caused surprise launch
- Video Game Chic
- PewDiePie Signs Exclusive Livestreaming Deal With YouTube
- PewDiePie signs exclusivity deal with YouTube: Video platform secures live streaming rights for its most-subscribed content creator, with 104 million followers
- NBA 2K League to air live on ESPN2: Sports network gives esports league matches three Tuesday primetime slots this month
- ESPN to air live NBA 2K League games: On ESPN2, ESPN.com, and the ESPN app, depending on when you’re watching
- Tulip mania? The business of esports and its time in the sun
- Twitch is launching a dedicated esports channel
- Esports Conglomerate ReKTGlobal Pacts With Management Company TalentX On Gamer-Focused Firm
- RektGlobal launches talent agency for esports athletes and influencers: TalentX Gaming is a joint venture with TalentX Entertainment
- Fortnite World Cup and Dota 2 International cancelled
- There won’t be a Fortnite World Cup in 2020: All competitions will be online this year
- Epic Games Axes Second Annual ‘Fortnite World Cup’ Due To Coronavirus
- Fortnite Streamer Ewok Pens Sponsorship Deal with HyperX
- Fortnite’s newest mode cuts combat to create a purely social space
- Valve indefinitely delays Dota 2’s The International 2020: Valve’s annual Dota 2 championship is the latest event impacted by COVID-19
- Valve Drops Support for SteamVR on MacOS
- Valve drops SteamVR support for MacOS
- Valve ends support for SteamVR on macOS
- Analysis: ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Adds Nearly 1 Million VR Users to Steam in Record Gain
- Half-Life: Alyx triggers surge in new VR users on Steam: But number of Steam players with virtual reality headsets is still less than 2%
- The Half-Life effect on PC-VR is the biggest Steam has ever seen
- Report: Facebook is working on an updated version of its Oculus Quest VR headset
- Magic Leap warns of “critical” battery safety issue
- Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Corel, Inc.
- Sega launches new Sega Music brand
- The latest Unreal Engine update adds initial support for next-gen consoles
- Epic updates Unreal Engine to support next-gen development: Version 4.25 allows developers to build and ship games for PS5, Xbox Series X
- Microsoft will build Xbox Series X buzz with monthly ‘Xbox 20/20’ showcase
- Guilded raises $7m to build gaming chat platform
- Guilded raises $7 million to expand its community-focused game chat platform
- My.Games launches $10m hypercasual publishing programme
- My.Games launches $10 million publishing program for hyper-casual developers
- Finnish studio Dazzle Rocks nets $6.8 million to build social sandbox MMO
- Dazzle Rocks raises $6.8m for new social sandbox game: Galaxy Interactive leads Series A funding for Helsinki studio
- EA reports net revenue of $5.5 billion for fiscal 2020
- EA reaped $5.5 billion in revenue last year, most of which came from digital dealings
- Zynga reports $104M loss for Q1 despite record-setting revenues
- Zynga posts its best-ever Q1 by way of $404 million in revenue
- Zynga continues to post soaring revenues and deepening losses: For the fifth straight quarter, publisher says the bottom line has been hurt by success of 2018 acquisitions
- How big is too big for a popular game? | Opinion
- Review: Sagrada, a top dice-drafting board game, goes digital
- Unity has acquired visual scripting solution Bolt
- War Stories: How Prince of Persia slew the Apple II’s memory limitations
- Prince of Persia concept video appears—and confirms why series has been dormant
- Have a look at this pitch footage for a canned Prince of Persia game
- Don’t Miss: Creating a natural movement system for Dying Light
- Don’t Miss: A level designer breaks down The Last of Us 2’s trailer level
- Don’t Miss: A classic postmortem of BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Don’t Miss: Balancing storytelling and player choice in Prey
- Don’t Miss: Examining the pay-to-flay monetization of Mortal Kombat X
- Don’t Miss: Games, psychology, and UX with Celia Hodent – GDC Podcast ep. 8
- Blog: Should players buy their own UI?
- Blog: Developing games for the Sinclair Spectrum Plus
- Blog: Tips for marketing your queer narrative indie game
- Blog: Anatomy of a failed Kickstarter – Part 3
- Blog: Five lessons learned growing a game dev start-up
- Blog: How to crack the match 3 code – Part 1
- Video: How NetEase applied reinforcement learning to build game AI
- Tales From The Quarantine: ‘Queer Eye’ Guy Now Offering Support And Advice On Your Video Game Home Furnishings
- Summer Game Fest 2020 Steps in to Fill E3 Void for Video-Game Biz
- GDC’s summer event will be digital only: The conference returns, sort of, in August
- Global Game Jam founders Susan Gold and Gorm Lai leave after 12 years
- U.S. Patent no. 10,313,679: Systems and methods for encoder-guided adaptive-quality rendering
DIGITAL
- Bye, Amazon (Tim Bray)
- Amazon VP Tim Bray Quits To Protest Employee Firings
- Amazon Vice President: ‘I Quit in Dismay’ at Company Firing Whistleblowers
- Tim Bray, Early Internet Guru, And Amazon VP Quits Over The ‘Chickenshit’ Company’s Targeting Of Employees Speaking Out About COVID-19
- An Amazon VP’s resignation has cast a spotlight on the company’s working conditions
- An Amazon VP’s resignation shows internal unrest is rising to the top: Tim Bray wrote that staying an Amazon VP would have meant “signing off on actions I despised.”
- “Chickens**t” whistleblower firings are “poison,” resigning Amazon VP says
- The Pandemic Has Ended the Amazon Debate: It’s clearer than ever that supporting Amazon is a tacit endorsement of abusive work policies and more
- An Amazon warehouse worker in New York has died of COVID-19: Amazon confirmed the death to The Verge
- House Panel Wants Bezos to Testify in Antitrust Probe: Amazon reportedly used sensitive seller information to develop its own competing products.
- Congress wants Jeff Bezos to testify in Amazon antitrust probe: A House subcommittee is scrutinizing whether the company unfairly competes against its own marketplace sellers.
- Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts
- Congress calls on Bezos to come explain Amazon’s possible lies
- The Decentralized Web Could Help Preserve The Internet’s Data For 1,000 Years. Here’s Why We Need IPFS To Build It.
- A Sure Way to Ruin My Day: The Phrase “Enforceable Browsewrap”–HealthplanCRM v. Avmed
- California sues to make Uber and Lyft drivers employees
- Uber lays off 3,700 people as its ride business craters
- Illinois Supreme Court Finds Daily Fantasy Sports to Be Legal, Rejects DFS Loser’s Gambling Loss Recovery Act Claim
- Is It Illegal to Prohibit Online Selling?: High Court has ruled on whether it is illegal for a business to restrict online selling by its retailers under competition law – Ping Europe Limited v Competition and Markets Authority
- Here We Go Again: Russia Gears Up to Interfere in 2020 Election With Coronavirus Disinformation: A campaign linked to Russia aims to manipulate this year’s elections in the United States and Europe.
- Inside the Early Days of China’s Coronavirus Coverup: The dawn of a pandemic – as seen through the news and social media posts that vanished from China’s internet.
- How Can Anyone Argue With A Straight Face That China’s Approach To Speech Online Is Better Than The US’s During A Pandemic
- China Tried To Get The EU Not To Release A Report On China’s COVID-19 Disinformation Efforts
- Cambodian Government Using Fake News Law To Silence Critics And Coronavirus Reporting
- Being Too Aggressive At Policing COVID-19 Disinformation Risks Breaking The Important ‘Collective Sensemaking Process’
- Coronavirus: David Icke kicked off Facebook – Facebook has taken down the official page of conspiracy theorist David Icke for publishing “health misinformation that could cause physical harm”.
- Ninth Circuit Revives Class Action Suit against Facebook for Selling Users’ Browsing History
- Court Approves Historic FTC-Facebook Settlement Giving Businesses 5 Billion Reasons to Reevaluate Privacy Programs
- Facebook’s Zuckerberg praises coronavirus lockdowns as Tesla’s Musk sees ‘fascism’
- Counter-archiving Facebook (Anat Ben-David)
- These are the people Facebook put in charge of deciding whether to delete controversial posts
- Why I’m Joining Facebook’s Oversight Board: Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger on why the social media giant ‘needs independent, external oversight’
- How Facebook’s oversight board could rewrite the rules of the entire internet: The new content moderation board is built so other companies could get in on the action. That could be a mixed blessing.
- Texas Appeals Court Brushes Off Section 230 In Allowing Lawsuit Over Sex Trafficking Against Facebook To Continue
- If You’re Complaining About COVID-19 Misinformation Online AND About Section 230, You’re Doing It Wrong
- Armslist Wins Another Section 230 Ruling–Stokinger v. Armslist (Eric Goldman)
- Senator Wyden And Others Introduce Bill Calling The DOJ’s Bluff Regarding Its Attempt To Destroy Section 230 & Encryption
- Twitter runs a test prompting users to revise ‘harmful’ replies
- Another Suspended Twitter User Loses in Court–Wilson v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Twitter tests telling users their tweet replies may be offensive
- Supreme Court Streams Oral Arguments Live For The First Time (Thanks To The Pandemic)
- In an unusual investor call, Apple reports flat quarterly earnings amid COVID-19
- How ‘Karen’ Became a Coronavirus Villain: A popular joke about entitled white women is now a big pandemic meme.
- ICANN blocks controversial sale of .org domain to a private equity firm
- ICANN Board Blocks The Sale Of The .Org Registry
- It’s a No-Win for Gig Workers in the Covid-19 Moment
- Hedge Fund ‘Asshole’ Destroying Local News & Firing Reporters Wants Google & Facebook To Just Hand Him More Money
- Zoom matchmaking is giving lockdown singletons a shot at love: A reinvention of traditional matchmaking is helping the single, bored, and lonely meet like-minded people, wherever they might live.
- Zoom Video Conferencing: Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Implications
- Google Meet, Google’s Zoom competitor, gets wider Gmail integration
- New earnings report shows Microsoft’s shift to cloud and subscriptions is working
- ‘What are we doing this for?’: Doctors are fed up with conspiracies ravaging ERs: “I left work and I felt so deflated,” one doctor said about an effort to counter misinformation he saw on Facebook. “I let it get to me.”
- Medical students learn through virtual clinical rotations
- In rural Oklahoma, a Wi-Fi hot spot brings a dash of hope and excitement: At high schools, libraries, parking lots & side streets, Americans are tapping public Wi-Fi hot spots that are lifelines during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Zoom says it has 300 million daily meeting participants, not users
- Deplatforming: Following extreme Internet celebrities to Telegram and alternative social media
- The Power and Perils of Influencer Marketing: Recent Developments, Competition Considerations and Best Practices
- NFL Draft Prompts Big Social Media Spike
- YouTube Taps Barack And Michelle Obama, BTS, Jackie Aina, More For Virtual Graduation Event
- CAA Signs YouTube Beauty Guru Rachel Levin (Exclusive)
- YouTube Expands Recommendation-Filtering Feature ‘Topics’ To iOS, Browser Site
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/04/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 5/04/2020
- YouTube To Let News Publishers Natively Vend Their Own Subscription Products By Year’s End (Report)
- Boots on the Moon! Netflix drops official Space Force trailer
- Hulu Becomes Latest HBO Max Launch Partner, Will Upgrade Current HBO Add-Ons For Free
- The Promise – and Risk – of a Career in TikTok: For many young people, being a paid content creator on social media is the dream job. But it’s not as easy as it may look.
- TikTok Has Reportedly Surpassed 2 Billion Global App Downloads
- Candidates Can’t Campaign, So They’re Trying To Go Viral: Down-ballot candidates are starting to look a lot like influencers
- The Biden campaign faces a mind-boggling challenge: How to make Joe go viral – The ex-veep’s small digital team has a tall order going up against Donald Trump, who intuitively understands what clicks.
- Straight from Monty Python – Implied Warranties: The British Columbia Dead Parrot Case
- This baby goat live stream is the mood-booster we need: Play, eat, sleep, repeat
- This Mental Health App Is Tailor-Made for Your Pandemic Woes: Covid Coach, from the National Center for PTSD, offers exercises and resources for dealing with uncertainty, isolation, and unemployment.
- Google tells employees they can’t expense food or other perks when working from home
- Google—Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200: Why the Tech Giant Is a “Bad” Monopoly (Alicia Ginsberg)
- Justin And Hailey Bieber Debut Self-Shot Facebook Watch Series During Quarantine
- Eko’s Tech Theft Lawsuit Against Quibi To Be Funded By New Investor Elliott Management Corp. (Report)
- Quibi Denies Purposely Leaking Users’ Emails, But Has Retooled Its Sign-Up Process
- Quibi Turns To YouTube For Audience Growth, Uploading Full Episodes Of Select Originals
- Quibi Is What Happens When Hollywood Overvalues Content And Undervalues Community
- Hulu Becomes Latest HBO Max Launch Partner, Will Upgrade Current HBO Add-Ons For Free
- Disney hammered by coronavirus shutdowns as operating income drops 37 percent
- The Black Box and Japanese Discourses of the Digital (David Humphrey)
- On the Relief of Ignoring the Internet in Fiction: Joyce Hinnefeld Considers the Obstacles of Digital Obsolescence
- After the Tech-Lash: Digital Policy Priorities in the Post-Pandemic World (Michael Geist)
A.I.
- Jukebox: Introducing Jukebox, a neural net that generates music, including rudimentary singing, as raw audio in a variety of genres and artist styles. We’re releasing the model weights and code to explore the generated samples.
- To Invent is Human: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Rejects AI System as an Inventor
- Video: How 343 uses machine learning for optimal matchmaking
- US patent office rules that artificial intelligence cannot be a legal inventor: Only ‘natural persons’ need apply
- Does An Invention Discovered With Artificial Intelligence Obtain Patent Protection?
- Ha Ha, Our New Robot Overlords Can’t Get Patents
- USPTO denies patent application for invention by AI
- USPTO Rules Artificial Intelligence Cannot Be Named As Inventor for Patent Application
- Harrisburg University Researchers Claim Their ‘Unbiased’ Facial Recognition Software Can Identify Potential Criminals
- AI Software Gets Mixed Reviews for Tackling Coronavirus
- Drone-to-door medicines trial takes flight in Ireland
- An AI algorithm inspired by how kids learn is harder to confuse
- How well can algorithms recognize your masked face?
- How coronavirus set the stage for a techno-future with robots and AI
- “Deepfake” Technology: Very Real Marketing Value … and Risks
- Harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to increase wellbeing for all: The case for a new technology diplomacy
- Volvo plans cars with lidar and “eyes off” highway driving by 2022
- US FTC Publishes Guidance on Using Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms
COMMUNICATIONS
- Advocacy group wants CRTC to do more to protect privacy amid contact tracing debate: Telecommunications Act requires privacy protections and monitoring and disclosing of contact tracing
- NYT defeats Ajit Pai as judge orders FCC to provide net neutrality records
- Judge Orders FCC To Hand Over Data On Fake Net Neutrality Comments
- CenturyLink still hasn’t met 2019 FCC deadline, now faces pandemic roadblocks
- AT&T CEO Steps Down After Bungled, Megamerger-Fueled TV Failure
- ‘Job Creating’ Sprint T-Mobile Merger Triggers Estimated 6,000 Non-Covid Layoffs
- Federal Communications Commission Penalizes Marriott Vacations for Unauthorized Transfer of Private Radio Licenses
- Comcast overcharged elderly couple $600, denied refund until contacted by Ars
- Comcast Graciously Extends Suspension Of Completely Unnecessary Data Caps
- Frontier, amid bankruptcy, is suspected of lying about broadband expansion
- What’s New in 5G – May 2020
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- York University statement on recent court decision regarding Access Copyright
- Supreme Court May Weigh In on the Legality of Data Scraping
- Supreme Court Offers Guidance Regarding Eligibility of State Legislative Records for Protection Under the Copyright Act
- Allen v. Cooper and Georgia v. Public.Resource.org: The Supreme Court Navigates the Relationship Between State Government and Federal Copyright Law
- Jennifer Lopez sued for copyright infringement
- Once Upon a Time: Everything was Copyrighted
- 11th Circuit Tells Guitar Maker to Take a [Pantera] Walk on Delayed Copyright Claims
- Ricky Martin’s “Vida” Lives On, but Plaintiff Will Get Another Shot at It
- Hiring out cars with radios is not a “communication to the public”
- IP in Street Arts
- Surely Not The Equivalent Of The Mona Lisa?*
- EU Joins In The Bullying Of South Africa For Daring To Adopt US-Style Fair Use Principles
- IP Alert: Two Recent IP Rulings Have Far-Reaching Consequences
- Show me the money: Supreme Court rules that trademark infringers may disgorge profits even if the law was not willfully violated
- Supreme Court Raises the Stakes Against Unauthorized Resellers: Willfulness No Longer Required for Manufacturers to Obtain Profits in Trademark Cases
- Court Sides With Nike And Dismisses Kawhi Leonard’s Lawsuit Over ‘Klaw’ Logo
- Remix Culture Done Right: Wes Tank Mashes Up Dr. Seuss With Dr. Dre (And So Far The Copyright Police Have Left Him Alone)
- Can Smells be Trademarks?
- Ardbeg v AlbergWhisky
- Luxury Arcade Game Win
- Lion’s head trade mark not sufficiently distinctive for Parisian brand Pierre Balmain
- Bentley Clothing wins trade mark battle against Bentley Motors
- Highest EU court pours hot water on Coty v Amazon case
- High Court disarms ‘weaponised’ TMs in landmark ruling
- There are more things …than are dreamt of in your philosophy: Damages for infringing a revoked and unused trademark? Yes says the CJEU…
- C‑622/18 – AR v Cooper International Spirits LLC and Others – Damages for trade mark infringement possible where trade mark revoked for non-use
- Sky v Skykick – High Court decision
- Skykick liable for infringement of Sky’s trade mark registrations even after they are held to be partially invalid
- Are second hand sales use of a registered trade mark?
- SCOTUS Livestreams Oral Arguments on BOOKING.COM Trademark Registerability
- As Twisted as Cheese!
- Supplementary protection for vaccines: Canada diverges from Europe
- USPTO Reports on Examination Outcomes Post-Alice
- U.S. Patent Office Report Shows Improving Post-Alice Patent Examination Outcomes
- Fish Hook Claims Can’t Catch a Patent
- Fishing for Eligibility in Murky Waters
- Wurst Case Scenario: Sausage Tray Design Patent Found Obvious
- An Invention That Changes the Normal Operation of a System Is Not Abstract Under § 101
- A History of the Solar Cell, in Patents
- Wearable Technologies and Intellectual Property: Stand Alone Software and Software as Medical Devices
- Patent Infringement for the Public Good
- Patents – public interest argument fails in medical devices case
- Most number of Patent Applications filed by?
- Patent Litigation Filings on the Increase with the COVID-19 Pandemic
- We’re Saved! Company Claims It’s Patented ‘Containing the Spread of Disinformation’ And Will Stop COVID-19 Disinfo
PRIVACY
- UK City Leaves Nearly Nine Million License Plate/Location Data Records Exposed On The Open Web
- Suspected DNC & German Parliament Hacker Used His Name As His Email Password
- A facial recognition company wants to help with contact tracing. A senator has questions.: Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That said it’s in discussions with federal and state agencies to help with contact tracing.
- Here’s how Apple, Google will warn you if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19
- Ethics of instantaneous contract tracing using mobile phone apps in the control of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Contact tracing, data and privacy: Technological choices in response to COVID-19
- Would you let Google, Apple contact-trace your family? Here’s what Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian says
- Court Filings Show NSO Group Ran Malware Attacks Through Servers Located In California
- Filings In Facebook’s Lawsuit Against NSO Show FBI Director Chris Wray Was For Encryption Before He Was Against It
- Hard Pass: Clearview Offers To Help Out With COVID-19 Contact Tracing
- Google Purged Almost 1,000 Abusive ‘Creeperware’ Apps. Now Some Are Coming Back.: Catch a Cheating Spouse now has more than 10,000 downloads
- Coronavirus Has Complicated California’s Internet Privacy Law: Business groups have asked the state to hold off on enforcement of privacy rules.
- South Korea is relying on technology to contain COVID-19, including measures that would break privacy laws in the US — and so far, it’s working
- Downloading COVID-19 contact tracing apps is a moral obligation
- Ring Docs Show Company Is Testing Consumer Enthusiasm For Facial Recognition, License Plate Reader Capabilities
CREATIVITY
- A $750,000 Foot Long: Costs Awarded to CBC in Failed Subway Defamation Suit
- Court Tosses Former Sheriff Arpaio’s Attempt To Relitigate His Libel Lawsuit The Court Tossed Last Year
- Devin Nunes’ Lawyer Facing Sanctions, While Nunes Himself May Have To Pay His Opponents’ Legal Bills
- Court Slaps Down Corporal Punishment Defamation Case Against Broadcasting Corporation
- What’s the ASA’s ‘beef’ with Burger King?
- Media consortium seeking search warrants from Nova Scotia mass shooting: Halifax Judge says she’ll push to hold hearings as soon as possible
- Journalism, press freedom and COVID-19 (UNESCO)
- A Brave New Art World Online
- How Art Movements Tried to Make Sense of the World in the Wake of the 1918 Flu Pandemic
- Thinking Through Covid-19 Responses With Foucault – An Initial Overview
- AMC Theaters Pouts Like A Child Because NBC Universal Proved Movie Release Windows Are Nonsense
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 6 (Pornography/CSAM) (Eric Goldman)
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 7 (Content Moderation, Censorship, Defamation, & More) (Eric Goldman)
Jon
News of the Week; April 29, 2020
GAMES
- Coronavirus-themed game pulled from Steam in China: Coronavirus Attack developed in protest against Chinese government
- Fortnite’s Travis Scott concert attracts more than 12 million concurrent players
- Travis Scott’s In-Game ‘Fortnite’ Concert Nabs 12.3 Million Concurrents, Shattering All-Time Record
- Fortnite’s Travis Scott event reached 27.7m unique players: Updated figures show Epic’s playerbase took part in live concert 45.8 million times across the five events
- Fortnite’s virtual Travis Scott gig attracted a record 12.3 million concurrent players
- Fortnite’s “Party Royale” mode ditches the guns, asks players to “chill”
- Epic relents, puts Fortnite on Google Play: Company says it took 18 months to realize Google puts apps from outside its own Android storefront at a disadvantage
- Epic’s crusade against 30% takes a tumble | Opinion: Fortnite finally comes to the Google Play store, marking a significant setback for Epic Games’ quest to reduce the industry standard revenue share
- Sensor Tower revises European mobile game spending projections: COVID-19 impacts lead to expectations of slightly lower games revenues by 2022 across App Store, Google Play
- In F2P, chasing ‘whales’ is a mistake says Nexon CEO
- Google Play has been spreading advanced Android malware for years
- The Last of Us Part 2 leaked online: Major spoilers begin appearing online after gameplay and cutscenes leaked
- The Last of Us Part 2 gets a new release date: Naughty Dog’s sequel now planned for June 19; Ghost of Tsushima to follow in July
- Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Global Offensive source code leaked: Valve – “We have not found any reason for players to be alarmed or avoid the current builds”
- Indivisible launches on Nintendo Switch without developer’s knowledge
- 160K Nintendo accounts hacked due to Nintendo Network ID security breach
- Nintendo closing ‘limited’ Wii U and 3DS eShops in the Caribbean and Latin America
- Nintendo closing 3DS and Wii U eShops in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Trials of Mana demo taken down after crackers use it to enable piracy
- Lack of representation in games is “partly an issue of values, partly an issue of bravery”: Jesse Schell discusses the development of superhero dating sim Mission: It’s Complicated
- Gaming should take cues from NASCAR’s response to Kyle Larson | Opinion: This week, NASCAR proved it’s possible to drop celebrities who make racist remarks — it’s about time gaming did the same
- DayZ developer Bohemia Interactive shutters Bratislava studio
- How Bohemia’s “almost accidental” mod support became a staple of the studio: Karel Mořický talks about the benefits and challenges of the Arma and DayZ studio’s community development efforts
- Bohemia Interactive shuts down DayZ studio: Bohemia says decision was a mutual one between company and studio leadership
- Games getting us through COVID-19—blocks, roguelites, whatever Death Stranding is
- As Xbox hardware sales fall, stay-at-home orders help drive up content & services revenue
- Xbox’s Phil Spencer discusses “not exploiting” a global pandemic: Microsoft gaming boss assures business tactics have not changed as “big flood” of people come to Xbox for the first time
- Microsoft’s gaming revenues flat in Q3 2020
- Riot “looking into long-term solutions” to fight toxicity in Valorant
- Riot turns on ability to turn off kernel-level anti-cheat tool
- Riot Games offering up to $100,000 for Valorant exploits and security concerns: League of Legends publisher increases rewards in its Bug Bounty program, which has paid out $2 million to date
- Riot Games to set up shop in Singapore with new studio addition
- Riot Games to open new studio in Singapore: Company’s second Asia branch will also be headed up by Nathan Beemer
- Final Fantasy VII Remake ships 3.5m in three days: Square Enix says digital sales for PS4 exclusive launched earlier this month have been “exceptional”
- UK Charts: Physical game sales plunge 43%: Final Fantasy VII Remake tumbles to No.4
- EGDF survey shows fear of closure among European studios: Around 17% anticipate closure within three months due to the impact of COVID-19, says the EGDF’s Jari-Pekka Kaleva
- Epic Games Store now requires two-factor authentication to claim free games
- Transcend Fund is investing $50m in early stage game businesses: First announced investment was in Nifty Games’s upcoming licensed NFL mobile title
- Google abandons Stadia Base branding as it launches free tier: Free trials of Stadia Pro can essentially transition into free use of the service, now just called Stadia
- Game creation platform Crayta coming to Google Stadia this summer
- EA Partners With Google to Bring Games to Stadia Streaming Service
- PUBG comes to Google Stadia
- Stadia Connect brings PUBG to the cloud, details new ‘First on Stadia’ timed exclusives
- Stadia’s latest woe: Its PUBG port is overrun with official, crappy bots
- One million people have tried Google Stadia, mobile app estimates suggest
- Two months free offer pushes Stadia past 1m installs: Start of April saw biggest week of sign-ups to Google’s streaming service since launch
- Apple Arcade and App Store launching in 20 new countries: Brings the number of nations that can download iOS games to 175, with 500 million people using it every week
- Gaming Videos Keep Leveling Up Views Through March Into April
- UK games spending dipped to £5.35bn in 2019 ahead of next-gen consoles: Declines reported in both software and hardware revenues, but spending on games culture products is up almost 30%
- German games market grows to €6.2bn: Spending on in-game purchases helps drive growth despite the approach of next-generation consoles
- Blizzard co-founder Morhaime speculates on waning popularity of MMOs
- How Blizzard, Ubisoft, and other studios went remote in the time of COVID-19
- My.Games’ revenue and engagement spikes amid COVID-19 lockdown: Publisher fast-tracks digital storefront features to help players keep in touch during isolation
- GameStop starts re-opening stores closed by COVID-19: Retailer has begun the process of re-opening locations in Italy, Germany, Austria, and the states of South Carolina and Georgia
- Launching Streets of Rage 4 in the middle of a pandemic: Dotemu CEO Cyrille Imbert says production wasn’t hurt by COVID-19, but the long-term and psychological effects are still unknown
- Helsinki studio Reworks raises €4m: Funding round led by EQT Ventures, developer launches first title Redecor
- Stillfront Group acquires casual game maker Candywriter for $74.4 million
- Stillfront Group acquires Candywriter for at least $74m: Miami-based mobile developer of BitLife picked up amid growing series of acquisitions
- Scopely acquires Scrabble GO dev PierPlay
- 1939 Games secures $1.9m in latest funding round: Developer’s Second World War-themed digital card game Kards now boasts over 100,000 weekly active user
- Wolfenstein: The Board Game raises $480,000 on Kickstarter – Tabletop adaption of iconic board game franchise surpasses crowdfunding goal by over 1,000%
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons returns to No.1 in the UK – Switch boxed game sales surge as stock arrives on virtual shelves
- Animal Crossing New Horizons sold an estimated 5m digital units in March: Superdata – That’s a new record for the most digital units sold in a single month
- Around 160,000 Nintendo accounts comprised in data beach: Nintendo confirms breach following investigation into reports of unaurthourised third-parties accessing user accounts
- 160,000 Nintendo accounts were compromised—including one of ours
- Switch shortage reportedly driven by reseller bots: Free open-source tools are buying Nintendo’s console as soon as it is restocked
- Nintendo aims to boost Switch production: Company reportedly tells part suppliers to prepare for a 10% jump in output this year
- Activist investor ValueAct believes Nintendo can rival Netflix, Disney+: San Francisco company has built up $1.1 billion stake in the platform holder over the last year
- What’s fueling gaming content creator deals?: Peter Letz assesses the platform exclusivity trend and the surge in non-endemic brand interest in gaming personalities
- Bohemia Interactive shuts down DayZ studio
- Death Stranding PC delayed to July: Impact of working from home pushes Kojima Productions’ next release back by more than a month
- WWE 2K21 officially cancelled: WWE say there will be no game this year, publisher 2K Games teases more news on series’ future next week
- 2K names new WWE games boss ahead of series refresh: WWE 2K Battlegrounds to fill the void as simulation series takes a break
- Revenue up 43% at Team17 in 2019
- March US game sales jump 35% says NPD: Animal Crossing a stand-out success in a month of pandemic lockdowns and new releases
- Epic Games’ Live Meetup App Houseparty Has Gained 50 Million Users In 1 Month
- Tencent takes over China’s streaming market with $262m Huya stake: Company now dominates streaming space thanks to similar stake in Douyu, plus its own eGame platform
- Twitch Streamers Creating 89% More Sponcon, Getting 23% More Engagement Than They Did Pre-Pandemic (Report)
- New Facebook Gaming app to focus on streaming: Launch of the app brought forward as gaming surges during the global COVID-19 lockdown
- UK games industry launches ‘Games for Carers’ initiative to thank NHS workers
- Over 85,000 games made available for free to NHS workersz: Dozens of game companies partner with UKIE and Keymailer to support front line staff
- Side Quest aims to get 100,000 young people to build their first game at home: New UK industry initiative offers free software, masterclasses, and community to new, learning developers
- Facebook launches a dedicated gaming app to take on Twitch and YouTube
- Facebook Debuts Dedicated—And Ad-Free—Gaming App Months Before Planned Release
- Facebook Is Cool With Disguised Toast Revisiting Twitch—So Long As He’s Not Streaming Gaming Content
- Focus Home Interactive catalog pushes sales up 13%: World War Z publisher brought in €142.8 million as digital accounted for 82% of all sales, up from 66% the previous year
- Valve’s advice for making your game thrive after launch: Discovery on Steam is vital for indie developers — Valve’s Sophie Mackey offers six ways to improve your game’s visibility
- Valve’s top tips for launching a game on Steam: The GamesIndustry.biz Academy delves into localisation, wishlists, game tags, and other tools to ensure the best possible launch on Steam
- Gearbox is working on a Brothers in Arms TV series
- Morhaime says WoW accessibility push hurt social experience
- Call of Duty: Warzone off to strong start in China’s March streaming rankings
- PUBG Global Series cancelled, digital competition to replace it: PUBG Continental Series to offer total prize pool of $2.4m
- Call of Duty: Mobile esports tournament gets $1m prize pool – Competing teams will be drawn directly from the game’s community through four open qualifiers, starting April 30
- NHL Jumps On The Esports Bandwagon With Players Tournament, NHL Channel Broadcast
- Opera Event raises $5 million to help esports influencers join forces with advertisers
- FaZe Clan Raises $40 Million In Series A From Slew Of Top Rappers, Athletes, Music Execs
- FaZe Clan Forges Merch Deal With NFL In Honor Of League’s First Virtual Draft
- FaZe Clan Establishes ‘FaZe Studios’ To Create, Acquire Premium Projects For Film And TV
- Nintendo closing ‘limited’ Wii U and 3DS eShops in the Caribbean and Latin America
- Jagex sold for $530m: Fukong Interactive also sells RuneScape developer’s parent company to Macarthur Fortune Holding
- Scopely acquires Scrabble Go studio PierPlay: Strong early performance of Scrabble Go led to acquisition of the Los Angeles-based mobile developer
- Magic Leap lays off people “at every level”: AR company says pandemic prompted need to manage costs, shift focus away from consumer products to enterprise market
- Valve Ends SteamVR Support For macOS
- SuperData trims $1.4B off 2020 XR revenue projections as COVID-19 impacts supply
- Superdata downgrades XR projections for 2020 through 2023: COVID-19 manufacturing slowdown brings anticipated 2020 revenue down to $6.3 billion
- Disruptor Beam rebrands as Beamable: Star Trek Timelines studio drops games development to focus on back-end tech for free-to-play games
- Inkle turns to crowdsourcing for upcoming game Pendragon: Award-winning indie studio opens up for short stories submissions
- Finnish studio Reworks nets $4.3 million to grow home design game Redecor
- AuthorDigital nets $5.5 million to open new studio Adept Games
- Hello Neighbor test pilot racks up 11m views in a week: “The ‘indie publishing’ business is dead. It’s a game of brands now,” says developer
- Rovio slashes user acquisition spend to improve profits in Q1: Cost savings lead to 50% profit increase despite declining revenues
- The German game market grew by 6 percent in 2019 thanks to in-game spending
- Can virtual nature be a good substitute for the great outdoors? The science says yes.
- Music theory meets game theory in 400+ episodes of a great game-music podcast
- With Schools Shut Down, Educators Turn To Video Games To Help Educate Students
- What impact is COVID-19 having on video game deals? | Opinion: Wiggin LLP’s Ciaran Hickey and Gerard Lee discuss the prospects for investments and acquisitions during a pandemic
- Demand for Chinese, Italian localizations dipped last year: Translation firm LocalizeDirect says Thai, Polish, Turkish, and Vietnamese translations becoming more popular
- The uncertain, unflinching future of games media: Upon his departure from Kotaku to Bloomberg News, Jason Schreier talks about his experiences as a reporter, and games journalism’s present and upcoming challenges
- Dealing with delays, contracts and confidentiality during lockdown: Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov offers advice on how to adapt to the pandemic without causing legal problems
- Techland’s shelved Hellraid project lives on as DLC in Dying Light
- Ziggurat Interactive acquires catalog of 3DO titles from Prism Entertainment
- How Manticore’s new Core platform aims to bring fresh blood into game dev
- How deeply personal RPG The Wagadu Chronicles explores new realms of Afrofantasy
- Don’t Miss: How Trinket found the right recipe while designing Battle Chef Brigade
- Don’t Miss: Games that cleverly incorporate texting and web browsing
- Don’t Miss: Behind the audio of Total War: Three Kingdoms
- Don’t Miss: How Bloodborne’s design makes players the experience points
- Don’t Miss: An in-depth look at the physics of trains in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
- Blog: Black Mesa project lead Adam Engels on building the ambitious Half-Life mod
- Blog: Tales from Discoverabilityland – A story of three graphs
- Blog: Examining floating point combat systems
- Blog: Recording statistics – An exercise in minimalism
- Humble’s Conquer COVID-19 bundle raises $6.5 million for pandemic relief
- Bethesda donates $1 million to COVID-19 relief efforts
- Bethesda donates $1m to COVID-19 relief charities: Direct Relief, UNICEF, charities local to company’s studios to receive donations
DIGITAL
- How Facebook Works for Trump: Donald Trump won the presidency by using the social network’s advertising machinery in exactly the way the company wanted. He’s poised to do it again.
- Facebook Still Can’t Dismiss Sex Trafficking Victims’ Lawsuit in Texas State Court (Eric Goldman)
- Public Colleges Are Violating The 1st Amendment In Using Facebook Filters
- New York AG’s office questions Amazon over “inadequate” COVID-19 safety
- Senator pushes DOJ to launch criminal antitrust probe of Amazon: The other eleventy zillion probes are all civil matters.
- Amazon’s white-collar workers are starting to stand up for their blue-collar colleagues
- Why Am I Paying $60 for That Bag of Rice on Amazon.com?
- Amazon reportedly used merchant data, despite telling Congress it doesn’t
- Many supposedly grassroots reopen sites are tied to one pro-gun lobbyist
- Craigslist Denied Section 230 Immunity for Classified Ads from 2008–ML v. Craigslist (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Protects Hyperlinks in #MeToo “Whisper Network”–Comyack v. Giannella (Eric Goldman)
- Lime’s User Agreement Sends Another Case to Arbitration–Babcock v. Neutron (Eric Goldman)
- WhatsApp’s new limit cuts virality of ‘highly forwarded’ messages by 70%
- Snapchat’s Latest Ad Product Lets Marketers Purchase The ‘First Commercial’ Viewers See
- TikTok Is Sharing Proprietary Ad Performance Metrics And Targeting Data With Its New Partner, Sprinklr
- TikTok Will Let Parents Pair With Their Kids’ Accounts, Removes Direct Messaging For Those 16 And Under
- This Record Label Is Changing The Titles Of Songs That Go Viral On TikTok
- TikTok spikes persuade more labels to change track titles
- TikTok Ad Agency ‘The Network Effect’ Drives Billions Of Views By Partnering With Passionate Creators
- Charli D’Amelio Continues TikTok Reign As First Creator To Cross 50 Million Followers
- A3 Artists Signs Popular Pomeranian Jiffpom, With 20 Million TikTok Followers
- TikTok Hosting Weeklong Virtual Prom For Quarantined Teens With Patrick Starrr, Diplo, More
- TikTok Tests Ecommerce Waters With Branded ‘Small Gestures’ Program
- TikTok Added 12 Million Unique U.S. Visitors In March, As Watch-Time Surges In Quarantine
- Quibi Says It’ll Let Users Cast To TVs Next Month, Reveals Top 5 Most-Watched Originals To Date
- Wanted: New Tools To Tame the Wild West of the Internet
- Nvidia promises no layoffs, accelerating raises to help staff during pandemic: Technology firm says it will put “tens of millions of dollars in the hands of our families in the coming months.”
- Spotify launches curated podcast playlists in a bid to make the platform a podcast tastemaker: Localized playlists for six countries
- Netflix adds a ‘screen lock’ feature to prevent accidental pauses: Save yourself frustration by locking your screen
- Netflix Gained A Record-Setting 15.77 Million New Subscribers Last Quarter
- Disney and the unequal reality of coronavirus America
- Disney+ is giving us a peek behind the curtain of Mandalorian’s first season
- Disney Says If You Tweet #MayThe4th At It, You’re Agreeing To A Disney Terms Of Use (You’re Not)
- Tech giants set to lose billions in ad revenue in virus shutdown
- Facebook’s Non-advertising Revenue ‘primarily driven by Oculus,’ up 80% to $297M
- Facebook Comes For Zoom With New Videoconferencing Feature ‘Messenger Rooms’
- Google Meet, Google’s Zoom competitor, is now free for everyone
- Covid-19 has caused a major spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Semitic hate speech: Exclusive data shows that the pandemic has led to an extraordinary increase in hate speech, racism and incitements of violence online.
- Game Of (Internet) Life: How Social Media Reacts To Questionable News
- Public Interest Groups Ask Social Media Platforms To Preserve Data Regarding COVID-19 Content Moderation For Future Study
- HHS’ New Spokesman So Good At Communications Strategy That He Thinks He Can Delete Tweets From The Internet
- Casey Neistat Joined Celebs In A Twitch-Streamed Poker Tournament That Raised $1.75 Million For Feeding America
- Insights: Grading Video Streaming Services Six Weeks Into The Pandemic
- First Oxford vaccine woman alive after FAKE death reports
- The Very Real Threat of Trump’s Deepfake: The president’s first use of a manipulated video of his opponent is a test of the boundaries.
- For the Love of God, Not Everything Is a Deepfake: Donald Trump retweeted a gif of Joe Biden with his tongue out. No, it’s not a deepfake—or the end of democracy.
- Jay-Z Claims Copyright On Audio Deepfake Of Him Reciting Hamlet
- Facebook’s name-and-shame coronavirus groups are hellish: Thousands of people have joined ‘name and shame’ groups on Facebook. But these digital vigilantes can wreak havoc on innocent people’s lives
- Messenger Rooms are Facebook’s answer to Zoom and Houseparty for the pandemic
- Snap Stock Surges On User, Revenue Growth; Calls Out ‘Nikita Unfilitered’ For 20 Million Views
- Looking for Likes: Social Media Post Results in Unintended License to Share Photograph
- Bing disables “trending” feature after wildly inappropriate results
- Price Gouging Takedowns – The Online Platforms Have a Say
- Vox Furloughs Roughly 100 Staffers As Pandemic Continues To Hit Digital Media Business
- Show but don’t tell: why silent Zooms are golden for focusing the mind
- Will It Still be “In” When It Gets Here? Online Fashion Retailer Agrees to Largest Ever Settlement for Slow Deliveries
- Rainn Wilson’s SoulPancake Launches Instagram Series To Help Viewers Cope Through Coronavirus Crisis
- Instagram’s New Charity Tool Lets Creators Raise Funds While Livestreaming
- Sheriff Sued After Threatening To Arrest A High School Student Over Her Coronavirus-Related Instagram Posts
- How covid-19 could bring about new social contracts around data: The crisis could lead to a lasting shift in how we think about data. If we get this right we’ll see radically more data sharing where there is a public interest
- Crypto Company ‘Ripple’ Files Suit Against YouTube For Failing To Quell Giveaway Scams
- MrBeast’s ‘Creator Games’ Is YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original Ever, With 662K Concurrent Viewers
- At 15, coronavirus is forcing YouTube to grow up faster
- YouTube Combats COVID-19 Conspiracies With Fact-Checking Panels In Search Results
- YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Chats Site’s Evolving Policies, Viewership Trends Amid Coronavirus Crisis
- YouTube Changes Partner Lineup For Its Three-Year-Old ‘Measurement Program’
- YouTube Spaces Unveil Virtual Resources For Creators In Light Of Social Distancing
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 4/20/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 4/27/2020
- Bon Appétit’s ‘Test Kitchen’ Crew To Host YouTube Variety Show Benefiting Coronavirus Relief
- YouTube Announces Slate Of COVID-19 Specials Starring MrBeast, Lele Pons, Luisito Comunica, More
- 200,000 Live Viewers Tune Into Premiere Of James Charles’ YouTube Competition
- YouTube Generated $4.04 Billion In Q1 Ad Revenue, But Brands Are Buying Less Inventory
- RuPaul’s DragCon Shifts Exclusively To YouTube In Wake Of Coronavirus Cancellation
- HBO Max Sets May 27 Launch, $14.99-Per-Month Price Tag
- Despite Sign-Up And Income Surge For Creators, Patreon Lays Off 13% Of Workforce
- Let there be light: the new must-have for celebrities in lockdown
- As We’re All Living, Working, And Socializing Via The Internet… MIT Tech Review Says It Proves Silicon Valley Innovation Is A Myth
- Walmart To Sell Video Rental And Streaming Service Vudu To NBCUniversal-Owned Fandango
- Warner Bros.’ Digital Studio Stage 13 Asks Fans To Share Love For Local Asian Eateries Amid Pandemic
- Insights: Old-School Stars Forced Online Will Help Change Hollywood Long After Pandemic
- Decade-Old Digital Talent Firm Gleam Futures Launches ‘Entertainment’ Unit For Traditional Celebs
- Cannes Lions Replaces Cancelled Festival With ‘Lions Live,’ A Monthlong Educational Event For Creatives
- ‘It’s like a sexy story just for me’ – how lockdown has triggered a wave of sexting: From celebrities posting photographs to sharing erotic challenges with each other, getting risqué online has become a welcome distraction
- Getting the next phase of remote learning right in higher education
- A Cryptocurrency Technology Finds New Use Tackling Coronavirus: Blockchain could be an efficient way to source medical equipment or validate Covid-19 immunity, experts say
- Balloons to Deliver Emergency Internet Across Kenya
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230) (Eric Goldman)
- Canadian Internet law update – 2019 (Bradley Freedman)
- Domain Name Disputes: ICANN Public Comment Period – Open through May 4, 2020
- Data Waste (Elettra Bietti & Roxana Vatanparast)
A.I.
- Politics of Adversarial Machine Learning: Adversarial machine-learning attacks and defenses have political dimensions
- Politics of Adversarial Machine Learning (Kendra Albert, Jonathon Penney, Bruce Schneier, Ram Shankar Siva Kumar)
- USPTO: AI Cannot Be Named as Inventor on Patent
- Covid-19: the rise of a global collective intelligence?
- Israel is using AI to flag high-risk covid-19 patients
- Doctors are using AI to triage covid-19 patients. The tools may be here to stay: Faced with staff shortages and patient loads, a growing number of hospitals are turning to automated tools to help them manage the pandemic.
- Hospitals are using AI to predict the decline of Covid-19 patients — before knowing it works
- Latin America Hopes Big Data Can Beat the Virus. But There Are Risks.
- AI can’t solve this: The coronavirus could be highlighting just how overhyped the industry is
- The Scramble for Delivery Robots Is On and Startups Can Barely Keep Up: Adoption of robots and drones carrying goods speeds up as a frightened world craves safe delivery of everything from medical supplies to food.
- LAPD’s Failed Predictive Policing Program The Latest COVID-19 Victim
- Companies bet on AI cameras to track social distancing, limit liability
- The pandemic is bringing us closer to our robot takeout future
- Blog: The story of AI-powered interactive drama Facade
- Blog: Using machine learning to create AI opponents
- Video: Better animation through machine learning
- Does the US Tax Code Favor Automation? (Daron Acemoglu, Andrea Manera, Pascual Restrepo)
- Bodies, Brains, and Machines: An Exploration of the Relationship between the Material and Affective States of Librarians and Information Systems (Stacy Allison-Cassin)
COMMUNICATIONS
- Ajit Pai uses bad data to claim ISPs are deploying broadband to everyone
- As Pandemic Exposes US Broadband Failures, FCC Report Declares Everything Is Fine
- TV ‘Cord Cutters’ Will Be The Majority By 2022
- Pandemic Builds Momentum for Broadband Infrastructure Upgrade: Coronavirus crisis shows need for widespread high-speed internet in U.S. homes
- Corona in 5G: A lesson to be learnt from the current crisis is that Europe needs to avoid being dependent in sensitive areas of production
- Media Roles in the Online News Domain: Authorities and Emergent Audience Brokers
- NY AG Opens Inquiry After Charter Spectrum Bungles Its Coronavirus Response
- FCC Issues Guidance on TV License Renewals and Announces New Ownership Question on Radio Renewals
- FCC Clarifies Certain Political Record-Keeping Requirements
- The FCC ratified Wi-Fi 6E this morning
- Space X Starlink Beta Starts In 6 Months, Bringing A Glimmer Of Hope To Crappy US Broadband Market
- AT&T CEO retiring as telco plans for three years of cost cuts and layoffs
- AT&T Preps For Even More Cuts After $42 Billion+ In Trump Tax Cuts And Regulatory Favors
- Comcast waives data cap until at least June 30 in response to pandemic
- Fancy That: Comcast’s Network Holding Up Fine Without Usage Caps
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Federal Court of Appeal Deals Access Copyright Huge Blow As It Overturns York University Copyright Decision (Michael Geist)
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 48: Sam Trosow and Lisa Macklem on Copyright and Fair Dealing During a Pandemic (Michael Geist)
- Access Copyright v. York – The Next Chapter
- Federal Court of Appeal Finds That Tariffs Certified by the Copyright Board Are Not Mandatory, and Fair Dealing Guidelines Are Not a Shield
- Canadian Publishing Group Says France Has The Right Idea, Presses For Its Own Google Tax
- Digital books and ownership rights in the information age
- Too Late Blues for Guitar Maker’s Copyright Ownership Claims
- Photographer Prods Actress Ellen Barkin With Copyright Infringement Suit
- From Tiger King To Censorship King: Copyright Lobbyist Cheers On SLAPP Copyright Suit Featured In Tiger King
- UNESCO Suggests COVID-19 Is A Reason To Create… Eternal Copyright
- Fash-Shunned: Selena Gomez Sues Fashion App for $10 Million for Allegedly Using Her Name and Likeness Without Permission
- Supreme Court Says Georgia’s ‘Official Code’ Is Public Domain — Including Annotations
- Supreme Court rules Georgia can’t put the law behind a paywall
- Supreme Court holds that Georgia cannot copyright the annotations to its laws
- SCOTUS Rules No Copyright in Official Annotated State Code
- Supreme Court says state laws aren’t copyrightable
- Mr Worldwide’s Great American ‘Scream’ – Protection granted for Pitbull’s famous yell
- Don’t POKE a trademark unless you have sufficient evidence to invalidate it
- Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an infringement of a reputable mark!
- Battle of the ‘McGregors’ – UFC Champion loses legal battle in the EUIPO ring
- Hugo Boss versus Hugo Boss: Lessons from Lycett’s Antics
- Cyprus corrects halloumi trade mark mishap
- Supreme Court Decides Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Group, Inc.
- US Supreme Court Rejects Willfulness Requirement for Profit Awards in Trademark Infringement Cases
- Supreme Court Confirms Profits Remedy in Trademark Cases is Not Conditioned on Proof of Willfulness
- High Court Rules That ‘Willful’ Trademark Infringement No Longer Required for Award of Profits
- Supreme Court Holds Disgorgement of Profits Available Absent Willfulness, for 1125(a) Infringement
- U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Plaintiffs Need Not Prove “Willful” Conduct to Recover Profits in Trademark Infringement Suits
- Supreme Court: Willfulness Unnecessary for Disgorgement of Infringer’s Profits Award in Trademark Cases
- U.S. Supreme Court Rules Trademark Infringer’s Profits at Risk in All Cases
- Comic-Con Canceled — But Comic-Con Trademark Survives
- Open COVID Pledge and Free Licensing Opportunities: Issues to Consider Before Accepting
- Conversant v Apple: old tech, new tricks
- Lawyers question need for Patent Act amendments as companies share IP during COVID crisis
- Canadian Federal Court’s Notice of Experimental Testing is Inapplicable to Testing Conducted Prior to Litigation
- Federal Circuit Feels the Beating of a Heart: CardioNet v. InfoBionic
- Federal Circuit Revives Cardiac Monitoring Patent, Not Directed to an Abstract Idea
- Federal Circuit: A Patent That Performs Computation Is Not Abstract, Is Patentable
- Claims Directed to Improved Cardiac Monitoring Technology Are Patent Eligible Under 35 U.S.C. § 101
- US Patent Office: Supreme Court Made Us Reject More Patents, But We’ve Now Fixed That And Are Back To Approving Bad Patents
- Library of Congress Launches Open-Source Hip-Hop Sampling Tool: Producers will have access to the library’s vast audio collection, which dates back more than a hundred years
- Melody makers
PRIVACY
- RCMP to boost social media mining for threats ranging from disease to shootings: The software would allow an RCMP officer to quickly mine data about a person’s internet activities
- Federal Court Says Baltimore PD’s High-Powered Aerial Surveillance Program Doesn’t Violate The Constitution
- China is installing surveillance cameras outside people’s front doors … and sometimes inside their homes
- Reluctant To Block Embarrassing Coronavirus Material Held On GitHub, China Targets The People Who Put It There
- Health vs. Privacy: How Other Countries Use Surveillance To Fight The Pandemic
- Covid-19: the controversial role of big tech in digital surveillance: Big tech can trace the movement of not only viruses, but also people, whether in an emergency or not
- From Aadhaar to Aarogya Setu: How surveillance technology is devaluing India’s democratic rights
- Privacy in a pandemic: Coronavirus is the first trial of the EU’s unofficial religion
- Europe’s Privacy Law Hasn’t Shown Its Teeth, Frustrating Advocates: Nearly two years in, there has been little enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation, once seen as ushering in a new era.
- European Commission Wants Coronavirus Tracing Apps To Build In Strong Protections For Privacy — Unlike The French Government
- Israel’s High Court Blocks Country’s Hastily-Erected Domestic Coronavirus Surveillance Program
- How human-centered tech can beat COVID-19 through contact tracing
- Coronavirus: Australians download COVIDSafe contact tracing app
- Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing
- Apple and Google pledge to shut down coronavirus tracker when pandemic ends
- Google to Require All Advertisers to be Verified
- Infrared Cameras Could Be the New CCTV: Employers rush to thermal imaging to catch sick workers
- Covid-19: the controversial role of big tech in digital surveillance: Big tech can trace the movement of not only viruses, but also people, whether in an emergency or not
- CEO of Surveillance Firm Banjo Once Helped KKK Leader Shoot Up a Synagogue: Documents reveal Damien Patton, CEO of SoftBank-backed Banjo, admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
- The CEO of Banjo, a SoftBank-backed neighborhood-watch app, has a hidden neo-Nazi past and once helped a gunman in a drive-by synagogue shooting
- We’ve made new rules to protect our families. We must protect kids’ privacy too.
- A Cryptocurrency Technology Finds New Use Tackling Coronavirus
- Piracy Sees ‘Unprecedented’ Pandemic Bounce, But So Does All Media Consumption
CREATIVITY
- Entertainment Industry: Competition, Foreign Investment and Regulatory Issues in Canada
- Sean Hannity Hires Charles Harder To Threaten The NY Times And Its Reporters, Because Of Course He Does
- “But It’s a Photo of Me!”-Celebrities Face Legal Action for Unauthorized Use of Images on Social Media
- Chinese state censorship of COVID-19 research represents a looming crisis for academic publishers
- Art for a Time of Uncertainty
- Filmmaking and Covid 19: Ethics, Craft and Safety
- Creation in Confinement: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration
- Chinese state censorship of COVID-19 research represents a looming crisis for academic publishers
Jon
News of the Week; April 22, 2020
GAMES
- Selena Gomez suing fashion game makers for using likeness without permission
- Selena Gomez suing Chinese mobile publisher over using her likeness: Singer says she did not agree to appear in Clothes Forever – Styling Game, decries “unsavoury” microtransactions
- Infinity Ward updates matchmaking in Call of Duty to bring cheaters together
- NBA 2K Avoids Tattoo Copyright Infringement in Three Ways
- Video Game Tattoo Copyright Litigation: LeBron Scores a Slam Dunk While WWE Still Wrestling with Allegations
- Epic Sues Game Tester Over Trade Secret Breach
- Epic Games Dances Around Infringement Claims as Court Finds Transformative Use
- Report: Epic Games exploring funding round at over $15 billion valuation
- Cooking Mama creator threatens lawsuit over “unauthorized” Switch launch
- Gaming Emote Litigation: Battle Royale Ensues Over Fortnite Emotes with Plaintiffs Testing Different Causes of Action
- Google wins victory royale over Epic Games, snags Fortnite for Google Play
- Fortnite finally hits Google Play, but Epic still isn’t a fan of Google’s mobile tactics
- Valve confirms code leak for two online games
- Analyst: US game spend jumps during COVID-19 pandemic as more are encouraged to stay home
- Finland recognises the Demoscene as part of its cultural heritage: Subculture is now part of the National Inventory of Living Heritage, and can be nominated for UNESCO international heritage status
- Activist investor ValueAct believes Nintendo can rival Netflix, Disney+: San Francisco company has built up $1.1 billion stake in the platform holder over the last year
- Nintendo Switch sales doubled year-over-year in March
- Nintendo working with suppliers to boost Switch production in 2020
- Nintendo Account holders told to bolster security due to spike in ‘unauthorised activity’
- The curious case of Animal Crossing in China | Opinion: China plays a bigger role in console sales than people think, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo, and Nintendo’s game is compelling proof
- Nintendo isn’t saying, so here’s how to fend off the account hijacking spree
- Finally, you can build an entire “game” out of Super Mario Maker 2 levels
- Pokemon Rumble Rush shuts down: Service will end July 21, 2020, just over one year after launch
- Xbox Game Studios, Codemasters, and others pull games from GeForce Now
- Sony Plans Limited PlayStation 5 Output in First Year
- PlayStation’s low-key PC experiment | Opinion: Rumours of more PS4 exclusive titles following Horizon: Zero Dawn to PC have been squashed, but is that the end of Sony’s multiplatform strategy?
- Sony, Sega say PC listings for Bloodborne, Persona 5 and more were “not accurate”: Publishers shut down rumours of ports after several titles were listed on Amazon France
- Report: Sony scaling back initial PS5 production numbers
- Sony reportedly limiting PS5 launch window to 6m units: But sources suggests COVID-19 has not affected production of next-generation console
- Recession’s impact on next-gen consoles to be felt “later in 2021,” says analyst: Ampere’s Piers Harding-Rolls says downturn will inevitably undermine sales once early adopter crowd gets theirs
- Monster Hunter Riders tops 5 million downloads in Japan after two months
- Minecraft ray tracing is now live on PC—and it’s a must-play, if you can
- Keywords reports strong 2019 performance amid COVID-19 doubts: Revenue up 30% last year, but the company declines to offer guidance for 2020 due to pandemic disruption
- Superplus Games nets $4.7 million to create casual PvP titles for mobile
- Superplus Games raises $4.7m: Finnish studio currently working on multiple casual, PvP-focused mobile titles
- Report: The games industry braces for a recession (Ampere Analysis)
- European mobile game downloads growing faster than spending: Sensor Tower finds March new installs were up 19% over February while spending grew 12%
- Sega shuttering two mobile games after parting ways with developer Demiurge
- Facebook has launched its dedicated ‘Facebook Gaming’ mobile app
- Paradox reports “best” financial year in its history for 2019
- Newzoo: Shooter games are growing during coronavirus, but esports forecast takes a dip
- Nevada authorizes betting on League of Legends, Overwatch esports
- Paytm First Games teams up with ESPL for mobile esports tournaments in India
- BMW Motorsport is winning a lot in esports, and here’s why
- BMW teams up with 5 global esports teams in a brand alliance
- How COVID-19 Made Esports the ‘Only Game in Town’
- One Consequence Of The COVID-19 Shutdown? This Is Esports’ Moment
- Esports Milestone: Gambling On Esports Will Double To $14 Billion In 2020
- Riot Games lays out prize pools, no blood rule for Valorant esports: New shooter will cap prize pools at $10k for small tournaments, and $50k at medium tournaments
- Riot addresses “kernel-level driver” concerns with expanded bug bounties
- Riot posts $100,000 bug bounty to track down flaws in Valorant’s anti-cheat
- Riot Games acquires Hytale developer Hypixel Studios
- Riot acquires Hypixel: League of Legends maker was already an early investor in the developer of upcoming sandbox game Hytale
- One month after COVID-19 closures, GameStop readies to reopen stores
- Ubisoft Developing Senior Citizen Esports Movie From ‘I Feel Pretty’ Team
- Konami indefinitely delays PES Euro 2020 DLC, cancels boxed edition: Planned esports tournament will still take place, but London finals will now be played online
- In Half-Life’s improv scene, anyone can speak for Gordon Freeman
- Steam gets ‘editorial’ when we weren’t looking
- Final Fantasy VII Remake digital sales and shipments have topped 3.5 million units
- Oculus Connect shifts to digital as Facebook extends in-person event ban into 2021
- Bethesda Has “no update” on ‘Elder: Scrolls Blades VR’ Nearly Two Years After Announcement
- ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Was Among the Best Selling Steam Games Released in March
- Magic Leap lays off staff in bid to ‘adapt to new market realities’
- Magic Leap Announces Layoffs & Pivot Away From Near-term Consumer Ambitions
- An extended interview with Homeworld designer Rob Cunningham
- Disruptor Beam completes pivot to tools provider with Beamable rebrand
- The enduring ripples of the Indie Megabooth: Founder Kelly Wallick shares her hopes for the Megabooth to drive industry-wide change toward diversity and sustainability
- Baba Is a tough act to follow: Arvi Teikari talks about following up the innovative Baba Is You with a “very traditional Metroidvania” and livestreaming development
- The design of Peggle-like dungeon crawler Roundguard
- Don’t Miss: Doing an HD remake the right way: Chrono Trigger edition
- Don’t Miss: A look at choice overload in games, and how to avoid it
- Don’t Miss: Veteran director Khris Brown on the secrets of great voice acting
- Don’t Miss: The secret history of Donkey Kong
- Video: Less stressful game development via DevOps
- Video: The origin story of Void Bastards’ striking art style
- Video: What you should know before making a cross-platform game
- Video: The Kine game dev postmortem
- Blog: Anatomy of a failed Kickstarter
- Blog: The production data and tools I used to develop Hang Line
- Blog: Prioritizing accessibility considerations
- U.S. Patent no. 10,290,142: Water surface rendering in virtual environment
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,328: Modular accessory for video gaming
DIGITAL
- TheDirty Easily Defeats Another Defamation Lawsuit–Laake v. Dirty World (Eric Goldman)
- Another Terrible Copyright Ruling on IAPs’ Liability for Users’ File-Sharing–Warner v. Charter (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Advertising “Background Reports” on People–Lukis v. Whitepages (Eric Goldman)
- Ninth Circuit Reinstates Decade-Old Lawsuit Against Facebook For Tracking Logged-Out Users–In re Facebook Internet Tracking (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Tells Court Laura Loomer’s Defamation Allegations All Target Protected Opinions
- Disgraced Former NASCAR Boss, Brian France, Uses SLAPP Suit To Silence Parody Twitter Account
- Federal Court Dismisses Twitter’s Long-Running Lawsuit Over NSL Reporting
- The Internet’s Titans Make a Power Grab: Facebook and other platforms insisted that they didn’t want to be “arbiters of truth.” The coronavirus changed their mind overnight.
- Facebook takes down event pages for several anti-quarantine protests
- Australia Gives Up Any Pretense: Pushes Straight Up Tax On Facebook & Google To Pay News Orgs
- Coronavirus has made Amazon a public utility – so we should treat it like one
- Amazon closes warehouses in France, tries to make US shoppers buy less
- No more negotiating: new rules could finally force Google and Facebook to pay for news
- Uber accuses Levandowski of fraud, refuses to pay $179M Google judgment
- Russia’s online disinformation has a 100-year history
- ICANN delays .org sale again after scathing letter from California AG
- Netflix streams some educational films on YouTube for free
- Consumers Seeking Uplifting YouTube Content During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recent surveys found that majority consumers are seeking uplifting YouTube content during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Web-based version of Apple Music has officially launched
- Why Apple has stopped making small phones—and why it should start again
- Report: Apple’s Chinese contractors cut hours as iPhone demand falls
- Apple just announced one of its biggest regional expansions for the App Store ever
- The App Store and Apple Arcade rolled out in 20 more countries
- Fraggle Rock is back as Apple TV+ quarantine fodder—so here’s our fan-fiction
- A Lot Of YouTube Creators Just Disclosed Their Declining AdSense Rates Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic. Most Are Down At Least 20%, With A Few Bright Spots.
- New YouTube Updates Will Help Reduce Creator Workload and Emphasize Security
- Who’s Zoomin’ who? How the coronavirus crisis is finally putting the ‘social’ into social media
- The right to Internet as the right to health? Obligations to remove barriers to the access of information during a pandemic
- China’s NBA Free Speech Debacle Turned Out To Be A Prelude To Its COVID-19 Denialism
- Chinese Embassy Gets Briefly Suspended From Twitter; Insists ‘Free Speech Must Be Honored’ On Platform Banned Across China
- The Geopolitical Streisand Effect: The More China And The WHO Try To Silence Taiwan, The More Attention Its Success Fighting COVID-19 Gets
- People Are Making Bots to Snatch Whole Foods Delivery Order Time Slots: Developers are creating a tech divide between those who can use a bot to order their food and those who just have to keep trying during the pandemic.
- Coronavirus Could Lead to the Next Wave of Automation: A survey of executives found more than a third investing in automation in response to the coronavirus. Workers need to get organised.
- NYAG Announces Shut Down of More Than 20 Websites Promoting Coronavirus Scams
- Technology’s had us ‘social distancing’ for years. Can our digital ‘lifeline’ get us through the coronavirus pandemic?
- Straight to (CO)Video: We’re finally getting around to watching these things
- This Is No Time for an Internet Blackout: Citing security to silence dissent is always a bad look, but right now the side effects are especially cruel.
- A Snap Shot on Inadvertent Licensing Through Social Media
- How 3-D printing is helping the US fight medical equipment shortages and the coronavirus pandemic
- Ga. Supreme Court’s First Zoom Arguments to Run Monday Through Thursday: For its first-ever remote oral arguments, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear appeals of several murder convictions plus
- The Jury Is Still Out On Zoom Trials: Courts are moving online due to COVID-19. No one is sure if that’s a good thing.
- Mirror, Mirror on the Screen: The Tyranny of Zoom Calls – Working from home was supposed to turn people into slobs. But many say constant video calling has heightened their awareness of their appearance.
- The New White Lies of Lockdown: Spotty Wi-Fi, an upcoming meal, another Zoom happy hour—people are coming up with new excuses for ending social interactions.
- COVID-19 and Virtual Meeting Best Practices
- [Virtual] Data Overload: Data, Journalism, & COVID-19: Responsibly And Accurately Interpreting And Reporting Complicated Data
- Social-media companies must flatten the curve of misinformation: The pandemic lays bare the failure to quarantine online scams, hoaxes and lies amid political battles.
- Instagram Is Rushing To Roll Out A Memorial Account Feature Because Of COVID-19 Deaths: “We’ve been working on these updates…we’ve accelerated in light of COVID-19 to help support our community…”
- Instagram wants to move all of the Lives you’ve been watching to IGTV
- Spotify now lets Premium users hide songs they don’t want to hear from playlists: Skip that one track
- ‘Feasting on fantasy’ – my month of extreme immersion in Disney+: Disney’s streaming service arrived as the lockdown kicked in. It seemed like a sensible investment. Pretty soon, it was infiltrating my every waking hour.
- The Computer Scientist Who Can’t Stop Telling Stories: For pioneering computer scientist Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression.
- Even Cars and Coffee is going virtual thanks to COVID-19
- The race to save the first draft of coronavirus history from internet oblivion: How researchers, archivists, and citizens are racing to preserve a record of we lived and changed during this strange period of history
- Is this the end of Airbnb?: Hosts are calling it the Airbnb apocalypse. But it’s more akin to an enema
- “A Darwinian Moment”: The Coronavirus Is Blowing Up the Media Landscape: The 2008 financial collapse killed a lot of media dinosaurs. But the COVID-19 asteroid may be even bigger.
- The pandemic was bitcoin’s chance to shine. It hasn’t… yet
- Digital Finance & The COVID-19 Crisis
- Digital Ethics
- Logistics of the Future – Physical Internet and Its Practicality
- The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Facebook: Updating Identity Economics
A.I.
- Chinese Dreamwriter Decision: a Dream Come True for AI-generated Works?
- Fairness and AI: Sandra Wachter on why fairness cannot be automated
- When artificial intelligence is the inventor or creator: who claims the rights?
- Some countries in the Middle East are using artificial intelligence to fight the coronavirus pandemic
- Coronavirus: Will Covid-19 speed up the use of robots to replace human workers?
- AI Diagnostics & Digital Healthcare
- Delivery robots move medical supplies to help with COVID-19 response: The road-legal robots will be limited to 5 miles per hour for safety reasons.
- Navigating Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Protection Laws In Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- AI lets you be Albert Einstein or the Mona Lisa on all your Zoom calls
- Artificial Intelligence: The Growing Role of AI on Patents
- A note on artificial intelligence and intellectual property in Sweden and the EU
- How much access to data should be permitted during the COVID-19 pandemic?: Urs Gasser explores the risks and benefits of mining data to combat COVID-19
COMMUNICATIONS
- Fox News hosts have measurable effect on COVID cases, study finds: Comparison of Fox News hosts reveals effect of disinformation on COVID-19 deaths.
- Misinformation During a Pandemic (Leonardo Bursztyn, Aakaash Rao, Christopher Roth, David Yanagizawa-Drott)
- Charter has 230 infected employees after resisting work-at-home requests
- Why the Murdochs backed Donald Trump’s COVID-19 denialism: Fox News has been accused of ‘deceiving the public’ in its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Has it finally gone too far?
- FCC Denies Application of Hoax Rule to Trump Press Conferences on COVID-19 – Looking at the First Amendment and the Commission’s Regulation of Political Speech
- FCC and Industry Groups Ask for Supreme Court Review of Third Circuit Ownership Decision
- FCC approves 5G network despite military saying it will harm GPS
- FCC blasted for “shameful” ruling against cities and fire department
- ISPs Ignore Toothless FCC Demand To Not Kick Users Offline During COVID-19
- Tracfone Made Up “Fictitious” Users To Defraud Taxpayers, FCC
- FCC Still Doesn’t Know Where Broadband Is As It Eyes $9 Billion In New Subsidies
- Spotty broadband is robbing students of their education during COVID-19
- AT&T gave FCC false broadband-coverage data in parts of 20 states
- AT&T Provided FCC Bunk Broadband Availability Data Across 20 States
- AT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee
- Net neutrality: are ‘zero-rated’ bundles prohibited traffic management measures under regulation 2015/2120?
- Telecom’s Latest Dumb Claim: The Internet Only Works During A Pandemic Because We Killed Net Neutrality
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Access Copyright v York University: York Wins re “Mandatory Tariff” and Loses re Fair Dealing Guidelines (Howard Knopf)
- Two Montreal lawyers file application to trademark the term COVID-19
- A Copy of a Copy of a Copy: Internet Mimesis and the Copyrightability of Memes (Elena Elmerinda Scialabba)
- All’s Fair in Love and War . . . So What About Fair Use in the Time of Coronavirus?
- 3M files lawsuit in Canada against firm accused of price gouging on N95 masks: Ontario company allegedly claimed a phoney affiliation with the U.S. medical-gear maker
- Court Rules Photographer Gave Up Exclusive Copyright Licensing Rights by Posting to Instagram.
- Instagram Terms of Use Allows Mashable to Avoid Copyright Infringement Claim for Embedded Content
- It’s not infringing if it’s an authorized embedding
- Kendall Jenner Sued for Posting Video of Kendall Jenner
- Keeping Up with Copyright: Kendall Jenner Sued for Infringement over Instagram Video
- Cortés-Ramos v. Martin-Morales, aka Ricky Martin: In copyright suit against pop singer Ricky Martin, Court dismisses based on plaintiff’s failure to plead registration with Copyright Office should be without prejudice
- Purohit v. Legend Pictures, LLC: In suit alleging that film infringed on plaintiff’s book featuring mythological figure Krampus, court dismisses plaintiff’s claims, finding no substantial similarity between works
- An Untimely Copyright Lawsuit About a Timeless Guitar
- Making waves: Nike and Footlocker face challenge from the makers of ‘The Endless Summer’ film
- Copyright protection for original clothing designs
- Self-driving startup Zoox settles Tesla lawsuit, lays off 100 workers
- What’s Your Type? Intellectual Property Rights In Fonts And Typefaces
- What’s your type? Intellectual Property Rights in Fonts and Typefaces
- Constructing a firm foundation for copyright protection
- SCOTUS Redefines State “Piracy”
- CJEU’s in Coty v Amazon: storing without knowledge of infringement is not itself infringement
- Trademark infringement: Liability for counterfeit goods
- Balmain case highlights risk of using specialised public with low distinctive character marks
- INTA releases brand valuation report, offers blueprint to put trademark professionals at centre of conversation
- Implementation of the E.U. “Trademark reform package” in France: the French TM Office now competent to invalidate or revoke trademark registrations
- Trade Dress Update: Federal Circuit Holds that Multi-Colored Product Packaging Marks May Be Inherently Distinctive
- The Federal Circuit Reconsiders the Inherent Distinctiveness of Color Marks in In re Forney
- You can’t be blue anymore: Blame colour monopolies
- Bad Spaniels Dog Toys — Expressive Art or Noisy Trademark Infringers?
- Adding another dimension to your trademark portfolio: Securing registration in 3D trademarks
- How Will SCOTUS Resolve the Circuit Split on Recovery of Profits for Trademark Infringement?
- The impact of Brexit on the resale of software licences
- The Simpsons Shows Precisely How One Should Handle Derivative Homage Works
- Dog Toy Maker Wins Big in Appeal Against Jack Daniels
- Jack Daniels Gets Chewed Up In Trademark Case Over ‘Bad Spaniels’ Doggy Chew Toy
- Trademark Owners Can Protect Themselves from Unauthorized Distributors Price Gouging in Their Name
- Trade Secret Litigation: Activity on the Rise
- 3D printing — the value of patents for the future of manufacturing
- Australia Takes Its First Baby Steps On the Road To A Right-To-Repair Law, With A Consultation About Tractors
- IP protection in the autonomous vehicle space
- Open COVID Pledge Rolled Out to Make Patents and Other IP Available for COVID-19 Response
- Patents and Their Role in a COVID-19 Cure
- Key IP Considerations in Corporate Venture Capital Transactions
- The pursuit of balance between antitrust laws and Intellectual Property
- EU’s proposed post-Brexit trade agreement: three key IP takeaways for life sciences
- COVID-19 and its effects on Intellectual Property
- Innovation’s Relationship with IP and Antitrust Laws in Times of Crisis
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright, E-Commerce, Advertising) (Eric Goldman)
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 2 (Trademarks/Keywords) (Eric Goldman)
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 3 (FOSTA/Backpage) (Eric Goldman)
PRIVACY
- Facebook takes Canada’s privacy czar to court over personal data probe: A 2019 Privacy Commissioner investigation report found major shortcomings in Facebook’s procedures
- Revival of Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation Reveals Importance of CCPA Compliance and Highlights Ambiguities
- French Hypocrisy: Fines Google For Being Soft On Privacy; Now Angry That Google Won’t Let It Spy On Users
- IoT Update: FTC Settles with Smart Lock Manufacturer and Provides Guidance for IoT Companies
- A start-up is using photos to ID you. Big tech can stop it from happening again.
- Cybersecurity Firm Finds A Bunch Of Clearview’s Secret Stuff Sitting Around In An Poorly-Secured Cloud Storage Bucket
- Leaked pics from Amazon Ring show potential new surveillance features
- Hackers target oil producers as they struggle with a record glut of crude
- Apple and Google look like problematic heroes in the pandemic: New contact-tracing technology is supposed to go away after the pandemic. Privacy experts aren’t so sure it will.
- Google Apple Contact Tracing (GACT): a wolf in sheep’s clothes.
- 2 billion phones cannot use Google and Apple contact-tracing tech
- As Google becomes key infrastructure for new coronavirus relief, old issues haunt it
- NYC Mayor Asks Residents To Snitch On Social Distancing Violators, Gets Dick Pics And Hitler Memes Instead
- Surveillance, Privacy and COVID-19
- Coronavirus tests Germans’ devotion to privacy: New initiatives to limit the spread of Covid-19 have sparked a debate over how far the government can go to control the pandemic
- The secret behind “unkillable” Android backdoor called xHelper has been revealed
- Children’s privacy is at risk with rapid shifts to online schooling under coronavirus
- EU Publishes Common Toolbox and Data Protection Guidance on Tracing Apps to Fight COVID-19
- Europe’s coronavirus-tracing apps risk an unprecedented increase in mass surveillance, experts warned
- We need privacy and data laws to tackle this world pandemic: Governments are increasingly using digital technologies and big data analytics to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Tracking Covid-19 using big data and big tech: a digital Pandora’s Box
- The Privacy Factor in Ending the Lockdown: The only way to protect health and the economy is through tracking & tracing. To make this palatable in democracies, regulatory & technological hurdles need to be cleared.
- More surveillance and less privacy will be the new normal after the coronavirus pandemic
- Gulf states use coronavirus threat to tighten authoritarian controls and surveillance
- COVID-19 tracking data should be managed the way data trusts are
- Contact-tracing apps enjoy limited success amid privacy fears: Phone apps designed to help limit the spread of coronavirus have had only modest uptakes so far.
- A European Contact-Tracing App Might Be More Privacy-Invading Than Apple and Google’s
- The expansion of mass surveillance to stop coronavirus should worry us all
- Is Contact Tracing a Privacy Threat?
- German government might have lost tens of millions of euros in COVID-19 phishing attack: German state failed to put in place a citizen verification procedure and allowed fraudsters to steal millions of euros.
- Global Examples of COVID-19 Surveillance Technologies
- U.S Treasury Issues North Korea Cyber Threat Advisory
- Team Trump Turns to Peter Thiel’s Palantir to Track Virus
- Trump Admin Gives Coronavirus Tracking Contract to Peter Thiel’s Palantir: Report
- More surveillance and less privacy will be the new normal after the coronavirus pandemic
- Another Federal Court Says Chalking Tires Is A Violation Of The Fourth Amendment
- Opting Out: Biometric Information Privacy and Standing (Michelle Jackson)
CREATIVITY
- Court Tells Pro-Trump 12-Year-Old That Calling Him A Defender Of Racism And Sexual Assault Is Protected Speech
- Iraq Joins China In Suppressing Journalism About COVID-19
- Southeast Asia’s Coronavirus-Driven Censorship: Across Southeast Asia, there’s a worrying rush to sacrifice free speech in the name of nebulous benefits amid a crisis.
- The complicated issue of coronavirus merch: The next big fashion trend or simply problematic? We investigate.
- Daily Fantasy Sports Case Skillfully Comes to a Head
Jon
News of the Week; April 15, 2020
GAMES
- In Legal Warfare Over HUMVEE Trademarks, the First Amendment Goes Beyond the Call of Duty in Dismissing AM General’s Claims
- Judge Daniels: Video Game “Call of Duty” Is Allowed to Feature Humvees
- Call of Duty streamer accidentally fires gun on-air, lands Twitch ban: Glock and awe.
- Chinese Government Bans ‘Animal Crossing’ After Hong Kong Gamers Stage Protests Inside The Game
- Amid in-game Hong Kong protests, Chinese retailers drop Animal Crossing sales
- Chinese e-commerce sites Pinduoduo, Taobao delist Animal Crossing: New Horizons – The game hasn’t been approved in China, and government regulator is now enforcing the ban
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons pulled from online stores in China
- Roundtable: The unique allure of Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Duke Nukem Goes Retro in Music Copyright Suit
- Cooking Mama: Cookstar drama thickens as publisher asserts right to publish
- Cooking Mama license holder threatens legal action against Cookstar publisher
- Cooking Mama IP holder taking legal action against Cookstar publisher Planet Entertainment: Planet Entertainment responds, saying it was “fully within its rights” to publish Cookstar
- ESRB ratings will now note if in-game purchases involve random items
- Australian Parliamentary committee recommends loot box regulation: Also suggests mandatory age verification for purchases toward any simulated gambling elements in games
- Court Dumps Almost All Of A New York Sax Player’s Lawsuit Against Fortnite Over Use Of His ‘Likeness’
- Epic Games Does a Victory Dance Over Dismissal of Right of Publicity, Privacy, and Trademark Claims but False Endorsement Levels Up
- Who Owns an Athlete’s Tattoos? The Player? The Tattoo Artist? A Licensor?
- Washington State’s Nexus Blitz Against Riot Games
- Ring 0 of fire: Does Riot Games’ new anti-cheat measure go too far?
- ESRB intros new label for loot boxes: “In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)” designation created in response to concerns of players, not parents
- Zynga Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Data Breach: Lawsuit seeks to certify a subclass of young users of the company’s social games claiming that the minors aren’t bound by contractual terms forced on users upon sign-up.
- Pokemon Rumble Rush is being shut down one year after launch
- Nintendo’s latest Switch update ushers in system-level button remapping
- Switch firmware update adds controls remapping: Nintendo’s latest feature welcomed as “a great first step for accessibility” by AbleGamers founder
- Nintendo spent over $14m on TV ads in March: No other gaming brand cracked $1 million in TV ad spend last month
- COVID-19: The state of the games industry – From esports and events to development and retail, it’s a mixed bag for the games industry in the middle of a global upheaval
- Esports May Be the Best Play During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- All Sports Are Esports Now: The MLB The Show, Players Tournament Edition
- NASCAR driver fired for idiotic behavior in esports
- Formula E starts a new “battle royale” online series this weekend
- Esports Gets Local With Facebook’s New DIY Tournament Tool
- League of Legends players raised $6m for charities they’ll pick: Players will vote to determine which nonprofits the money raised in their region will support
- What does a year without events mean for indies?: A slew of cancellations due to COVID-19 has dealt a blow to smaller developers that depend on events to improve their chances of success
- The games industry must protect its vulnerable businesses | Opinion: People are buying lots of games, but the health of the games business is still in jeopardy
- Striking Distance in the era of social distance: Glen Schofield says shifting the PUBG-owned studio to remote work has changed his perspective on telecommuting
- Capcom implementing work-from-home policy until early May
- Capcom implements work-from-home policy through early May: Osaka, Tokyo now under state of emergency, but no government mandate to work from home
- WWE 2K21 reportedly cancelled in favour of new game: Former developer claims 2K will publish a different title following 2K20’s woes, 2K22 will skip next-gen
- Virtual racing series has injured Canadian driver Robert Wickens back on the ‘road’
- Xbox Game Pass to launch in Japan on April 14: Subscription service will go live in Japan next week for both PC and console
- Sony invests $400 million in Chinese entertainment platform Bilibili
- Sony takes $400 million stake in Bilibili: PlayStation maker picks up almost 5% of Chinese video and mobile game company
- PlayStation is pulling together a $10 million fund to support indie devs during COVID-19
- PlayStation reveals $10m fund to support indie developers during COVID-19: It’s also giving away Journey and Uncharted The Nathan Drake Collection as part of the Play At Home Initiative
- TurboGrafx-16 Mini review: Mostly best-in-class retro gaming, sometimes WTF
- The biggest ray-traced game yet: Minecraft RTX Beta debuts April 16 on PC
- CD Projekt Red: Cyberpunk 2077 “in a complete form,” further delays unlikely – Aside from minor localization difficulties, studio says development “business as usual” despite COVID-19
- CD Projekt reports yearly gains in sales as it looks toward Cyberpunk 2077 launch
- With well over 2.5 million sold, 2019 was The Witcher 3’s best-ever year on PC
- The Witcher 3’s second-biggest year drives CD Projekt revenues to $124.7m: Downloads drive RPG’s ongoing success, company still confident of September launch for Cyberpunk 2077
- Avalanche restructures, brands self-publishing unit Systemic Reaction: Just Cause creator will now operate as three units under the Avalanche Studios Group name
- Nordisk Film invests $4.5 million into Finnish mobile studio Nitro Games
- Nordisk Film invests $4.5m in Nitro Games: Investor’s funding will establish it as the studio’s largest shareholder
- Nifty Games secures over $12 million to develop sports titles for mobile
- Mobile sports startup Nifty Games raises another $12M, reveals NFL game
- Nifty Games raises $12m in Series A funding: Funding so far totals $15m, will support new, licensed NFL mobile title
- Valorant makes you watch before you play—that’ll change online games forever
- Valorant breaks Twitch single-day viewership records: It also ties League of Legends, Fortnite for concurrent viewership record
- Esports entertainment platform Players Netwrk launches today: Serial entrepreneur Stratton Sclavos lines up big names from the worlds of traditional sports and esports
- Twitch Rolls Out ‘Watch Parties’ Feature, Letting Partner Creators Livestream Amazon Prime Video Content
- Ecommerce Upstart NTWRK Leads FaZe Clan’s Latest Funding Round, Including Merch Pact
- New video game enlists players to help advance scientific research: Free downloadable content gives gamers the chance to contribute to the study of the gut microbiome
- Indie Megabooth winding down operations due to coronavirus
- Valve Explains the Deceptively Simple Design Process That Made ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Excellent
- Resident Evil 3 remake ships 2 million in five days: Digital sales account for half of total as Capcom’s latest zombie shooter trails pace of last year’s Resident Evil 2 remake
- UK Charts: Final Fantasy 7 Remake is No.1 as boxed market grows again – But Square Enix’s new release sells half of Final Fantasy XV’s launch week
- Latest iteration of EGM ceases publication of daily features
- The industry mines for ’90s nostalgia | Opinion: Between Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7, we’re playing like it’s 1999 — but few other PlayStation-era titles justify this high-budget treatment
- Final Fantasy XIV Online delays next patch due to COVID-19: Director Naoki Yoshida says team is testing new remote work tools to help resume normal development times
- A bevy of COVID-19 issues lead to delay in planned Final Fantasy XIV update
- Ubisoft delays next For Honor season after sudden shift to work-from-home
- The evolution of Ape Out: Gabe Cuzzillo explains how a song helped defined the aesthetic for his BAFTA-winning action game
- Journey into the mysterious and unknown with Gothic 2: Why I Love – Gisle Sølvberg explains the appeal of playing an ambitious example of a genre he wasn’t familiar with in a language he barely understood
- Ethical community management in a struggling world: Kitfox Games’ Victoria Tran on the positive role of community management during times of stress and upheaval
- The five deadly sins of game attractiveness
- Blog: The likelihood of making $10,000 in your first month on Steam
- Blog: Animal Crossing in the age of social distancing
- Blog: The making of Warcraft II
- Blog: Inside the development of The Riftbreaker’s AI system
- Blog: Lessons learned from reviewing indie games
- Blog: Composing the interactive music of SPYDER
- Don’t Miss: Designing and structuring great boss battles
- Don’t Miss: How Maxis put the ‘sim’ in SimCity
- Don’t Miss: Firaxis Games’ classic postmortem of XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Don’t Miss: The afterimage of Final Fantasy VII
- Deep Dive: The subtle art of building tension in Yes, Your Grace
- Video: Understanding the rules of Baba Is You
- Video: Understanding how people shop for games on Steam
DIGITAL
- Federal government open to new law to fight pandemic misinformation: It’s one of several measures the government is considering to counter fake news about the virus online
- Puerto Rico Decides The 1st Amendment Doesn’t Apply To Its Citizens; Criminalizes ‘Fake News’
- French Government Says Google Must Pay French News Agencies For Sending Traffic Their Way
- French regulator says Google must pay news sites to send them traffic: Officials rejected Google’s plan to stop using snippets in news search results.
- YouTube Schools PragerU on Lanham Act in Censorship Case
- A First Amendment Win for YouTube!
- YouTube May Be An Enormous Town Square, But It’s Still Not Subject to The First Amendment
- Lessig Withdraws ‘Clickbait Defamation’ Lawsuit Against NY Times After Changed Headline
- Instagram’s TOS Authorizes Third-Party Embedding of Photos–Sinclair v. Mashable (Eric Goldman)
- Another Court Significantly Limits the Scope of Criminal CFAA–Sandvig v. Barr (Eric Goldman)
- Amazon fires at least 3 employees who criticized workplace conditions
- Nine Amazon workers describe the daily risks they face in the pandemic
- The pandemic is playing to almost every one of Amazon’s strengths
- Amazon was already powerful. The coronavirus pandemic cleared the way to dominance.: The global health crisis has forced 250,000 US stores closed, clearing the way to Amazon’s dominance.
- Amazon isn’t accepting new grocery customers while it strains to meet current demand
- Amazon pauses new grocery signups, hires another 75,000 workers
- Unsanitized: Why Amazon May Not Emerge From the Crisis Dominant
- Even Google and Facebook May Face an Ad Slump: Though ad sales at the two companies are expected to be down, they are likely to fare better than smaller peers and publishers.
- Senator Tillis Angry At The Internet Archive For Helping People Read During A Pandemic; Archive Explains Why That’s Wrong
- Florida Governor Responds To Lawsuit Over Coronavirus Infection Documents By Pressuring Newspaper’s Law Firm To Drop The Suit
- Alphabet CEO tells employees the company will slow hiring and other investments
- Judge Rakoff: MLB Broke the Hearts of All True Baseball Fans, But Did Not Break the Law
- Twitter will now give more of your user data to advertisers
- Oncologists Say The Absolute Best Information They’re Getting These Days Comes From Twitter
- How Steak-umm Became The Tweeting Voice Of Reason In A Pandemic
- Kate Klonick and Alina Polyakova on Pandemics, Platform Governance and Geopolitics
- Computer Service Providers Face Implied Limits on CDA Immunity
- Canadian Maker of Smart Locks Settles with FTC Over Deceptive Security Claims
- FTC The Latest To Discover ‘Smart’ Locks Are Dumb, Easily Compromised
- Your COVID-19 Internet problems might be COVID-19 Wi-Fi problems
- The Law of E-Signatures in the United States and Canada
- The Pandemic Sparked A 75% Jump In Views For YouTube’s News Content, Chief Product Officer Says
- As YouTube Traffic Soars, YouTubers Say Pay Is Plummeting: Advertising rates on the platform have dropped significantly during the coronavirus pandemic
- YouTube Testing ‘Chapters’ Feature To Help Users Better Navigate Lengthy Videos
- YouTube launches a free, DIY tool for businesses in need of short video ads
- YouTube Drops Free ‘Video Builder’ Ad Tool To Aid Small Businesses Amid Pandemic
- Coronavirus Survivors Tell Their Stories In Anthony Padilla’s New YouTube Series
- Andrea Bocelli’s Easter Concert Breaks YouTube Record For Biggest Classical Stream To Date
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 4/13/2020
- David Dobrik, Donald Trump, Charli D’Amelio Are Teens’ Top Social Influencers, Study Finds
- What Google and Facebook need to do to fight disinformation
- ‘Infodemic’ puts social media platforms under heightened regulatory scrutiny
- Hunting down the rumours of COVID-19
- Coronavirus Drives 30% Surge in Video on Demand Viewing for March
- 3D Printers Recast Virus-Weary Supply Chains
- Instagram has plans to help artists monetise livestreams
- Instagram announces new features for small businesses including gift cards, food orders and fundraisers
- Hearst pivots to Instagram Live while audiences are cooped up at home
- New Research Suggests Spotify Is Pulling Away From Apple Music: Despite having the largest user base, Spotify is growing faster than its peers.
- Spotify signs licensing deal with Indian company Shemaroo
- In 1 Week, ‘Parasite’ Becomes Hulu’s Most-Streamed Foreign-Language Film Ever
- Say goodbye to Samsung’s S-Voice—the servers shut down June 1, 2020
- IGTV Redesign Puts Creators Center Stage, Adds New ‘Discover’ Tab, Hands-Free Recording
- One Week After Launching In India, Disney+ Hits 50 Million Paying Subscribers
- Disney+ surpasses 50 million subscribers in just 5 months
- Remember: When Creatively Engaging With Socially Distanced Kids, Be Sure to Avoid Creating COPPA or CCPA Compliance Concerns
- Airbnb now offers virtual ‘travel’ experiences to keep you entertained at home: Virtually visit a goat farm or get your fortunes read
- Is virtual travel really a thing?
- Facebook is adding a Quiet Mode that silences push notifications on mobile: A new digital well-being feature for Facebook’s main mobile app
- Facebook Ad Rates Fall as Coronavirus Undermines Spending: Advertisers can reach more users per dollar – or save money for whatever is ahead
- Google wants to dump Qualcomm, launch smartphone SoC as early as next year
- Has Apple finally bitten off way more than it can chew?: Apple used to be about changing the world one magic box at a time. Now it’s fighting to conquer TV drama, healthcare, money, news and much else besides
- IBM scrambles to find or train more COBOL programmers to help states
- We Can’t Let Tech Companies Use This Crisis to Expand Their Power
- Navigating the ‘infodemic’: how people in six countries access and rate news and information about coronavirus
- Netflix Has Tripled Its Digital Ad Spend Since COVID-19 Hit The U.S. (Report)
- Netflix Hits All-Time Stock High, Making It Temporarily More Valuable Than Disney
- In Light Of Quarantine, Instagram Makes Live Streams Viewable On Desktops
- TikTok TikTok Boom! The ticking time bomb threat of copyright infringement claims for the burgeoning social media platform
- TikTok Pledges $250 Million For Coronavirus Relief, $125 Million In Ad Credits For Small Businesses And NGOs
- “Tech, lies and video-conferencing”: The Court’s implementation of remote hearings
- It’s Time for Online Dispute Resolution (a.k.a Virtual Mediation)
- Mark Carrigan Asks If We’re All Digital Scholars Now?
- When school is online, the digital divide grows greater
- Digital hoarders: “Our terabytes are put to use for the betterment of mankind”
- Do you even 10-key, bro? Our homage to the classic keyboard standard
- Community building on crowdwork platforms: Autonomy and control of online workers? (Christine Gerber)
- Navigating the ‘infodemic’: how people in six countries access and rate news and information about coronavirus (Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Richard Fletcher, Nic Newman, J. Scott Brennen, Philip N. Howard)
- Federal Rules of Platform Procedure (Rory Van Loo)
- The coronavirus pandemic turned Folding@Home into an exaFLOP supercomputer
A.I.
- AI Update: FTC Provides Guidance on Use of AI and Algorithms
- Robots Welcome to Take Over, as Pandemic Accelerates Automation: Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
- IP Protection of Artificial Intelligence in Europe: Tailor-Made Solutions Required
- Meet humanity’s new ally in the coronavirus fight: Robots
- Update from LitLand: Vermont Attorney General Sues Clearview AI
- When artificial intelligence is the inventor or creator: who claims the rights?
- Facebook is building a hidden, bot-only platform to learn about trolls and scammers
COMMUNICATIONS
- Fox News Set the Stage for America’s Poor Coronavirus Response: The network has conditioned its viewers to hate experts and to trust miracle cures for 25 years.
- Charter still hates broadband competition, asks FCC to help prevent it
- Citing BGP hijacks and hack attacks, feds want China Telecom out of the US
- Trump Administration Establishes the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector
- President Trump Has Issued an Executive Order Formally Establishing a Committee to Assess Foreign Participation in the US Telecommunications Services Sector
- White House Clarifies and Expands Executive Branch Review of Foreign Participation in FCC Regulated Telecom Services
- A Formalized Team Telecom: White House Establishes Committee to Review Foreign Ownership or Control in U.S. Telecom Sector
- Canada’s Communications Regulators Take Action in the Fallout from COVID-19
- Shaw Communications temporarily lays off 10% of workforce
- TeamTelecom Recommends that the FCC Revoke China Telecom’s Authorizations to Provide International Telecommunications Services to and from the United States
- FCC Waives Gift Rules for Rural Health Care, E-Rate Entities in COVID-19 Response
- FCC Takes Action Against COVID-19-related Scam Robocalls
- It Shouldn’t Have Taken A Pandemic To Make Us Care About Crappy U.S. Broadband
- Dish’s Wireless Network, A Cornerstone of the T-Mobile Merger, Is Already On Shaky Ground
- Celebs share rumors linking 5G to coronavirus, nutjobs burn cell towers
- Dutch telecommunications towers damaged by 5G protestors: Telegraaf
- 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory driven by coordinated effort: Earlier this year, as COVID-19 began to spread, fringe groups began claiming the virus was linked to 5G technology.
- What’s New in 5G – April 2020
- Frontier bungles redaction of network audit that it doesn’t want you to see
- Want To Know Why U.S. Broadband Is A Bad Joke? Take a Close Look at Frontier Communications
- Frontier files for bankruptcy, says its broadband service won’t get any worse
- Major US ISP Frontier Files For Bankruptcy, Monopolistic Apathy Isn’t A Business Model.
- Verizon Quietly Stops Doing Broadband Installs, Repairs During COVID-19
- Why you’re still paying for sports on cable when there’s no live sports
- Corporations Not Happy Innovators Have ‘Hacked’ The Crappy U.S. Binding Arbitration System
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Canadian Federal Court Decides Patent Action by way of Summary Trial
- Canadian patents claiming a formulation for a medicinal ingredient may be eligible for patent term extension
- Federal Court Considers the Availability of Certificates of Supplementary Protection for Vaccines
- As Record Labels Still Are Demanding Mandated Filters; Facebook’s Copyright Filter Takes Down A Guy Playing Bach
- Did the Supreme Court Just Give States License to Pirate Copyrights? Protecting Copyrights Post Allen
- U.S. Supreme Court Confirms that States Have Sovereign Immunity from Copyright Infringement Suits–Allen v. Cooper (Eric Goldman)
- Judge smacks down copyright suit over Instagram embedding: Ruling could provide a stronger legal basis for embedding photos and videos.
- Court Decision Dismissing Photographer’s Lawsuit Shows Breadth of Rights Granted to Social Media and Denies Infringement Claim for Instagram Embedded Photo
- Sinclair v. Ziff Davis, LLC
- NY Court Tosses Lawsuit Over Street Art Depicted in Film
- Ninth Circuit Gleefully Rejects Copyright Claims against California High School
- Dark Horse Comes in Just at the Wire! A Music Copyright Analysis
- Retrograde in Taurus: Ninth Circuit Upholds Judgment That Stairway to Heaven Did Not Infringe Taurus
- VARA Lives On: A $6.75M Lesson on Respecting Moral Rights
- Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library: Public Service or Copyright Infringement?
- Shot on iPhone: Media Group Found to Infringe “Simple Picture,” Court Rejects Fair Use Defense
- Update On The “Mandatory Tariff” Issue, Fair Dealing And Copyright Advocacy In Canada (Howard Knopf)
- Photographer Unsuccessful in Copyright Case Over Use of Embedded Instagram Photo
- Embedding Photos from Instagram – Infringement or Licensed Use?
- Intellectual Property rights in the platform economy: A chance to rise or fall
- The esquivalience of mountweazels protecting copyright
- No Red Light: Fed. Circuit Opens Door for Registration of Multi-Color Product Packaging
- Criminal sanctions for trade secret disclosure and the implementation of CUSMA
- JaM Cellars Sues Franzia For Trademark Over ‘Jammy’, An Incredibly Common And Descriptive Term In Wines
- Authors and publishers — which elements of a book can you protect with trade marks?
- Planetart LLC v Photobox Ltd & Anor – Trade Mark Infringement and Passing Off in the context of mobile apps
- The Cold Hard Fact of Arctic Cat: Actual Notice is Necessary to Protect a Damages Claim from the Cold After Unmarked Patented Goods are Sold
- Manufacturers Refuse To Allow Hospitals To Fix Ventilators That Are The Last Hope For Many COVID-19 Patients
- Opening Up Information In A Pandemic, Rather Than Locking It Down: The Open COVID Pledge Is Important
- Copyright & Coronavirus: What You Need to Know
- No Trade Dress Protection for Functional Shape and Color Scheme
- U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review of ABPA v. Ford: Ford’s Win on Enforcing Replacement Parts Design Patents Stands
- Are There Patent Infringement Implications of 3D Printing PPE to Help Health Care Workers in the War Against COVID-19? Yes.
- A Patent Claim is not Indefinite Merely Because Infringement Can’t be Determined in Advance
- “Method of Preparation” Claims Found Patent-Eligible Under §101
- Similar Compounds at Overlapping pH’s Created Prima Facie Case of Obviousness
- Is it possible to patent Bitcoin?
- Belt Fastener Trade Dress Conveyed as Invalid for Being Functional
- Patent Pooling and its Contribution to Collaborative IP Attempts at Targeting Patent Access
- Bad Faith Required to Prevent Speech Regarding Potential Patent Infringement
- Good Friday 2020 and a History of Easter Eggs According to a Patent
- Recent IP Law Highlights
- Why Is The Copyright Office Celebrating That All Our Cute Pet Photos Are Locked Up Under Copyright?
- Happy Birthday, Statute of Anne
PRIVACY
- NSO Fires Back At Facebook, Says It’s Not Responsible For Malware Deployments By Foreign Governments
- Privacy in a pandemic: Privacy laws matter
- Some shirts hide you from cameras—but will anyone wear them?
- Has coronavirus opened the door to mass electronic surveillance in the UK?
- Apple and Google detail bold and ambitious plan to track COVID-19 at scale
- Apple, Google Join Forces To Create Free Tools For Coronavirus Tracking
- Apple and Google’s Coronavirus Tracking Plan Is a Symptom of Their Power: The tech giants power makes them the only available choices during a dire crisis. This influence is an enlarging feature of post-virus capitalism.
- Stop the Apple and Google contact tracing platform. (Or be ready to ditch your smartphone.)
- Apple and Google are launching a joint COVID-19 tracing tool for iOS and Android
- Will Google’s and Apple’s COVID Tracking Plan Protect Privacy?
- Tested positive for coronavirus? Health workers may share your address with police
- Coronavirus contact-tracing apps: What are the privacy concerns? – Special smartphone apps could help to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they could also have profound implications for privacy in the long term.
- Can mobile contact-tracing apps help lift lockdown?
- The tech ‘solutions’ for coronavirus take the surveillance state to the next level (Evgeny Morozov)
- Public support for Live Facial Recognition and implications for COVID-19 policing
- What are the biggest holes in data privacy that have been exacerbated by coronavirus?: Geolocation services, the mass adoption of niche tools and weak encryption top the list of concerns for experts in Protocol’s Braintrust.
- UK government using confidential patient data in coronavirus response: Documents seen by Guardian show tech firms using information to build ‘Covid-19 datastore’
- Welcome To The Coronavirus Surveillance State: Digital technologies for tracking people and monitoring outbreaks may be the only way out of the crisis – but misuse could aid a slide into authoritarianism.
- Coronavirus: Surge in health surveillance apps in India, concern among privacy advocates
- Kushner’s COVID Task Force Is Looking To Expand The Government’s Surveillance Of Private Healthcare Companies
- Your Boss Is Spying on You
- To Zoom or Not to Zoom—Privacy and Cybersecurity Challenges
- US Senate tells members not to use Zoom
- Will the Pandemic Usher in an Era of Mass Surveillance in Higher Education?
- Coronavirus: As mental health services move online, problems of access and privacy emerge – Even in normal times, mental health services are not easily available to everyone. The coronavirus has deepened the divide.
- For non-intrusive tracking of Covid-19, smartphones have to be smarter: Monitoring the pandemic with personal technology is a thorny issue. We can get results without having our privacy on parade
- Global information governance in pandemic times: In the geopolitics of global health information, international institutional law is more important than ever
- Growth in surveillance may be hard to scale back after pandemic, experts say: Coronavirus crisis has led to billions of people around the world facing enhanced monitoring
- We Should Have a Democratic Debate About Trade-Offs Between Public Safety and Privacy
- Focus on Children’s Privacy Intensifies as Daily Life Moves Online
CREATIVITY
- Study with jazz improv musicians sheds light on creativity and the brain
- Dual-process contributions to creativity in jazz improvisations: An SPM-EEG study
- Knight First Amendment Institute Sues The CDC For Failing To Provide Details Of Its Media Gag Order
- ‘Free Speech’ Supporter Jerry Falwell Jr. Thinks It’s Criminal To Report On His Dumb And Dangerous Response To The Pandemic
- Trump Campaign Actually Sues TV Station Over Anti-Trump Ad
- The mural and the message: How a community advocate and a graffiti artist are spreading facts on the DTES
- Supreme Court Denies Cert in Transit Advertising Case, With Separate Opinion (and Warning) from Gorsuch and Thomas
- In a Bittersweet Victory, Second Circuit Affirms $6.75 Million in Damages to Artists for Destruction of Graffiti Art
- Universities Fill the Void: Working Across Borders to Solve the Pandemic Where International Institutions Have Failed
- ‘We are all Surrealists now’: how life with Leonora Carrington prepared me for coronavirus lockdown
- Counterpoint: MIT scientists translate coronavirus protein structure into music
Jon
News of the Week; April 8, 2020
GAMES
- Activision scores First Amendment victory in Humvee trademark lawsuit
- Activision has a First Amendment right to use Humvees in Call of Duty
- Humvee Can’t Stop Depictions of Its Vehicles in the ‘Call of Duty’ Videogame–AM General v. Activision Blizzard (Eric Goldman)
- Activision Permabans 50,000 Players Amid Rampant ‘Call Of Duty: Warzone’ Cheating
- Xbox architect sues Atari over unpaid work on crowdfunded console
- Atari VCS system architect Rob Wyatt is suing Atari over missed payments
- Tin Giant sues Atari for unpaid work on VCS console: Xbox architect Rob Wyatt accuses Atari of breach of contract and defamation
- Tencent sues tech company for putting its games on rival cloud service without permission: League of Legends, CrossFire, and Dungeon Fighter Online allegedly made available without Tencent’s permission
- Who owns your video game?: An issue between the NFTS and its students has raised questions about IP ownership — Sheridans’ Tim Davies is here to help
- Pac-Man Owners Caught in Retro Game IP Maze
- Bears Versus Yetis the Triple Town Copyright Infringement Case
- Solid Oak Sketches, LLC v. 2K Games, Inc.
- Copyright Defenses When a Copyright Infringement Claim Gets Under Your Skin
- Watch as Charles Leclerc takes debut F1 Esports win in Virtual Grand Prix
- Bubba Wallace loses sponsorship after rage-quitting during NASCAR iRacing event
- Bubba Wallace rage-quit a NASCAR esports race, then lost his sponsor
- Maybe It’s The Quarantine Talking, But NASCAR’s Esports Takeover Is Hilarious Fun
- Racing turns hard into esports while the real world is on hold
- How are traditional sports and esports converging as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Esports Gain Prominence As Major Leagues Go Dark
- A pandemic proved that esports is more vital than ever for entertainment | Opinion: As the last sport left standing, esports is in a position to rally fans, new users, and curious onlookers
- Gaming hours, spend, digital purchases up as COVID-19 keeps players inside – Nielsen: 29% of gamers in the US say they’re playing online with friends more often
- Mobile games spending expected to see minimal impact from COVID-19 – Sensor Tower: Spending expected to reach $72b in 2020, near $100b by 2024
- The party goes on in massive online worlds
- Strange Times: During The COVID-19 Outbreak, Evictions Get A Pause…In Final Fantasy 14
- N3TWORK aims to help devs tackle UA and growth with $50 million fund
- N3twork announces $50m fund to scale published mobile games: Growth fund to support 100 games over the next year, alongside $1m pilot fund
- Over 1m boxed games sold in the UK in three weeks: But Resident Evil 3 disappoints in latest charts
- Bonuses: Gaming’s second favorite surprise mechanic | Opinion – Developers can push themselves to extremes in the hopes of a big payday, but there’s no guarantee success will be rewarded
- UK Government enlists game developers to push ‘Stay Home, Save Lives’ messaging
- UK developers work with government to fight COVID-19: King, Rebellion, and Codemasters to include “Stay At Home, Stay Safe” messaging in their games
- Getting the hate out of games: ADL’s Daniel Kelley says the industry can learn from social media to make communities welcoming to more players
- SMG Studio: Platform holders need to drive accessibility
- Report: Game X Change keeps stores open, gives staff bogus advice for facing COVID-19
- Game X Change remains open despite COVID-19, sends workers debunked health advice: Employees report store has also failed to provide stores with cleaning and safety supplies
- Phil Spencer talks how Xbox teams are weathering remote work in the lead-up to Series X
- Microsoft: Staggered launch would “hurt” Xbox Series X – Phil Spencer wants to keep global rollout for new console in the face of COVID-19 pressures
- Phil Spencer: Launch price will be ‘critical’ to the success of Xbox Series X
- Xbox cautiously rolling out Project xCloud preview in Western Europe: Registrations now open, streaming service will arrive when internet infrastructure is not overwhelmed due to coronavirus
- Over 1,100 Steam games earned at least $10k within two weeks of launch in 2019: That’s up 18% from last year, while new game release totals were up 11%
- Ars analysis: ~80% of Steam games earn under $5K in first two weeks
- Valve’s breakdown of Steam launch earnings says ‘success’ is on the rise4
- Embracer Group raises $164 million to acquire more studios and publishers
- Embracer Group raises $164m for acquisition and expansion: THQ Nordic parent company also issues COVID-19 business impact assessment
- Demiurge co-founder buys the studio back from Sega: Original CEO Albert Reed wants the Marvel Puzzle Quest developer to return to supporting work on AAA titles
- Stadia launches free tier including two-month trial of Stadia Pro
- Stadia’s wider launch begins with a two-month free Stadia Pro trial
- Google offers Stadia Pro for free for two months: But it’s still not the official launch of Stadia Base
- Stadia will lower default settings to reduce internet strain during COVID-19
- Amazon Makes Grab For Gaming With Development Of Stadia Competitor, PC Titles ‘Crucible’ And ‘New World’
- Report: COVID-19 could delay Amazon’s cloud-based gaming platform into 2021
- Coronavirus reportedly delays Amazon’s game streaming service Project Tempo into 2021: But internet giant will release first original IP Crucible next month, interactive casual games for Twitch in the summer
- Twitch breaks 3b total hours watched in a single quarter for the first time: Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming all see lifts in hours watched, though Mixer continues downward trend
- Twitch Expands Nudity Guidelines To Allow Cleavage, Swimwear, Breastfeeding
- Valorant’s closed beta debut lands Riot Games a new Twitch viewership record
- Quarantine questions for the streaming future | Opinion: The games industry has pinned its future to fast broadband infrastructure — but as the world self-isolates, the risks of those choices become clear
- The Last of Us Part II and Iron Man VR delayed as COVID-19 complicates release plans
- The Last of Us Part 2, Iron Man VR delayed “indefinitely”: PlayStation issues automatic refunds for digital pre-orders of both games
- ‘Iron Man VR’ for PSVR Delayed Indefinitely Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
- The Last of Us Part II is “nearly done.” So why is it being delayed?
- The next PlayStation controller is called DualSense, looks like a cool robot
- The PS5 DualSense gamepad doubles down on dream of next-gen immersion
- Don’t Miss: Mark Cerny’s 2013 ‘no holds barred’ PlayStation 4 hardware deep dive
- People Are Playing the Piano in ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ and It’s Magnificent
- How height, audio cues, and trust sculpted VR locomotion in Half-Life: Alyx
- The best practices and design principles of VR development
- “People are returning, and buying new stuff — that never happened before in VR”: Last year brought the next generation of VR hardware, says Ndreams’ and 2020 will see the same revolution in VR software
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: Responding to Patent Litigation Threats from AR/VR Non-Practicing Entities
- GameStop ordered to close Boston store after violating lockdown: Retailer issued a nuisance order, staff had been serving shoppers through the door with hands wrapped in plastic bags
- Nintendo says “more systems on the way” as Switch sells out worldwide: Major retailer says that some customers are picking up PS4 or Xbox One instead
- Searching for the ultimate Super Mario Bros. player among the masses
- Report: Animal Crossing has sold over 2.6 million retail copies in Japan alone
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons sales top 2.6m in Japan: Nintendo’s latest drives Switch sales, towers over the competition in latest Japanese sales charts
- Parenting in a pandemic: Chaos, control, and an Animal Crossing meltdown
- Cooking Mama dev shuts down rumours of Switch version mining cryptocurrency: Studio says blockchain was never a feature, is “frustrated” by distribution problems
- Sony forms $100 million global relief fund to help those affected by COVID-19
- Sony sets up $100m COVID-19 Relief Fund: Company will fund support for frontline medical workers, educators, and the entertainment industry
- Electronic Arts pledges at least $2m in match-funded support for COVID-19 relief: Staff around the world lead grassroots efforts to support local frontline workers and relief organisations
- British government starts pushing social distancing via in-game ads
- Irish studio Vela Games raises $3.1 million to create ‘player first’ co-op titles
- You can help medical science just by playing a new Borderlands mini-game
- Gearbox to help scientists map the human gut with Borderlands Science: New puzzle game within Borderlands 3 will enlist players to make up for computer shortfalls
- After the lockdown: China studios on returning to work – Chinese developers share lessons learned from remote working and their efforts to prevent a second wave of COVID-19
- Facebook Gaming launches Tournaments: Starting today, Facebook Gaming users can create brackets for their friends
- SteelSeries acquires Nahimic: Accessories firm will use new subsidiary’s expertise to improve its proprietary audio engine
- Resident Evil 3: Critical Consensus – Capcom’s third remake finds the classic series at a turning point — and there are dissenting voices amid the critical praise
- Final Fantasy VII Remake spoiler-free review: Our kind of Cloud gaming
- Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Critical Consensus – Critics praise this impressive but bloated reimagining of the iconic RPG
- After over 300 weeks of releases, Ubisoft is ending work on new Rocksmith DLC
- Retro console Amico receives 10,000 pre-sales in one week: Upcoming console from Intellivision Entertainment also sells over 100,000 to major retailers ahead of October launch
- Designing around panic in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
- War Stories: How Homeworld brought the third dimension to real-time strategy
- Blog: Historians discuss Through the Darkest of Times
- Blog: The difference between random and randomized progression
- Blog: Getting the most out of player reviews
- Blog: What does games culturalization involve?
- Blog: Designing the art of Damaged In Transit
- Blog: Best virtual development practices for a COVID-19 world
- Blog: The impact of product managers on game design
- Blog: A postmortem of my rope-swinging action title Hang Line
- Don’t Miss: How Rogue Legacy handles tutorials without being boring
- Video: Learning from 2 case studies of LGBTQ+ representation in games
- Video: Overcoming creative block on Super Crush KO
- Video: Lessons learned about matchmaking for engagement in Halo 5
- Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium win big at BAFTA Games Awards
- Outer Wilds wins best game, original IP, and design at 2020 BAFTA Game Awards: Disco Elysium also takes home three honors for best narrative, music, and debut
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,327: Multiplayer video game matchmaking system and methods
DIGITAL
- Dear Jeff Bezos, instead of firing me, protect your workers from coronavirus: I spoke up for safety at an Amazon warehouse. Unfortunately I believe it cost me my job
- Leaked Amazon Memo Details Plan to Smear Fired Warehouse Organizer: ‘He’s Not Smart or Articulate’ – Written notes from the meeting, attended by CEO Jeff Bezos, detail Amazon’s strategy to fight union organizing,
- Leaked Amazon memo: Walkout leader “not smart or articulate”
- Amazon Confronts Coronavirus and Unions: One a Real Threat, the Other Overblown: As the world’s largest online retailer was coping with a global crisis, why did it create a new one for itself?
- Is Amazon approaching its breaking point in the Covid-19 crisis?
- In a surprising change, Amazon now sells movies in its Prime Video iOS app
- TikTok Users In China Temporarily Banned For Speaking Their Own Cantonese Language Instead Of Using The Official Mandarin
- The limits of decentralization (Andres Guadamuz)
- Lessig v. NYT: Very. Good. News. (Lawrence Lessig)
- Social Links: Biden’s stance on CDA §230; liability for user-generated content; Twitter’s process for reviewing Trump’s tweets
- Twitter notifies users that it’s now sharing more data with advertisers: Users in Europe are the exception
- Twitter Updates its Policies to Allow Some Coronavirus-Related Advertising
- Rangers, NHL condemn racial slurs in hijacked player video chat
- The Coronavirus Reveals That the Stars Are Not Like Us: If there was ever a fourth wall dividing celebrities and the rest of us on social media, the quarantine has broken it.
- A Must For Millions, Zoom Has A Dark Side – And An FBI Warning
- Zoombombing is a crime, not a prank, prosecutors warn: Disrupting a Zoom meeting could lead to “law enforcement knocking at your door.”
- Using Zoom while working from home? Here are the privacy risks to watch out for: Don’t let tattle-tale software features disrupt your remote workflow.
- ‘Zoombombing’ Becomes a Dangerous Organized Effort: Zoom, the videoconferencing app, has become a target for harassment and abuse coordinated in private off-platform chats.
- Zoom brings in former Facebook security head amid lawsuits, investigations
- Zoom adds new security and privacy measures to prevent Zoombombing: Passwords and waiting rooms will be turned on by default
- Teleconferencing Company Zoom Pitching End-To-End Encryption That Really Isn’t End-To-End
- Senator Blumenthal Is Super Mad That Zoom Isn’t Actually Offering The End To End Encryption His Law Will Outlaw
- Senator backing anti-crypto bill calls out Zoom’s lack of end-to-end crypto
- A Big Zooming Mess: A Cautionary Tale
- Judge Isn’t Impressed By Lawyer’s Purported Unfamiliarity With LinkedIn–Reyes v. Tanaka
- Netflix will allow parents to remove movies and shows, filter by rating in new update: Making profile accounts for kids even more specific
- Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ Is Most Popular TV Show In U.S., Spurring YouTube Views For Joe Exotic
- “When They See Us” Sees Dismissal of Defamation Claim
- Google revises COVID-19 ad ban after backlash: Democrats slammed Google for preventing them from criticizing Trump’s response to the crisis. Google said it will announce new policies in the coming days.
- YouTube says it will suppress content promoting false 5G coronavirus conspiracy: 5G masts have been set on fire in the UK
- Jon Cusack The Latest Celebrity To Spread Nonsense About 5G
- 5G Isn’t Interesting Enough To Warrant These Stupid Conspiracy Theories
- YouTube moves to limit spread of false coronavirus 5G theory: Decision comes as four more phone masts are attacked
- YouTube profits from videos promoting unproven Covid-19 treatments: New report finds company is running ads on videos pushing herbs and potentially unsafe over-the-counter treatments for virus
- YouTube Makes Select Premium Series Free To Watch Amid Ongoing Quarantining
- YouTube Kids App Sees More Usage Than All Major Video Platforms’—Including YouTube
- Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber Takes The YouTube Stage, Will Stream Free Musicals Every Friday
- Robin Williams Estate Launches YouTube Channel To Commemorate The Comedic Legend
- All Creators In The YouTube Partner Program Can Now Monetize Content About COVID-19
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 4/6/2020
- FTC Enforces against Advertiser and Influencers for Breaching Influence Marketing Practices
- Influencers and Targets on Social Media: Investigating the Impact of Network Homogeneity and Group Identification on Online Influence
- With Billions of Interactions Around COVID-19, Influencers Are Harnessing Their Platforms For Good
- How Children’s Social Video Content is Growing During Quarantines
- Navy Deploys USS Barbra Streisand After Firing A Captain For Expressing His Coronavirus Concerns
- Quibi, day one: This phone-focused TV service really isn’t that bad
- Mobile video service Quibi launches to mixed reviews
- Quibi Sees 300,000 Day 1 Downloads—Just 7.5% Of Disney+’s Debut Audience
- Hip-Hop and R&B Hitmakers Are Setting Viewership Records Via Instagram Live Battles
- How conspiracy theories about COVID-19 went viral: Why do epidemics breed conspiracy theories? And what do scientists say?
- Coronavirus, the ‘Soros Bio-weapon’: How Far Right anti- Semitic Conspiracy Theories Are Infecting Mainstream Politics – As the virus spreads white supremacists and the far-right are repackaging old anti-Semitic tropes
- Why pandemics are the perfect environment for conspiracy theories to flourish
- Why Wikipedia is winning against the coronavirus ‘infodemic’: Against all odds, Wikipedia’s eccentric volunteer editors are holding back the tide of coronavirus misinformation
- What Role Should Newsrooms Play in Debunking COVID-19 Misinformation?: When conspiracies pass a tipping point, newsrooms collectively pushing out strong debunks can slow the spread of myths and misinformation
- Why Wikipedia Is Immune to Coronavirus: As the pandemic has been accompanied by an ‘infodemic’ of bad information, Wikipedia has stepped in to provide relief. It has become the go-to source for COVID-19 information.
- Media deal with Facebook and Google more urgent with coronavirus taking jobs, says regulator: Australian Competition Commission pushing for code of conduct to ensure news businesses are treated fairly
- Content Moderation Is Impossible: Facebook’s Attempts To Block Mask Gouging Took Down DIY Face Mask Instructions
- Facebook to Hire 10,000 Workers This Year, Sets Plans for Doling Out $100M in Aid to Small Businesses
- Citing Virus Misinformation, South Africa Tests Speech Limits: Suppressing false Covid-19 information may have benefits, but as South Africa shows, combatting fake news isn’t simple.
- New Penalties for Posting Fake News on Social Networks
- Coronavirus: Uber and Lyft trying to evade driver unemployment costs, critics say: Ride-hailing companies pushed for direct aid to drivers
- Coronavirus slowed Uber and Lyft – but not their big-money efforts to undo AB 5: The gig economy companies added $267,000 to a California campaign that seeks to rewrite the rules for contract workers.
- Learning From Home Is Hard Enough. Try Doing It Where Wifi Is Illegal.: In the “valley of the telescopes,” remote education is a disaster.
- Can Airbnb Survive Coronavirus?: The short-term rental market is reeling from the coronavirus-driven tourism collapse. Can the industry’s dominant player stage a comeback after lockdowns lift?
- How the Covid-19 crisis locked Airbnb out of its own homes: The short-let platform’s business model has been exposed. Bookings have fallen off a cliff but Airbnb simply can’t change tack
- Airbnb may become obsolete depending on recovery of tourism after Covid-19 crisis: Bookings on Airbnb slumped from 96% to 41% this year due travel restrictions imposed by many countries in view of the pandemic.
- Airbnb has been rocked by COVID-19. Do we really want to see it recover?: It’s time to consider alternatives to the profit-driven models of platform capitalists.
- Airbnb is reeling from the coronavirus fallout
- Delivery apps have transformed urban life in China: They have also created a new kind of worker
- China Tech Looks Unready for What’s Coming Next: They survived the coronavirus lockdown, but even the biggest companies aren’t safe from the global recession.
- Lockdown was supposed to be an introvert’s paradise. It’s not.: Calendars cleared by coronavirus are filling up with virtual happy hours & some are starting to feel exhausted.
- Working, Working Together, And Networking During the Web-Hype of the ‘Corona Crisis’
- Snapchat Taps Will Smith For Quarantined Celebrity Talk Show, Set In His Garage
- Trial by video conference? Not yet, but coronavirus forces Bay Area courts to embrace more virtual proceedings
- Apple will battle COVID-19 by designing and making millions of medical face shields
- Apple doubles donation to China’s COVID-19 relief efforts: iPhone maker has now contributed $7 million to fighting the pandemic
- Spotify now works with Siri on the Apple Watch: Apple started allowing third-party Siri music support last year
- Spotify Expands Self-Serve Ad Studio to 18 Markets Around the World: Company has seen a 68% increase in monthly active advertisers in a year
- SoundCloud now lets artists add a direct donation button to their page: To help musicians affected by the pandemic
- Courts are moving to video during coronavirus, but research shows it’s hard to get a fair trial remotely
- ‘Beginning of a new era’: how culture went virtual in the face of crisis
- Livestreams Are Moving to Hard Tickets to Replace Lost Touring Revenue
- The coronavirus crisis could fundamentally alter the internet: The covid-19 pandemic has many of us stuck at home. The result could completely reshape how we use the internet
- Already Popular, the E-Signature Is Forever Part of Commercial Life
- The problem of innovation in technoscientific capitalism: data rentiership and the policy implications of turning personal digital data into a private asset
- Unblurring videoconferencing legal risks
- Vertical Restraints in a Digital World (David Evans)
- Intel’s 10th-generation H-series laptop CPUs break 5GHz
A.I.
- Robots help China manage the coronavirus pandemic
- The Far-Right Helped Create The World’s Most Powerful Facial Recognition Technology: Clearview AI, which has alarmed privacy experts, hired several far-right employees, a HuffPost investigation found.
- AI Startups Cut Staff as Coronavirus Slams Economy: Job and spending forecasts had been relatively optimistic for the sector
- ‘Show me your ID’: Tunisia deploys ‘robocop’ to enforce coronavirus lockdown – A police robot is patrolling the streets of the capital calling out suspected violators of the lockdown
- Robot Vehicles Make Contactless Deliveries Amid Coronavirus Quarantine
- Robots May Become Heroes In War On Coronavirus
- Even the Pandemic Doesn’t Stop Europe’s Push to Regulate AI
- How to Design AI for Social Good: Seven Essential Factors
- Capitalism’s mirror stage: artificial intelligence and the quantified worker
- Machine Learning Patentability in 2019: 5 Cases Analyzed and Lessons Learned Part 5
- When Computers Invent: How the Use of Artificial Intelligence to Treat COVID-19 Highlights Novel Inventorship Issues
COMMUNICATIONS
- SLAPP Suit Filed Against Fox News Over Awful & Dangerous COVID-19 Coverage
- TV stations don’t have to correct Trump’s COVID-19 statements, FCC says
- Ex-FCC Staffer Says FCC Authority Given Up In Net Neutrality Repeal Sure Would Prove Handy In A Crisis
- How the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory tore through the internet: From an interview with a Belgian doctor to arson attacks, the conspiracy theory that 5G is linked to the coronavirus pandemic has spread unlike any other
- Why 5G is not causing the coronavirus pandemic, despite the conspiracy theory about towers, Wuhan and radiation: All scientific evidence points to 5G in its current form being non-harmful to humans
- Radio station sanctioned for misleading coronavirus interview
- White House Establishes Committee on Foreign Participation in U.S. Telecommunications
- Pandemic hasn’t crushed broadband networks—even rural areas are doing OK
- Fearing the Invisible: The long history behind the 5G COVID-19 conspiracy theory.
- CMF to Invest C$353M in Canadian TV, Digital Media Production
- T-Mobile, Sprint took a risk by finishing merger without Calif. approval
- The T-Mobile Merger Closes, Highlighting Vast U.S. Media, Legal, And Policy Failures
- FCC: TracFone made up “fictitious” customers to defraud low-income program
- Verizon refuses to give DSL users its low-income deals during pandemic
- Verizon canceling FiOS installs and telling customers to wait a few months
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Canada legislates the use of inventions during the pandemic
- Amendments to the Patent Act in response to COVID-19
- “Lightly Sketched” Characters Not Copyrightable
- The Batmobile is Copyrightable… Your Cute and Fuzzy Characters May Not Be
- Copyright Protection for the Selection and Arrangement of Uncopyrightable Elements: Gray v. Perry
- Court schools overzealous copyright licensor, holding that high school choir arrangement was fair use and awarding choir defendants their attorney’s fees
- That Coronavirus Image Is Public Domain, But That Won’t Stop Getty From Trying To Sell You A $500 License To Use It
- Lightbulb Moment: It’s Possible to Grant an Implied Copyright Sublicense
- Johannsongs-Publishing, Ltd. v. Rolf Lovland: Court grants summary judgment for “You Raise Me Up” finding it not similar to Icelandic song “Soknudur” excluding musicologist’s reports as unreliable and unhelpful.
- Waite v. Universal Music Group: In class action involving termination of grants of copyrighted under U.S. Copyright Act, court finds recordings were not works made for hire that would be ineligible for termination.
- Copyright Termination. Special Report: Two SDNY Decisions on the Same Day!
- World’s Worst Copyright Trolling Lawyer, Richard Liebowitz, Files Lawsuit Against Ellen Barkin For Posting Photo Of Herself
- SCOTUS Sinks the CRCA, Confirms States are Immune from Copyright Suits
- US Supreme Court Holds Unanimously That States Cannot Be Sued for Damages in Copyright Infringement Suits
- States Can Be Pirates: Managing Business Copyright Protections
- Response Clothing Limited v The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Limited: The Edinburgh Woollen Mill finds itself in a stitch following infringement of copyright in wave design fabric
- Ninth Circuit Rallies in Defense of a Parody Dog Toy–Bad Spaniels v. Jack Daniel’s
- Southern District of New York Revisits Tiffany v. eBay in Chanel’s Lawsuit Against The RealReal
- Court Approves Settlement Between BMI and Radio Music Licensing Committee, Though Terms Are Not Yet Public – Many Other Music Licensing Issues Still Facing the Radio Industry
- Anti-Piracy Copyright Lawyer Decides To Abuse Trademarks To Shut Down Pirates
- Protecting against digital trademark infringement
- Federal Circuit Says Logos Must Be Taken Seriously in Evaluating Infringement of Design Patents
- Bad Faith Finding Still Required to Ban Patent Infringement Accusations
- University libraries offer online “lending” of scanned in-copyright books
- Patents in Crisis: Is there a Solution in Sight?
- Predictive Text Patent Troll Tries To Shake Down Wikipedia
- Bad Idea Is Bad: Senator Sasse Wants To Give Whoever Patents COVID-19 Treatments 10 Extra Years Of Patent Protection
- How intellectual property rights can protect automotive designs
- Dr. Drew apologizes for being a COVID-19 denier after copyright silliness: Dr. Drew coronavirus supercut restored to YouTube after copyright takedown.
- Dr. Drew Pinsky Played Down COVID-19, Then Tries To DMCA Away The Evidence
- Should Your Company Grant a Free License to Your Company’s Intellectual Property in Response to the COVID-19 Emergency?
- COVID-19 and the future of open access
- 3D printing and IP in a pandemic
- Corona Beer vs coronavirus: effects on the company’s brand and its response
- Those Ex-Theranos Patents Look Really Bad; Contest Opened To Find Prior Art To Get Them Invalidated
- No Need to Wonder Anymore: Ninth Circuit Holds Stairway to Heaven Does Not Infringe Taurus
- The Final Revenge of Queen Anne’s Revenge: State’s Use of Photographs Is Not Piracy
- Role of IP in the Growth of Disney
- Sky v SkyKick: was the CJEU swayed by Sky’s well-known brand?
- Religious Institutions v. COVID-19: Why Religious Institutions Should Think Twice Before Live Streaming
- Supreme Court rules on balancing of copyright and fundamental rights (Sweeden)
- CJEU: hiring out cars with radio receivers not communication to the public
- “Don’t change the station! I like this song” – the CJEU clarifies ‘communication to the public’ (again)
- EU Says That, No, Rental Car Companies Don’t Need To Pay A License To Rent Cars With Radios That Might Play Music
- CJEU finds Amazon not liable for direct infringement by unwittingly stocking infringing goods being sold through its website
- European Court of Justice Holds Amazon Not Liable for Storing Third-Party Sellers’ Infringing Products, Another Reason Why Brands Must Take Greater Control In The European Market
- Amazon: no infringing use but online platforms still in hot water?
- Companies are Not only Sharing IP, They are Enabling Others to Copy Their Product
- Protecting Intellectual Property and Data if Employee Separation is Anticipated
- The issue of confidentiality in Intellectual Property litigation
PRIVACY
- Saudi Arabia Exploiting Wireless SS7 Flaw to Track Targets In The United States
- Website cookies in Canada: is consent required?
- Bugs that let sites hijack Mac and iPhone cameras fetch $75k bounty
- Attackers can bypass fingerprint authentication with an ~80% success rate
- Pixel 4 face unlock finally gains an alertness check
- Another Coronavirus Side Effect: In-Home Surveillance By Remote Workers’ Employers
- The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Online Learning
- The publication of COVID-19 quarantine lists violates the right to privacy
- Google is releasing your anonymized location data to help health officials with coronavirus containment
- Your Phone May Be Contributing to Google’s Coronavirus Reports: Location data is a new, somewhat controversial tool in the fight against Covid-19
- Google knows if everyone in your county is actually staying home or not
- Tech firms, others gain waiver to share patient data, raising privacy fears: The waiver from DHHS, seeks to make it easier for public health authorities to utilize patient data in the fight against COVID-19.
- Coronavirus and the Future of Surveillance: Democracies Must Offer an Alternative to Authoritarian Solutions
- NASA sees an “exponential” jump in malware attacks as personnel work from home
- FTC Sends Warning Letters to VoIP Service Providers
- Civil society groups call for protection of human rights in digital surveillance amid COVID-19: The measures adopted should be lawful, necessary and proportionate, wrote the signatories
- Tracking coronavirus: big data and the challenge to privacy
- Using tech to fight the virus: How much privacy are South Koreans relinquishing in the battle against COVID-19?
- Covid-19: the race to create privacy-focused contact tracing tools
- The Right and Wrong Ways to Use Location Data in the Pandemic: Using smartphone information from to track coronavirus may be a good idea. But using it to track the movements of specific individuals is not.
- Pand-Veillance: The Catalyst Effect of Covid-19 on Surveillance Practices (Arthur Laudrain)
- COVID-19 and Applicable Law to Transnational Personal Data: Trends and Dynamics (Jie Huang)
- COVID-19 Will Someday Fade Away. The Wireless Location Data Practices Being Embraced To Track It Probably Won’t.
- Governments turn to tech in coronavirus fight – but at what cost?: Critics warn privacy, civil liberties may be at risk as govt’s turn to tech volunteers, companies in COVID-19 responses.
- COVID’s borders: between peer-to-peer surveillance and the “common good”
- Coronavirus: location-tracking apps could stop the disease – here’s how
- Data protection in times of COVID-19: the risks of surveillance in Brazil
- Privacy Experts Say Responsible Coronavirus Surveillance Is Possible
- Coronavirus is testing the limits of Russia’s surveillance state
- Make Europe capital of data sovereignty
- Enlisting tech to fight coronavirus sparks surveillance fears
- We Mapped How the Coronavirus Is Driving New Surveillance Programs Around the World: At least 28 countries are ramping up surveillance to combat the coronavirus
- Complex ecologies of trust in data practices and data-driven systems
- Plastic surveillance: Payment cards and the history of transactional data, 1888 to present (Josh Lauer)
CREATIVITY
- Journalism hit hard by corona crisis
- COVID-19 Entertainment Update: Silver Linings Playbook for Entertainment Companies
- Art matters more than ever during the COVID-19 crisis
- The Pandemic’s Effects on Museums and Art Schools
- HR ‘Don’ts’ Inspired by Netflix’s Tiger King
- Ten Years Later—Lessons Learned from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Kokoschka Case
Jon
News of the Week: April 1, 2020
GAMES
- ‘NBA 2K’ Publisher Beats Copyright Suit Over LeBron James’ Tattoos: In a landmark decision on the tatto a federal judge rules that Take-Two’s depiction was de minimus and that an implied license was granted.
- Judge Swain: Depicting NBA Players’ Tattoos in Video Game Is “Fair Use”
- Court Manages To Get NBA2K Tattoo Copyright, Trademark Case Exactly Right
- Videogame Doesn’t Infringe Tattoo Copyright By Depicting Basketball Players–Solid Oak Sketches v. 2K Games (Eric Goldman)
- Videogame Can Replicate Musician’s “Signature Move” (Unless It’s a False Endorsement, Which It Isn’t)–Pellegrino v. Epic Games (Eric Goldman)
- US court dismisses Humvee trademark infringement suit against Activision: New York judge rules that use of Humvees in Call of Duty is protected as artistic expression
- Wargaming.net files lawsuit against group of former employees: Blitz Team says it has become target of “unfair competition and legal bullying” at hands of Wargaming
- Gamevice brings yet another accusation of Nintendo patent infringement: This is the peripherals manufacturer’s third attempt at such a complaint
- Nintendo Switch sells out at retail, leading to third-party price inflation
- The year of Mario: A ton of classic 3D games reportedly coming to Switch in 2020
- How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection
- Report: Gearbox overspent on Borderlands 3, and devs see bonuses cut in response
- Borderlands 3 devs accuse Gearbox of shorting bonuses: Kotaku reports that promised six-figure bonuses have been significantly reduced, studio planning an IPO
- Epic offers $1m reward for evidence of Houseparty smear campaign: Fortnite developers assures that app does not enable access to bank accounts or other services
- Activision has dished out over 50,000 permabans in Call of Duty: Warzone
- Activision permabans over 50,000 cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone – Publisher says it has “zero tolerance” policy on cheaters and will issue regular updates on number of bans handed out
- Jedi Academy dev promises to fix mistake that let PC gamers slaughter console players
- Sony declines to sell Call of Duty in Russia (again): Modern Warfare 2 Remastered will not be sold through PlayStation Store
- Players host weddings, classes, more in online games during COVID-19 crisis
- Hyper casual dominated new mobile downloads in 2019: More than 75% of the 20 most downloaded new mobile games of 2019 were hyper casual
- Fox’s virtual Texas NASCAR race sets esports record with 1.3 million viewers
- NASCAR’s First Virtual Race Draws Record-Setting 903K Viewers, Seals Broadcast Deal For Rest Of Season
- Mobile esports team Tribe Gaming raises $1 million: Backers include NBA all-star Gordon Hayward, WWE wrestler Cesaro, and Super Evil Megacorp CEO Kristian Segerstrale
- During The Outbreak: All Sports Are eSports Now
- How to play Pokémon Go when everyone’s stuck inside
- Pokémon and Apex Legends esports events cancelled: Physical events scrapped amid coronavirus concerns, prize money shifted to online competitions
- Anybrain receives €1m investment form Trust Esport: Artificial intelligence startup works to secure online gaming and make esports more fair
- FaZe Clan, Verizon Host Charity ‘Fortnite’ Match For Coronavirus Relief Efforts
- ESL partners up with PUBG Mobile to host competitions for the game
- Andre ‘Typical Gamer’ Rebelo Signs Exclusive Streaming Deal With YouTube
- What is happening with video game sales during coronavirus: GamesIndustry.biz analyses the latest figures from GSD
- Pandemic has led to spikes in mobile gaming, says ironSource: App monetization firm reports daily average users, new game installs up in regions under lock down
- The rise and rise of video games: Covid-19 has drawn renewed attention to an under-appreciated industry
- Kojima’s GBA experiment—and the sunny island childhood it changed forever
- Kojima Productions working remotely after employee diagnosed with COVID-19
- Kojima Productions staff working remotely after employee diagnosed with COVID-19: Developer is working with health authorities to prevent further spread of virus
- UK retailer Game furloughs staff with full pay through April: However, company tells staff it cannot guarantee full pay or jobs past that point
- Twitch is holding a Stream Aid charity event to raise money for the fight against coronavirus
- Twitch ‘Stream Aid’ To Combat Coronavirus Raises $2.8 Million, Nabs 135,000 Concurrent Viewers
- A Twitch streamer is exposing coronavirus scams live
- Mojang shakes up AR game Minecraft Earth to adapt to shelter-in-place play
- Pokémon Go temporarily changes mechanics to reduce spread of COVID-19: Mojang follows suit with changes to Minecraft Earth
- Pokémon Go revenue spikes as game continues to adjust for COVID-19: Last week was its highest-earning week in 2020 so far, despite lockdowns
- Record number of Steam users online during coronavirus outbreak: Steam sees record numbers of users in-game, and record concurrent users for third week running
- With more people staying home, Steam makes changes to reduce bandwidth use
- GameStop turns a Q4 profit despite 28% dip in sales: Retailer says pandemic has increased demand; chain closed 320 stores last year and looks to close that many or more in the current year
- Amid pandemic closures, GameStop says it’s seeing increased business
- GameStop ends 2019 with sales down year-over-year, but ‘increased financial flexibility’
- GameStop to close at least 320 stores in 2020
- GameStop says no indication of PS5, Xbox Series X delays: Retailer says as of right now, pandemic has had “minimal” impact on product deliveries
- Sony says COVID-19 won’t impact PS5 launch (yet)
- Early Access MMO Last Oasis offering full refunds due to server problems: Game being taken offline for a week while developers fix issues
- Colopl acquires Steins;Gate developer Mages for $15 million: Studio will become a wholly owned subsidiary after mobile firm purchases all shares
- Koch Media, Kalypso Media expand physical publishing partnership
- South Australia launches second round of Games Innovation Fund
- Xbox encouraging devs to push updates during off-peak hours to lessen server strain
- Microsoft adjusts Xbox Live functionality due to pandemic: As demand for cloud services surges, custom gamerpics disabled and game updates only delivered in off-peak hours
- Future shuts down Official Xbox Magazine after almost two decades
- Official Xbox Magazine closed: Publication is reportedly one of six magazines Future has discontinued
- Sony doesn’t see pandemic affecting PS5 launch: Despite factory closures and downgraded profit forecast, Sony estimates no material impact on its gaming business so far
- Sony will begin limiting PSN download speeds in the U.S.
- Sony reduces PSN download speeds for the US: PlayStation maker expands European downgrade “to help ensure internet stability” during pandemic
- Bungie: Google Stadia an “amazing solution” for playtesting during lockdown – COO Patrick O’Kelley says Google’s streaming platform can replicate an essential aspect of game development
- Google Stadia, ‘beefy laptops’ drive Bungie’s remote work success
- Tencent and Huawei are working on a mobile cloud gaming platform
- All hail Nintendo’s animal overlords | Opinion: Animal Crossing looks set to be one of the year’s biggest games — we might reflect on what it says about the appetite for different kinds of escapism
- A Super Mario Christmas is the ideal counter to PS5 and Xbox Series X | Opinion: Why a bunch of Mario ports may be all Nintendo needs to face off against the new consoles
- Strong week for UK physical game sales despite lockdown: “Animal Crossing New Horizons” drops to No.3
- Final Fantasy VII Remake shipping early amid COVID-19 disruption: Square Enix reveals European and Australian players may receive the game sooner than April 10 launch
- Square Enix will ship ‘Final Fantasy VII Remake’ early to some countries: Disruption caused by the coronavirus will leave some players open to spoilers.
- Epic launches new publishing program with 50/50 profit sharing for developers
- Epic launches publishing label with Remedy, Playdead and GenDesign onboard: Epic Games Publishing will be multiplatform, cover as much as 100% of costs, and offer partners 50/50 profit share
- Epic Games is now a third-party multi-plat publisher, secures three big studios
- Epic signs Playdead, Remedy, and genDesign to new publishing label
- COVID-19 preventing Bethesda from hosting digital E3 showcase
- Star Citizen dev Cloud Imperium raises $17.25 million in funding
- Cloud Imperium secures $17.25m in additional investment: Existing investors pour more finance into Star Citizen developer
- Colopl acquires game and interactive novel developer Mages for $14.92 million
- Terraria has sold over 30 million copies across all platforms
- Niantic acquires 6D.ai to help map out the entire world for AR
- Niantic acquires AR mapping company 6D.ai: Location-based game developer working on dynamic, 3D map of the world
- How to Clean Your VR Headset
- Roto VR Picks up $1.86M Investment to Support Roll-out of Rotating VR Chair
- ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Now Among Steam’s 10 Best Rated Games Ever, Surpassing All Other ‘Half-Life’ Titles
- With Half-Life: Alyx out, Valve shifts focus to its Hammer level editor
- Forte recruits 5 more high-end game studios to make blockchain-based games
- Wasteland 3 delayed due to COVID-19: Minecraft Dungeons also delayed into May for the same reason
- The Sandbox blockchain-based world will feature virtual Atari theme park
- Researchers turn to PC gamers for help with COVID-19: Folding@home downloaded onto over one million devices
- Tinybuild’s Hello Neighbour books have made $16m in revenue: Book series hits 2m sales as game franchise passes 30m downloads
- League of Legends: The art of balance – Summoner’s Rift team manager John Frank discusses the intricacies of balancing one of the world’s most successful competitive titles
- An extended interview with Crash Bandicoot designer Andy Gavin
- What happens when an outbreak ruins your game announcement plans?
- WHO and game companies launch #PlayApartTogether to promote physical distancing
- Industry launches #PlayApartTogether in fight against COVID-19 pandemic: Over 50 companies now using their platforms to spread key messages, organisers in talks 70 more
- Resident Evil 3 Remake review: Are we ready for pandemic nostalgia?
- Deep Dive: Making a cozy, therapeutic experience in Coffee Talk
- Don’t Miss: How Mario Kart influenced Nintendo’s fighting game, ARMS
- Don’t Miss: What it took to port Resident Evil 2 to the N64
- Don’t Miss: The Valkyrie Profile-inspired design of Indivisible
- Don’t Miss: Give players a place to feel ‘cozy’ and they’ll keep coming back
- Video: Storytelling with verbs to better integrate narrative and gameplay
- Video: Using forgiveness mechanics to design better games
- Video: How Gearbox baked accessibility features into Borderlands 3
- Blog: Understanding and effectively implementing live ops
- Blog: Differentiating narratives using the selfish story model
- Next big thing or next big bubble? – 10 Years Ago This Month: Streaming, motion controls, and stereoscopic 3D were all pushed as transformative technologies
- 28 years later, a no-disc version of the Sega CD exists—and it rocks [Updated]
- Insert Coin, the arcade documentary worth feeding all your quarters into
- Cyberpunk dev CD Projekt Red donates $950,000 to help fight COVID-19
- Eidos-Montreal hosting Deus Ex flash sale to help those affected by COVID-19
- Rockstar pledges 5% of Red Dead and GTA Online revenue to fight COVID-19
- Dozens of devs pitch in games for Humble’s all-for-charity Conquer COVID-19 bundle
- Game industry backs ‘Play Apart Together’ campaign to slow spread of COVID-19
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,326: Soft reservation system and method for multiplayer video games
DIGITAL
- Court: Violating a site’s terms of service isn’t criminal hacking
- Levandowski says Uber must pay his $179 million judgment to Google
- Yet Another Court Says Suing Twitter For Terrorist Acts Is A Waste Of Everyone’s Time
- “Material Support for Terrorism” Lawsuit Fails a Third Time–Colon v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Redbox’s Terms of Use Fail (OUCH)–Wilson v. Redbox (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Protects Classifying Non-Competitive Software as a Threat–Asurvio v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
- Broadband Speeds Dip In Major Cities Due To Covid-19
- Coronavirus misinformation is the latest test for social media platforms
- Study looks at how Russian troll farms are politicizing vaccines
- How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus: ProPublica analyzed thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to understand how covert Chinese propaganda spreads around the globe.
- Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Hazard: It’s time to debunk the worst—and most dangerous—Covid-19 misinformation.
- The Digital Response to the Outbreak of COVID-19: Undeniably, we need to use technology as part of disaster response, but the regulatory immaturity of the industry makes technology companies risky allies
- Internet Archive offers 1.4 million copyrighted books for free online: Massive online library project is venturing into uncharted legal waters.
- Authors fume as online library “lends” unlimited free books
- Publishers And Authors Misguided Freakout Over Internet Archive’s Decision To Enable More Digital Book Checkouts During A Pandemic
- Streaming Gets Big Bump During Coronavirus Quarantines, Nielsen Says: SVOD platforms outpaced the overall gains in TV usage during the first few weeks of March.
- As More People Shelter At Home, Podcasts See 15% Drop In U.S.-Based Listeners
- Amazon: Walkout leader’s firing wasn’t due to his organizing efforts
- Amazon, Walmart Suspend Marketing Deals With Digital Media Firms
- Email, text message attacks surge during COVID-19 crisis
- An Internet Shutdown Is Keeping Coronavirus Information from Millions in Pakistan
- South Korea: Cyberbullying Amid Coronavirus – Some online trolls seem determined to infuse Korean politics and COVID-19 with racial tensions.
- Anti-Vaxxer Sues Facebook, In The Middle Of A Pandemic, For ‘In Excess’ Of $5 Billion For Shutting Down His Account
- Facebook spends US$100M to support local news amid pandemic
- Facebook invests $100M in journalism as COVID-19 makes it more vital than ever: In the form of direct grants and advertising spend
- Facebook Says Live Streams Have Increased 50% This Month, Will Expand ‘Stars’ Monetization To Musicians, More
- Facebook has a new way for communities to help each other through COVID-19: Its Community Help feature is expanding
- Tech giants are navigating an ‘infodemic.’ Are they doing it right?: Social media platforms have resisted being arbiters of truth for years, but COVID-19 has changed that, fast.
- How data-mining companies are set to gain from the Covid-19 pandemic: Their business model, challenged by numerous activists and analysts, is likely to gain further public acceptance, to the detriment of democracy.
- Democrats say Google’s COVID-19 ad ban is a gift to Donald Trump: “To not allow political candidates to mention or discuss COVID-19 is something that has the potential to dramatically bolster Trump’s…reelection.”
- Judge Allows PEN America’s Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Over Retaliation Against The Media To Proceed
- President Trump Is So Upset About This Ad Showing His Failed Handling Of COVID-19 That He’s Demanding It Be Taken Down
- Democrats Being Blocked From Advertising On Trump’s Failed COVID-19 Response Due To Content Moderation Rules
- How Do You Moderate COVID-19 Misinformation When It’s Coming From Official Sources?
- Jared Kushner’s Coronavirus Task Force Is Using Private Email Accounts To Conduct Official Business
- Google sent users 40,000 warnings of nation-state hack attacks in 2019
- Tech Firms Are Swooping in to Profit From COVID-19: Tech is winning gov’t contracts to roll out spurious apps & services. Innovation must be administered publicly to prevent the further commodification of health care.
- Tech giants should give away their money instead of their products: Anything helps, yes. But there’s a limit to even a billion dollars in donations – “Can’t make payroll on ad credits.”
- The Online Cold War: foreign hackers and trolls undeterred by virus crisis
- Apple acquires Dark Sky weather app, and that’s bad news for Android users
- Bogus coronavirus claims lead Google Play to finally give Infowars the boot: Apple kicked Alex Jones out of the App Store in 2018.
- Google Commits $800 Million, Mostly in Ad Credits, to Coronavirus Relief Efforts
- Don’t Click That Link! It Might Be Viral: There’s been an explosion of Covid-19-related websites, some real and some nefarious.
- Frequency of looking for and accessing information about the coronavirus pandemic among adults worldwide as of March 2020
- Snapchat preempts clones, syndicates Stories to other apps
- Snapchat Reports Engagement Records During the Coronavirus Pandemic: The app reached all-time highs in Snaps sent, Snap Games, time spent watching Shows
- Spotify is bringing its kids app to the US, Canada, and France: Just as kids are stuck at home because of the pandemic
- Spotify and Warner Music Group renew their global licensing deal, resolve issue in India
- HQ Trivia returns with surprise $1,000 show and $100,000 donation
- Resurrected HQ Trivia App Welcomes 100,000 Players For First Game Back
- HQ Trivia returns, reportedly acquired by private investor: Live mobile trivia competition to donate $100k to World Central Kitchen
- Will Airbnb Become Obsolete After the Coronavirus?: The world’s most-visited cities are deserted. When the virus passes, they will be durably changed.
- Patreon, Which Had 150,000 Pre-Pandemic Creators, Sees 30,000 Sign-Ups In March Alone
- B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal keeps ‘doors open’ during pandemic: CRT is able to stay fully operational because it operates remotely
- COVID-19 court closures forcing long-overdue use of technology, say lawyers
- Vancouver studio uses 3D printers to make face shields for hospital workers
- Some Instacart and Amazon Workers Stay Home, Calling for More Pay in Coronavirus Pandemic: Coronavirus risks prompt walkouts, pay demands at delivery and retail companies
- “Amazon Is a Breeding Ground”
- Amazon fires warehouse worker who led Staten Island warehouse walkout
- No Masks and Uncertain Sick Leave: New York Whole Foods Delivery Workers Say Amazon Is Failing To Protect Them
- Amazon auditions to be ‘the new Red Cross’ in Covid-19 crisis | Free to read This could be the group’s finest hour but there are concerns about workers being put at risk
- Why Amazon Is Poised to Emerge from the Covid-19 Crisis Stronger Than Ever: Amazon has reacted to the coronavirus with restrictions designed to cement its market power at the expense of merchants and consumers.
- Who needs a government when you’ve got Amazon to keep things running?: While Trump blusters, the online giant has taken on the role of regulator and benevolent dictator
- Nationalize Amazon: Instead of letting Amazon use coronavirus to dominate even more of the economy, the company should be nationalized and reoriented to serve the public good instead of predatory capitalism.
- We Should Nationalize Food Delivery Apps and Turn Them Into a Public Food Service
- The Technology 202: Mask scams and misinformation still present on social media despite tougher policies
- Well Hyped Satellite Broadband Provider OneWeb Files For Bankruptcy
- OneWeb goes bankrupt, lays off staff, will sell satellite-broadband business
- Daisy Keech Moves Out Of ‘Hype House’ Mansion, Files Suit Against Ex-Business Partners
- John Krasinski Launches ‘Some Good News’ YouTube Channel, Gaining 330K Subscribers Overnight
- YouTube Taps Lilly Singh, Philip DeFranco, Others For Coronavirus Interview Series With Dr. Fauci
- “With me” videos on YouTube are seeing huge spikes in viewership as people stay home: A growth of 600 percent since social isolating started
- Reese Witherspoon Pacts With YouTube For Charitable ‘Shine On’ Series Amid Quarantine
- We Talked To Industry Insiders About How The Coronavirus Is Impacting YouTube Ad Revenues
- YouTube Sets 480p Resolution Limit On Android App Across India Amid Coronavirus Lockdown
- YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram See Significant Boosts In Traffic Amid Digital Ad Woes
- YouTube To Launch TikTok Competitor ‘Shorts’ Later This Year
- TikTok Strikes Short-Term Licensing Deals With Sony, Warner, Universal
- Facebook Hosts Beware: Potential Defamation Liability around the Corner
- FTC Paid Endorser Settlement Sets Framework for Advertiser Best Practices
- Rihanna’s ‘Fenty Beauty House’ Temporarily Shutters As Coronavirus Precaution
- Google Wants Your Data in Exchange for a Coronavirus Test: Public health shouldn’t mean surrendering privacy to Silicon Valley.
- Disney+ Is Reportedly Asking Users If It Should Offer Shows Aimed At Older Audiences
- Patreon, Which Had 150,000 Pre-Pandemic Creators, Sees 30,000 Sign-Ups In March Alone
- How U.S. Sports Are Publishing On Social Video Without Games Being Played
- BuzzFeed Cuts Staff, Executive Pay In Attempt To Prevent Coronavirus-Related Layoffs
- Some Silicon Valley Companies Are Booming as COVID-19 Rages: For some businesses, the novel coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it have been a boon, boosting their popularity if not yet their revenue.
- We just glimpsed how a “digital dollar” might work, thanks to coronavirus: Proposal for new government-run payment platform didn’t make it into the coronavirus relief plan. It won’t be the last we hear of the idea.
- Not having lockdown parties on Zoom? What are you waiting for?: Zoom birthday parties & virtual pubs demonstrate social distancing isn’t isolation – will the party stop when we can all go outside again?
- Coronavirus scammers are getting taken down by grassroots ‘hackers without borders’
- ‘The Valley has stepped up’: Ro Khanna on layoffs, bailouts, Trump and crisis innovation – Protocol talks with the California representative about how the tech industry is being affected by the crisis — and what comes next.
- New pandemic edtech power networks
- Ad Council’s COVID-19 PSAs Bring Together White House, Social Platforms, Tech Companies, Advertisers, And Influencers
- From female computers to male comput♂rs: Or why there are so few women writing algorithms and developing software
- The Law of Informational Capitalism (Amy Kapczynski)
- Digital Repression in Autocracies (Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Joseph Wright)
A.I.
- AI and big data won’t work miracles in the fight against coronavirus
- EU Parliament Told Predictive Policing Software Relies On Dirty Data Generated By Corrupt Cops
- As Platforms Rely Less on Human Content Moderators, What’s at Stake?: In response to COVID, some social media sent content moderators. This could be a glimpse into their desire to rely less on human labour
- Neural implants plus AI turn sentence-length thoughts to text
- Unity Game Simulation Lets Studios Use AI Bots To Playtest Games In Google Cloud
- CAA Signs Human Avatar-Fashioning Tech Startup ‘Soul Machines’
- The false positive problem of automatic bot detection in social science research: A study of Botometer’s diagnostic ability over time
- Emotional AI, soft biometrics and the surveillance of emotional life: An unusual consensus on privacy (Andrew McStay)
- The benefits of Artificial Intelligence in the field of IP
- Artificial Intelligence – Our March 2020 report
COMMUNICATIONS
- Video Streaming to TVs Soared 85% in U.S. in First Three Weeks of March, Nielsen Says
- Broadband speeds fall in dozens of big US cities during pandemic
- Alarm, Denial, Blame: The Pro-Trump Media’s Coronavirus Distortion – Hannity, Limbaugh & other commentators turned a pandemic into a battle of us vs. them – the battle President Trump has waged.
- Charter gives techs $25 gift cards instead of hazard pay during pandemic
- Comcast waiving data caps hasn’t hurt its network—why not make it permanent?
- Instead of COVID-19 Hazard Pay, Spectrum Is Giving Its Repair Techs $25 Gift Cards To Closed Restaurants
- Saudi spies tracked phones using flaws the FCC failed to fix for years
- Saudi Arabia reportedly tracked phones by using industry-wide carrier weakness
- Teardown of Huawei flagship phone finds US parts despite blacklisting
- AT&T, Verizon Will Waive Wireless Overage Fees During Pandemic. But You’ll Have To Ask.
- Verizon Is The Only US Wireless Carrier Charging Extra For 5G
- FCC Permits Schools and Libraries to Make Wi-Fi Available to Public
- FCC requires anti-robocall tech after “voluntary” plan didn’t work out [Updated]
- Goodbye, John Legere: CEO leaves as T-Mobile completes Sprint merger
- Frontier prepares for bankruptcy, regrets failure to install enough fiber
- China’s economy was hit hard by the pandemic. Its 5G ambitions could be crucial to its recovery
- Is the media an essential service?
- Opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice on net neutrality and zero-rating
- Tone Deaf: Using COVID-19 As A Prop To Celebrate The Death Of Net Neutrality
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Bill C-4 Receives Royal Assent: Incoming Changes to the Intellectual Property Landscape
- EU: infringement of software license agreement can result in an intellectual property infringement
- The Open COVID IP Pledge
- IP monitor: Canadian Intellectual Property Office announces further extension of deadlines in wake of pandemic
- COVID-19: Canadian Government Can Now Use Patented Inventions to Respond to the Public Health Emergency
- COVID-19 Emergency Response Act: Amendments to the Patent Act
- COVID-19 and intellectual property
- Patents Concerning Coronavirus Treatments
- Evalve v Edwards – Review of competing public interests in grant of final injunctions
- Florida Atlantic University Suddenly Decides Owl Tutoring’s Name Is Trademark Infringement After Over A Decade
- Lean Trademark Strategies – For The Covid-19 Pandemic And Its Aftermath
- A “Dark Horse” Victory for Katy Perry: Central District of California Overturns $2.8M Copyright Verdict
- First Circuit Treads “Unchartered Waters”: Holds Copyright Sublicenses Can Be Implied
- RIAA Realizes It Sued Charter Over A Bunch Of Songs It Doesn’t Hold The Copyrights For
- A Snapshot From Section 101: Patent Directed to Image Cataloging Not Patent Eligible
- A Collision of Patents, Copyrights, and Piracy on the High Seas
- 67 Years Ago Today: Jonas Salk Announced The Polio Vaccine… And Did NOT Patent It
- Supreme Court Holds that States are Immune from Copyright Infringement
- GEICO Earns Victory at Intersection Between Copyright and Trade Secret Law Covering Source Code
- Top 3 legal predictions on Copyright for 2020
- Copyright Termination. Chapter One: What Kind of Grants Can Be Recaptured?
- Copyright Termination. Chapter 2: When Can a Grant Be Terminated?
- Is Your Character Entitled to Copyright Protection? The Ninth Circuit Reinforces High Bar for Copyright Protection of Characters
- The Pirates Of Precedence, or How a Modest Copyright Case Could Affect Controversial Supreme Court Cases
- Ninth Circuit Shows Led Zeppelin a Whole Lotta Love in ‘Stairway’ Copyright Win
- Copyright Is Broken: COVID-19 Pandemic Revealing Just How Messed Up Our Permission-Based Culture Is
- Permission Culture Gone Mad: Worries About Proper License For ‘Balcony Singing’ Lead Collection Society To Say It’s Okay, You Can Sing
- I Just Took a DNA Test . . . Am I the Joint Author?
- U.S. Supreme Court Holds Copyright Remedy Classification Act of 1990 Does Not Abrogate State Sovereign Immunity for Copyright Infringement: Allen v. Cooper
- Judge Ramos Finds “Bad Faith” Enforcement of a Patent is Not Patent Misuse
- Global patent law update
- Eli Lilly and Co v Genentech Inc: issue estoppel and abuse of process in patent cases
PRIVACY
- Zoom iOS App Sends Data to Facebook Even if You Don’t Have a Facebook Account: Zoom’s privacy policy isn’t explicit about the data transfer to Facebook at all.
- Zoom is being sued for allegedly handing over data to Facebook
- Zoom Meetings Aren’t End-To-End Encrypted, Despite Misleading Marketing
- Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Privacy and Data Security Concerns over Stay-at-Home Video Conferencing
- Zoom’s privacy problems are growing as platform explodes in popularity
- Attackers can use Zoom to steal users’ Windows credentials with no warning
- Researchers Say Kids’ Android Apps Are Still Riddled With Malware
- >4,000 Android apps silently access your installed software
- UK’s National Health Service Plans To Use Big Data Analysis To Fight COVID-19 — With The Help Of Palantir
- Can ProctorU Be Trusted With Students’ Personal Data?
- Moscow To Launch New Surveillance App To Track Residents In Coronavirus Lockdown
- Voluntary Virus Tracking Apps Seek To Get A Grip On The Coronavirus Problem
- How Much Data Does Clearview Gather On People? The Answer (Sadly) Will Not Surprise You.
- Maine Event: ISP Privacy Law Challenged on Free Speech Grounds
- Geolocation and the Fight Against COVID-19: Could the Emergencies Act Overrule Privacy Law Protections for Cellphone Location Data?
- Appeals Court Tells Baltimore PD To Start Coughing Up Information About Its Cell Site Simulators
- Countries are using apps and data networks to keep tabs on the pandemic: And also, in the process, their citizens
- Will Germans trade privacy for coronavirus protection?
- Australian state will install home surveillance hardware to make sure if you’re in virus isolation, you stay there: Could be a wearable, could be wired. Backed by big fines and jail
- Verily’s COVID-19 website becomes a health data privacy battleground: “These tools can be a helpful part of the solution during our ongoing public health emergency, but patient privacy shouldn’t be sacrificed as a result”
- Pitching trade against privacy: reconciling EU governance of personal data flows with external trade (Svetlana Yakovleva, Kristina Irion)
- Someone Convinced Google To Delist Our Entire Right To Be Forgotten Tag In The EU For Searches On Their Name
- Johnny Depp disclosure in libel case in English MAC Court Ruling
- The death of Hungary’s democracy is a worldwide press-freedom warning
- Judge Schofield: Claims Over White House Revocation of Press Credentials and Security Clearances May Proceed
- Call for Creatives: United Nations Opens Submission Process for COVID-19 Messaging Work
- ‘The real ideological war has just begun and Covid-19 is only the starting point’: Ai Weiwei on China’s response to the outbreak – The Chinese artist reflects on how authoritarian political systems tackle the crisis effectively
- The importance of art now and beyond Covid-19: The always deeply flawed and unequal conditions of labour for the artistic community have been revealed and made much worse by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The importance of art in the time of coronavirus
- UK gallery curator calls for public art project in response to Covid-19: Ambitious national programme is needed to support artists and institutions, says Serpentine Galleries’ artistic director
- In a Pandemic, How Do You Make the Case for an Art Emergency?: Literary Arts Leaders are Bracing for Months of Financial Crisis
- ‘A Matter Of Common Decency’: What Literature Can Teach Us About Epidemics
- Insights: Adapting Hollywood To The Pandemic, And What Happens Hereafter
- Call for Depression Era-style Public Art Project
- This American Life host Ira Glass on storytelling during Covid-19
- The Architecture of Quarantine Is No Longer a Thing of the Past
- Ethics and Reporting Practices for COVID-19
- Disease control: Mapping violations of free speech under the cloak of the coronavirus crisis
- The ‘human canvas’ livestreams from Tasmanian museum
- Marvel, DC will delay digital comic books during brick-and-mortar closures
- Adam Schlesinger, Emmy Winner and Fountains of Wayne Cofounder, Dies of Coronavirus Complications
Jon
News of the Week; March 25, 2020
GAMES
- No Fun and Games: Blizzard Alleges Infringement by JoyFun Inc.
- High Fashion Invades Runeterra – Fascinating IP Issues in the Collaboration Between League of Legends and Louis Vuitton
- Nintendo presses Sony to remove Mario creations from Dreams: Sony confirms ongoing case-by-case purge of Nintendo IP from creation game
- Nintendo Gets ‘Dreams’ Mario Taken Down Because Of Course It Did
- Nintendo donates 9,500 face masks to US emergency services: Highly sought-after face masks will be distributed across the City of North Bend and surrounding area
- After Years Of Being Blamed For Everything, The World Turns To Video Games To Escape During Coronavirus Shut-In
- Game platforms respond to increased demand amid coronavirus quarantines [Updated]
- Record number of Steam users online during coronavirus outbreak: Steam sees record numbers of users in-game, and record concurrent users for third week running
- Game Discoverability: The Steam & Epic stores, circa early 2020
- F1 Is Cancelled, So Drivers Will Race Each Other In The Official Video Game
- Formula 1 officially goes virtual from this weekend: Endorsed races with real-life talent begin this Sunday
- Missing live sports? There’s a lot more esport racing this weekend
- Entire Spanish Soccer League, Including Barcelona And Real Madrid, Are Going To Play Each Other In FIFA [Update: Real Madrid Wins]
- Keywords Studios staff criticize pandemic response: Testers say company made QA staff show up while management worked from home, adopted lax sanitation processes
- UK retailer GAME keeping its Belong arenas open for now – Update: Retailer has now decided to close them until further notice
- UK games retail shifts online as government orders closure of all non-essential stores: CEX, GAME, Argos and more shut their High Street branches to prevent the spread of coronavirus
- Sony will ‘manage’ PSN download speeds in Europe to preserve internet access
- Sony to Slow PlayStation Downloads in Europe Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
- Sony throttles back game downloads in Europe: PlayStation maker says gameplay will be unaffected but players may see slower or delayed downloads to reduce strain on ISPs
- Sony and Microsoft are playing different card games | Opinion: Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen communications strategies tell us almost as much as the tech specs themselves
- GameStop rules itself ‘essential retail’ and therefore immune to lockdown closures
- GameStop pauses trade-in program for 9 days due to COVID-19 concerns
- GameStop shuts down regular operations amid coronavirus closures [Updated]
- GameStop bumps up Doom Eternal release to cut back on in-store crowds
- Retailers break Doom Eternal street date over COVID-19 fears: GameStop and other retailers are selling Bethesda’s game early to avoid overcrowding in-store
- Bethesda apparently broke its own Denuvo protection for Doom Eternal
- Finnish-Icelandic studio Mainframe nets $8.3 million to create cloud-native games
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons smashes sales records in the UK – It is the fastest-selling single Switch game ever
- Report: Animal Crossing: New Horizons sets new Switch launch sales record in Japan
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons breaks Switch sales records in Japan – Famitsu data reveals Nintendo’s latest has sold 1.88 million copies in just three days
- Why Nintendo’s new Animal Crossing features allow instant change in the real-time game
- Report: The Nintendo Switch has now outsold the Wii in Japan
- Nintendo shuts down U.S. repair centers due to COVID-19
- Top three unchanged in App Annie’s annual mobile publisher chart: Tencent, NetEase and Activision Blizzard lead a top ten with only two new entries
- Mobile versions of Call of Duty and PUBG driving game revenue at Tencent
- All US GameStop stores closed except for curbside pick-up: Retailer will pay US employees for lost hours for next two weeks; Canadian EB Games stores shut entirely
- GameStop reportedly shutting down all stores in California: Retailer had previous tried to remain open despite shelter in place order, saying it was “essential business”
- GameStop keeping stores open as government orders lockdowns: San Mateo county says GameStop is not an “essential business,” GameStop says it can have “positive impact”
- GameStop abruptly shuts down all stores in California
- GameStop closing U.S. storefronts to customers amid COVID-19 pandemic
- Google Play’s malicious app problem infects 1.7 million more devices
- Exclusive: Google mobile downloads suggest Stadia has sold 107,000 units in the last two months
- Stadia to offer dev kits, funding, and more through new Stadia Makers program
- Stadia launches Makers program to attract experienced indies: Google offers tech help, hardware, and funding to devs using Unity and including Stadia among launch-day platforms
- Unity debuts new cloud-based platform for simulating game playtests
- Unity offers up free game dev courses and tutorials during coronavirus pandemic
- Big Run Studios nets $1.4 million to create mobile titles for ‘underserved’ audiences
- Koei Tecmo found global success by focusing on its Japanese identity: CEO Hisashi Koinuma on being trusted with big IPs, making an asset of the firm’s Asian identity, and its goal of making a 5m-selling original IP
- Square Enix implements work-from-home policy due to COVID-19
- Call of Duty: Warzone passes 30 million players in ten days
- ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Review – Valve Delivers One of VR’s Best Games Yet
- Half-Life: Alyx review: The greatest VR adventure game yet—and then some
- ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Breaks Concurrent User Record for VR Game on Steam
- Mods that cut VR from Half-Life: Alyx will only show how vital its VR is, says Valve
- Don’t Miss: The making of Half-Life 2
- ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Tops ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Warzone’ with 300K Concurrent Twitch Viewers on Launch Day
- Half-Life: Alyx — Critical Consensus: Critics praise the frightening, tactile and brilliantly detailed return of Half-Life — but will it be 13 years until the next one?
- HP, Valve, and Microsoft team up for ‘next-gen’ PC VR headset
- Valve: “VR has been missing a big game that everyone can get excited about”
- Gabe Newell: “Competition in game stores is awesome…but ugly in the short term”: Valve CEO – “We get a lot more freaked out not by competition, but by people trying to preclude competition”
- How Amazon Web Services is powering some of the world’s biggest video games: Leading developers discuss how they’re using the company’s tech to solve their challenges
- MTG says COVID-19 could sink esports revenues by 45%: DreamHack and ESL parent warns investors about first-half financials, proposes post-pandemic stock buybacks
- Gfinity’s CEO and chairman step down ahead of 60% cost reduction plan: Esports firm secures new income through ad deal with Bidstack and Venatus
- What does a chain of esports restaurant arcades do in a pandemic?
- Twitch hands indefinite ban to “Kaceytron” for COVID-19 comments: Kacey “Kaceytron” Caviness joked about virus fatalities, will need to appeal ban to be reinstated
- Bohemia Interactive grossed $68m last yearz: DayZ and Arma 3 developer makes over 4.5 million software sales in 2019
- Blizzard and Paradox arrange care packages for remote-working staff during coronavirus lockdowns: Meanwhile, Sega added to growing list of games firms sending employees home to work
- Scopely increases series D round to $400m
- Mobile studio Scopely nets $200 million for more acquisitions
- Robin Games raises $7m to create “lifestyle gaming”: New studio formed by former Jam City exec Jill Wilson, has primarily women-led team
- Eight principles for making a game influencer-friendly: ICO Partners’ David Ortiz Lapaz lays out ways developers and marketers can make games work for content creators
- Superdata – February digital game spending up 4%: Console revenues down 22% on weaker release slate, but “many titles” are seeing spikes due to pandemic shutdowns
- World’s Greatest Teacher Delivers VR Math Lesson In Half-Life: Alyx
- This Developer Turned His Apartment Into a VR Game
- Ukie launches industry-specific online wiki: Ukiepedia is free resource of games industry facts, insight, resources and links
- Untitled Goose Game, A Short Hike take home top prizes at GDC and IGF Awards
- GoldenEye 007, Guitar Hero among 2020 World Video Game Hall of Fame finalists
- Polish government running games development course for quarantined kids: Webinars, game jam and a building competition on Minecraft launched as part of digital education efforts
- Microsoft says it can still make Xbox Series X despite coronavirus concerns
- Minecraft gets free educational content to help enable distance learning
- Xbox curates free educational marketplace in Minecraft: Meanwhile, Outright Games partners with Digital Schoolhouse for computer science workshops
- Routing Around Damage: Censored Reporting Hosted In Custom-Built Minecraft ‘Library’
- Another port bites the dust: Xbox Series X drops S/PDIF audio
- DirectX 12 Ultimate brings Xbox Series X features to PC gaming
- TIGA calls for increased game tax credits due to COVID-19
- Playtika delivers food packages to vulnerable people amid pandemic: Mobile developer to distribute thousands of packages per week across Eastern Europe and Israel
- BBTV Pacts With Latin American YouTube Phenom Mariale On Mobile Puzzle Game
- CAA Signs Online Gaming Entrepreneurs Jesse Cox And Bruce Greene
- Blog: Building a historical game based on real-world struggles
- Blog: Rethinking progression in mobile puzzle games
- Blog: A guide to working remotely in games
- Blog: VR/AR – A renaissance art form
- Blog: How lore and storytelling can make puzzlers more replayable
- Blog: Why the world needs game developers right now
- Video: The benefits of Paradox’s long-term DLC model
- Video: Storytelling lessons learned in 14 years at BioWare
- Video: Designing great UI that helps immerse players in your game
- Don’t Miss: The aggressive resource management of Doom Eternal4
- Don’t Miss: Where next for the video game power fantasy?
- Don’t Miss: Designing Grindstone’s super satisfying board-clearing gameplay
- Ninja and wife donate $150,000 to Feeding America amid coronavirus pandemic: Streamers encourage other influencers ask their followers to stay at home and observe social distancing
- Games industry rallies in fight against COVID-19: IMVU raises over $100,000 to send supplies to hospitals fighting COVID-19
- Razer will start manufacturing surgical masks to help fight COVID-19
- Plague Inc. dev Ndemic donates $250,000 to COVID-19 response funds
- The UK National Videogame Museum starts fundraiser after COVID-19 puts future at risk
- COVID-19 “threatens the very existence” of National Videogame Museum: British Games Insitute launches campaign to save nation’s only dedicated games museum
- Plague Inc. rolling out new mode where you fight to contain the outbreak
- ASCII art + permadeath: The history of roguelike games
- GDC 2020 talks are now available to watch for free on the GDC Vault!
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,323: Dynamic difficulty adjustment
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice named game of the year in 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards
DIGITAL
- Freedom Of (All) The Press?: Impact of “Shelter in Place” Orders on Media Companies
- Coronavirus could delay tech antitrust action: “I would expect all of the timetables that authorities have developed are going to be stretched out,” former FTC Chairman William Kovacic said.
- COVID-19: Product liability for “fake news”?
- ‘The US of Amazon’: how the coronavirus has created a governance vacuum the tech giant is quickly filling
- American Amazon warehouse worker gets COVID-19
- Employees at nine Amazon warehouses have contracted the coronavirus
- Some Amazon Prime deliveries may take a month as demand surges
- Amazon and eBay failing to stop Covid-19 profiteers, says Which?: Consumer group finds ‘consistent overpricing’ on hand sanitiser, thermometers and baby formula despite crackdown
- Smartphones Aren’t the Problem – Capitalism Is: All of the fretting about social media addiction and smartphones destroying our attention span misses the point. Capitalism and the profit-seeking of big tech is the real problem.
- Snapchat rolls out mental health feature early due to the coronavirus
- A Snapchat-owned location app just added a leaderboard comparing who stays home the most: Zenly is gamifying social distancing
- Instagram prototypes Snapchat-style disappearing text messages
- Instagram Unveils New ‘Co-Watching’ Feature To Promote Social Distancing
- Coronavirus, cybercrime and the parasitising of a pandemic
- DOJ Correctly Takes Down Fraudulent COVID-19 Website Selling Bogus ‘Vaccine Kits’
- How Facebook is preparing for a surge in depressed and anxious users: And why it’s Mark Zuckerberg’s biggest worry about the user base
- Facebook says coronavirus is pushing usage through the roof, but its business is hurting: Total messaging has increased by 50 percent and video calling has doubled in some markets
- Facebook’s new design turns your PC into an enormous phone
- Why Silicon Valley Loves Coronavirus: Coronavirus is the shock that Silicon Valley needed to complete its workplace revolution – with new technologies mediating our daily lives in ways that will be difficult to reverse.
- YouTube Reduces Default Streaming Quality Globally In Light Of Congestion Concerns
- YouTube is reducing its default video quality to standard definition for the next month: You can still watch videos in HD, but you have to manually choose that option
- YouTube Launches ‘Learn@Home’ Educational Hub For Kids Kept Home By COVID-19
- YouTube Lowers Playback Quality In EU, U.K. To Stave Off Potential Coronavirus Congestion
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 3/23/2020
- YouTube Music, Spotify, Amazon, More Donate To Recording Academy’s COVID-19 Fund For Music Professionals
- Netflix, Disney Throttle Video Streams In Europe To Handle COVID-19 Internet Strain
- Comcast, Disney Embrace Faster Home Video Release Windows In Wake Of COVID-19
- Netflix, YouTube cut video quality in Europe after pressure from EU official
- Netflix, YouTube slow down streaming in Europe
- Netflix Establishes $100 Million Fund To Support Cast, Crew On Productions Halted By COVID-19
- Netflix Streaming Traffic Hits All-Time Highs on AT&T Networks
- Here’s the Netflix account compromise Bugcrowd doesn’t want you to know about [Updated]
- ‘Oprah Talks COVID-19’ Is Apple TV+’s Lo-Fi, Long-Distance Look At Coronavirus
- Apple Helps China Censor Citizens By Pulling The Plug On A Keyboard App That Encrypted Text Messages
- Quibi Reveals ‘&Music’ Series Featuring Ariana Grande, J Balvin, Ozzy Osbourne, More
- WhatsApp Is at the Center of Coronavirus Response
- Twitter Gains 12 Million Users, But Will Take Q1 Operating Loss Due To Pandemic’s Effects On Ad Revenue
- Insights: How Online Creators Can Thrive, And Help Others Survive, In Our Plague Year
- Coronavirus Social Video Stats: Yes, It’s The Main Topic People Are Talking About
- 20-Person Creator Collective Launches Facebook Hub To Stave Off Coronavirus Isolation
- As Pandemic Worsens, Influencers Could Face 15-25% Decrease In Sponsored Post Pricing (Study)
- Pornhub Sees 12% Global Visitor Growth Amid Coronavirus Lockdowns, Free ‘Premium’ Offers
- Coronavirus Cancels VidCon 2020, Organizers Hoping To Reschedule For This Fall
- Twitch Hooks Up With SoundCloud To Help Musicians Monetize Livestreams Amid COVID-19 Concert Cancellations
- Tours Are Canceled, So Musicians Are Turning To Twitch: “I’m just trying to survive, and Twitch has the highest earning potential.”
- SoundCloud and Twitch just made it easier for musicians to monetize live streams: SoundCloud artists can apply for Twitch Affiliate status
- Musicians ask Spotify to triple payments to cover lost concert revenue: Bandcamp relaxes charges in light of Covid-19 but there is growing pressure on streaming services to compensate artists more fairly
- Yes, Global Spotify Chart Streams Are Down This Week. No, That Doesn’t Mean Coronavirus Is Hurting The Record Industry.
- ‘A worldwide hackathon’: Hospitals turn to crowdsourcing and 3D printing amid equipment shortages
- Spotify Resurrects FaZe Banks And KeemStar’s ‘Mom’s Basement’ YouTube Series In Podcast Form
- Spotify opens its podcast catalog to third-party apps, but not for streaming
- Spotify Is Testing A Feature That Recommends Music To Match The ‘Moment And Mood’ Of A Photo
- Spotify is revoking support for all third-party DJ apps
- Spotify to let artists link to donation pages from their Spotify profile page: The changes come as part of the company’s measures to help artists hit hard by COVID-19
- Maryland General Assembly Votes to Adopt Digital Advertising Gross Revenue Tax & Expand Sales Tax to Digital Products
- OneWeb says it will have to cut workers amid economic crisis
- Beyond the Digital Analogy in Constitutional Law (Spencer Livingstone)
A.I.
- Why Don’t We Just Ban Targeted Advertising?: From protecting privacy to saving the free press, it may be the single best way to fix the internet.
- Artificial intelligence, transparency, and public decision-making: Why explanations are key when trying to produce perceived legitimacy
- Artificial Intelligence: Can a machine be an inventor?
- Speech recognition algorithms may also have racial bias
- Artificial Intelligence Platforms – A New Research Agenda for Digital Platform Economy (Tomasz Mucha, Timo Seppala)
- Echo Chambers and Competition Law: Should Algorithmic Choices be Respected? (Eran Fish, Michael Gal)
COMMUNICATIONS
- Comcast wins Supreme Court case over interpretation of civil rights law: Black-owned TV network alleged racism in Comcast decision not to carry channels.
- Comcast aggressively moves to work-from-home during pandemic
- Charter employees beg for work-from-home rights during pandemic
- Charter grudgingly lets up to 40% of call-center employees work from home
- Charter Spectrum Under Fire For Putting The Public At Risk During Coronavirus
- Should Zoom Be a Public Utility?: Online platforms like Zoom and Skype have become basic, public necessities as our lives are upended by the coronavirus. Should they be nationalized?
- How to get Verizon and AT&T data-cap fees waived during the pandemic
- AT&T CEO Nabbed Record $32 Million Compensation In 2019, Despite Rampant Bumbling, Layoffs
- Changes Affecting Telehealth Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
- HHS Removes Enforcement Barriers for Telehealth during COVID-19 Nationwide Public Health Emergency
- The FCC Exempts COVID-19-Related Health Care “Robocalls” From TCPA Liability
- FCC Issues Guidance on TV News Sharing Agreements During the Pandemic
- Libraries Want To Become Broadband Havens During The Pandemic, But Want More Help From The FCC
- Essential Planning for Broadcasters Facing Coronavirus Restrictions on Access to Facilities and News Events
- SpaceX gets FCC license for 1 million satellite-broadband user terminals
- Broadband Considerations for Schools and Libraries Impacted by COVID-19
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Awful, Awful People Keep Trying To Trademark COVID And Coronavirus
- The Utility of Recent Force Majeure Amendments to Canadian Trademark Law
- Federal Court of Appeal remands Remicade new use patent decision on anticipation and obviousness
- (Trade)mark America Great Again: Should Political Slogans Be Able to Receive Trademark Protection? (Katherine Kerrick)
- Newspaper Can Talk About “Derby Pies” Without Infringing Trademarks–Rupp v. Courier Journal (Eric Goldman)
- Supreme Court Decides North Carolina Is Immune from Filmmaker’s Copyright Suit
- Surprise: Judge Throws Out Jury’s Awful Copyright Infringement Decision Over Katy Perry Song
- Supreme Court rules states are immune from copyright law
- States Cannot be Sued for Copyright Infringement Says the Supreme Court
- SCOTUS Strikes Down Law Abrogating Sovereign Immunity to States for Copyright Infringement
- North Carolina Won’t Be Walking the Plank: Supreme Court Finds State is No Copyright Pirate in Blackbeard Ruling
- U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Sovereign Immunity Shields States From Copyright Suits
- Supreme Court Rules That States Cannot be Sued for Copyright Infringement, For Now…
- Brompton bike case unfolds as AG’s opinion indicates no copyright infringement
- A casual snapshot can make for a valuable copyright
- Responding to COVID-19 | Global intellectual property update
- COVID-19 and trademark-driven scams
- Judge Woods Finds Dating App Patent Doesn’t “Match Up” With Section 101
- Federal Circuit Adds “Method of Preparation” Claims to Bucket List of Claim Types that May Elude the Dreaded US 101 Invalidity Finding
- An Improved Step in a Diagnostic Method is Patentable Subject Matter
- Everyone’s Got A Pet Project: Patent Maximalist Says We Need Longer Patents To Incentivize Coronavirus Vaccines
- RIP to the Australian innovation patent
- ‘Upload filters’ and human rights: implementing Article 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
- Double Blow To The EU’s Long-Delayed Unified Patent Court, But Supporters Unlikely To Give Up
- Former Google engineer pleads guilty to stealing confidential document
PRIVACY
- Washington State Legislators Pass Bill Blocking Use Of Facial Recognition Tech Without A Warrant
- Governments Around The World Are Tracking Their Citizens’ Movements To Prevent The Spread Of COVID-19
- As Coronavirus Surveillance Escalates, Personal Privacy Plummets
- Privacy & Encryption Will Be More Important Than Ever In Wake Of Coronavirus
- The US Government Is Also Looking At Increasing Domestic Surveillance To Fight The Spread Of The Coronavirus
- VPN Review Site Creates Live Digital Rights Tracker To Compile Coronavirus-Related Surveillance Efforts
- Google v CNIL – an update on the right to be forgotten
- 9th Cir. Rejects Spokeo ‘Standing’ Objection to Nationwide Privacy Class Settlement
- New attack on home routers sends users to spoofed sites that push malware
- Israel uses mass cellphone surveillance to contend with coronavirus
- Trudeau leaves door open to using smartphone data to track Canadians’ compliance with pandemic rules: Cellphone companies are already sharing data with health authorities around the world
- Canada should ensure cellphone tracking to counter the spread of coronavirus does not become the new normal (Michael Geist)
- How Canada Should Ensure Cellphone Tracking to Counter the Spread of Coronavirus Does Not Become the New Normal (Michael Geist)
- Coronavirus is forcing a trade-off between privacy and public health: The crisis has governments and companies scrambling to decide when it’s appropriate to lift data privacy protections and AI ethics guidelines.
- Ring Continues To Insist Its Cameras Reduce Crime, But Crime Data Doesn’t Back Those Claims Up
- Privacy issues arise as governments track virus
- European Privacy Law and Global Markets for Data
- My Third Set of Comments to the CA DOJ on the CCPA Regulations (Eric Goldman)
CREATIVITY
- ‘A Whole Generation of Artists Might Be Wiped Out’: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev on Museums, Care and the Covid-19 Crisis
- Covid-19 leaves creative industry vulnerable: As the coronavirus pandemic shuts down all but essential services around the globe, live entertainers are scrambling to find ways to earn an income from home.
- COVID-19 is spawning a global press-freedom crackdown
- Twitter Suspended Cory Doctorow For Putting Trolls On A List Called ‘Colossal Assholes’
- Interview With Liz Mair, Whom Rep. Devin Nunes Is Suing For $400 Million Because She Was Mildly Mean To Him
- Houston Police Chief Says He’ll Prosecute People For False Statements About COVID-19 Response; Won’t Debate 1st Amendment
- Big Telecom’s Quest To Use The First Amendment To Scuttle Privacy Laws Won’t Go Well, Experts Predict
- Judge To Art Licensing Agency: No, Your Stupid Unicorn Is Not More Important Than COVID-19 Right Now, Shut Up
- The only little movie screen in the capital of Texas
Jon
News of the Week; March 18, 2020
GAMES
- The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a rise in online gaming in the U.S.
- Gaming Usage Up 75 Percent Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Verizon Reports: Video streaming has also seen a bump, up 12 percent during peak usage hours.
- Crunching devs share the human cost of development at Naughty Dog
- Dreams dev testing the waters of letting players monetize their work
- F1 drivers and other pros switch to esports in the age of the coronavirus
- Board finds that Nintendo Joy-Cons don’t infringe on Gamevice controller patents
- Nintendo wins patent dispute against Gamevice: Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidates all 19 of mobile accessories maker’s claims against platform holder
- Nintendo tells employees to self-quarantine: Measure taken after employee in Redmond, Washington offices tests positive for novel coronavirus
- Nintendo staff working from home after employee tests positive for coronavirus
- Ittle Dew 2+ returns to Nintendo Switch: Former publisher Nicalis denies allegations it attempted to re-publish title without permission
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons review: A quarantined life has never been cuter
- Nexon to close down MapleStory 2 global servers this spring
- Gaming and live streaming rise globally amid COVID-19 crisis: Games industry in a strong position to weather pandemic, say analysts
- A short history of banned games in Germany: Beiten Burkhardt’s Andreas Lober explores Germany’s fractious relationship with video games — and the age rating issues that still lie ahead
- The developer of Journey bucks the trend of “predatory” monetisation
- What a WoW virtual outbreak taught us about how humans behave in epidemics
- Call of Duty: Warzone crosses 15 million players in four days
- Call of Duty: Warzone surpasses 6 million players in 24 hours
- Call of Duty: Warzone hits six million users in 24 hours – Activision’s free-to-play battle royale launch dwarfs competition
- Free press advocates unveil new library of censored works — in Minecraft
- Reporters Without Borders builds censorship-free zone in Minecraft: The press freedom group will publish articles censored in their country of origin via in-game books
- Samsung is discontinuing its PC-to-phone game streaming app PlayGalaxy Link
- Samsung scraps PlayGalaxy Link streaming service: Games streaming service canned after five-month beta trial period, ends March 27
- Why culturalisation matters as much as localisation: Kate Edwards discusses how to approach culturalisation, and how to navigate sensitive themes so your game can reach wider markets
- The four pillars of good representation: GDC 2020 – Proletariat’s Tori Schafer offers key considerations for studios including LGBT+ representation in their games
- Forza creative director on the hardest part of fostering inclusivity: Dan Greenwalt talks about the never-ending work of creating a workplace where developers feel safe to call out mistakes
- GameStop cancels in-store events indefinitely in response to COVID-19: But employees reportedly struggle with lack of cleaning supplies or emergency sick leave
- 505 Games, Activision, Nintendo 2019’s Best Publishers Says Metacritic, Sony Not in Top 20
- February US sales down 29%, says NPD: Tracking firm reports no new releases cracked the top 20 as every platform saw hardware sales drop year-over-year
- UK Monthly Report: GTA V reigns again as The Division 2 bounces back in February: Software market drops more than 15% and console sales continue to tumble
- Niantic updates Pokémon Go in effort to limit coronavirus spread
- Niantic just made it easier to play Pokemon Go in self-isolation
- Pokémon Home grosses $2.6m in first month: US leads in player spend and installs as total downloads exceed 2.3 million
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne ships 5m units: Series lifetime sales exceed 62 million as Iceborne expansion maintains strong performance
- Doom Eternal is a masterful twitch shooter symphony with one sour note
- Doom Eternal: Critical Consensus: Id Software’s latest shows brilliance in its bombast, but dabbles in platforming and world building with less success
- Google details what you need to play Stadia games in 4K on the web: Mac users need not apply.
- Blog: Nvidia’s brilliance, Google’s foresight, and the necessity of adding something new
- UK Charts: Nioh 2 takes No.1 as Mario Kart 8 races up the charts
- Assassin’s Creed Unity was one of the best-selling games in the world last month: Latest EMEAA charts puts Ubisoft’s 2014 title at No.1
- Lego teams up with Nintendo for Super Mario brick-based game
- Lego Super Mario toys announced: New line incorporates interactive electronic character with traditional building block elements
- Pokimane, DrDisrespect sign multi-year Twitch exclusivity deals: Two top streamers opt to remain while other popular names move to YouTube, Mixer, Facebook
- Twitch Indefinitely Bans Lifestyle Streamer Kaceytron For Coronavirus Comments
- Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, and more enact remote working policies due to COVID-19
- Twitch Partners With Measurement Firm Comscore To Amp Up Ad Data
- Coronavirus-induced school and office closures have been great for Twitch streamers
- Esports: how can travel businesses take advantage of this exciting new market?
- EA, Rockstar, others shift to remote working amid pandemic: FIFA publisher also cancels all live events until global situation improves
- Square Enix warns of Final Fantasy VII Remake shipping delays: Worldwide release still set for April 10, but publisher says it’s “increasingly likely” that copies may be delayed in delivery
- Genvid Technologies secures $33m in Series B funding round: Interactive streaming developer backed by Samsung, Huya and NTT Docomo
- Miniclip acquires UK mobile studio Eight Pixels Square
- Miniclip acquires Eight Pixels Square: UK mobile developer joins Swiss development and publishing outfit
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Critical Consensus: Kind, community escapism just when we needed it
- Overwatch League cancels all March and April live events in response to COVID-19: Scheduled matches will still be played and broadcast online
- Call of Duty League cancels all scheduled live events due to COVID-19: All planned matches will go forward online-only, with live broadcasts
- Fullscreen’s Dustin Glass Exits To Head Gaming For Digital Video-Focused Reach Agency
- Twitch Dives Into Exclusive Livestreaming Deal With Dr DisRespect
- Back-end engine developer Pragma closes $4.2m seed round; LA-based startup provides “back-end as a service” solution set to launch later this year
- Making remote work work: Two developers from Endless’ global workforce focus on communication, trust, and culture in distributed development
- GDC 2020 virtual talks, awards streaming for free all week! Here’s the lineup
- Microsoft Build conference, DOTA and League of Legends esports among latest events to be cancelled
- Microsoft drops full Xbox Series X tech specs, reveals ‘storage expansion cards’
- Xbox Series X specs revealed, aims for “a minimum doubling” over Xbox One X: Microsoft’s upcoming console will also dramatically improve the performance of current and previous gen games
- Xbox announces, retracts Thanksgiving 2020 launch for Series X: Larry Hryb says Microsoft is “committed to launching holiday 2020”
- The new Xbox Wireless Controller will reduce latency and allow instant sharing
- Going for speed: The load-busting, lag-limiting tech of the Xbox Series X
- Sony details PlayStation 5 tech specs in extensive ‘deep dive’
- 5 highlights from PlayStation’s big PS5 system architecture deep dive
- Sony lays out more PS5 details: Mark Cerny talks about the promise of system’s 825GB SSD and Tempest 3D Audio Tech, offers details on backwards compatibility and expanded storage
- PlayStation’s switch to a SSD for the PS5 aims to ‘give the game designer freedom’
- Sony details PS5’s fast SSD, variable clock rates, 3D audio tech [Updated]
- Ex-Vainglory devs raise $2.5m for Bazooka Tango: Seed funding will help new studio create debut title set in Vainglory universe, built in Super Evil Megacorp’s engine
- A year without E3 is a chance to take stock | Opinion: The ESA’s show has failed to articulate what function it will serve to the modern industry — this year’s cancellation will force that discussion to happen
- Epic Games acquires facial animation tech studio Cubic Motion
- Epic acquires Cubic Motion: Unreal Engine maker picks up the company behind facial animation tech in God of War and Hellblade – Senua’s Sacrifice
- Manticore Games is building a “truly level playing field” for game development: CEO Frédéric Descamps hopes to disrupt game creation in the way that YouTube and Twitch did broadcasting
- Deca Games acquires DragonVale following Backflip Studios closure
- Stuck at home? Binge on some “War Stories” gaming videos!
- Don’t Miss: Neo Cab and the effort to make an empathetic game about gamification
- Don’t Miss: The story behind Remedy’s viral dog mocap star
- Don’t Miss: A 2012 look at CDPR’s Cyberpunk plans, and lessons learned from The Witcher
- Don’t Miss: Evolving the combat design of id Software’s Doom Eternal
- Don’t Miss: Naughty Dog’s Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy postmortem
- Video: Making better games by understanding human error
- Report: AR Startup Magic Leap is Looking for a Buyer
- Magic Leap looks for buyers
- Report: AR headset maker Magic Leap exploring a sale at $10 billion valuation
- Games industry raised over $5.5m for Australian bushfire relief; Humble Bundle, Call of Duty DLC and Bungie T-shirts lead fundraising efforts
- Red Magic 5G gaming smartphone has 144hz display, internal cooling fan
- Video Gaming/E-Gaming Law Update
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,314: System and method for providing continuous gameplay in a multiplayer video game through an unbounded gameplay session
- BAFTA opts for online-only game awards as COVID-19 concerns grow
- Untitled Goose Game nabs Game of the Year at the 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards!
DIGITAL
- Law Commission of Ontario recommends sweeping changes to law of defamation to address challenges of internet age
- LCO recommends new regime for online defamation
- French antitrust watchdog hits Apple with its biggest fine ever: $1.2 billion
- SoftBank Owned Patent Troll, Using Monkey Selfie Law Firm, Sues To Block Covid-19 Testing, Using Theranos Patents
- The Internet is drowning in COVID-19-related malware and phishing scams
- Capitalism’s Addiction Problem: The biggest, best-known companies in the digital economy are getting their users hooked on their products – and undermining the pillars of America’s market economy.
- Why Tech Might Actually Be The Solution To Capitalism’s Addiction Problem
- Online Harms Part 1: The new regulatory framework requiring businesses to protect online users against harm
- Another Troubling Courtroom Loss for Online Marketplaces–Massachusetts Port Authority v. Turo (Eric Goldman)
- Online Platforms Sidestep Claims over User Content Decisions and Social App Functions
- As Politicians Are Still Looking To Destroy The Internet, Covid-19 Reminds Us Why Social Media Is Not Just Good, But Saving Lives
- Burning The Ladder: Match.com Supports Burning Section 230 To The Ground, Despite Relying On It To Exist
- TikTok Moderation Guidelines Show Users Were Punished For Political Content, Being “Ugly” Or “Slummy”
- Invisible Censorship: TikTok Told Moderators to Suppress Posts by “Ugly” People and the Poor to Attract New Users
- As Legal Dispute Intensifies, Early ‘Hype House’ Star Looks To Launch Rival TikTok Group
- Insights: Taking TikTok Hype Houses Mainstream—What Could Go Wrong?
- 80% of TikTok’s Ad Spend is Dedicated to Snapchat, Reports MediaRadar
- New York Attorney General Continues Aggressive Enforcement Over Coronavirus Claims
- The Tort of Conversion in the Electronic Age: A Case Study
- Social Media Promised To Block Covid-19 Misinformation; But They’re Also Blocking Legit Info Too
- People In Kashmir Can’t Access Coronavirus Information Because The Government Is Crippling The Internet
- Why is Meetup helping people organize meetings during a pandemic?
- Major tech platforms say they’re ‘jointly combating fraud and misinformation’ about COVID-19
- How Wikipedia Prevents the Spread of Coronavirus Misinformation: A group of hawk-eyed experts operate on a special track to monitor medical information on the site.
- Android surveillanceware operators jump on the coronavirus fear bandwagon
- Verily’s COVID-19 screening site goes live, is already over capacity
- Facebook was marking legitimate news articles about the coronavirus as spam due to a software bug
- Reputable sites swept up in FB’s latest coronavirus-minded spam cleanse [Updated]
- Facebook Pledges $100 Million To Small Businesses Affected By Coronavirus, Partners With WHO To Remove False COVID-19 Content
- Here’s how social media can combat the coronavirus ‘infodemic’: Facebook and Twitter are major sources of Covid-19 news. They’re also where misinformation thrives. How can platforms step up?
- Facebook is shutting down MSQRD, the AR selfie app it acquired in 2016
- Instagram’s IGTV Reaching Out To “Emerging” Creators For Ad-Share Tests This Spring
- Facebook announces $100 million program for small businesses impacted by coronavirus
- Facebook unleashes the legal hounds against deceptive web domain names
- It’s Not Just the Content, It’s the Business Model: Democracy’s Online Speech Challenge
- Apple Music Signs New Licensing Deals With Majors
- Apple Music reaches new deals with major labels sans “Apple Prime” bundle agreement
- Apple’s WWDC is happening this year after all—but it has a new format
- Apple’s WWDC to take place entirely online: Conference will be held in June with online keynote and sessions
- There Are No Plans To Cancel Or Postpone VidCon, Organizers Say
- Social Media Influencer Marketing and FTC Enforcement
- Spotify Patents A Voice Assistant That Can Read Your Emotions
- Google and Verily clarify their roles in the US coronavirus response [UPDATED 3/15]
- YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Over Channel Termination–Mishiyev v. Alphabet
- YouTube Closes Some Content Moderation Offices Due To Coronavirus, Warns Creators It’s Temporarily Relying On Automated Systems
- YouTube Warns Video Takedowns Could Be Higher During Coronavirus Crisis
- YouTube Warns That, Thanks To Covid-19, It’s Handing Over More Content Moderation To The Machines And They Might Suck
- Here’s Why Google Broke Out YouTube’s Ad Revs For The First Time Last Quarter
- YouTube Officially Removing ‘Trending’ Tab From Mobile App In Favor Of ‘Explore’
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 3/16/2020
- Will Wall Street Get In The Way Of Jack Dorsey’s Lofty Plans To Turn Twitter Into A Protocol?
- Fox Sells Stake In Roku To Purchase Ad-Supported Streamer Tubi For $440 Million
- Snapchat Introduces DIY Augmented Reality Tool for Brands: Advertisers can customize Lens Web Builder with logos, images
- Snapchat joins forces with WHO to combat coronavirus misinformation
- Twitter Will Increase Its Use of Automation Tools as It Looks to Ensure Accuracy in COVID-19 Discussion
- World Health Organization Launches Daily Livestreamed Concert Series With Coldplay, John Legend, More
- Amazon Music launches analytics for artists with a mobile app
- What it’s like to own Vancouver’s last two video stores during a pandemic
- Amazon hiring 100,000 warehouse workers amid coronavirus boom
- Coronavirus Is Speeding Up the Amazonification of the Planet: As restaurants, bars, and local shops close down, platform-based monoliths are vacuuming up customers and jobs
- World Health Organization Launches Daily Livestreamed Concert Series With Coldplay, John Legend, More
- Netflix Suspends All Scripted Productions In U.S., Canada
- Netflix Party lets you have movie night while social distancing
- Coronavirus Shutdowns Could Increase Viewers’ Content Consumption By 60%, Per Nielsen Data
- Competition Law and Online Sales Restrictions: UK Court of Appeal Judgment in Ping
- Online casino fined £3 million for “systemic” AML failings
- Sonos Backs Off Plan To Brick Older, Still Functioning Speakers
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board of directors: Corporation’s co-founder will focus more on his philanthropic activities
- Bitcoin loses 21 percent of its value in broad cryptocurrency rout
A.I.
- AI is an Ideology, Not a Technology: At its core, “artificial intelligence” is a perilous belief that fails to recognize the agency of humans.
- Gabe Newell on Brain-computer Interfaces: ‘We’re way closer to The Matrix than people realize’
- How can machine learning be applied to game development?
- Coronavirus: Social giants police web with AI as staff sent home
- “High-risk AI”: A European approach to excellence and trust
- The challenges of Artificial Intelligence in the field of IP
- Who owns AI creations? Comment on WIPO’s ‘Draft Issues Paper on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence’ (Guido Noto La Diega)
- Identifying the Legal and Business Risks of Disinformation and Deepfakes: What Every Business Needs to Know
COMMUNICATIONS
- TELUS Corporation obtains court order to hold virtual-only shareholder meeting
- California AG Announces Settlement Agreement with T-Mobile and Sprint
- US Cable Companies Lost 5 Million Paying Customers Last Year Alone
- AT&T waives data cap during coronavirus; Comcast keeps charging overage fees
- US ISPs Drop Usage Caps, Pledge To Avoid Kicking Users Offline During Coronavirus
- Comcast and T-Mobile upgrade everyone to unlimited data for next 60 days
- Comcast’s Broadband Market Domination Continues To Grow
- Charter engineer quits over “reckless” rules against work-from-home
- Amid pandemic, T-Mobile gets emergency access to Dish’s 600MHz spectrum
- AT&T CEO pay rose to $32 million in 2019 while he cut 20,000 jobs
- Patient Distancing: The Critical Role Telehealth Will Play During the Coronavirus Pandemic
- President Trump Signs Legislation to Enhance Efforts to Secure U.S. Telecommunication Networks
- President Trump Signs Huawei/ZTE Replacement Funding Legislation; FCC Pushes for Necessary $1 Billion Appropriations Bill
- FCC’s 2018 Abolition of Main Studio Rules Means Broadcast Studios Do Not Need to Be Open to the Public During Coronavirus Outbreak
- After deregulatory blitz, FCC scrambles to prevent ISP abuse during pandemic
- President renominates FCC commissioner O’Rielly
- Data From Italy, China Suggests The US Internet Isn’t Likely To Choke On COVID-19 Broadband Usage Spike
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Volunteers 3D-Print Unobtainable $11,000 Valve For $1 To Keep Covid-19 Patients Alive; Original Manufacturer Threatens To Sue
- Industry Committee Recommends Adding Digital Lock Exception to USMCA Copyright Provisions (Michael Geist)
- False Start for Paparazzi in Copyright Suit
- Cruz v. Cox Media Group: District court holds Cox Media Group liable for copyright infringement due to publication of bystander’s photograph of 2017 terrorist attack in conjunction with news story, finding no fair use.
- LinkedIn Appeals Important CFAA Ruling Regarding Scraping Public Info Just As Concerns Raised About Clearview
- After A Long Climb, Led Zeppelin Prevails In The Stairway To Heaven Copyright Battle
- Is “This Land is Your Land” in the Public Domain?
- The Freewheeling, Copyright-Infringing World of Custom-Printed Tees: Print-on-demand companies allow anyone to upload designs for T-shirts, mugs & other items. But many images violate I.P. rights.
- Cofemel decision applied for the first time by UK court
- The Philadelphia Phillies Are Phighting for Their Rights to the Phanatic
- March Madness Trademarks: Avoiding a Foul Call from the NCAA (2020 Update – Part 1)
- March Madness Trademarks: Avoiding a Foul Call from the NCAA (2020 Update)(Part 2 – Even if the Tournament is Off)
- Google’s Servers Hosted by Third Parties Do Not Establish Patent Venue
- Failure to Mark Can Put Damages Underwater
- Protecting Trade Secrets During a Pandemic
- Natural Language Processing
- Former Refrigerator Manufacturer Says Companies Using Open Source, Royalty-Free Video Technology Must Pay To License 2,000 Patents
- Patent Marking – Federal Circuit Clarifies Noncompliance is not Cured by Ceasing to Sell Products or by Willful Infringement
- 2020: A Busy Year for CRISPR Patents at the EPO
- Firm wielding Theranos patents asks judge to block coronavirus test [Updated]
- After Theranos suit, Fortress makes patents available on royalty-free basis for COVID-19 tests
- Softbank-Owned Patent Troll Now Promises To Grant Royalty-Free License For Covid-19 Tests; Details Lacking
- True or false: testing limits of comparative advertising
- Patent-Eligible Improvements to Computer Functionality Must Be Directed to an Improvement of the Computer or Network Platform
- Claims Using Naturally-Occurring Phenomenon in Method of Preparation Found Patent Eligible
- Choosing Advocacy over Candor Renders Patent Unenforceable
- Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court – Is it all over or is there a Plan B?
- The Growing Importance of International Arbitration for Intellectual Property Disputes
- Intellectual property law: a year in review
- As Congress Explore New Awful Copyright Plans, Maximalists Look To Rewrite The History Of SOPA/PIPA
PRIVACY
- Why the Coming Battle Over Canadian Privacy Reform Starts at Home (Michael Geist)
- Housebound Blues: Considering the Privacy and Data Security Consequences of Remote Work
- Clearview Was A Toy For Billionaires Before It Became A Toy For Cops
- Best Practices for Maintaining Employee Privacy Regarding Covid-19
- The government might want your phone location data to fight coronavirus. Here’s why that could be okay.: Privacy advocates want restrictions on how much phone location data the government gets from tech companies.
- How China built facial recognition for people wearing masks
- Since The FBI Can’t Be Bothered To Do It, Motherboard Has Compiled A Database Of Attempts To Access Encrypted IPhones
- We need privacy and data laws to tackle this global pandemic
- TikTok Says New ‘Transparency Center’ Will Invite Outside Experts To Observe Its Content, Data Practices
- What industries utilize opt-in cookie banners the most, and the least?
- High-stakes security setups are making remote work impossible
- Study ranks the privacy of major browsers. Here are the findings
- Local Government Employee Fined For Illegally Deleting Item Requested Under Freedom Of Information Act
CREATIVITY
- Eighth Circuit Serves Another Round of First Amendment Protection for Alcohol Advertising
- China Expels U.S. Journalists
- Insane: China Expels American Journalists In Ridiculous, Unhelpful Spat About Covid-19
Jon
News of the Week; March 11, 2020
GAMES
- Take-Two: Another step in the High Court’s battle against cheating in video games
- Bold: Matthew Storman, Sans Lawyer, Counter Sues Nintendo For False Allegation Of Copyright Infringement
- Joy-Con drift lawsuit denied dismissal, but referred to arbitration: 18 plaintiffs have joined suit against Nintendo, claiming unfair and deceptive business practices
- Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift class action lawsuit paused as case moves to arbitration
- Australian Parliamentary committee recommends loot box regulation: Also suggests mandatory age verification for purchases toward any simulated gambling elements in games
- Bungie will no longer sell randomized loot boxes in Destiny 2: Bright Engrams will still be available through the game’s free season pass
- APA warns against linking violent video games to real-world violence
- APA: Video games’ link to aggression doesn’t tie games to violent behavior
- APA reaffirms stance on video games and violent behaviour: “Attributing violence to video gaming is not scientifically sound and draws attention away from other factors,” says APA president
- ESA’s Game Generation leads us down a dark path of denial | Opinion: Amid threats of regulation, the games industry still fails to recognise the importance of honesty and transparency
- How to approach mental health issues in the workplace: Games studios championing mental health awareness tell the GamesIndustry.biz Academy about how to support and safeguard your staff’s emotional well-being
- 2K Games is the latest publisher to pull games from GeForce Now
- 2K pens deal with the NFL to develop multiple new football games
- The next “NFL2K” won’t be a simulation—here’s what that might mean
- Mod.io raises $1 million to help game devs support user-generated content
- Tim Sweeney says Epic will throw support behind Nvidia GeForce Now
- Nvidia’s GeForce Now loses 2K games, gains Epic support: Another publisher pulls from streaming service as Tim Sweeney declares it most “developer and publisher-friendly” option
- Epic Games Store adds wishlists: Steam’s biggest rival adds essential marketing tool for independent developers
- Unity acquires AI-driven art software company and ArtEngine maker Artomatix
- Unity acquires Artomatix: Engine maker picks up creator of ArtEngine AI-assisted art tool promising time-saving texture techniques
- 2K partners with the NFL to create multiple, non-simulation football titles: Publisher looks to create football games that are “accessible and approachable” to a broader audience
- Playing To Win: The Post-Alice Video Game Patent Landscape
- A video game is being used to help fight coronavirus: “We’re calling on YOU to help design antiviral proteins against coronavirus.
- Pay to watch play: Florida DOR concludes that video game streaming site subscriptions are subject to Florida communications services tax
- Learning the lessons of the PlayStation 2 | Opinion: Twenty years after it arrived in Japan, the most successful console of all time still has lessons that are relevant to the industry today
- Horizon Zero Dawn confirmed for PC: But PlayStation committed to dedicated consoles
- First-party PlayStation exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn arrives on PC this summer
- The world’s only known Nintendo PlayStation has sold for $300,000 [Updated]
- UK Charts: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon debuts at No.1: Nintendo Switch remake beats out Call of Duty Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: Warzone offers a free-to-play, cross-platform battle royale mode
- Pokémon Sword and Shield remain top-sellers in Japan months after release: Persona 5 Scramble – The Phantom Strikers tops Japanese charts for February with over 160,000 units sold at retail
- PlatinumGames raises over $2.2m for The Wonderful 101 Remastered: Kickstarter campaign closes well above $50k goal
- Sega invests in music startup Flutin: Sonic publisher’s efforts to expand into other areas of entertainment continue with indie artist discovery app
- Steam Labs’ latest addition is a dedicated News Hub for news and events
- Apex Legends dev says Forge stab-and-switch was meant to foil data miners
- Disruptor Beam lays off devs as it transitions to a game tech provider
- Disruptor Beam lays off nine as it pivots away from game development: Final game project canceled, company to focus solely on Disruptor Engine platform
- Game Informer non-editorial staff hit by layoffs: Business unit restructuring sees long-time publisher Cathy Preston retire as six others lose jobs
- Coronavirus delays TG-16 Mini launch, are PS5 and Xbox Series X next?
- E3 2020 cancelled due to ‘overwhelming’ coronavirus concerns
- E3 2020 has been canceled
- Xbox plans digital event to replace E3 conference
- Microsoft confirms more Xbox Series X details: Console will feature quick resume for multiple games, 12 teraflops GPU, first-party games can be bought once and played on Xbox One or Series X
- Xbox boss calls for greater transparency on key issues: Phil Spencer says the industry should lead public discussion of problems like crunch and “game loops that are exploitative”
- E3 cancelled: Troubled event postponed due to coronavirus concerns
- E3 2020 Canceled After ‘Overwhelming Concerns’ About Coronavirus
- TurboGrafx-16 Mini indefinitely delayed due to coronavirus: Impact on manufacturing and shipping in China means Konami’s classic console will not arrive this month as planned
- Take-Two CEO: COVID-19 may make believers out of remote work skeptics in games
- Elite developer Frontier now making F1 management games: Gear change.
- HTC hosting conference in virtual reality to mitigate coronavirus risk: This year’s Vive Ecosystem Conference will have ‘cloned rooms’ so no limit for attendance
- Bungie activates remote work policy in response to COVID-19 outbreak
- Microsoft aims to give hourly staff their full pay despite COVID-19 cutbacks
- Microsoft asks employees to work from home over coronavirus fears: Nintendo also encourages remote working for staff based in Washington and California
- Streamline: COVID-19 will delay games and not just consoles – Reliance on Chinese outsourcing for game development is likely to cause delayed launches, says Streamline Media Group CEO Alexander Fernandez
- COVID-19: Bungie activates remote work policy – “This includes delivering on our current content plans, the maintenance and upkeep of Destiny 2, as well as continuing development of the game,” says developer
- GDC offers talks for free following event cancellation: Previously-accepted talks will be streamed via Twitch next week, and archived for free in the coming weeks
- Game Developers Conference 2020 announces virtual awards and talk schedule
- Salvaging the opportunites lost by GDC’s cancellation: We speak to the people offering financial relief to indies, or alternatives for those forced to still travel to San Francisco
- Game Informer lays off 6 staff in restructure as publisher Cathy Preston retires
- Activision Blizzard cancels March and April Overwatch League events over COVID-19
- Mojang and EA cancel live events in response to COVID-19: Minecraft Festival cancellation joined by Apex Legends and FIFA 20 esport events
- Game Connection America 2020 postponed due to COVID-19 concerns: Last-minute decision made following updated health recommendations from San Francisco leadership
- Psyonix cancels Rocket League World Championship over coronavirus concerns: Remainder of Season 9 League will play as scheduled, but all broadcast coverage will be completely online
- Esports Players League raises $1m in seed round: 500 Startups led investment in the amateur-focused esports firm
- WME Hires 2 Former FaZe Clan Execs As Gaming Agents
- FaZe Clan Teases New Los Angeles Mansion With Rumored $10 Million Pricetag
- PUBG CEO reportedly will also lead parent group Krafton Game Union
- Pokimane Becomes Twitch’s Latest Talent Lock-In With Multiyear Exclusive Livestreaming Deal
- Twitch streamers make thousands by literally just sleeping
- GameOn Technology scores $10.5 million in financing for sports and gaming chat platform
- Report: Twitch viewership drops, while YouTube and Facebook Gaming rise
- TinyBuild says traditional indie publishing unsustainable, opens new studio with HakJak
- GameStop’s concept stores: A “laboratory,” not a Hail Mary: In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the gaming retailer is taking its time trialing new, interactive store experiences focused on the local community
- Reggie Fils-Aimé to join GameStop board of directors
- Discord loosens streaming limits to help teams work remote during COVID-19
- Frontier Developments signs exclusive license for multiple F1 management games: A total of four games are planned, with the first anticipated in F1’s 2022 racing season
- Building Ori and the Will of the Wisps with 80 people working from home: Moon Studios’ Thomas Mahler reveals the challenges and solutions to managing a distributed development team
- HBO, PlayStation announce Last of Us TV series—the “first of many shows”
- Writing, directing, and designing FMV censorship simulator Not for Broadcast
- The Last of Us is being adapted into an HBO series: Creative director Neil Druckmann onboard as executive producer with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin
- Annapurna signs multi-year deal with Simogo: Sayonara Wild Hearts publisher and developer re-team to make more games across all platforms
- The Strong Museum and Kongregate partner to preserve Flash games
- Team17’s full-year profits rise to £30m: Indie publisher enjoyed record growth in 2019, expanded headcount to 200
- Playrix acquires Armenian casual mobile game developer Plexonic
- Call of Duty: Mobile devs scrap Zombies mode due to quality concerns
- Activision unveils standalone Call of Duty battle royale: Warzone launches tomorrow, will be free-to-play with microtransactions including $10 battle pass
- That time Activision dishonorably discharged Call of Duty’s star dev duo – 10 Years Ago This Month: Jason West and Vince Zampella were marched out of Infinity Ward right into the eager arms of EA
- Call of Duty’s free-to-play, cross-platform battle royale launches March 10
- Fortnite removes abusable “legacy” aim assist for controller players: Tracking hidden players with “left trigger spam” will soon be a thing of the past.
- Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is getting a live action adaptation courtesy of HBO
- An upcoming UI tweak will make The Outer Worlds infinitely more accessible
- Bethesda wants to bring humanity to Fallout 76 through NPCs: Wastelanders designer Ferret Baudoin on why a game populated with real people needs fake ones for a more human experience
- How an unlikely Tencent project is helping China’s indie scene
- “Where should you put your time in marketing? Fun fact: emails”: Crows Crows Crows founder on how an email newsletter became a more effective marketing tool than Twitter, Facebook and Instagram combined
- Conducting the interactive opera of Evergreen Blues: David Su and Dominique Star on the musical design of their free, co-op song suite
- Creative Chronicles: A balancing post-mortem of Total War Three Kingdoms – GamesIndustry.biz Academy & Creative Assembly to publish its Creative Chronicles video series, today focusing on strategy game balancing
- Creative Chronicles: tutorials and insights into game development – Total War developer Creative Assembly share its tips on all aspects of building games, in its game development tutorial series Creative Chronicles
- Op-ed: The upsides, downsides, and future of AAA game development
- Blog: Making particles twice as fast through cache optimization
- Blog: How I built a game studio from the ground up
- Don’t Miss: The shape of God of War III
- Don’t Miss: A Game Design Deep Dive into Amnesia’s ‘Sanity Meter’
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: Virtual Immersion Technologies Litigations
- How ‘classical game mechanics’ and physics converge in VR hit Boneworks
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,299: Transitioning gameplay on a head-mounted display
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,307: Game controller with removable faceted finger pad
DIGITAL
- Facebook Hit with Anti-Trust Lawsuit
- Facebook pulls Trump campaign ads for fake census claims
- Twitter, Facebook Target Trump Campaign’s Latest Biden Video, Labeling It “Manipulated,” “Partly False”
- Facebook slaps “partly false” label on Trump-endorsed video of Biden
- How new rules at Facebook and Twitter led to a warning beneath a Trump retweet: The spread of the video shows how even clear warnings can be little match for the power of the social media infrastructure.
- President Trump Prohibits Chinese Acquisition of U.S. Software Company
- Why Is Fox News Acting As State Media, Announcing Trump’s Lawsuits Before They’re Filed And Failing To Point Out How Frivolous They Are?
- Donald Trump And Charles Harder Continue Their Assault On The 1st Amendment, Suing The Washington Post
- Trump Campaign Suing All His Media ‘Enemies’: Files Another Silly SLAPP Suit Over CNN Opinion Piece
- Study: Facebook’s fake news labels have a fatal flaw
- Facebook Still Can’t Admit That Launching Libra During An International Privacy Scandal Is Idiotic
- Facebook Brings Suit against Mobile Marketing Firm for Siphoning User Data without Authorization
- Surge of Virus Misinformation Stumps Facebook and Twitter: Secret labs. Magic cures. Government plots. Despite efforts by social media companies to stop it, false information about the coronavirus is proliferating.
- Facebook Bans Ads for Face Masks
- Facebook’s experimental Stories feature lets users cross-post to Instagram: An older tool released in 2017 can only cross-post Stories from Instagram to Facebook.
- Containing the Infectiousness of Fake News: Developments in Singapore’s Online Falsehoods Laws Amidst the COVID-19 Outbreak
- Before it sued Google for copying from Java, Oracle got rich copying IBM’s SQL
- How China is using QR code apps to contain Covid-19
- ‘This may be the last piece I write’: prominent Xi critic has internet cut after house arrest
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible; Naughty Kids In Wuhan Edition
- Online Harms White Paper – UK government publishes its initial consultation response
- COPPA Author Senator Ed Markey Introduces KIDS Act Targeting Sponsored Content, Unboxing Videos
- Quibi Accused Of Stealing Technology, Trade Secrets From Interactive Video Company Eko
- Senate Democrats Introduce Legislation to Ban Certain App Features and Types of Advertising Aimed at Children Online
- New Bill Seeks to Impose Design Restrictions on Kids’ Online Content and Marketing
- Bad Ideas: Newark Stupidly Threatens ‘Criminal Prosecution’ Against Anyone Who Reports ‘False’ Info About Covid-19
- Reddit ran wild with Boston bombing conspiracy theories in 2013 and is now an epicenter for coronavirus misinformation. The site is doing almost nothing to change that.
- Twitter expands hateful conduct rules to ban dehumanizing speech around age, disability and now, disease
- Full Count: Retweet Copyright Dispute Against Cubs Moves Forward
- Twitter Reaches Deal With Activist Fund That Wanted Jack Dorsey Out
- Jack Dorsey To Stay CEO After Twitter Reaches Deal With Investors Elliott, Silver Lake
- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Backpedals On Africa Plans Amid Reports He’s Being Pushed Out
- NBCUniversal Has Sold Its $500 Million Stake In Snap, But Will Continue On As Content Partner
- So Wait, People Seriously Think Bill Barr Will Rein In Tech Monopoly Power?
- Sorry, Tulsi Gabbard, Google can’t violate the First Amendment
- Court Explains 1st Amendment To Tulsi Gabbard In Dismissing Her Ridiculous Lawsuit Against Google
- First Voters Reject Tulsi Gabbard, Then a Judge Does–Gabbard v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Google tells employees to work from home to prevent coronavirus spread
- How Wikipedia’s volunteers became the web’s best weapon against misinformation
- Insights: The Death Of Cookies Opens New Opportunities For Influencer Marketing
- Celebrity Influencers Receive Warning Letters From Federal Trade Commission
- FTC Settlement Provides Detailed Guidance on Influencer Campaigns
- FTC Action Says Influencers Made False Claims and Failed to Include Proper Disclosures
- Will New FTC Endorsement Guidelines Make A #Hashtag of Influencer Advertising?
- Marketers Beware: Deceptive Health Claims and Social Media Influencer Practices Remain High Priorities for FTC Enforcement
- Despite Some Naysayers, Influencer Marketing Set For Big Growth In 2020
- FTC Puts Influencers and Sponsors on Notice with $15.2 Million Judgment
- FTC targets Teami’s Unsupported Health Claims and Use of Social Media Influencers
- Cannabis Company is Sued for Showing Mural in Advertising Campaign
- A Legal Fissure Appears To Be Taking Shape Among Early Members Of ‘The Hype House’
- OG Pet Influencer And Senior Adoption Activist ‘Marnie The Dog’ Has Passed Away
- Quibi Reveals Launch Slate Of 51 Shows And Movies, Offers 90-Day Free Trial
- Quibi Sued by Eko for Patent Infringement, Theft of Trade Secrets
- ByteDance Launches Standalone Music Streamer In India Armed With Sony, Warner, T-Series Licensing Deals
- Rihanna Launches TikTok Collab House For Her Fenty Beauty Brand
- Markiplier Blasts Unauthorized Biography Being Sold Without His Consent
- Canadian court awards significant defamation damages — are online platforms immune?
- Proposed bill would end “likes” for young teens’ online content
- YouTube Will Allow “A Limited Number Of Channels” To Monetize Coronavirus Content, CEO Susan Wojcicki Says
- YouTube children’s content faces a new threat from the KIDS Act: The KIDS Act could dramatically affect kids’ channels
- YouTube Cancels ‘Impulse’, One Of Its Last-Remaining Scripted Series, After 2 Seasons
- YouTube To Stream This Year’s Brandcast Due To Coronavirus, As NewFronts Recommends Other Presenters Do The Same
- Senators Hawley & Feinstein Join Graham & Blumenthal In Announcing Bill To Undermine Both Encryption And Section 230
- Why Does The NY Times Seem Literally Incapable Of Reporting Accurately On Section 230?
- Privacy Issues in the Ongoing Controversy Over Section 230
- DOJ’s Latest Ideas For Section 230 Reform Dumber Than Even I Expected
- 46 Academics Encourage Congress To Consider Section 230’s Benefits (Eric Goldman)
- The EARN IT Act Partially Repeals Section 230, But It Won’t Help Children (Eric Goldman)
- Recap of the USDOJ’s Section 230 Roundtable (Eric Goldman)
- Are Cuts Coming to the “Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet?”
- Amazon, counterfeits and memes: Online IP developments
- Amazon offers no-checkout technology to other retailers
- YouTube will slowly start monetizing coronavirus videos following creator anger: Weeks after YouTube declared automatic demonetization
- YouTube Is Demonetizing Coronavirus Videos Under Its Long-Standing “Sensitive Events” Policy
- YouTube To Stream This Year’s Brandcast Due To Coronavirus, As NewFronts Recommends Other Presenters Do The Same
- YouTube’s New Subscriber Notification Metrics Show Creators Exactly How Many Are (And Aren’t) Sent Per Upload
- YouTube TV Drops 3 Fox Regional Sports Networks Amid Contract Kerfuffle With Sinclair
- YouTube To Introduce Themed Content Shelves Within Nascent ‘/Fashion’ Hub
- Bernie Sanders’ Social Video Lead Shrinks As Joe Biden Overtakes Delegate Count
- Spotify is working on voice activation for its apps: You’ll be able to summon the app with ‘Hey Spotify’.
- Spotify rolls out a more personalized home screen to users worldwide
- Spotify Unveils New Radar Global Emerging Artist Program
- Spotify, Amazon to Argue Against Songwriter Rate Hike in Court of Appeals
- Instagram Reportedly Toying With ‘Video Response’ Feature For IGTV
- Netflix Continues To Release CYOA Content, Doesn’t Refer To It As ‘CYOA’…For Now
- The Obamas’ Next Netflix Feature To Tackle Refugee Crisis With Russo Brothers
- Sonos decides bricking old stuff isn’t a winning move after all: Software support for the products is ending, but you can still pass them along.
- You Don’t Own What You Buy Episode 9,000: Philips’ Light Bulbs Lose Functionality
- eBay bans sale of masks and hand sanitizer over gouging concerns
- Microsoft asks employees to work from home over coronavirus fears
- City of Austin cancels SXSW 2020, citing COVID-19 concerns
- Apple, Netflix, WarnerMedia, and LinkedIn pull out of SXSW appearances
- Apple warns staff of product shortages, but IT workers have already seen them
- Apple’s new App Store policies fight spam and abuse but also allow ads in notifications
- Hulu’s live TV doesn’t work on T-Mobile home Internet
- .eu domain names, the transition period and update on GDPR restricted ICANN registrant data
- The grandfather of distributed computing projects, SETI@home, shuts down
- Interaction Between Privacy and Competition Law in a Digital Economy Part-2
- The economic cost of major tech events canceled due to coronavirus has passed $1 billion: Some of the industry’s biggest events have been postponed, moved online, or canceled altogether.
- Kiva Partners With Mari Malek, Shahrzad Rafati And Others To Redefine What A “Powerful Woman” Is And Drive Loans To Over 12,000 Women During International Women’s Day
- 16 women in tech who are driving BC forward
- Deported By Silicon Valley
- Ancient animistic beliefs live on in our intimacy with tech
- Voluntary Parting Exclusion Bars Coverage for Social Engineering Scheme
- Administering Estates With Digital Assets
- Environmental activism goes digital in lockdown – but could it change the movement for good?
- Chinese beauty bloggers: amateurs, entrepreneurs, and platform labour (Zexu Guan)
- How Dictators Control the Internet: A Review Essay (Eda Keremoglu, Nils Weidmann)
- Disruption, embedded. A Polanyian framing of the platform economy (Gernot Grabher)
A.I.
- ACLU Sues ICE Over Its Deliberately-Broken Immigrant ‘Risk Assessment’ Software
- AI Company Has Access To Pretty Much Every Piece Of Surveillance Tech The State Of Utah Owns
- Much ado about Clearview: Facial recognition is here to stay
- Engineer at the center of Waymo/Uber legal battle declares bankruptcy
- Blog: Designing the enemy AI of The Division 2
- Does my AI own the IP that it creates? If not, who?
- The Social Life of Robots: The Politics of Algorithms, Governance, and Sovereignty
- Political warfare in the digital age: cyber subversion, information operations and ‘deep fakes’ (Thomas Paterson, Lauren Hanley)
- The Robots Are Coming: Ethics, Politics, and Society in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Kenneth Taylor)
- The Social Lives of Generative Adversarial Networks (Michael Castelle)
COMMUNICATIONS
- The Cancon Conundrum: Why Policies to Promote “Canadian Stories” Need an Overhaul (Michael Geist)
- Bains’ Other Wireless Affordability Problem: The Broadcast Panel Plan for WhatsApp, Skype and Other Internet Services to Pay Canadian Broadband Taxes (Michael Geist)
- A CRTC Without the West: Why an MP Is Calling a Broadcast Panel Recommendation “Discriminatory” and Warning it Could Further Alienate Western Canada (Michael Geist)
- FCC Proposes Over $200 Million in Fines to Big Four Wireless Carriers for Allegedly Selling Customer Data Without Safeguards
- FCC Proposes Over $200 Million in Fines to AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint for Not Protecting Customers’ Location Data
- Cable Sector Likely To Freak Out At New Service That Streamlines Streaming TV Password Sharing
- Congress Forces FCC To Go Beyond Its Tame, ‘Voluntary’ Anti-Robocalling Plan
- AT&T Can’t Get Out Of Its Own Way As It Tries To ‘Disrupt’ Traditional TV
- Comcast, Charter expand broadband domination as cable hits 67% market share: Cable soars again as telcos fail to deploy enough fiber to offset DSL losses.
- Comcast accidentally published 200,000 “unlisted” phone numbers
- FCC to require anti-robocall tech after “voluntary” plan didn’t work out
- FCC Opens Proceeding to Reinvigorate Opportunities for TV White Space Devices
- ICO Issues Record Fine for Nuisance Calls
- Huawei expects a 20% drop in phone sales, thanks to lack of Google apps
- Wireless Carriers Are Training Consumers To Equate “5G” With Bluster And Empty Promises
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- How Explaining Copyright Broke the YouTube Copyright System
- NYU Law School’s Video Teaching Copyright Completely Flummoxed YouTube’s Copyright Filters
- Protective Orders Alive and Well in Canadian IP Litigation: The Federal Court of Appeal has recently put to rest concerns about the availability of “protective orders” in IP litigation.
- Managing Canadian Trademark Applications Under CIPO’s New Restrictions on Extensions of Time
- Led Zeppelin wins latest battle in Stairway to Heaven legal fight
- 9th Circuit Gets It Right: Says Led Zeppelin Didn’t Infringe; Dumps Dumb ‘Inverse Ratio’ Rule
- Ninth Circuit Affirms Non-Infringement Judgment for Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven
- Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin: 9th Cir. reinstates jury verdict that Stairway to Heaven did not infringe copyright to song Taurus, ruling that sound recordings of Taurus were properly excluded at trial.
- Ninth Circuit Watch: En Banc Court Overturns Rule That a High Degree of Access to Copyrighted Material Reduces Plaintiff’s Burden to Show Substantial Similarity
- Fantasies About a Formula for Fair Use
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Litigation Update: Virtual Immersion Technologies Litigations
- Hugo Boss – aka comedian Joe Lycett – takes on Hugo Boss
- In New 5Pointz Decision, Second Circuit Concludes That VARA Trumps The Constitution
- Street artists spray paint legal victory across walls
- No success for Questor in its quest for an injunction
- NFL Gets Shopify To Take Down Clear NY Jets Parody Merch Site With Trademark Complaint
- A Bite in the Apple: Apple Inc. v. California Institute of Technology, Appeal Nos. 2019-1580, -1581 (Fed. Cir., March 5, 2020)
- Gender inequality — How many patent offices does it take to fix a leaky pipeline?
- It might be good enough to eat, but is your product good enough to protect?
- Software Can Make Non-Abstract Improvements to Computer Technology Just as Hardware Can (But Didn’t Here)
- Haptic feedback assisted text manipulation: technical
- UK opts out of Unified Patent Court regime
- UK will not be part of the Unified Patent Court or Unitary Patent system
- Will I be able to enforce my European intellectual property rights in the UK?
- Key Estate Planning Considerations for Individuals with Intellectual Property (Part III: Patents)
- Key IP trends to watch for in 2020
- Intellectual Property Protection Strategies for Successful Business in the US and Canada
- Intellectual Property Issues for Foreign Enterprises Acquiring Chinese Companies
- Mastering the patent application process
- Publicity Rights and Its Scope in Intellectual Property Laws
PRIVACY
- Vermont sues Clearview, alleging “oppressive, unscrupulous” practices
- Clearview Sued By Vermont Attorney General For Violating The State’s Privacy Laws
- Justice Department Issues Guidance on Online Intelligence Gathering for Cybersecurity
- Proposed US law is “Trojan horse” to stop online encryption, critics say