Vampire fever is biting hard; Sydney Morning Herald, 10/31/09

Jonathan Dart, Sydney Morning Herald; Vampire fever is biting hard:

"Hamish Fraser, a partner at Truman Hoyle law firm, warned people to not get too fired up by Halloween and start copying ideas that might belong to someone else.

It follows a case in Britain where a single mother was sent a warning letter by Warner Bros over potential copyright breaches, after she planned a Harry Potter themed dinner event.

"What probably went wrong in the United Kingdom in this case was that it might have looked, to Warner Brothers, that this woman was trying to earn money rather than having a fun night," Mr Fraser said.

"The problem is that the copyright law is what it is. If you copy the Harry Potter logo, for instance, you are almost certainly infringing copyright.''

But in a year when vampires are so popular, Mr Fraser said it will be harder for companies to suck the blood out of parties by protecting copyright - recent Twilight-themed parties have been held everywhere from Yass Valley Council Library to the Loft Bar in Darling Harbour."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/vampire-fever-is-biting-hard-20091030-hpqy.html

Texas Instruments: Don't hack your calculators, or else; Guardian, 10/15/09

Bobbie Johnson, Guardian; Texas Instruments: Don't hack your calculators, or else:

""This is not about copyright infringement. This is about running your own software on your own device - a calculator you legally bought," said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. "Yet TI still issued empty legal threats in an attempt to shut down discussion of this legitimate tinkering. Hobbyists are taking their own tools and making them better, in the best tradition of American innovation.""

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/oct/15/texas-instruments-calculator

Steelerbaby Blues, Pittsburgh City Paper, 3/5/09

Via Pittsburgh City Paper: Steelerbaby Blues:

"Shepard Fairey is the creator of the iconic Obama "Hope" poster. He's been admired by critics and guerilla artists, and just weeks ago he was the subject of a profile on CBS Sunday Morning. But Pittsburgh graphic designer Larkin Werner has a different perspective. To him, Fairey is the guy who is "picking on a baby."

The baby in question is Steelerbaby, a blue-eyed kewpie doll clad in a knit black-and-gold uniform. Steelerbaby became an online hit -- he boasts more than 2,000 friends on Facebook -- after Werner created a Web site for the doll during the NFL playoffs in 2005. The following year, he started designing and selling Steelerbaby merchandise at the online store cafepress.com to satisfy demand for the doll Werner describes as "slightly creepy."

But early last month, Werner learned that Fairey's company, Obey Giant Art Inc., sent cafepress.com a cease-and-desist letter, informing the online store that Steelerbaby's merchandise marked with the word "Obey" was infringing on the artist's trademark. "

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A59932

Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt, The New York Times, 3/1/09

Via The New York Times: Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt:

"Generally, the excerpts have been considered legal, and for years they have been welcomed by major media companies, which were happy to receive links and pass-along traffic from the swarm of Web sites that regurgitate their news and information.

But some media executives are growing concerned that the increasingly popular curators of the Web that are taking large pieces of the original work — a practice sometimes called scraping — are shaving away potential readers and profiting from the content.

With the Web’s advertising engine stalling just as newspapers are under pressure, some publishers are second-guessing their liberal attitude toward free content."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/business/media/02scrape.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=copyright&st=cse