Law and Innovation

Discussions about copyright rules for the digital age are rising. In the last quarter of 2017, the European Commission (“EC”) has been pretty busy to step up the fight against online piracy and counterfeiting; but online platforms also have a role to play. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of movies, TV shows, software and books are still available to download for free. In this article, we highlight some of the new proposals aiming at protecting copyright and ensuring that illegal content once taken down does not (too quickly) simply reappear. How does the Commission plan to step up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy? Apart from the  copyright proposal   reform adopted in September 2016, the EC recently published a number of important IP documents: -           A Communication paper on “ Tackling Illegal Content Online - Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms ”;   -    ...

Fresh and interesting article posted on TechCrunch about Facebook attempt to legally clone the features and technology of Snapchat. However, Facebook may be violating Snapchat's patent(s).  Happy reading! "Facebook released Slingshot , its second attempt at an impermanent sharing app, last Tuesday. The app borrows heavily, in concept and features, from Snapchat, as well as smaller startups like Frontback and Look. Slingshot and Facebook Messenger feature the same photo and video recording interface–a very user friendly mechanism where you tap the main button to take a picture, and hold that button to record a video. There’s just one problem: Facebook may be violating Snapchat’s patent , “Single mode visual media capture”  that was approved over a year ago. Representatives from both Facebook and Snapchat declined to comment for this story, but the patent appears to describe the way both companies’ apps record media: “An...

Fresh and interesting image showing how much major tech companies make in one second. In just ONE second, Apple makes $1,997, while Google makes $658. Facebook brings in $81.

S ix months ago, Facebook finally decided to go after Google, Yahoo, etc. with a new search product called Graph Search. Yesterday, Facebook's Graph Search feature was rolling out to everyone. What do you need to know about it? Not much... (the new logo maybe?) About your privacy settings? A bit more ... About the way you use Facebook?  It depends (as always) on what you like on Facebook... perhaps in the way you search for pictures... but otherwise, this new search product did not really convince me. This morning, you probably realized that when you clicked on your notification button (at least on your laptop; not on your smartphone), Facebook asked you, under the privacy button, to "okay" a new tip. Tip: Graph Search is rolling out now, so it's getting easier for people to find photos and other things you've shared with them. To check who can see your stuff, just click [the privacy button]. I was surprised to see it there and not on the top of ...

Did Facebook Small Team Work On a Big Idea?  Twitter's Vine vs. Facebook's Instagram Video App. T his morning, I read a couple of articles about the new Facebook's Instagram video app (check the video here ). It's still hard to know what people think about it in terms of comparison with Twitter's Vine... Some are upset about it ( for instance ). What is this new product exactly about? Basically, it's just another way to share your stories (what else can you expect from Facebook's mission?). " When you go to take a photo on Instagram, you’ll now see a movie camera icon. Tap it to enter video mode, where you can take up to fifteen seconds of video through the Instagram camera. (...) When you post a video, you’ll also be able to select your favorite scene from what you’ve recorded as your cover image so your videos are beautiful even when they’re not playing ", explained Instagram on its blog. Facebook was created to make the ...

Google Invokes First Amendment In The NSA PRISM Scandal  I t will not surprised me that Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo's Offices are under monitoring surveillance right now. Revelations about the PRISM program are not only revealing crispy details on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance methods, opening new debates about national security vs. personal privacy, but are also provoking fissures between U.S. Officials and all the technology companies involved in it; mostly Google. Yesterday, Google filed a " motion for declaratory judgement [1] of Google Inc.'s first amendment right to publish aggregate information about FISA Orders " (click here ). As you all know, the First Amendment states that: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press (underlined added) ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition...

According to LinkedIn, their mission is simple: "connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. When you join LinkedIn, you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do". With the recent changes on their homepage (see below), it seems that the world's largest professional network is becoming a social network (such as Facebook or Google+) or, at least, a "professocial" network, something like a professional network but with all the same features and characteristics that you expect to find in a social network. As we all noticed, LinkedIn recently added the ability for users to share your videos, images, documents, photos, presentations, etc. from the LinkedIn Profile Page and for some users, also from the Homepage. These new features have been added to the existing options to share status messages, links, or to mention someone or type a name on the Home News Stories Page...

Welcome 'Home', Goodbye 'Apps'   The rumors that Facebook will announce its own smartphone on April 4th, an 'fphone' or 'Facephone' (or whatever you call it), to compete with the iPhone and the Galaxy S 4, were wrong. It's not a phone, it's not a new OS, or a fork of the Android operating system (like Amazon's Kindle fire), but its more than an app... it's an 'apperating system' (see Wired.com article ). It will turn your Android phone into a huge and simple social device. It's definitely easier to provide a free app for all the Android phones out in the world than selling phones... Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. This Home experience is definitely going in this direction... but perhaps too much? The Company created a new phone experience, to make it easier to connect, consume and share content with your family and friends in a way that you w...