Intellectual property rights holders suffered a major defeat in Europe. The European Court of Justice will not analyze the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to determine whether it violates fundamental European Union rights. The parliamentary move will force a vote on the Act this summer which will face motivated opponents inspired by recent victories in the U.S. in stalling SOPA/PIPA.

Japan, Mexico, and Canada are attempting to join negotiations to form the TransPacific Partnership – a trade agreement that will reduce trade barriers between member states around the Pacific. If the states join, they will bolster the size and importance of the trade agreement. Despite the economic advantages provided by the decreased barriers to trade, many in the intellectual property community are concerned that the restrictions incorporated in the treaty resemble failed domestic legislation that aimed to regulate behavior on the Internet.

The arrest of Kim Dotcom in New Zealand demonstrates that the Obama Administration values the contributions of the entertainment industry to the United States economy and is willing to protect those contributions.

Justin Bieber’s activism highlights the legislative difficulties of regulating in the Internet age and puts the Commercial Felony Streaming Act in the spotlight.

In Ultramercial v. Hulu, the Federal Circuit fit a square patent peg into a round cyberspace hole, reversing a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and holding that a process for monetizing the transmission of data over the web using advertisements does not qualify for the abstract idea exception to patentability.