Federal CIOs, Take Open Data To Next Level; Information Week, 5/29/14

Bobby Caudill, Information Week; Federal CIOs, Take Open Data To Next Level:

"A prime example comes from the State of Michigan's Department of Human Services (DHS). Sadly, there are parents who opt to neglect their financial obligations to their children. Such individuals take steps to hide from the authorities, oftentimes using false contact information. In order to help get child support payments into the hands of the single parents in need, DHS asked a simple question: "How can we find these people?" The answer was in open data.

The data immediately available to the agency was not enough, so DHS looked to other sources in the state. Starting with the Secretary of State, DHS secured access to state drivers' license data. Gaining access to the contact information of the millions of people who are licensed to drive had a huge impact, but DHS found even more valuable information at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). It turns out people don't think to falsify information when applying for hunting or fishing licenses. By integrating that information with its existing data, the agency could finally take action to help those in need. From my perspective, this is true innovation."

RESPECT Bill Would Put Golden Oldies Under Federal Copyright; Billboard, 5/29/14

Glenn Peoples, Billboard; RESPECT Bill Would Put Golden Oldies Under Federal Copyright:

"A new bill could help artists and labels collect royalties on the digital performance of older recordings while adding to the royalty expenses of the digital services that play them.

Revealed Thursday, the RESPECT Act was introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and co-sponsored by Rep. George Holding (R-NC) and several other members of the House. The bill would place pre-1972 sound recordings under federal law. Because the performance right for these older recordings currently falls under states' laws, digital music services such as Pandora and SiriusXM do not pay royalties on them. (These services do pay publishers for the performance of the compositions, however.)

Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake."

How does copyright work in space?; Economist, 5/22/13

G.F., Economist; How does copyright work in space? :

"CHRIS HADFIELD has captured the world's heart, judging by the 14m YouTube views of his free-fall rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", recorded on the International Space Station (ISS). The Canadian astronaut's clear voice and capable guitar-playing were complemented by his facility in moving around in the microgravity of low-earth orbit. But when the man fell to Earth in a neat and safe descent a few days ago, after a five-month stay in orbit, should he have been greeted by copyright police? Commander Hadfield was only 250 miles (400 km) up, so he was still subject to terrestrial intellectual-property regimes, which would have applied even if he had flown the "100,000 miles" mentioned in the song's lyrics, or millions of kilometres to Mars. His five-minute video had the potential to create a tangled web of intellectual-property issues. How does copyright work in space?...

J.A.L. Sterling, a London-based expert on international copyright law, anticipated all this in a 2008 paper, "Space Copyright Law: the new dimension", in which he lists dozens more potentially problematic scenarios that could arise, some seemingly risible at first."

The Beastie Boys sue Monster Energy Co for copyright infringement; Reuters via New York Times, 5/27/14

John Russell,Reuters via New York Times; The Beastie Boys sue Monster Energy Co for copyright infringement:

"The Beastie Boys take Monster Energy Co to trial over claims the beverage maker used the band's songs without their permission."

New Nashville group to push for copyright reform; Tennessean, 5/25/14

Nate Rau, Tennessean; New Nashville group to push for copyright reform:

"A new group comprised of prominent Nashville music publishing companies and other copyright stakeholders has formed, seeking to add another voice to the ongoing debate about sweeping copyright reform.

The group, called Interested Parties Advancing Copyright, consists of about 50 independent publishers, administrators, business managers and entertainment attorneys.

IPAC submitted comments to the federal Copyright Office prior to Friday's deadline for industry stakeholders to weigh in on music licensing reform. IPAC also hopes to participate in next month's federal roundtable discussion in Nashville about the current methods for licensing musical works and sound recordings...

The group's formation comes at a critical time because Congress is in the middle of debates about broad copyright reform. At stake is the potential for sweeping changes to federal laws governing music licensing, performance royalties, digital royalties and music piracy enforcement."

Vimeo to Launch Music Copyright ID System; Billboard, 5/21/14

Andrew Flanagan, Billboard; Vimeo to Launch Music Copyright ID System:

"Vimeo, the hosting site popular with video artists of all stripes and which uses the motto "upload your own work," will be implementing a system they're calling Copyright Match, intended to prevent music copyright infringement on the site.

CEO Kerry Trainor tells Billboard the system will allow the company to be "a little more controlled in terms of making sure that copyrighted material in its entirety isn't being synched to Vimeo without proper licensing."...

The new system should be less severe than the Content ID system used at Vimeo's main competitor YouTube, which often pulls videos determined to be infringing with little notification to uploaders. Copyright Match, produced in partnership with audio identification company Audible Magic, will be a tiered process...

If videos have a fair use case -- one of the most problematic areas of copyright monitoring in the high-volume digital age -- Vimeo will hear them out and reinstate the video's visibility if it meets their criteria."

Justices Reinstate Copyright Lawsuit Over ‘Raging Bull’; New York Times, 5/19/14

Adam Liptak, New York Times; Justices Reinstate Copyright Lawsuit Over ‘Raging Bull’ :

"The Supreme Court on Monday revived a copyright lawsuit against the owners of “Raging Bull,” the acclaimed 1980 movie for which Robert De Niro won an Academy Award as best actor for his portrayal of the boxer Jake LaMotta.

The case arose from a 1963 screenplay written by Frank Petrella in collaboration with Mr. LaMotta. Mr. Petrella died in 1981, and his daughter Paula inherited the rights to the screenplay.

She did not sue the movie’s owners until 2009, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, said that was too late. The copyright law itself would have allowed the suit, as its three-year statute of limitations starts to run anew every time there is a fresh infringement."