On March 16, 2023, the U. S. Copyright Office (USCO) launched a new AI Initiative to examine the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI), including the scope of copyright in works generated...more
The U.S. Copyright Office (“Office”) has published guidance on its policy and practices for examining and registering works that contain material generated by the use of artificial intelligence technology...more
Roblox recently announced that it is working on generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that will help developers who build experiences on Roblox, to more easily create games and assets. The first two test tools create...more
Despite the minimal regulatory enforcement actions against blockchain game companies and NFT issuers, now is NOT the time to become complacent about regulatory issues. As indicated below, many U.S. agencies are increasing...more
1/17/2023
/ Blockchain ,
Celebrity Endorsements ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Insider Trading ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sanctions ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Taxation
The National Football League has announced a partnership with Mythical Games to create a blockchain video game called NFL Rivals. The game will use unique, generative 3D NFL franchise-themed NFTs and let players act as a...more
“NFT” was 2021’s word of the year. This isn’t too surprising—they’re everywhere! The market cap for NFT transactions jumped from roughly $400 million at the beginning of 2021 to over $7 billion by year’s end. What’s next...more
Blockchain is one of the most significant new technologies since the internet. It has ushered in what has been referred to as Web3.0. Some of the most popular applications of this technology include NFTs and metaverses....more
2/28/2022
/ Blockchain ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FinCEN ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Online Platforms ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector
Everything is being tokenized these days, including art, games, collectibles and much more. The record prices being fetched have created an NFT frenzy. This distribution model has created a new channel for monetization of...more
Many things are being tokenized, but the growth of NFTs for digital art is booming. This, in part, is due to the recent headline news that Beeple’s iconic digital art work was sold at auction by Christie’s for $69 million....more
Posted in Patents As with other rapidly-evolving technologies, the FinTech space is experiencing a frenzy of patent activity. As its name implies, FinTech is part financial innovation (“fin”) relating to new aspects of...more
The number of different open source licenses is growing and the variation in their terms and complexity is increasing. A number of licenses that appear to be, or are commonly referred to as “open source” do not actually meet...more
3/10/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Contract Drafting ,
Copyright ,
Corporate Financing ,
Due Diligence ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Mergers ,
Open Source Software ,
Patents ,
Software ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector
The number of patents for inventions based on artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning continues to grow rapidly. Some of these inventions relate to AI technology per se, and some relate to the use of AI in...more
1/8/2020
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Blockchain ,
Comment Period ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Machine Learning ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Examinations ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Public Comment ,
USPTO
The chances are high that your company uses open source software (“OSS”) in some capacity. While the benefits of OSS are clear, it is also clear that OSS can pose significant legal risks that must be addressed. The best way...more
6/19/2019
/ Copyright ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Open Source Software ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Management ,
SaaS ,
Software ,
Software Developers ,
Software Licenses ,
Technology Sector
1. Blockchain Games and Collectibles Are on the Rise – The use of blockchain (or distributed ledger) technology for games (a.k.a blockchain games) and token-based digital collectibles is on the rise. The overnight popularity...more
3/20/2019
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
FinCEN ,
Gambling ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Video Games
The use of open source software and cloud-based computing individually are growing at a rapid pace. The use of open source in cloud deployments is also growing. Until recently, the OSS license issues with cloud deployments...more
On their own, blockchain technology, open source software, and patents each present legal issues that are often complex and frequently misunderstood. When combined, the complexity and misunderstandings of these three topics...more
10/31/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Innovation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Open Source Software ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Proprietary Information ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Software Developers ,
Software Patents ,
Technology Sector
Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that has great potential to solve many of the fundamental challenges facing the music industry today. In fact, this technology is uniquely suited to address issues across the various...more
10/2/2018
/ Artists ,
Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Privacy ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Licensing Rules ,
Music Industry ,
Patents ,
Risk Management ,
Royalties ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Smart Contracts ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales
As we have previously reported, the number of blockchain patents being filed and granted is continuing to increase. According to a Thomson Reuters report, 225 out of the 406 blockchain patents (55.4%) filed in 2017 came from...more
5/23/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Video Games
As the number of blockchain-based patents and patent applications increases, more companies have become interested in pursuing these patents. Other companies still think that blockchain-based inventions are not patentable....more
4/2/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Divided Infringement ,
Ethereum ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Section 101 ,
Technology Sector ,
USPTO
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are rapidly emerging as disruptive technologies. As has happened with many new technologies, particularly disruptive ones, a patent arms race is occurring. The number of patents...more
1/17/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Design Patent ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Applications ,
Patentability Search ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
USPTO ,
Utility Patents
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently upheld the patentability of a video game-related patent, ruling the computer graphics features were not obvious over the prior art. The patent (US Patent 7,061,488) address...more
The Federal District Court in Delaware recently denied a motion to dismiss a patent infringement case involving a video game networking technology patent based on the patent allegedly being invalid for lack of...more
9/15/2017
/ Abstract Ideas ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Computer-Related Inventions ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Section 101 ,
Video Games
A recent federal district court decision denied a motion to dismiss a complaint brought by Artifex Software Inc. (“Artifex”) for breach of contract and copyright infringement claims against Defendant Hancom, Inc. based on...more
5/16/2017
/ Breach of Contract ,
Commercial Use ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Gaming ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Open Source Software ,
Popular ,
Preemption ,
Source Code ,
Technology Sector
The Federal Circuit overturned a District Court ruling that a patent directed to automated lip synchronization and manipulation of animated characters’ facial expressions was invalid under Section 101 as being an abstract...more
9/16/2016
/ Abstract Ideas ,
Animation ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Computer-Related Inventions ,
Enfish v Microsoft ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Preemption ,
Section 101 ,
Software Developers ,
Software Patents ,
USPTO