Managing Rights Management

ANT and IBM Blockchain Patents

Smart contracts, blockchains (distributed ledgers), and rights management broadly construed are the themes of today's Spotlight Patents. Assigned to ANT, the first patent address techniques for blockchain-based judgment execution. Assigned to IBM, the second patent addresses techniques for consent-based data management. 11,238,549, "Blockchain-based judgment execution," assigned to Advanced New Technologies... Read more →

Mark Coast and ANT Blockchain Patent Applications

Blockchains (smart contracts, NFTs, distributed ledgers) and rights management broadly construed are the themes of today's Spotlight Applications. Apparently assigned to the inventor Mark Coast, the first application discloses techniques for performing agricultural transactions related to hemp. Assigned to ANT (KY), the second application discloses techniques for blockchain-based [legal] judgment... Read more →

Attestiv and Connect Health Blockchain Patent Applications

Blockchains (smart contracts, distributed ledgers) and rights management broadly construed are the themes of today's Spotlight Applications. Assigned to Attestiv, the first application discloses techniques for authenticating a digital media asset, and particularly to verifying the authenticity of digital image or video files which may have been redacted or otherwise... Read more →

Kindle Orwellian Bruhaha Revisited

As noted yesterday, Amazon had deleted copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm and issued a credit to purchasers. In an Information Week article, EFF attorney Fred Von Lohmann considers the Kindle EULA: The incident, he said, highlighted the gap in understanding about rights in the digital world and... Read more →

MiniTrue: Orwell Unperson

The Ministry of Truth to Records Department: George Orwell unperson; revise immediately. Doubleplusbad 1984 and Animal Farm down "memory hole." This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had... Read more →

DRM: Control or Opportunity? The Views of Leading Trade Associations

More than 800 comments have been submitted to the FTC in advance of hearings on the impact of DRM on consumers. Four of the major copyright industry trade associations have jointly submitted useful comments. The four are the the Association of American Publishers ("AAP'),the Entertainment Sofware Association ("'ESA"), Motion Picture... Read more →

How To DRM? Byteshield's FTC Submission

ByteShield, the San Francisco-based software and game DRM company, submitted comments in advance of the FTC's hearing on DRM and the consumer. Submitted by CEO Jan Samzelius, the document provides a terrific list of DRM features, functions, and capabilities that would probably delight game and software publishers and provide a... Read more →

The CCIA On Interoperability and DRM

As noted, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a public hearing in Seattle on DRM and it's impact on consumers. More than 800 submissions were received, including several from various vendors and trade associations. Among the latter submitting written comments from the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a trade... Read more →

FTC DRM Workshop Draws 700 Comments

As noted here, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a public workshop in March on Digital Rights Management in Seattle. At least 700 comments have been file with the commission and have been made available to the public here. A preponderance of comments seem to have been submitted by individuals.... Read more →

Apple Drops DRM, Norway Drops Law Suit

CNet and other outlets report that Norway's consumer watchdog is dropping legal action against Apple now that music from iTunes will be without DRM protection. The legal action complained that Apple's FairPlay DRM prevented tracks purchased from Apple could not be played on non-Apple devices. Norway's consumer ombudsman, Bjoern Erik... Read more →