Bill Ferron, Jr.
Topic Revisions to the TTAB Rules and Practical Tips
Ferron spoke about the basics of a trade make hearing before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (TTAB). This is not a topic of particular interest to FFIP but was useful for understanding the differences between a TTAB hearing and a full federal trail. At the TTAB can be a useful vehicle for challenging marks but only on the grounds of registerability. The rest of the presentation focused on TTAB rules directly. I am escaping to spy on the patent presentation.
Scott T. Wilsdon
Topic: RIAA and Direct Liability
Mr. Wilsdon is on the other side of of the copyfight from FFIP. With this said, Wilsdon does know the law in this area and covered the main cases from Napster to Thomas. He gave interesting insight on jury instruction number 15 used in Capital Records v. Thomson, which makes one who merely makes work available through a shared folder liable for actual distribution. This jury instruction lower the proof need to convict in p2p case to almost nothing.
Topic: Fair Use and the First Amendment
Fair Use started not as a statute but as an equitable defense to copyright infringement. Now Fair Use is embodied in Section 107 of the copyright act. Nimmer argues that some works are the inherent expression of an event or act and may not be inseparable in a traditional facts v. idea separation. One example of this is the Zapruder’s film of the JFK assassination.
The Q & A section had a lively discussion on the Harry Potter Lexicon and Fair Use v. transformational derivative works.
