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I may never fully understand why some companies seem to think it's in their best interests to fight the biggest fans of their IP: http://gamepolitics.com/2014/08/18/konami-shuts-down-fan-made-metal-gear-remake

Thought crimes: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140716/05332527890/licensing-boards-think-studying-test-is-copyright-infringement-forbid-memorization-material.shtml

Some good news: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/after-years-of-hype-patent-troll-vringo-demolished-on-appeal/

Corruption in the Patent Office goes well with the corruption in the Patent System: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/patent-office-filters-out-worst-telework-abuses-in-report-to-watchdog/2014/08/10/cd5f442e-1e4d-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html

In the IP world, the phrase "do this on a cumputer" is like magic pixie dust that enables bad patents to fly. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/eff-inaugurates-stupid-patent-of-the-month/

Sherlock Holmes and the mystery of why people insist that he's not public domain: http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/07/sherlock-holmes-and-the-mystery-of-copyright/

Also relevant: Kickstarter on network neutrality http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kickstarter-ceo-fccs-fast-lane-internet-plan-threatens-free-exchange-of-ideas/2014/07/04/a52ffd2a-fcbc-11e3-932c-0a55b81f48ce_story.html

Here is something humorous and light-hearted, but still relevant to the topic: http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-pfizer-breakthrough-miraculously-extends-lifes,36378/

The Supreme Court may have just killed the cloud: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/analysis-aereos-death-leaves-cloud-computing-hanging-in-the-balance/

Patents and start-ups don't mix: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/new-study-suggests-patent-trolls-really-are-killing-startups/

Always remember that ideas cannot be copyrighted: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140605/12131227479/district-court-judge-reminds-vexatious-human-being-that-ideas-even-techno-dragons-with-guns-are-not-protected-copyright.shtml

"the Federal Circuit has created a world in which the most obvious ideas are the hardest to prove obvious" http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/how-amazon-got-a-patent-on-white-background-photography/

The court of appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) is supposed to be the "expert" on Patent law, but it has been so thoroughly captured by patent lawyers that the supreme court had this to say about it: "The Federal Circuit's analysis fundamentally misunderstands what it means to infringe a...

A look into how much money is spent on patent licensing to produce smartphones: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140530/06531127408/120-smartphone-patent-tax-patent-royalties-cost-more-than-actual-hardware-your-phone.shtml

Ladies and Gentlemen: The US Patent System http://gizmodo.com/amazons-revolutionary-new-patent-taking-photos-on-a-wh-1573645285

Oh man... this is one of the most astoundingly stupid rulings I've heard of in my life. And I've heard quite a lot of them: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140509/10133727178/appeals-court-doesnt-understand-difference-between-software-api-declares-apis-copyrightable.shtml

You only need to do that for trademarks. It is the only form of IP that can be lost if it becomes generic, or in the case of "failure to actively use the mark in the lawful course of trade, or to enforce the registration in the event of infringement". In the case of the Red Cross they are always...

This is an issue that is frequently discussed in relation to trademark law, where likelihood of confusion is kind of a big deal. In this case, it is exceedingly unlikely if not outright impossible for any kind of confusion to happen. This is because Valentine is a fictional character in a...

The incorporation of a red cross onto the design of a fictional character has no bearing on the ability of the Red Cross organization to save lives. They're in the same arena because one of the most popular strategies for pushing through bad policy is to conflate it with some serious issue...

This is annoying, but sadly it's par for the course these days. What with how expansive copyright and other forms of intellectual property have become, it really limits how people can put out new stuff. It's not just in the arts too. I'm a software engineer and I'm pretty sure it's literally...