WhoseTube? Viacom Sues Google Over Video Clips

Viacom, the parent company of MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, filed a wide-ranging lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, accusing it of “massive copyright infringement.” Viacom said it was seeking more than $1 billion in damages and an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from committing further infringement.

Citing the $1.65 billion that Google paid for YouTube, the complaint said that “YouTube deliberately built up a library of infringing works to draw traffic to the YouTube site, enabling it to gain a commanding market share, earn significant revenues and increase its enterprise value.”

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The Name Game (Plus Typos)

THE practice of “cybersquatting” has evolved from the days when people bought a trademarked Internet domain name and hoped to squeeze the trademark owner for some cash. The law is pretty clear on that: you can’t do it.

But now, companies like Microsoft are filing lawsuits against outfits they say engage in a more complicated but potentially much more lucrative practice called “domain tasting” or “domain swiping.”

Here, domains are purchased, and Web pages festooned with advertisements built behind them to see how much traffic the U.R.L.’s attract. If it is not much, the domains are returned to the registrar within five days for a full refund. If the traffic is adequate, the domain is kept, and the domain owner collects money every time someone clicks on one of the ads.

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Agency Rejects .xxx Suffixes for Sex-Related Sites on Internet

A longstanding proposal to create a specialized .xxx suffix for sex-related entertainment Web sites received a final rejection yesterday by the agency governing the Internet address system.
The plan, first introduced seven years ago by ICM Registry, was rejected by a vote of 9 to 5 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, at a meeting in Lisbon.

Board members who voted against the plan expressed concern that it would compel Icann to become involved in regulating content, among other issues.

Some who objected to the proposal included companies in the sex-related entertainment industry as well as religious groups. The entertainment executives raised fears that use of the domain, although voluntary, could open the way for governments to isolate sex-oriented Web sites into a single part of the Internet.

Others warned that the move would create a bonanza for ICM Registry, since companies with existing Web sites would be compelled to buy .xxx domain names to prevent someone else from creating sites using their company names.

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Carol Burnett files $2M copyright infringement suit over portrayal of her Charwoman character

LOS ANGELES -- Carol Burnett has filed a $2 million copyright infringement lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming her cleaning woman character was portrayed on the animated series ”Family Guy.”

Besides copyright infringement, Burnett alleges 20th Century Fox violated her publicity rights.

”’Family Guy,’ like ’The Carol Burnett Show,’ is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities. We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue ’Family Guy’ for a simple bit of comedy,” said 20th Century Fox Television spokesman Chris Alexander.

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Community To Fight Martha Stewart's 'Katonah' Trademark

A group of Martha Stewart's Westchester County neighbors has moved a step closer to opposing her efforts to trademark the "Katonah" name.

The Katonah Village Improvement Society voted on Monday to take whatever action it deems necessary to keep Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's from using the Katonah name for lines of furniture, paints and other homemaking products.

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Judge Rules Against Vonage on Patents

Alexandria, Va. (AP) - A federal judge on Friday ordered a permanent injunction against Internet phone carrier Vonage for use of rival Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents. But the injunction, which could potentially cause major disruptions to the service provided by Vonage to its 2 million customers, will not take effect for at least two weeks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton said he will wait two weeks to officially enter the injunction while he considers Vonage's request for an extended stay.

Verizon sued Vonage last year for infringing on five patents it said makes the Internet telephone service network functional. On March 8, the eight-person jury found that Vonage had infringed on three of them. And it ruled that Vonage must pay $58 million, plus possible future royalties, to Verizon. That was far less than the $197 million that Verizon had requested, and was even slightly less than what Vonage had suggested would be fair if it were found liable.

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Cybersquatting Remains on the Rise

The number of cybersquatting disputes filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2006 increased by 25 percent as compared to 2005. In a related development, the evolution of the domain name registration system is causing growing concern for trademark owners, in particular some of the effects of the use of computer software to automatically register expired domain names and their "parking" on pay-per-click portal sites, the option to register names free-of-charge for a five-day "tasting" period, the proliferation of new registrars, and the establishment of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). The combined result of these developments is to create greater opportunities for the mass, often anonymous, registration of domain names without specific consideration of third-party intellectual property rights.

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NFL marketers want 'Big Game' trademark

The National Football League is so popular, it can get away with applying Roman numerals to its championship game. It is a corporate colossus that vigilantly protects its trademarked terms, like the words "Super Bowl,'' "Super Sunday," "NFL'' and the names of teams.

Each year it sends out cease-and-desist letters to businesses and advertising firms demanding that such terms not be used for commercial purposes.

But now the NFL is pushing into Cal and Stanford territory.

The NFL wants to trademark the phrase "The Big Game."

But the Big Game also has a very specific application for Stanford University and UC Berkeley, whose annual football game dates back to 1892. It has been known as the Big Game since 1902, according to San Francisco author Ron Fimrite, who is writing a history of Cal football.

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