The Librarian of Congress has appointed Maria Pallante to serve as Acting Register of Copyrights. As per the Copyright Office’s press release:
Maria A. Pallante, senior adviser to the Librarian of Congress, has been appointed Acting Register of Copyrights, effective Jan. 1, 2011. She will serve until the next Register of Copyrights is selected and assumes the duties of the position. The current register, Marybeth Peters, will retire on Dec. 31, after 16 years in the position.
“The position of Register of Copyrights is extremely important to the copyright community, the Library of Congress and the United States, and requires a significant skill set. It is important that we proceed diligently in making that appointment,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “In the meantime, Maria is an experienced copyright lawyer and manager, and I am grateful that she is willing to oversee the registration, policy and other important functions of the Copyright Office for as long as we need her.”
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Pallante has spent much of her career in New York. From 1999-2007, she served as intellectual property counsel and director of licensing for the Guggenheim Museums, where she advised on programmatic and business initiatives related to worldwide publishing, product development and branding; the acquisition and exhibition of contemporary art; and the operation of overseas affiliates and licensees. Earlier in her career, she worked in private practice and on the staffs of the Authors Guild and National Writers Union, respectively.
Pallante earned her juris doctor degree from George Washington University and her bachelor’s degree from Misericordia University, where she was also awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
Nimmer on Copyright, Goldstein’s Copyright’s Highway, Patry on Fair Use, and Lerner’s set on Art Law . . . that’s certainly a sufficiently nerdy enough book collection.
The Michigan State University College of Law Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program has issued a call for papers for its Junior Scholars Workshop on April 15-16, 2011:
The Junior Scholars in Intellectual Property (JSIP) Workshop offers an opportunity for junior scholars* writing in the areas of intellectual property, communications, and cyberlaw to receive commentary from established scholars in a focused workshop setting. Articles will be chosen prior to JSIP through a blind-review selection process. Accepted articles will receive detailed feedback from at least two commentators as well as from workshop participants. Participants are expected to attend for the full duration of the workshop.
Applicant-scholars should submit papers online below by February 4, 2011.
* Eligible junior scholars have seven or less years full-time teaching experience.
For more information please contact Sean Pager at 517-432-6972 or spager[at]law.msu.edu
FreecycleSunnyvale v. The Freecycle Network, 4:06-cv-00324-CW (9th Cir. November 24, 2010)
The Freecycle Network was a national umbrella of local groups which advanced the practice of giving unwanted items to strangers so that the items could be reused. Most of The Free Cycle Network’s activities were organized locally via Yahoo!Groups or Google Groups. FreecycleSunnyvale was a member group of The Freecycle Network. The Freecycle Network used three trademarks FREECYCLE, THE FREECYCLE NETWORK, and a logo to identify its services and affiliations with member groups. As The Freecycle Netork grew, it increasingly relied on local moderators to regulate its member groups’ use of the trademarks.
Before 2004, The Freecycle Network had only a few suggested guidelines for trademark use in the etiquette section of its website, including a “Keep it Free” rule. In 2004, a national organizer, along with local group moderators, reached an ostensibly majority agreement on a new rule, “Keep it Free, Legal & Appropriate for All Ages”; though the enforcement of the rule varied by member group.
For reasons the court noted were not evident from the parties’ briefs, The Freecycle Network sent emails to FreecycleSunnyvale ordering the group to cease and desist using the Freecycle name and logo. FreecycleSunnyvale, shortly thereafter, filed a declaratory action, alleging noninfringement of TFN’s trademarks and tortious interference with FS’s business relations. FreecycleSunnyvale moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether its naked licensing defense to trademark infringement allowed it to avoid a finding of infringement as a matter of law.
The Ninth Circuit (Graber, Bea, Callahan writing) affirmed the district court’s finding that The Freecycle Network had engaged in naked licensing and abandoned its trademarks because TFN (1) did not retain express contractual control over FS’s quality control measures, (2) did not have actual controls over FS’s quality control measures, and (3) was unreasonable in relying on FS’s quality control measures.
As per the CO’s press release:
The Copyright Office is extending the time in which comments and reply comments can be filed in response to its Notice of Inquiry requesting public input on the desirability and means of bringing sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, under federal jurisdiction. Initial comments must be received in the Office of the General Counsel of the Copyright Office no later than January 31, 2011. Reply comments must be received no later than March 2, 2011. The Office prefers that comments be submitted electronically via the Copyright Office website. For further information, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov. (Read More)
Recent scholarship from the 
