The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) may have hindered watchdogs from finding Volkswagen’s use of software in its diesel vehicles to mask higher emissions, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Monday in a blog post. The Environmental Protection Agency claimed Friday that Volkswagen had used the software on its diesel vehicles between 2008 and this year to reduce emissions toxicity during tests, allowing the vehicles to emit toxins above legal limits. EFF is urging the Copyright Office to grant an exemption to DMCA’s Section 1201 to allow the circumvention of technological protection measures on software installed in motor vehicles to allow researchers to look at the software's code. The proposed exemption would “make it crystal clear that independent research on vehicle software doesn’t violate copyright law,” EFF said. EPA and manufacturers have opposed the proposed exemption because it could be used to violate emissions laws. “The EPA is undermining its own ability to issue nuanced regulation in this space, as well as its ability to learn about large-scale violations of the law committed by manufacturers,” EFF said. “When you entrust your health, safety, or privacy to a device, the law shouldn’t punish you for trying to understand how that device works and whether it is trustworthy. We hope the Copyright Office and the Librarian of Congress agree when they rule on our exemptions next month.”

If patent litigation reform legislation is “left unresolved,” that will continue to drain startups of “precious resources,” Bronwyn Flores, CEA policy and industry communications coordinator, said Friday in a blog post. “Growing a startup is tough enough,” Flores said. “But lawyers and shell companies that contribute nothing to the innovation economy -- we call them ‘patent trolls’ -- are taking advantage of loopholes in the current patent system to legally extort startups, draining $80 billion a year from our economy.” Enactment of patent litigation reform legislation in the House and Senate will mean that “the tech community can send patent trolls back under the bridge,” she said. Such firms “have been abusing the system for years, but recent data shows they’re more aggressive than ever,” she said. “Troll lawsuits are up 500% since 2005, and 2015 is on its way to becoming a record-breaking year for frivolous patent lawsuits.” Such firms “are in the legal extortion business, and business is good,” she said. “Their actions are low-risk and high-reward -- under the current patent system, there are no disincentives.”

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. District Court in Miami was correct when it ruled in 2014 that blogger Irina Chevaldina's use of an unflattering photo of Miami Heat minority owner Raanan Katz in a blog post critical of Katz's business practices constitutes fair use. Katz had sued Chevaldina for copyright infringement, prompting outcry from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups. Katz had also sued Google for not complying with a takedown notice related to the photo but later dropped the search engine company from the lawsuit (see 1505080057). A three-judge 11th Circuit panel -- Judges Susan Black, Gerard Tjoflat and Charles Wilson -- affirmed the 2014 ruling by Magistrate Judge Chris McAliley in Katz v. Chevaldina, with the panel saying Thursday that use of the photo of Katz in Chevaldina's blog posts “was of a primarily educational, rather than commercial, character. Chevaldina unabashedly criticized and commented on the dealings of Katz, his businesses, and his lawyers. Chevaldina’s blog posts sought to warn and educate others about the alleged nefariousness of Katz, and she made no money from her use of the photo.” Chevaldina's use of the photo can also be considered transformative, because “in the context of the blog post’s surrounding commentary, she used Katz’s purportedly 'ugly' and 'compromising' appearance to ridicule and satirize his character,” the 11th Circuit panel said. It admonished Katz for “improper” motivations for pursuing his case. “Instead of using the law for its intended purposes of fostering ideas and expression, Plaintiff obtained the photograph’s copyright solely for the purpose of suppressing Defendant’s free speech,” the 11th Circuit said. “People who go around trying to buy up bad pictures of themselves in the hope they can suppress them won't succeed,” said Center for Individual Rights General Counsel Michael Rosman, who represented Chevaldina at the 11th Circuit, in a blog post. Katz lawyer Alan Kluger didn't comment. EFF, which filed an amicus brief on Chevaldina's behalf, said the 11th Circuit's ruling is significant because “although copyright law is frequently misused as a tool to censor speech, it rarely makes it into court to be challenged. And here, the court stopped the plaintiff in his tracks.”

Some two dozen retailers and online distributors of USB hubs, including big names like Amazon, Belkin, Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples and Walmart, are in violation of U.S. patent 5,675,811, which describes a “method for transmitting information over an intelligent low power serial bus,” alleged the patent owner, Minero Digital, an Allen, Texas, firm, in a federal complaint. The patent was granted in October 1997 and originally assigned to General Magic, the now-defunct developer of personal communications handhelds, said the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas. Representatives of the defendants didn’t comment.

Switzerland, the U.K., Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.S. are the world’s five most “innovative nations,” according to the 2015 Global Innovation Index report released Thursday by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University and the French business school INSEAD. China, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Jordan, Kenya and Uganda “are among a group of countries outperforming their economic peers,” the report said. The top 25 performers are all “high-income economies,” and the list “remains largely unchanged from past editions, illustrating that the leaders’ performance is hard to challenge for those that follow,” it said. The U.S. and the U.K. are two economies that “stand out” in terms of “innovation quality,” the report said, defining that as a measure of “university performance, the reach of scholarly articles and the international dimension of patent applications.” The U.S. and the U.K. “stay ahead of the pack, largely as a result of their world-class universities, closely followed by Japan, Germany and Switzerland,” it said. “Top-scoring middle-income economies on innovation quality are China, Brazil and India, with China increasingly outpacing the others.”

Google sued Local Lighthouse for making false and misleading claims during telemarketing calls, among other claims, said a court document filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The Internet giant had telegraphed the move in an advisory that day to consumers about ways to avoid robocalls (see 1509160048). Google's lawsuit alleged the search engine optimization company's sales agents claim they're calling on behalf of Google, are affiliated with Google or have been contracted by Google to provide search engine optimization services. Local Lighthouse replied to a letter from Google in August 2014, denying Lighthouse used robocalls to market services or that it harassed consumers with unwanted phone calls, the filing said. Even though the letter said the company would take a look at its practices, Google still received complaints about the calls, the filing said. Google also alleges Local Lighthouse is engaging in false advertising and federal trademark infringement by claiming to be a Google subcontractor and using Google's logo in its own marketing. Local Lighthouse didn't comment.

The Copyright Office's online eCO registration system will be offline for portions of Saturday and Sunday, the Library of Congress said Wednesday. The registration system will be offline 6-8:30 p.m. Saturday and between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday, LOC said.

Securus accused Global Tel*Link (GTL) of making “grossly inaccurate” statements after the Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) granted GTL's requests to invalidate two of Securus' patents. In a Tuesday news release, Securus said GTL issued its own news release (see 1509140069) containing "some clearly misleading and inaccurate statements" about the PTAB decision and the extent to which it affected Securus' patent portfolio. Securus said it plans to appeal the PTAB decisions, and the rulings didn't invalidate all of the company's call processing patents. Securus also denied GTL's claims that it's a patent predator and not an innovator, and had patented material invented by others. "Any suggestion that Securus patented what others were doing is wrong," Securus said. "GTL effectively admitted Securus' patents were new and novel and the PTAB did not undermine this."

RIAA disagrees with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Monday in Lenz v. Universal, a spokeswoman said in an email, speaking on behalf of Universal Music Group (UMG). A three-judge 9th Circuit panel ruled that U.S. District Court in San Francisco was justified in ruling against motions from UMG and other parties for a summary judgment in the case. The 9th Circuit’s ruling also said the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) “requires copyright holders to consider fair use before sending a takedown notification (see 1509140070). RIAA, one of the parties supporting UMG in the case, disagrees with the 9th Circuit’s “conclusion about the DMCA and the burden the court places upon copyright holders before sending takedown notices,” a spokeswoman said. “But we are pleased that the Ninth Circuit made it clear that a court may not second guess a copyright owner’s good faith belief that the fair use does not excuse infringing conduct.”

The Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued written decisions granting Global Tel*Link's requests to invalidate two patents held by Securus Technologies, GTL said in a news release Monday. The rulings end existing patent infringement claims against GTL made by Securus and prevent any new suits related to the patents, GTL said. In one ruling, PTAB said Securus made incorrect statements to patent officials while seeking approval for one of the invalidated patents, the news release said. Securus didn't comment.