For those who enjoy the musty smell of a library, be prepared to get your fix elsewhere, because the latest craze is digital libraries, which offer books available free on the Internet.
Copyright
These Aren’t the Derivative Works You’re Looking For . . . Move Along.
Slashdot reports that a new fan-based remake of the original Star Wars movie called Star Wars: Uncut is in
The New IP Czar: How Long will the Honeymoon Last?
On September 25, President Obama announced his nomination of Victoria Espinel to fill the Nation’s inaugural posi
Musicians v. Pirates v. Bloggers, Three-Strikes Laws, France’s Declaration of 1789, and a Little Richard Marx
The music piracy debate in Europe got a lot of attention last week.
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Recent Development: Click Here to Share! The Impact of the Veoh Litigations on Viacom v. YouTube
North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, Volume 10, Issue 2, Page 447 (June 2009)
Abstract
In the high-bandwidth Internet age, video sharing websites such as YouTube and Yahoo! Video are growing in popularity. The ease with which such sharing is accomplished has aided users in illegally uploading copyrighted movies, TV shows, and music. In a recent lawsuit, Viacom and its copyright-owning affiliates sought one billion dollars in damages against YouTube, one of the Web’s most popular video-sharing websites, for copyright infringement. In response, YouTube invoked the affirmative defense of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor provisions, codified at § 512.
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Article: RS-DVR Slides Past Its First Obstacle and Gets the Pass For Full Implementation
North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, Volume 10, Issue 1, Page 145 (February 2009)
Abstract
Digital video recording has become an indispensable household item. The advent of the remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) allows consumers to expand digital recording capability without the need for a stand-alone DVR box. This new technology raises interesting legal questions regarding copyright infringement including: liability resulting from the need for buffer copies in digital technology, liability when a computer system produces the copy, and whether playing back an RS-DVR recorded program constitutes a public performance.
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WTO issues ruling on U.S. v. China IP dispute: A hollow victory for the U.S.
On January 26th, the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a ruling on an intellectual property (IP) dispute between the United States and China. While many news organizations reported the WTO panel's ruling as a victory for the U.S., the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the WTO ruled for the U.S. on some points, China prevailed on other, perhaps more important points.
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Will the Public Be Allowed to Hear Arguments in the Upcoming RIAA Hearing?
On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner temporarily stayed her order to allow oral arguments for an upcoming RIAA hearing (Sony v. Tenenbaum) to be broadcast on the Internet, and postponed the hearing until February 24, 2009 to allow the First Circuit to review her decision.
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The DMCA's safe harbor provisions just got a little bit safer.
The safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) are vitally important to any online service provider—they protect the provider from being liable for any copyright infringement performed by users of the service. In the case of Universal Music Group (UMG), a copyright owner, versus Veoh Networks, a video hosting service similar to YouTube, the safe harbor protections were affirmed as protecting a relatively broad range of activities performed by online service providers.
Tennessee Passes First-Ever Campus Downloading Bill
On November 12, 2008, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed into law Senate Bill 3974 in an effort to curb the illegal downloading of music and movies across the computer networks of colleges and universities in the state. The bill states that “[e]ach public and private institution of higher education in the state that has student residential computer networks shall ...
Redbox v. Universal Home Studios: Copyright Misuse?
According to the EFF, DVD rental kiosk company Redbox is suing Universal Studios Home Entertainment and several affiliates.
The End of the $9000 Song Download?
Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law School professor, has launched a constitutional attack against the federal copyright law at the heart of lawsuits brought by the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, against people who share songs online. Nesson initiated his challenge to the law after a federal judge in Boston asked his office to represent Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University graduate student accused by the RIAA of downloading at least seven songs and making 816 songs a
Recent Development: MDY Industries v. Blizzard Entertainment: Preventing the Use of Software Robots in an Online Game With Copyright Law
NC JOLT Online Edition, Volume 10, Page 1 (November 2008)
Abstract
In MDY Industries v. Blizzard Entertainment, the United States District Court of Arizona had an opportunity to clarify the concept of ownership in software copyright law. The MDY court held that users of Blizzard’s computer video game do not own the physical copies of the game software and thus can only load the game software into their computer’s memory, subject to Blizzard’s license. Several players of Blizzard’s computer video game used software manufactured by MDY Industries in conjunction with the game—a use prohibited by Blizzard’s license.
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YouTube and Copyright Law
Recently in the news, articles regarding YouTube, Presidential Candidates, and copyright law are getting attention. In TechNewsWorld.com, Jason Cohen wrote a blog regarding how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law that McCain voted for, was now coming back to haunt him. As a result of the DMCA, YouTube, against McCain’s wishes is pulling some of McCain’s political ads off of its website.
Facebook as a Place of Business
A recent Washington Post article entitled “A Social Network Where You Can Be Too Social” described how individuals were kicked off of Facebook for “using it too much.” For example, one young woman was kicked off the site after having sent 100 people a link to her company’s website through Facebook.
Techno-Czar
On Monday, President Bush signed a bill into law that creates a point-man (Technology/IP Czar) in the government to continue the fight against piracy. The IP Czar would be in charge of coordinating efforts to fight IP infringement in all areas of IP including copyright and patent.
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For Less Than a Dollar a Day, an Orphan [Bill] Can Help You
On September 26th, the senate voted unanimously to pass the Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act of 2008. The bill has been declared by many to be dead, at least until after the November election. Orphan works are works by authors who cannot be identified or located.
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One step back, two steps forward towards a more effective Intellectual Property legal system
Last Friday, September 26th, 2009, the Senate passed the “Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008.” It purports to “enhance remedies for violations of intellectual property laws” by creating a cabinet level position that directly reports to the White House.
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And isn’t it Ironic? A Little Too Ironic?
When a recent Recording Industry of America (RIAA) court filing repeatedly used terms like “vexatious,” “good faith,” “frivolous,” or “integrity,” I couldn’t help but be reminded of the great swordsman-sage Inigo Montoya, whose response to a similarly questionable word choice was, “I do not think it means what you think it means.“
Is Fair Use (now) a Right?
The old saying is that fair use is not a right, but an affirmative defense, which, given the state of copyright law, is true.
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