In the UCLA video streaming case, on October 5, 2011 Judge Consuelo Marshall granted UCLA’s motion to dismiss the case, in an opinion primarily grounded on her view that sovereign immunity shields UCLA from suit and that AIME does not have standing to sue on behalf of its members.  Thus the judge’s order did not definitively address the fair use and other substantive copyright issues at the heart of the suit.  The order also permitted the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to add additional factual support for certain of the allegations.  Accordingly on October 24, 2011 Lutzker & Lutzker filed a second amended complaint with expanded allegations as to the injury caused to AIME itself as an association by UCLA’s activities and the specific involvement of top UCLA officials in the decision to stream the Ambrose videos, as well as detailed allegations as to how the Video Furnace technology used by UCLA to stream the videos violated each of the exclusive rights of Ambrose as copyright owner.   UCLA will now have an opportunity to respond to the second amended complaint, following which the judge will issue a new decision.  See second amended complaint and exhibits Part 1, 2, and 3.

Arnie Lutzker is currently teaching a month-long distance learning course for the Center for Intellectual Property Management of University of Maryland’s University College entitled “Copyright, Photos, Video, Art & Multimedia.”  See the blog for more about the course.

The lead article in the Fall 2011 edition of the AIME newsletter by Arnold Lutzker and Susan Lutzker, “Patents:  A Brief Primer,” discusses the third prong of intellectual property protection (the other two being copyrights and trademarks) and their broad impact on the tools and processes of learning.  The article focuses both on legislative reform (the sweeping “America Invents Act” signed into law by President Obama on September 16); recent high-stakes lawsuits (such as the ongoing battle between Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy to capture the tablet market); and big-dollar defensive patent strategies being adopted by major tech companies in the face of challenges that are certain to arise (for example, Google’s victory in a high-stakes bidding war to buy Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, for $12.5 billion).

Arnie and Susan Lutzker have just returned from Paris, where they participated in the annual conference of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF).  See the blog for more on the conference.

MyBlockNYC.com, a just-launched interactive video mapping website, is featured in “Talk To Me: Design and Communication Between People and Objects,” a new exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Co-created by New York natives Alex Kalman and Alex Rickard, the site incorporates user-submitted videos to bring to life a block by block interactive map of the Big Apple, allowing viewers to create an intimate and constantly evolving portrait of New York City. Through the MoMA exhibition visitors can explore the site on a 40-inch touch screen kiosk and then, if they are so inclined, shoot their own video outside, upload it to the site and have their footage become part of the MoMA exhibition. The project also includes partnerships with New York City public schools, allowing students to learn filmmaking using a MyBlock curriculum and focusing on their own neighborhoods. Lutzker & Lutzker has provided intellectual property support for the innovative new venture, which will soon include mobile apps as well as the website. The MoMA exhibition, on view until November 7, 2011, “focuses on objects that involve a direct interaction, such as interfaces, information systems, visualization design, and communication devices, and on projects that establish an emotional, sensual, or intellectual connection with their users.”