A Nice and Not So Naughty List of Top US IP “Wins”

The month of January is quickly becoming a memory and publishers are still putting together their top 2013 Intellectual Property lists.  Not to be left out, Corporate Counsel recently published: “The Big IP Wins [US] of 2013: An admittedly subjective guide to the patent and copyright hits of the year.”   The list includes: Apple v. Samsung; the Washington and Illinois FRAND cases; FTC v. Activis; Myriad; United States Patent and Trademark Office inter partes review; the Google Books decision; Wiley v. Kirtsaeng; and the Aereo decision.  I particularly like the inclusion of the FRAND cases and the US PTO inter partes review.  Here is the discussion of the FRAND cases:

What's FRAND?

First, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington stepped up to become the first U.S. court to set fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) royalty rates for standard-essential patents. The Northern District of Illinois was quick to follow. The first case stems from a lawsuit in which Microsoft sued Motorola, claiming the telecommunications company was charging an excessive rate for a standard-essential patent, saying the amount violated Motorola's promise to license the patent on FRAND terms. U.S. District Judge James Robart held a bench trial, and in April took it upon himself to decide the FRAND rate for Motorola's patents—an amount markedly lower than the price Motorola had demanded. This was the first time a judge had ever made such a FRAND determination, and his 207-page opinion has set its own standard. Six months later, Judge James Holderman in the Northern District of Illinois followed Robart's lead. He determined a FRAND rate for licensing a portfolio of standard-essential patents owned by Innovatio IP Ventures, a patent assertion entity that had sued coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, retailers and other commercial users of wireless Internet technology. His rate was drastically lower than what Innovatio had demanded, making it a win for the manufacturers whose products were actually at issue, including Cisco Systems, Netgear and Hewlett-Packard. "It appears there is now a developing trend for district court judges to decide a FRAND rate," says Bart Showalter, a partner at Baker Botts.

Do you think they missed any other notable US IP developments?  Do you know of a solid non-US 2013 IP developments list?  Please share!

Music Export Growth Scheme: no strings attached?

"Music Export Growth Scheme opens for second round" is the big headline of a somewhat triumphalist media release from the British government's Department for Business, Innovation & Skills in conjunction with UK Trade & Investment.  It reads as follows, in relevant part:

"Fourteen talented UK-signed acts will today receive financial support to help market themselves around the world, Trade Minister Lord Livingston announced today. The successful applicants from the first round of the Music Export Growth Scheme were revealed after last night’s BRIT Awards celebrated some of the world-beating UK artists who have helped accelerate British music exports to over 13% of the global market.

The Music Export Growth Scheme has been established by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to help small and mid-sized independent music companies promote their artists overseas as part of wider Government efforts to get another 100,000 businesses exporting. The music companies and acts receiving the grants span the genres of rock/alternative, pop, dance/electronic, urban, classical, jazz and world music and are from London, Glasgow, Sheffield, Wiltshire, Leeds, Nottingham and Monmouth (Wales).

Trade Minister Lord Livingston said:

“...  50 years on from the Beatles arriving in the America, the Music Export Growth Scheme will give more talented young British artists the chance to be successful on the international stage. This scheme is just one of a number of ways UK Trade & Investment helps music businesses to get into the rhythm of exporting."

The artists are: * Afrikan Boy * Beth Jeans Houghton * Catfish and the Bottlemen * Drenge * Filthy Boy * Fred V & Grafix * George Benjamin * Holy Mountain * Melt Yourself Down * Public Service Broadcasting * The Crookes * The Temperance Movement [no relation of The Temperance Seven] * Throwing Snow * Zara McFarlane ...

The scheme, funded by UKTI, will make up to £2.5 million of grants available over a two and a half year period. Further application rounds will take place periodically over the next two and a half years, with the next round now open for submissions until 17 March 2014. Applications are open to all UK music companies meeting the application criteria. Full details can be found at http://www.bpi.co.uk/export-scheme.aspx ..."

In an earlier post on the 1709 Blog, this blogger was speculating about the absence of the word "copyright" from the information on the Music Export Growth Scheme's web page. Does anyone know whether this government support comes at a price and, if so, what that price might be?

Stock Market Reactions to Patent Litigation -- can you help?

I have had a request from Nam Nguyen (TU Darmstadt, Germany) who is currently writing a Bachelor Thesis on the topic "Stock Market Reactions to Patent Litigation".

Nam already knows of the information available from an 18 September 2013 blogpost on PatLit, "Patent litigation and stock market reactions: evidence from a recent study" -- but Nam wonders what further information on this subject can be recommended. Readers -- it's up to you!