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People who own land and have invested on having properties on Second Life have filed a demand against Linden Lab. An interesting study case that illustrate how online issues can have deep impact on offline matters.

Article from PC World dated 19/3/2010 Talks about the the enduring legal battle between Viacom and Google over intellectual property rights which have been (arguably) 'violated' by the Video sharing website, Youtube. This is another prime example of the indefinable nature of the digital medium and the problems inherent in resolving issues of ownership and distribution of information in the context of the internet. The inability to fully implement control in free flowing information forums again raises the question who can really be made responsible for copyright infringements?

Another case in which intellectual property rights come into question. Apple is suing HTC for infringement of 20 Apple patents. It is interesting to note, that the majority of handsets which been specified in this case are powered by Google's Android operating system which is open source. I feel that corporations using open sources to power their products need to consider the potential repercussions. Although open source communities tend to operate with an ethic of contribution and collaborative innovation; it is inevitable that ideas and the products which stem from it will crossover from one realm to another, which in turn will lead to a figurative 'stepping on one another's toes' and ensuing law suits. In saying this, it is clear that whether or not it is open source product or not, that cases like this have almost become a symptom of the modern tech-business climate.

New Zealand is getting ready for a potential patent reform? Predominantly this bill includes an exclusion of patents on software which is a big development in a digital commercial industry which is rife with conflict over intellectual property. Personally, I feel it is a step in the right direction? But I guess that is the point of view of an end user.

Surprisingly, a Spanish judge has ruled today in favor of a file-sharing website since P2P networks as a mere transmission of data between Internet users, would not violate, in principle, any right protected by Intellectual Property Law. Furthermore, he decided that "offering an index of links and/or linking to copyright material is not the same as distribution." The decision was based on the notion that the file-sharer doesn't make any direct or indirect profits off the site