(London) Guardian; Copright [sic] issue forces South Africa to ponder life after Bafana Bafana:
"The South African national side might not be known as Bafana Bafana for much longer, with the country's football association apparently ready to give up the nickname and adopt a new one because of an ongoing copyright dispute.
A South African businessman acquired the rights to the phrase in 1994. While the South African Football Association has been allowed to use it on official literature, it is unable to print it on merchandise or make financial gain from it. In 1997 the SAFA started a legal battle to reclaim the name, but South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed their case in 2002. The copyright owners are believed to have made a profit of £6.5m from it during the World Cup.
"I want to avoid saying we are very angry about it," the SAFA president, Kirsten Nematandani, said. "We are worried about it. We are concerned." Nematandani said the future of the nickname was being discussed "at a national level", and that despite Bafana Bafana being "a national asset" it might have to be changed.
"It clearly has to be done the right way, but we cannot go on in this way. It is not proper, it is not correct," he said. "The name of Bafana Bafana came from the public and we are throwing the ball back to the public."
Bafana Bafana means "the boys, the boys" in Zulu. It is thought to have been used in the early 1990s by journalists in Soweto to refer to the national team after it was readmitted into international football after apartheid. It was quickly picked up and is now the affectionate name by which South Africa football fans refer to their team.
The issue has reached South Africa's parliament in Cape Town. On Tuesday, the chairman of the influential parliamentary committee on sport said Bafana should be dropped if the copyright issue was not resolved."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/22/copyright-south-africa-bafana-bafana
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Scanlation giant One Manga is shutting down; ComicBookResources.com, 7/22/10
Kevin Melrose, ComicBookResources.com; Scanlation giant One Manga is shutting down:
"One Manga, the largest scanlation aggregator and one of the world's most-visited websites, has announced it is essentially closing down next week following pressure from publishers. Although the forums will remain open, all manga scans will be removed from the site.
"It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!)," One Manga administrator "Zabi" writes in a message on the site's main page. "Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July '10)."
According to Google, One Manga is the 935th most-visited website in the world, with 4.2 million unique visitors each month.
In early June a coalition of Japanese and U.S. manga publishers announced it would take legal action against 30 sites that illegally post translated scans of their titles if the administrators didn't "immediately cease their activities." Within days, MangaHelpers began shutting down (while launching a platform for creators) and MangaFox started pulling licensed titles from its list. However, the closing of One Manga gives the coalition its biggest victory, by far, to date.
In the wake of the One Manga announcement, administrators set up a Facebook page, which already has almost 53,000 "Likes.""
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/breaking-scanlation-giant-one-manga-is-shutting-down/
"One Manga, the largest scanlation aggregator and one of the world's most-visited websites, has announced it is essentially closing down next week following pressure from publishers. Although the forums will remain open, all manga scans will be removed from the site.
"It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!)," One Manga administrator "Zabi" writes in a message on the site's main page. "Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July '10)."
According to Google, One Manga is the 935th most-visited website in the world, with 4.2 million unique visitors each month.
In early June a coalition of Japanese and U.S. manga publishers announced it would take legal action against 30 sites that illegally post translated scans of their titles if the administrators didn't "immediately cease their activities." Within days, MangaHelpers began shutting down (while launching a platform for creators) and MangaFox started pulling licensed titles from its list. However, the closing of One Manga gives the coalition its biggest victory, by far, to date.
In the wake of the One Manga announcement, administrators set up a Facebook page, which already has almost 53,000 "Likes.""
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/breaking-scanlation-giant-one-manga-is-shutting-down/
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Alleged New ACTA Draft Text Leaked; Intellectual Property Watch, 7/14/10
Intellectual Property Watch; Alleged New ACTA Draft Text Leaked:
"The latest text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) reflecting the late June – early July negotiations in Lucerne, Switzerland has allegedly been leaked, just after being placed in a secret reading room for the European Parliament (IPW, IP Burble, 14 July 2010). Nongovernmental group La Quadrature du Net announced today (Bastille Day) that it has released the latest text, available here.
European Union negotiators had lamented to Intellectual Property Watch after Lucerne (IPW, Bilateral/Regional Negotiations, 2 July 2010) that the latest text was kept secret despite an earlier version having been released in April, this time supposedly withheld by one of the 11 negotiating delegations on the grounds that there were few significant changes. This draft appears to show the latest changes and the delegations associated with them.
Related Articles:
Leaked ACTA Text Shows Possible Contradictions With National Laws
Official ACTA Text Released
ACTA Internet Document Leaked, New EU Transparency Call"
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2010/07/14/alleged-new-acta-draft-leaked/
"The latest text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) reflecting the late June – early July negotiations in Lucerne, Switzerland has allegedly been leaked, just after being placed in a secret reading room for the European Parliament (IPW, IP Burble, 14 July 2010). Nongovernmental group La Quadrature du Net announced today (Bastille Day) that it has released the latest text, available here.
European Union negotiators had lamented to Intellectual Property Watch after Lucerne (IPW, Bilateral/Regional Negotiations, 2 July 2010) that the latest text was kept secret despite an earlier version having been released in April, this time supposedly withheld by one of the 11 negotiating delegations on the grounds that there were few significant changes. This draft appears to show the latest changes and the delegations associated with them.
Related Articles:
Leaked ACTA Text Shows Possible Contradictions With National Laws
Official ACTA Text Released
ACTA Internet Document Leaked, New EU Transparency Call"
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2010/07/14/alleged-new-acta-draft-leaked/
Next wave of Far Cry torrent lawsuits incoming; ArsTechnica.com, 7/19/10
Matthew Lasar, ArsTechnica.com; Next wave of Far Cry torrent lawsuits incoming:
"Looks like that small battalion of attorneys who've agreed to represent accused file sharers of Hurt Locker, Far Cry, other movies had better gird their loins. The Hollywood Reporter says that the law office spearheading these lawsuits has recruited over a dozen smaller firms around the United States to get the actions underway. They'll answer to the US Copyright Group as they go after defendants who decline to settle.
"Beginning the first week of August, expect an explosion of lawsuits around the nation," The Reporter warns."
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/07/next-wave-of-far-cry-torrent-lawsuits-incoming.ars
"Looks like that small battalion of attorneys who've agreed to represent accused file sharers of Hurt Locker, Far Cry, other movies had better gird their loins. The Hollywood Reporter says that the law office spearheading these lawsuits has recruited over a dozen smaller firms around the United States to get the actions underway. They'll answer to the US Copyright Group as they go after defendants who decline to settle.
"Beginning the first week of August, expect an explosion of lawsuits around the nation," The Reporter warns."
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/07/next-wave-of-far-cry-torrent-lawsuits-incoming.ars
File sharers targeted with legal action over music downloads; (London) Guardian, 7/17/10
Miles Brignall, (London) Guardian; File sharers targeted with legal action over music downloads: Lawyers for Ministry of Sound and other music labels are seeking compensation, threatening court action unless file sharers pay:
"Solicitors for dance music label Ministry of Sound have sent letters to thousands of internet users it believes have illegally downloaded music and says it is determined to take them to court – and extract substantial damages – unless they immediately pay compensation, typically around £350.
Ministry of Sound's move marks an intensification of the legal battle against file sharers, which is seeing more and more lawyers send out what critics call speculative invoicing of downloaders suspected of pirating anything from music tracks to films and games.
Soho firm Gallant Macmillan last week completed a mailout to 2,000 individuals it claims infringed Ministry of Sound's copyright after downloading and sharing music. It follows in the steps of ACS:Law, which has sent many thousands of letters demanding compensation from alleged file sharers, sometimes billing in excess of £1,000. Luke Bellamy, above, contacted Money this week after receiving a £295 demand from ACS:Law, which alleged he downloaded and shared a track from dance music group Cascada.
Some recipients of the letters, concerned about forking out huge damages, have paid up. Others have been mystified – they claim never to have downloaded the tracks. Meanwhile, some legal specialists say the threats are largely unenforceable. Unless a user confesses to illegally downloading a file, or a court order is obtained to seize a computer and the file is then located on its hard drive, consumer groups say, it's hard to see how such an action will succeed.
Even the body that represents the UK recorded music industry, the BPI, which is keen to stamp out illegal filesharing, says it does not condone the mass-mailing of alleged internet pirates. "Our view is that legal action is best reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders, rather than widely used as a first response," it says.
Most recipients of the letters have binned them and, to date, avoided any further action. But Gallant Macmillan says it is taking a different approach to the other legal firms that pioneered this business, and that its sole client, Ministry of Sound, is serious when it threatens legal action. Until now, none of these cases have ended up in UK courts. A Ministry of Sound spokesman says that actions have been won in German courts, and it is confident that it can do the same in the UK.
Bellamy, 23, a lifeguard from Dudley, West Midlands, lives with his parents, but pays for the O2 broadband connection into the family home. The letter sent to him by ACS:Law claims his internet account was used to download Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada, from the filesharing website uTorrent.
The letter, which runs to nine pages, goes on to claim that this was in breach of ACS's clients' copyright, and offers to settle its potential claim if Bellamy pays nearly £300 in compensation.
"Getting a letter like this is extremely worrying. I have never downloaded anything from this website and yet I am being chased for this money. My parents have been worried by this, and frankly I've got better things to do with my time than deal with this."
And he is by no means alone. The internet is awash with similar complaints from anxious web users - many of whom who did download the files where they have been accused of infringing copyright, but also from plenty who insist they didn't. The letters demand anywhere between £300 and £1,200. The law firms sending the letters obtain the names and addresses of the downloaders from internet service providers (ISPs). To get access, they usually seek a high court order, and ISPs have no choice but to hand over the details.
In November 2008, Money first reported that solicitors were sending out threatening letters to net users. We featured a Hertfordshire couple sent a demand to pay £503 for "copyright infringement" or face a high court action. The 20-page "pre-settlement letter" from legal firm Davenport Lyons demanded money on behalf of German pornographers, who claimed the pair had illegally downloaded a porn film. The couple said they had no idea how to even download a film, even if they had the inclination, which they didn't.
Michael Coyle, solicitor advocate and MD of the Southampton-based law firm Lawdit, who has represented hundreds of people who have received these letters, says none of his cases have gone to court."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jul/17/file-sharers-legal-action-music-downloads
"Solicitors for dance music label Ministry of Sound have sent letters to thousands of internet users it believes have illegally downloaded music and says it is determined to take them to court – and extract substantial damages – unless they immediately pay compensation, typically around £350.
Ministry of Sound's move marks an intensification of the legal battle against file sharers, which is seeing more and more lawyers send out what critics call speculative invoicing of downloaders suspected of pirating anything from music tracks to films and games.
Soho firm Gallant Macmillan last week completed a mailout to 2,000 individuals it claims infringed Ministry of Sound's copyright after downloading and sharing music. It follows in the steps of ACS:Law, which has sent many thousands of letters demanding compensation from alleged file sharers, sometimes billing in excess of £1,000. Luke Bellamy, above, contacted Money this week after receiving a £295 demand from ACS:Law, which alleged he downloaded and shared a track from dance music group Cascada.
Some recipients of the letters, concerned about forking out huge damages, have paid up. Others have been mystified – they claim never to have downloaded the tracks. Meanwhile, some legal specialists say the threats are largely unenforceable. Unless a user confesses to illegally downloading a file, or a court order is obtained to seize a computer and the file is then located on its hard drive, consumer groups say, it's hard to see how such an action will succeed.
Even the body that represents the UK recorded music industry, the BPI, which is keen to stamp out illegal filesharing, says it does not condone the mass-mailing of alleged internet pirates. "Our view is that legal action is best reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders, rather than widely used as a first response," it says.
Most recipients of the letters have binned them and, to date, avoided any further action. But Gallant Macmillan says it is taking a different approach to the other legal firms that pioneered this business, and that its sole client, Ministry of Sound, is serious when it threatens legal action. Until now, none of these cases have ended up in UK courts. A Ministry of Sound spokesman says that actions have been won in German courts, and it is confident that it can do the same in the UK.
Bellamy, 23, a lifeguard from Dudley, West Midlands, lives with his parents, but pays for the O2 broadband connection into the family home. The letter sent to him by ACS:Law claims his internet account was used to download Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada, from the filesharing website uTorrent.
The letter, which runs to nine pages, goes on to claim that this was in breach of ACS's clients' copyright, and offers to settle its potential claim if Bellamy pays nearly £300 in compensation.
"Getting a letter like this is extremely worrying. I have never downloaded anything from this website and yet I am being chased for this money. My parents have been worried by this, and frankly I've got better things to do with my time than deal with this."
And he is by no means alone. The internet is awash with similar complaints from anxious web users - many of whom who did download the files where they have been accused of infringing copyright, but also from plenty who insist they didn't. The letters demand anywhere between £300 and £1,200. The law firms sending the letters obtain the names and addresses of the downloaders from internet service providers (ISPs). To get access, they usually seek a high court order, and ISPs have no choice but to hand over the details.
In November 2008, Money first reported that solicitors were sending out threatening letters to net users. We featured a Hertfordshire couple sent a demand to pay £503 for "copyright infringement" or face a high court action. The 20-page "pre-settlement letter" from legal firm Davenport Lyons demanded money on behalf of German pornographers, who claimed the pair had illegally downloaded a porn film. The couple said they had no idea how to even download a film, even if they had the inclination, which they didn't.
Michael Coyle, solicitor advocate and MD of the Southampton-based law firm Lawdit, who has represented hundreds of people who have received these letters, says none of his cases have gone to court."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jul/17/file-sharers-legal-action-music-downloads
E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon; New York Times, 7/20/10
Claire Cain Miller, New York Times; E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon:
"Monday was a day for the history books — if those will even exist in the future.
Amazon.com, one of the nation’s largest booksellers, announced Monday that for the last three months, sales of books for its e-reader, the Kindle, outnumbered sales of hardcover books.
In that time, Amazon said, it sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there is no Kindle edition.
The pace of change is quickening, too, Amazon said. In the last four weeks sales rose to 180 digital books for every 100 hardcover copies. Amazon has 630,000 Kindle books, a small fraction of the millions of books sold on the site.
Book lovers mourning the demise of hardcover books with their heft and their musty smell need a reality check, said Mike Shatzkin, founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, which advises book publishers on digital change. “This was a day that was going to come, a day that had to come,” he said. He predicts that within a decade, fewer than 25 percent of all books sold will be print versions.
The shift at Amazon is “astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months,” the chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, said in a statement.
Still, the hardcover book is far from extinct. Industrywide sales are up 22 percent this year, according to the American Publishers Association.
The figures do not include free Kindle books, of which there are 1.8 million originally published before 1923 (they are in the public domain because their copyright has expired). Amazon does not specify how paperback sales compare with e-book sales, but paperback sales are thought to still outnumber e-books.
The big surprise, Mr. Shatzkin said, was that the day came during the first period that the Kindle faced a serious competitive threat. The Apple iPad, which started sales in April, is marketed as a leisure device for reading, and it has its own e-book store. Yet sales of the Kindle also grew each month during the quarter, Amazon said.
Amazon is being helped by an explosion in e-book sales across the board. According to the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales have quadrupled this year through May.
Amazon said its sales exceeded that growth rate. One reason Kindle book sales have held their own is that owners of iPads and other mobile reading devices buy Kindle books, which they can read on computers, iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and Android phones. But, except for the free uncopyrighted books, Kindle owners must buy or download content via Amazon. “Every time they sell a Kindle, they lock up a customer,” Mr. Shatzkin said.
Some industry analysts say that many people do not consider the iPad to be a reading device the way the Kindle is, and see a need to own both. Amazon’s latest sales figures are “clearly an indication that the iPad is complementary to the Kindle, not a replacement,” said Youssef H. Squali, managing director at Jefferies & Company in charge of Internet and new media research.
The growth rate of Kindle sales tripled after Amazon lowered the price of the device in late June to $189 from $259, Amazon said. That was moments after Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its Nook e-reader to $199 from $259.
During roughly the same period, Apple sold three million iPads, it said.
Analysts said Amazon’s announcement could assuage investors’ concerns that the iPad threatens Kindle sales. Amazon’s stock price is down about 16 percent in the last three months, in part because of those fears.
“The sentiment’s turned a little more negative on the stock because of iPad issues and concern that Amazon would lose market share in the book segment,” said Aaron Kessler, director of Internet and digital media equity research at ThinkEquity."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/technology/20kindle.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1279623612-kTcO1WU0wPQtYr6/bdpI6g
"Monday was a day for the history books — if those will even exist in the future.
Amazon.com, one of the nation’s largest booksellers, announced Monday that for the last three months, sales of books for its e-reader, the Kindle, outnumbered sales of hardcover books.
In that time, Amazon said, it sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there is no Kindle edition.
The pace of change is quickening, too, Amazon said. In the last four weeks sales rose to 180 digital books for every 100 hardcover copies. Amazon has 630,000 Kindle books, a small fraction of the millions of books sold on the site.
Book lovers mourning the demise of hardcover books with their heft and their musty smell need a reality check, said Mike Shatzkin, founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, which advises book publishers on digital change. “This was a day that was going to come, a day that had to come,” he said. He predicts that within a decade, fewer than 25 percent of all books sold will be print versions.
The shift at Amazon is “astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months,” the chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, said in a statement.
Still, the hardcover book is far from extinct. Industrywide sales are up 22 percent this year, according to the American Publishers Association.
The figures do not include free Kindle books, of which there are 1.8 million originally published before 1923 (they are in the public domain because their copyright has expired). Amazon does not specify how paperback sales compare with e-book sales, but paperback sales are thought to still outnumber e-books.
The big surprise, Mr. Shatzkin said, was that the day came during the first period that the Kindle faced a serious competitive threat. The Apple iPad, which started sales in April, is marketed as a leisure device for reading, and it has its own e-book store. Yet sales of the Kindle also grew each month during the quarter, Amazon said.
Amazon is being helped by an explosion in e-book sales across the board. According to the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales have quadrupled this year through May.
Amazon said its sales exceeded that growth rate. One reason Kindle book sales have held their own is that owners of iPads and other mobile reading devices buy Kindle books, which they can read on computers, iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and Android phones. But, except for the free uncopyrighted books, Kindle owners must buy or download content via Amazon. “Every time they sell a Kindle, they lock up a customer,” Mr. Shatzkin said.
Some industry analysts say that many people do not consider the iPad to be a reading device the way the Kindle is, and see a need to own both. Amazon’s latest sales figures are “clearly an indication that the iPad is complementary to the Kindle, not a replacement,” said Youssef H. Squali, managing director at Jefferies & Company in charge of Internet and new media research.
The growth rate of Kindle sales tripled after Amazon lowered the price of the device in late June to $189 from $259, Amazon said. That was moments after Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its Nook e-reader to $199 from $259.
During roughly the same period, Apple sold three million iPads, it said.
Analysts said Amazon’s announcement could assuage investors’ concerns that the iPad threatens Kindle sales. Amazon’s stock price is down about 16 percent in the last three months, in part because of those fears.
“The sentiment’s turned a little more negative on the stock because of iPad issues and concern that Amazon would lose market share in the book segment,” said Aaron Kessler, director of Internet and digital media equity research at ThinkEquity."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/technology/20kindle.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1279623612-kTcO1WU0wPQtYr6/bdpI6g
Monday, July 19, 2010
[Podcast] Newspaper of the Future; NPR's On the Media, 7/16/10
[Podcast] NPR's On the Media; Newspaper of the Future:
"News existed before newsprint. Will it exist after? Of course, according to Yochai Benkler. What we confront, he argues, is a set of practical questions: what do we need in our news? What do we care about? The author of The Wealth of Networks describes our shift from the newspaper we get to the newspaper we seek."
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/07/16/06
"News existed before newsprint. Will it exist after? Of course, according to Yochai Benkler. What we confront, he argues, is a set of practical questions: what do we need in our news? What do we care about? The author of The Wealth of Networks describes our shift from the newspaper we get to the newspaper we seek."
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/07/16/06
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)