💬 "Such strategic action [...] gives a flavor of what functional (i.e., active) decentralized enforcement of EU data protection can look like."
techcrunch.com/2022/03/04/noyb…

mastodon.social/@noybeu/107899…

Seconda puntata di Radiosa. Un podcast di novità musicali di qualità. Senza barriere o generi. Godetevela..

Toro y Moi, Yard Act, Superchunk, Bob Mould , Ibibio Sound Machine e altro.

iyezine.com/radiosa-vol-2

NFTs are the trend of the moment and the early indicator of the IP legal implications that virtual reality could entail in the near future. It is not yet clear to what extent businesses will take advantage of the e-commerce opportunities offered by NFTs, but expectations are high, while grey areas are thick. The recent case involving Hermés and the artist Mason Rothschild sheds a light on the trademark law implications in the virtual world.

In the words of Marty Resnick, research vice president at Gartner, “vendors are already building ways for users to replicate their lives in digital worlds”, i.e. what it is now referred to as the Metaverse). Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality. It is persistent, providing enhanced immersive experiences, as well as device independent and accessible through any type of device[1]. In this context, trading virtual commodities seems very concrete rather than virtual; some of these commodities are even authenticated by means of NFTs (“Non Fungible Tokens”). These are unique digital certificates, registered in blockchains, that are used to record ownership of a digital commodity such as an artwork or a collectible[2]. NFTs are increasingly used by famous brands online to certify the authenticity and uniqueness of their products carrying well-known trademarks. Despite their authenticity, these secure and certified virtual items still lack regulation and have raised concerns in numerous areas of intellectual property, including trademark law[3].

One of the main issues arising from the relationship between legitimate trademark owners and NFT traders is the damage suffered for “dilution”. This action consists of blurring the well-known trademark’s distinctive character through another sign used by a third party for his products. The latter adopts the copycat sign on goods and services which are similar or dissimilar to the ones bearing the original trademark. As a consequence, the presence of two confusingly similar or identical signs on the market blurs the identity of the well-known trademark upon the public’s mind[4], reducing goodwill. As far as the metaverse is concerned, dilution is a direct consequence of the lack of registration of the relevant trademark classes before relevant authorities (for example, class 9 of the Nice Classification: digital media).

In this regard, at the beginning of 2022, Hermès filed an anti-dilution lawsuit against Mason Rothschild, the artist behind the collection “100 MetaBirkins”[5]. MetaBirkins are NFTs that depict furry renderings of the renowned Birkin bag. They are traded on the NFT platform “OpenSea”[6]. In the complaint that it filed before the New York Federal Court, Hermès claims that Mason Rothschild is “a digital speculator who is seeking to get rich quick by appropriating the brand MetaBirkins for use in creating, marketing, selling, and facilitating the exchange of digital assets known as non- fungible tokens” which simply “rip off Hermès’ famous BIRKIN trademark by adding the generic prefix ‘meta”[7].

Indeed, MetaBirkins are commercialized using a recurring series of identifiers bearing the reputable trademark belonging to Hermés. For this reason, the claimant places dilution side by side to unfair competition. Elements supporting this interpretation are, for instance, the URL containing the term “Birkin”, the bag design of the NFT being unequivocally the registered Birkin bag depiction and, clearly, the name itself of the digital commodity and its exorbitant price. As a consequence, it seems that the exploitation of the Birkin sign allows Mr. Rothschild to cash in on the reputation he has done nothing to establish[8]. Hermès is on this same page, claiming that the buyer might be misled by the use of the term Birkin by believing that the expensive NFT is associated with its products. According to Hermès, Mason Rothschild’s conduct distorts the origin of the virtual good; therefore, “[b]y falsely suggesting a connection with or sponsorship by Hermès, Mason Rothschild is likely to cause public confusion constituting unfair competition”.[9]

As a further step, it is worth mentioning the IP institution called “secondary meaning”, claimed by Hermès in favor of his sign. According to U.S. Law[10], to establish secondary meaning, it must be shown that the primary significance of the term in the minds of the consuming public is not the product but the producer[11]. Secondary enhances the distinctive character of the trademark acquired through its commercial use. In this regard, according to plaintiff, “the Birkin trademark has come to have a secondary meaning indicative of origin, relationship, sponsorship and/or association with Hermès and its distinctive reputation for high quality”. The public is likely to consider Mason Rithschild’s use of the MetaBirkins sign as authorized, licensed or associated to Hermés, and purchase the NFTs in this erroneous belief[12].

According to Hermès, its trademark has acquired a certain degree of secondary meaning and distinctiveness. Speaking of which, the prefix “meta” might not have the degree of distinctiveness which is necessary to distance the association of the expensive Rothschild’s NFT from the status symbol Birkin-ish design, since it is considered as being too generic[13].

The fact remains that Hermès has not registered “Birkin” for digital goods class. This lack of action originates a grey area leading to numerous questions, such as: to what extent is the metaverse approachable to real world case scenarios? Many other brands, such as Nike, have used NFTs as a digital certificate of authenticity[14] and this solid IP trouble for virtual items might be only at its early stage.

Edoardo Di Maggio

[1] gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-…

[2] collinsdictionary.com/us/dicti…

[3] blogs.orrick.com/blockchain/th…

[4] Intel [2008] E.C.R. I-08823

[5] jdsupra.com/legalnews/outcome-…

[6] Following a cease and desist letter lodged by Hermès to OpenSea, the NFT trading platform eliminated MetaBirkins fromtheir websites. Nevertheless, Mason Rthschild moved articles on other NFT trading platforms, such as “Rarible”, rarible.com.

[7] United States District Court Southern District Of New York, HERMÈS INTERNATIONAL and HERMÈS OF PARIS, INC., against Mason Rothschild, filed 01/14/22.

[8] Hazel Carty, “Dilution and passing-off: Cause of concern”,(1996) 112 (October) LQR 632-66.

[9] Id. fn. 7.

[10] law.cornell.edu/wex/lanham_act

[11] Ralston Purina Co. v. Thomas J. Lipton, Inc., 341 F. Supp. 129, 133, 173 USPQ 820, 823 (S.D.N.Y. 1972) .

[12] Id. fn. 7.

[13] tmep.uspto.gov/RDMS/TMEP/curre…

[14]

L'articolo Metaverse and trademark dilution: Hermès International and Hermès of Paris, Inc., against Mason Rothschild proviene da E-Lex.

submitted by cyclohexane to fediverse
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I have a static blog. Think something like a site generated with a static site generator (like Jekyll, Hugo, Eleventy, etc)

I've been thinking about making a separate backend for the blog with ActivityPub functionality to boost its discoverability.

Is there any tool that can assist me with this? I wanted to make sure before I embark on building something from scratch.

P. S. I am aware of WriteFreely, but I would prefer if the blog site remains a static site and decoupled from the ActivityPub stuff.

La cultura skinhead è da sempre argomento di infiniti dibattiti, nella maggior parte dei casi costruiti sul nulla che si cela nei luoghi comuni che, nonostante il passare degli anni, continuano sistematicamente ad accompagnarla. C’è, a nostro avviso, un'inaccettabile superficialità che non permette di andare veramente a fondo dell’equivoco, in modo da stabilire in modo definitivo una verità “storica” (e sociale) che possa finalmente legittimare quel chiarimento che riteniamo indispensabile. Non fosse altro che per chiudere irrevocabilmente tutte quelle inutili, e sterili polemiche, che ormai da troppo tempo ci portiamo dietro.

iyezine.com/educazione-skinhea…

The European Parliament today adopts a resolution strongly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and calling for further sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime. This resolution also calls on the EU Commission to provide extensive support to all citizens of Ukraine who are currently seeking refuge. Pirate Party Members of the European Parliament support this position, but also warn of the negative effects of digital censorship for Europe.

MEP Patrick Breyer, German Pirate and Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), comments:

“We must put a stop to Putin’s war of aggression. However, we Pirates think it is counterproductive to try to censor Russian state-funded media and alleged propaganda accounts online. As we know from experience, European censorship will give Putin an excuse to cut off his own citizens from important information provided by European public broadcasters in turn. Also, asking technology companies to block alleged propaganda content online sets a dangerous precedent for the future. Big Tech cannot be trusted to decide on our behalf which information is propaganda lies and which is credible. There can be good reasons to read and monitor lies. Empowering citizens to take their own informed decisions is the right approach to desinformation, not censorship.”

MEP Markéta Gregorová, Czech Pirate and Member of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes (INGE), comments:

“The European Parliament’s resolution comes after a weekend of the toughest sanctions, measures and actions ever brought by the European Union as a whole. As the European Parliament, we therefore primarily support the steps already taken and reaffirm the unity of the EU. However, our role is also to look over the horizon, and we focus on a number of other issues, such as Ukrainian migrants, their safety and asylum, intelligence sharing and the fight against disinformation. We express our appreciation and support for all the Russian and Belarusian citizens who have gone out in recent days to protest against the war at the expense of their own security. And we guarantee that the EU and its Member States will ensure that the perpetrators of war crimes, including Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, are brought to justice.“

In a joint statement by European Pirates and Pirate Parties International, the global Pirate movement last week condemned the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and called on the international community to adopt strong measures and positions in regard to this conflict. Further, the Pirate Party of Russia called on the people of Russia and Belarus to speak up against Putin’s regime.

patrick-breyer.de/en/pirates-s…

La situazione in Ucraina e non solo, è in continuo mutamento , quasi ogni ora ci sono nuovi sviluppi e siamo oberati di informazioni, alcune delle quali molto di parte ed altre incomprensibili se non si hanno le basi e gli strumenti adatti per poter capire situazioni molto difficili.

iyezine.com/iperparole-volume-…

Nervous shakes is one of the best bands that has come from Belgium in the last years. Playing cheeky Punk rock, with some Glam, garage and power pop influences, they drink directly from mighty bands from 70s like Ramones, New York Dolls, Gun Club, Les Dogs or the Real kids just to name a few.

ladistro.it/nervous-shakes-sep…

With an appeal filed on Friday, Member of the European Parliament Patrick Breyer is challenging a 2021 court decision on secretive EU-funded development of an AI-driven „video lie detector“ and risk classification to be used on travellers to Europe („iBorderCtrl“). The European Court ruled on 15 December 2021 that the public can partially access the project documentation where it generally discusses the reliability, ethics and legality of such technology. However the Court considered that commercial interests rule out public access to information on the specific iBorderCtrl technology, including its legality, its reliability (false positives), the risk of discrimination and mitigation measures. Following Breyer’s appeal the European Court of Justice will revisit the first instance decision.

“As we can see in China, AI-driven mass surveillance and control technology threatens the future of our open and democratic societies. The secrecy of EU-funded research and development in these areas fundamentally disrespects the role of the media and science as independent watchdogs. I cannot accept that commercial interests in selling dystopian Big Brother technology are given priority over our right to determine our destiny.”

Human rights NGO Article19 supports Breyer’s appeal: “The appeal’s outcome will set an important precedent about the levels of transparency that the EU must uphold when pursuing technological innovation as a means of border control, or any other controls over people in the EU.”

Press briefing

patrick-breyer.de/en/breyer-ap…

Today, the French Constitutional Court annulled a scheme in place until 2021 to collect call data records and the location data of the entire population to support the prosecution of crime. It did not rule on the current French law on data retention, which is now being justified on the grounds of protecting “national security.”

MEP Dr. Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) comments:

“Only yesterday a survey revesled a massive chilling effect of mass communications data retention, which endangers citizens in need of support. In Germany and Europe, this most harmful mass surveillance method of all finally needs to be off limits – no matter which justification is used!”

Press release on the survey results accessible here.

patrick-breyer.de/en/constitut…

Uno dei casi maggiormente documentati per questo periodo è quello di Giovanni Antonio Cassani, oggetto di una richiesta di estradizione avanzata dall’Italia nel 1929. La Francia decise di rifiutarla, poiché considerava i crimini per i quali era stato condannato il Cassani di natura politica [...] In un rapporto del mese di dicembre del medesimo anno il Console Generale italiano a Nizza riferiva al Ministero della Giustizia che la Lega dei Diritti dell’Uomo stava
esercitando una forte pressione sul governo francese affinché Cassani non fosse
consegnato all’Italia. Il Console rimarcava che il Cassani veniva «presentato come un
perseguitato politico del fascismo». Mentre tra i Ministeri ci si occupava della questione, il caso usciva dalla tribuna prettamente istituzionale per raggiungere i mezzi di comunicazione. Il 5 ottobre il giornale «Le Populaire» dava spazio alla notizia nei seguenti termini: "Mussolini réclame encore l’extradition des proscrits italiens. “Continuant ses poursuites contre les réfugiés politiques, le gouvernement italien demande aujourd’hui l’extradition de Jean Cassani". Le autorità italiane non approvavano quanto stava accadendo oltrefrontiera intorno al caso del «delinquente Cassani, ricercato dalle autorità italiane per delitto comune». La Divisione Polizia Politica riportava l’attenzione della Direzione Affari Generali e Riservati sul fatto che la liberazione del detenuto era stata operata grazie all’intervento del deputato Henri Guernut - segretario della Lega francese dei diritti dell’Uomo - che «sta facendo sforzi sovrumani per salvare dalla giusta estradizione l’assassino di Biagi». Agli occhi della Lega e della società civile ad essa vicina, gli immigrati italiani al centro di tali affaires non erano affatto delinquenti comuni, quanto piuttosto rifugiati politici. Come scriveva Giuseppe Nitti in un articolo pubblicato nel 1930 sui «Cahiers de la Ligue» era facile che uno straniero, «dans son pays soit considéré comme un criminel politique, tandis qu’ailleurs il peut etre regardé comme un martyr de la liberté ou d’un idéal».
Costanza Di Ciommo Laurora, L’asilo politico nelle relazioni franco-italiane. I signori nessuno e l’impossibile status dell’opposizione italiana all’estero (1920-1986), Tesi di dottorato, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2014