Opera Mini 4 Beta
As a counterweight to all the iPhone hype -- which I must say appears almost entirely well-deserved -- allow me to point the rest of us smartphone users to the new
Opera Mini 4 Beta release. I use Opera Mini as my browser on my Treo 650, and other than the occasional freeze ups it's a nice solution. The new version piles on the bells and whistles, including zooming (like the iPhone!), and a "virtual mouse" for easier scrolling. If you're willing to deal with the potential issues that come with a beta, it's worth a try. I'll be installing it over the weekend and I'll report back with my reaction.
Obvious Post of the Day: Skyrocketing iPhone Domain Name Registrations
Name Intelligence, Inc. reports on the
explosion of iPhone related domain name registrations.
There are more then four thousand new IPhone domain names floating around now and we expect another four thousand by the end of the year.(Via CircleID)
New York Lawmakers Propose Amendments to Rights of Publicity Law
In the wake of two major rights of publicity cases, one
concerning Marilyn Monroe and the other
concerning Jimi Hendrix, a bill has been proposed in
New York to extend publicity rights post-mortem. Currently, the New York rights of publicity statute does not apply post-mortem. Due to application of New York law, the two cases mentioned above were both defeats for the parties claiming the post-mortem rights.
(Via PhotoAttorney)
The Print Ads Have Eyes
A company called Xuuk, Inc. is marketing a product called
eyebox2, which it claims can automatically detect when someone looks at an advertisement from up to ten meters away.
Use it to track who's looking at your screen ads in the mall. Obtain detailed statistics on viewing behavior over time on any number of persons within view of a plasma display. Detect when a customer is looking at your product display. See what movie poster your audience is interested in. Or control your home theatre or first person shooter games with your eyesThat last sentence seems a bit out of place. Via
MetaFilter.
Japan Rebrands Iwo Jima
Rebranding back to a previous name isn't just for corporations like AT&T.
Japan has changed the name of Iwo Jima back to its pre-war name of Iwo To.
Martignon Bootlegging Case Reversed By the Second Circuit
The Second Circuit has upheld 28 USC 2319A(a)(1) and (3), and reversed the District Court's ruling of unconstitutionality.
Professor Patry has more details on the opinion. The comments on Professor Patry's post are very interesting and well worth reading.
Copyright Office Roundtable Use of Music on the Internet
The
Broadcast Law Blog has a
good summary of a recent Copyright Office Roundtable concerning Section 115 and use of music online. The summary does a good job describing some of the ambiguities in the law and also the difficulties in resolving online licensing issues.
Gray Market Goods and State Laws
Jorge Espinosa has a great post over at
The Gray Blog concerning
state laws governing gray market goods.
NYPD Trademark Policing
According to am New York, the New York Police Department has filed a trademark infringement action against an Orlando-based pizzeria chain called NYPD Pizza alleging that the chain
"intentionally and purposefully" designing its logo to look like the department's fabled shield and of decorating its pizzerias to resemble police precincts, complete with bills that look like summonses.
The article states that this is not the first time the parties have been involved in litigation of this sort. Five years ago the parties litigated similar claims, which ended with a settlement restricting NYPD Pizza's use of the NYPD logo.
According to the story
The city receives 10 percent of the approximately $11 million annually in NYPD paraphernalia sold on the retail market by official licensees[.]
Products Liability, Trademarks, and Counterfeiting
The New York Times
reports on the lethal consequences of counterfeiting.
(via Likelihood of Confusion).
See also posts
here and
here.
