COMMUNICATIONS
- Trump admin shrugs off FCC court loss to fight Calif. net neutrality law
- FCC Focuses on Review of Broadcasters’ Online Political Files
- NTIA Section 230 Petition Raises Significant Legal and Policy Issues at FCC
- Safe Harbors and Erroneous Blocking Redress Measures Adopted by the FCC; Additional Rulemaking Proposed
- Charter tries to convince FCC that broadband customers want data caps
- New York State Leaders Finally Realize U.S. Broadband Availability Data Is Hot Garbage
- FCC lowers some prison phone rates after blaming states for high prices
- FCC Sets Rules for 5G Spectrum Auction – Bidding to Start December 8
- FCC Eliminates Rule Requiring Broadcast Station Tower Owners to Give Access to Competing Stations
- FCC Eliminates Program Duplication Rules for AM and FM Stations
- The Making – and Unmaking – of an FCC Commissioner
- Broadcasts and Podcasts: Foreign Investment in Telecom Infrastructure
- The Legal Debate Over Net Neutrality Shifts to State Laws
- FAR Council Publishes Interim Rule on Section 889 Part B Increasing Prohibitions on Contracting with Companies Using Certain Chinese Telecommunications Equipment and Services
- AT&T to lay off 600 at HBO and Warner Bros. after revenue decline
DIGITAL
- Genius Media Lawsuit Accusing Google of Stealing Song Lyrics Is Tossed
- Yes, Facebook Treats Trump Fans Differently: It Has Relaxed The Rules To Give Them More Leeway
- Trump campaign’s false COVID-19 claims taken down by Facebook and Twitter
- Mass hijacking spree takes over subreddits to promote Donald Trump
- Muting Misinformation: Can we sue to stop misleading political speech?
- The Silver Lining Of Internet Regulation: A Regulatory Impact Assessment
- Digital Technology As Accelerant: Growth And Genocide In Myanmar
- Ousted COO sues Pinterest, alleges rampant gender discrimination
- New Jersey prosecutors drop charges over tweeting a cop’s photo
- HS suspends teen who tweeted photo of hallway packed with maskless students
- HS that suspended teen who tweeted photo of hallway has 9 COVID-19 cases
- Paulding County High School Un-Suspends Student But Can’t Un-Infect Students Who Got COVID-19
- State Department Announces That Great Firewall For The US; Blocks Chinese Apps & Equipment
- New Executive Orders Target Chinese Apps
- Trump declares TikTok, WeChat “national emergency,” preps bans
- National Security Meets Teenage Dance Battles: Trump Issues Executive Orders Impacting TikTok and WeChat Business in the U.S.
- President Trump Issues Executive Orders Prohibiting Transactions Related to TikTok and WeChat
- Nine Things You Need to Know About the Trump Administration Sanctions Against TikTok and WeChat
- U.S. Government Takes Aim at TikTok and WeChat Citing Privacy and Security Concerns
- China already has your data. Trump’s TikTok and WeChat bans can’t stop that.
- Trump Issues Ridiculous Executive Orders Banning TikTok And WeChat
- How a TikTok ban would affect the influencer economy
- TikTok deal tests Microsoft’s decades of China experience
- TikTok In Talks With Twitter About Acquisition, Is Looking To Sue Trump Administration As Ban Looms (Report)
- Is the clock ticking for TikTok? What’s the big deal anyway?
- Insights: Microsoft Intercepts TikTok Political Football, Despite Facebook’s Game Plan
- Trump’s bid to force TikTok sale follows well-trod legal path: US government decisions to block and unwind deals on national security grounds are all but impossible to overturn in court
- Gullible Maine & DHS Intel Officers Believed Teen TikTok Video Was Serious Terrorist Threat
- Addison Rae Is TikTok’s Highest Earner, Pocketing Roughly $5 Million Over Past Year (Report)
- TikTok Aligns With ‘American Idol’ Creator Simon Fuller To Search For Next Pop Supergroup
- David Dobrik, Avani Gregg, Brittany Broski Among First Recipients Of TikTok’s $1 Billion Creator Fund
- Hype House TikToker Kelianne Stankus Signs With UTA (Exclusive)
- New York Yankees Tap TikTok For Sponsorship, Exclusive Content Deal
- YouTube, TikTok Stars ‘The Stokes Twins’ Each Charged With Felony, Misdemeanor After Bank Robber Prank
- YouTube Reinstates Monetization For Steven Crowder 14 Months After Racist, Homophobic Harassment Of Carlos Maza
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 8/10/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/10/2020
- Influencer Marketing Company CreatorIQ Joins YouTube’s Measurement Program
- Google says it’s working hard to address YouTube Music complaints
- Why Are There Currently No Ads On Techdirt? Apparently Google Thinks We’re Dangerous
- YouTube Millionaires: For Our First 10 Million Subscriber Special, We Check In With Chad Wild Clay And His Burgeoning Franchise ‘Spy Ninjas’
- Rebecca Zamolo Launches Mobile Game Inspired By Hit ‘Game Master Network’ YouTube Series
- Three Of Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen Stars Have Exited After Failed Pay Negotiations
- 2 More Bon Appétit Hosts Depart YouTube Channel, With Video Production Set To Resume In September
- Bon Appétit’s Popular YouTube Channel Loses Sixth Host, Carla Lalli Music
- Hey Creators, Are Your Viral Parties Really Worth the Risk?
- NikkieTutorials Robbed At Gunpoint In Netherlands Home, As Local Police Solicit Tips
- Monk-Turned-Motivational Content Creator Jay Shetty Signs With WME
- Snapchat Unveils In-App Voter Registration Tools Ahead Of November Election
- FTC Commissioners Are Upset About Section 230; Though It’s Not At All Clear Why
- Online platform immunity under Section 230 teed up for FCC
- Section 230 Isn’t Why Omegle Has Awful Content, And Getting Rid Of 230 Won’t Change That
- Comments on NTIA’s Petition to the FCC Seeking to Destroy Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- Mozilla cuts 250 jobs, says Firefox development will be affected
- Content Moderation Case Study: Social Media Services Respond When Recordings Of Shooting Are Uploaded By The Person Committing The Crimes (August 2015)
- Photo embedding cases depend on social media company decisions
- WhatsApp’s Lawsuit Against NSO in US Federal Court Survives Motion to Dismiss
- The Harry Potter Films Are Now Exclusive To Comcast, And The Streaming Sector Remains Oblivious To Piracy’s Looming Resurgence
- Financial Daily Dose 8.6.2020 | Top Story: Facebook Launches Instagram Reels to Compete with TikTok
- How The NBA Has Approached Facebook Video Since Returning to the Court
- Jukin Launches Self-Service Platform Allowing Anyone To License Its Viral Videos, Starting At $50
- Focals ‘Smart’ Glasses Become Dumb As A Brick After Google Acquisition
- Android is now the world’s largest earthquake detection network
- Revisiting The Common Law Liability Of Online Intermediaries Before Section 230
- Coronavirus clobbers Uber, leading to $1.8 billion quarterly loss
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Twitter Locks Accounts For Fact Checking The President
- The quest to liberate $300,000 of bitcoin from an old ZIP file
- Scientists Forced To Change Names Of Human Genes Because Of Microsoft’s Failure To Patch Excel
- Three algorithm-less streaming sites revive the wacky Web from days of yore
A.I.
- Facial Recognition Start-Up Mounts a First Amendment Defense
- Get Ready For Deepfakes To Be Used In Financial Scams
- Uber / Google Trade Secret Row Over Self-Driving Car Tech Hits End of Road: Settlement and Jail Time
- Las Vegas Police Are Running Lots Of Low Quality Images Through Their Facial Recognition System
- Here’s why Apple believes it’s an AI leader—and why it says critics have it all wrong
- Inventorship, Patenting and AI: The Public Comments on Patenting Artificial Intelligence Inventions
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Genius Media Lawsuit Accusing Google of Stealing Song Lyrics Is Tossed
- Judge Tosses Out Genius’ Laughable Lawsuit Against Google Over Licensed Lyric Copying
- Neil Young’s Suit Illustrates Music Licensing Issues
- Helpless No More? Neil Young Sues Trump Campaign for Use of His Songs
- Fair Use, “The Frankenstein,” and the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Masterson v. The Walt Disney Company: 9th Circuit dismisses claim against Disney’s animated film Inside Out, holding that alleged similarities to plaintiff’s book of poetry and movie script are unprotectable.
- DMCA 512 Report: key findings by US Copyright Office
- U.S. Copyright Office: DMCA Is “Tilted Askew,” Recommends Remedies for Rightsholders
- In 10 Years Of Existence, The Long-Running French Farce Known As Hadopi Has Imposed Just €87,000 In Fines, But Cost Taxpayers €82 Million
- Easier Copyright Registration Coming for Blogs and Social Media Posts
- Like, Comment, Share, and Protect the Copyright of Digital Content
- PRS v Qatar Airways
- Porn Company Strikes Back
- Special tweetment: Who owns the IP for social media content?
- Interlocutory Injunction Issued in relation to Grey Goods in Canada
- Apple Opposes Trademark Application For Recipe App’s Pear-Shaped Logo
- Maker of VAMPIRE-Branded Alcoholic Beverages Alleges Grocery Chain Is Taking a Bite Out of Its Trademark Rights
- Trademark tips: Beware linguistic errors and cultural appropriation
- A New Standard for Multicolored Marks August 10, 2020
- Merck v Merck: A lesson on the practical implications of co-existence agreements and online use in the digital age
- Unfair Competition: The Tort that Tags Along
- Monsanto V. Schmeiser 20 Years Later: The Answer Wasn’t Blowin’ in the Wind
- Claims Covering Human Engineering That Exploits a Naturally-Occurring Phenomenon Are Patent Eligible
- Sort It Out: Cell Sorting Method with Data Processing Steps Patent Eligible
- Doing It That Way Is Natural . . . and Patentable
- IP Alert | Still Contentious and “No More” Clear – AAM v. Neapco and Its Take on § 101
- Obviousness, Common Sense and Sensibility: Federal Circuit Ruling Offers Cautionary Tale for Patent Applicants
- Federal Circuit’s Cardionet Reversal Sheds Light on Patent Eligibility in Medical Diagnosis Inventions
- Federal Circuit Still Spinning Its Wheels on American Axle
- The Federal Circuit Finds a “Hooke” to Patent Ineligibility
- District of Delaware Goes against Prior Decisions and Declines to Dismiss Willful Infringement Claims Despite Failure to Allege Egregious Infringing Conduct
- Balance is Key in Design Patent Claim Drafting
- Judge Woods Zips Up Loose Ends and Readies Zipper Dispute For Trial
- The game begins: Strategies for the early stages of patent litigation – The defendant’s view
- Intellectual Property: New Options for Patent Ownership Disputes
- Congress To Consider National Right To Repair Law For First Time
- Snapshot: intellectual property for fashion goods in USA
PRIVACY
- Baltimore’s Aerial Surveillance Program Has Logged 700 Flight Hours, One (1) Arrest
- Police use of facial recognition violates human rights, UK court rules
- NJ Supreme Court: No 5th Amendment right not to unlock your phone
- Congressional Reps Want To Know Why The California DMV Is Making $50 Million A Year Selling Driver Data
- Chinese hackers have pillaged Taiwan’s semiconductor industry
- Cybersecurity Threats & Vulnerabilities
- Forget TikTok. Feebly Secured Infrastructure Is Our Real Problem
- More than 20GB of Intel source code and proprietary data dumped online
- Snapdragon chip flaws put >1 billion Android phones at risk of data theft
- Refresher Course on California Anti-Spam Law
CREATIVITY
- Hong Kong Uses New National Security Law To Arrest Prominent Pro-Democracy Media Tycoon
- Judge Rejects Devin Nunes’ SLAPP Suit Over The Esquire Article He Really, Really Doesn’t Want You To Read
- Georgia School District Inadvertently Begins Teaching Lessons In First Amendment Protections After Viral Photo
- Why movie theaters are in trouble after DOJ nixes 70-year-old case
- Appeals court rules 10¢-a-page charge for court documents is too high
- Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Saying PACER Overcharged Users
GAMES
- Aeon Must Die dev Limestone Games faces accusations of “endless crunch” and IP theft: Publisher Focus Home Interactive is “carefully looking into” allegations
- Goldeneye 64 remake shut down by James Bond licence holders: Developers will now redesign upcoming ’90s-style shooter as Project Ianus
- Ubisoft Loses Appeal and Patent Related to “Rocksmith” is Invalidated
- UK survey finds positive links between playing games and literacy
- New research shows video games improve literacy: 35% of the respondents said that playing games made them better readers
- EA shareholders say no to massive proposed raises for executives
- EA shareholders reject executive compensation plan: If plan goes ahead, CEO Andrew Wilson’s compensation will rise to $21.4 million
- Riot forms global deals council and ethics committee after NEOM controversy
- Riot Games creates global deals council and ethics committee: Following the Neom controversy, the developer will be examining its sponsorship deals more closely
- How to usher more women into leadership roles within the game industry
- Interplay silent on Earthworm Jim developer’s racist, homophobic remarks: TenNapel and Intellivision confirm he is an “unpaid consultant” on Earthworm Jim 4
- Trump signs executive order that would ban transactions with Tencent: White House reportedly confirms this will not affect Tencent-related games firms, only WeChat
- Tencent reportedly driving Huya and DouYu to merge into livestreaming giant: Merging Chinese Twitch rivals would create a business worth $10 billion with 300 million users
- Blizzard employees reportedly preparing demands for fair pay: As dissatisfied staff organise, spokesperson says management “looks forward to hearing from them”
- Voltage Entertainment ends writers strike with new pay deal: Lovestruck writers will return to work after securing a deal that almost doubles their pay
- Practical tips to prevent abuse and build team trust: At GDC Summer, Emily Greer offers advice on how to build a respectful workplace and what to do when harassment occurs
- AbleGamers enlists Ryan Reynolds to highlight its mission, call for donations
- Silver Rain Games delivers on diversity goal with new hires: More than 60% of the team at Abubakar Salim’s new studio is from underrepresented ethnic groups
- King’s Sabrina Carmona offers practical tips to get more women leaders in games
- How Code Coven aims to Elevate marginalised developers: Tara Mustapha and Karla Reyes talks us through the ambitions for their upcoming accelerator, financed by the GDC Relief Fund
- How to better design your game communities for kindness
- Four ways game developers can help save the planet: At GDC Summer, the Playing for the Planet Alliance offered clear steps the industry can take to tackle the climate crisis
- Warner Bros restructure suggests games division is no longer for sale: Internal message reaffirms Interactive segment will continue “engaging fans with our brands and franchises through games”
- The COVID gaming boom — why and how to protect your IP
- Halo Infinite delay pushes it into 2021 and out of Xbox Series X launch lineup
- Microsoft announces November launch for Xbox Series X, Halo Infinite delay
- Halo Infinite delayed into 2021: Key Xbox Series X launch title pushed due to “multiple factors” including COVID-19
- Xbox Game Pass could be a boon for indie developers: At GDC Summer, solo developer Davionne Gooden explained how Xbox Game Pass offered a simple path to profit for his tiny studio
- Microsoft pulls iOS test for Project xCloud: Streaming service’s future on Apple devices uncertain as Xbox focuses on Android
- Xbox Series S outed by next-gen controller leak—and it’s legit
- Controller leak all but confirms ‘Xbox Series S’
- Xbox Series S confirmed by leaked controller: A white version of the Xbox Series X controller appeared online, pointing at more than one version of the next-gen Xbox console
- Xbox narrows down Series X launch window to November 2020
- Xbox Series X will launch in November: Console launch lineup will emphasize backward compatibility, Game Pass
- How your PS4 and Xbox One games will work on PS5 and Series X
- Crystal Dynamics Explains Spider-Man PS4 Exclusivity By Saying A Bunch Of… Words, I Guess?
- Console Exclusive Games Have Given Way To Console Exclusive Game Characters
- Apple won’t let Stadia or xCloud into iOS, citing App Store guidelines
- Apple blocking Project xCloud and Stadia because it can’t review every game: Microsoft responds, accusing Apple of “consistently treating gaming apps differently”
- Intellivision Amico delayed to April 2021: Upcoming retro games console pushed back six months due to “constraints imposed by the global pandemic”
- Microsoft condemns Apple’s App Store policies: Apple will not approve Microsoft’s xCloud gaming service
- Facebook slams Apple’s App Store policies, launches Facebook Gaming on iOS without games: Facebook is not happy with the months of rejections it has faced
- Facebook finally launches Facebook Gaming on iOS — without Instant Games: Platform condemns Apple’s strict approval process, saying it “severely hamstrings innovation on mobile”
- A data-driven primer for publishing agreements
- Is your publishing agreement fair?: At GDC Summer, lawyer Kellen Voyer broke down the average indie game publishing agreement in 2020
- US games spending once again reaches record quarterly highs: By the end of Q2, one out of every three US owners of either a PS4 or Xbox One owned both systems
- UK Charts: Nintendo Switch accounts for six of the Top Ten – Animal Crossing New Horizons is back at No.1
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold over 22 million copies
- The Nintendo Switch has crossed 60 million lifetime sales
- Switch hardware and Animal Crossing driving growth at Nintendo
- Animal Crossing drives Nintendo Q1 profits up 500% to $1bn: New Horizons has sold more than 20 million units since March, Switch lifetime shipments passed 60 million units
- Final Fantasy VII Remake surpasses 5 million digital sales and shipments
- Mobile classic Subway Surfers surpasses 3 billion lifetime downloads
- Summoner’s War: Sky Arena reaches $2 billion in lifetime revenue: The mobile RPG first reached $1 billion in revenue in 2017, three years after launch
- Sega reports loss despite strong video game sales
- Fortnite developer Epic Games secures $1.78 billion in funding
- ‘Fortnite’ Publisher Epic Games Closes $1.78 Billion Funding Round At $17.3 Billion Valuation
- Epic Games is now worth $17.3bn following latest funding round: Fortnite firm raised $1.78 billion, including Sony’s $250 million investment
- Zynga’s revenues still soaring, losses still deepening for another quarter running: Success of two 2019 acquisitions has the company projecting a net loss of $550 million for the full year
- Zynga to acquire prolific hyper-casual game studio Rollic for $168 million
- Mobile developer Big Run Studios nets $5.25 million to expand operations
- Fall Guys has sold over 2 million copies on Steam alone
- Sugar rush financials don’t mean we’ve dodged the COVID bullet | Opinion: Publishers are reporting record revenues — but the industry isn’t “recession-proof” and there’s pain to come down the line
- The impact of COVID-19 on mobile games in H1 2020 and beyond: Sensor Tower’s Craig Chapple analyses changes to downloads and revenue in key markets as the pandemic has spread
- Why are you making your game’s store page unattractive?
- Enthusiast Gaming acquires Omnia Media in $11.2m deal: Transaction brings Omnia into group with Destructoid, Nintendo Enthusiast, the Escapist, and others
- H1Z1 dev Daybreak Games acquires Cold Iron Studios
- Cold Iron Studios gets sold for the fourth time: Daybreak Games has acquired the San Jose studio, which is still working on an Alien game
- Big Run Studios raises $5.25m in seed investment: In total, the mobile studio has raised over $6.6 million to date
- Game Discoverability Now: How big is your game’s Discord? (Not this big!)
- Vampire The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 delayed to 2021: Paradox Interactive and Hardsuit Labs also making organisational changes to improve long-awaited sequel
- Paradox reports upturn in revenue as expansion packs drive growth
- Nexon wants to build a virtual theme park for the future: CEO Owen Mahoney on how the publisher plans to be at the forefront of “lean forward” entertainment
- Twitch announces ‘Prime Gaming’ rebrand
- Amazon rebrands Twitch Prime to Prime Gaming: Name change explained as a move toward a more platform-agnostic vision
- US Army to reinstate its Twitch viewers banned for “harassing and degrading behavior”: Users were banned from the esports channel in droves last month for asking about the United States’ history of war crimes
- Shroud returns to Twitch: Following Mixer shutdown, Shroud signs exclusivity deal with his original platform
- DrDisrespect makes streaming return on YouTube: YouTube says it did not reach out or encourage him to do so
- Half A Million People Watched Dr. DisRespect’s First Post-Permaban Live Stream On YouTube
- Facebook Researchers Develop Bleeding-edge Facial Reconstruction Tech So You Can Make Goofy Faces in VR
- 1,100 words of praise for Thirty Flights of Loving | Why I Love: YCJY Games’ Josef Martinovsk explains how Blendo Games’ short story showed him what games could be
- Five tips for making better loot experiences in games
- Leveraging physical animation to sell Force powers in Jedi: Fallen Order
- Three nasty netcode bugs we fixed around Blightbound’s launch
- Inside the twisting, turning development of Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Blog: Using Wikipedia as an interactive narrative device
- Blog: The value trap of free-to-play design
- Blog: Five secrets of game art direction
- Blog: Creating a progression curve for your casual game
- Blog: Scope – Choose A Target! Focus! Shoot!
- Don’t Miss: Why multiplayer almost didn’t make it into Halo: Combat Evolved
- High Score review: Netflix’s story of gaming’s “golden age” is honestly solid
- U.S. Patent no. 9,682,314: Method and system for temporarily incentivizing user participation in a game space
Jon