Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 23

• Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights v. Craigslist, Inc., 2008 WL 681168 (7th Cir. March 14, 2008) (“Using the remarkably candid postings on Craigslist, the Lawyers’ Committee can identify many targets to investigate. It can dispatch testers and collect damages from any landlord or owner who engages in discrimination. . . . It can assemble a list of names to send to the Attorney General for prosecution. But given §230(c)(1) it cannot sue the messenger just because the message reveals a third party’s plan to engage in unlawful discrimination.”
• Chicago Lawyers v. Craigslist: The point for Patently-O is that this case allows our comment lines to stay open without fear of substantial legal retribution. [Goldman has more]
• International Aid (Through Technical Assistance): Prof Sokol recently analyzed how “donor countries” (such as the US) have increasingly been providing extensive technical assistance to other countries to help with antitrust law issues. Is there a similar need in the IP world?
• Cited Prior Art: JAMES TOUPIN (PTO GC) makes the following statement: more than 50% of new patent applicants either cite no prior art references or cite more than 20 references.  The PTO Solution: require searches and penalize for too much cited art.
• Abandonments are up: Former PTO power player Bruce Stoner presents data showing that both the number and proportion of of cases being abandoned is on the rise. [LINK]