Topic: Patent

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Me, Myself & ‘AI’

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Copyright, Patent, Privacy
Human interactions with technology In the past few years, the use of social media has increased rapidly. A key feature of social media platforms and social media apps is the ability to interact with other people in ways that were not thought possible in previous generations.  With the click of a button, someone from the … Continue reading

Industrial Designs: Protecting Graphical User Interfaces – A Primer for Social Media Entrepreneurs

Brian Chau (CA)By Brian Chau (CA) on Posted in Patent
This post is directed to entrepreneurs and developers who are building platforms incorporating features of social media networks, or building their own social media technologies, regarding design protection requirements in Canada. Several practice notices have been issued very recently by the Canadian Industrial Design Office, providing guidance on designs including colour and animated graphical user … Continue reading

Social Media & IP Enforceability

Brian Chau (CA)Christopher HunterBy Brian Chau (CA) and Christopher Hunter on Posted in Copyright, Patent, Trademark
Social media channels represent an exciting medium to reach out to the public and potential collaborators. Social media can also play an important role in helping generate positive buzz for organizations seeking to develop a market for their products or services.  For example, many of today’s companies gauge the depth of market interest in their … Continue reading

Legal considerations for social network APIs

Maya MedeirosBy Maya Medeiros on Posted in Copyright, Patent, Trademark
An application programming interface (API) is a library or structured set of software tools that provides an interface to a backend software platform, such as a social networking platform, without providing direct access to the underlying source code of the platform. For example, Facebook™, Twitter™, Instagram™, LinkedIn™, Google Plus™, and Tumblr™ offer APIs so that … Continue reading

Facebook responds to COPPA with patent application directed to online verification

Seth Jaffe (US)By Seth Jaffe (US) on Posted in Patent, Privacy
The US Patent and Trademark Office published, on May 29, 2014, a patent application submitted by inventors from Facebook directed to a method for managing the accessibility of a social network based on the age of its users. In referencing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) directly, Facebook’s patent application suggests that Facebook may … Continue reading

Wearable devices merge reality and social media

Maya MedeirosBy Maya Medeiros on Posted in Patent
Wearable computing devices, such as Google Glass (i.e., glasses integrated with a computing device), are expected to explode in popularity. Currently, wearable computing devices have generally limited social media application, but that may soon change. In October 2013, Google was granted a US patent that highlights several possible social media applications for wearable devices, such … Continue reading

Social media companies adopt alternative patent models

Maya MedeirosBy Maya Medeiros on Posted in Patent, Social media policies
Social media companies are increasingly involved in patent lawsuits and frustration is setting in. Hoping to inspire change within the industry, a number of companies have adopted alternative patent policies. While these alternative models are based on the social good of sharing innovation with a promise to use patents only as a defensive shield and … Continue reading
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