Sherlock lives in public domain, US court rules in case of the heckled brand; Guardian, 6/16/14

Jessica Glenza, Guardian; Sherlock lives in public domain, US court rules in case of the heckled brand:

"A US court has ruled that Sherlock Holmes – along with 46 stories and four novels he’s appeared in – is in the public domain, reaffirming the expiration of the copyright once owned by the estate of Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle.

The ruling by the seventh US circuit court of appeals in Chicago comes after the Doyle estate threatened to sue the editor of a book of original Holmes fiction if the author didn’t pay licensing fees.

Doyle’s estate contacted Leslie Klinger in 2011, when he was about to publish an anthology of original fiction starring Holmes, A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. The estate demanded publisher Random House pay $5,000 in licensing fees for the use of the Holmes character.

Random House paid the fees, even though Klinger thought that the Holmes stories were in the public domain."

Music Industry Officials Agree on Need for Licensing Rule Changes, but Little Else; New York Times, 6/10/14

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Music Industry Officials Agree on Need for Licensing Rule Changes, but Little Else:

"The complex system of music licensing came under attack in a congressional hearing on Tuesday, as entertainment and media executives pleaded for changes to how music rights were acquired and paid for online and by radio and television stations.

Yet the executives offered little common ground about how to solve the problems they highlighted, and repeatedly clashed with one another during two and a half hours of testimony — giving lawmakers a preview of how difficult it may be to satisfy all parties in the rapidly evolving but fractious music market.

The hearing, before a House Judiciary subcommittee, was part of a broad review of copyright led by Robert W. Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia who heads the Judiciary committee.

The seven witnesses on Tuesday, representing the Grammy Awards, the music-licensing agency BMI, television stations and Silicon Valley technology companies, spoke about decades-old government regulation and the patchwork of federal laws that govern music licensing."

Court OKs Universities' Quest To Turn To More Digital Copies Of Books; NPR, 6/10/14

Lynn Neary, NPR; Court OKs Universities' Quest To Turn To More Digital Copies Of Books:

"A U.S. appeals court has ruled against a group of authors, deciding in favor of a consortium of universities in a case that hinged on copyright law and provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The universities had allowed Google to make digital copies of more than 10 million books so that they could be searchable by specific terms."

Why It's So Hard to Get the Law to Protect a Good Joke (Guest Column); Hollywood Reporter, 6/8/14

James J.S. Holmes and Kanika D. Corley, Hollywood Reporter; Why It's So Hard to Get the Law to Protect a Good Joke (Guest Column) :

"Comedians work hard to refine their craft, which often results in the creation of an intangible asset — a signature style of comedy. Such assets are deserving of intellectual property rights protection — but which one(s)?

Under the Copyright Act, protection extends to original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed. It follows that artistic content in tangible form, such as a comic's written jokes performed to an audience (or recorded), is entitled to protection. Taken to its logical conclusion, if comedic works are copyrightable, then those who engage in "joke thievery" should find themselves subject to suit for copyright infringement, thereby entitling the complainant to the Copyright Act's statutory damages and attorneys' fees.

Not so fast! A thorough review of the tenets of the Copyright Act when viewed in the context of professional comedians raises a problem."

Kennedy letters fiercely protected for decades; Boston Globe, 6/10/14

Matt Viser, Boston Globe; Kennedy letters fiercely protected for decades:

"In 1966, in a letter to a friend in Ireland, Jacqueline Kennedy seemed to see her future. She described her “strange” world, one in which “privacy barely exists, and where I spend all winter in New York holding my breath and wondering which old letter of mine will come up for auction next!”

All these years later, her family is still carefully guarding her legacy — and launching a new attempt to prevent the auction of letters she wrote to an Irish priest.

Caroline Kennedy has gotten involved in trying to establish ownership over the batch of more than 30 deeply personal letters that her mother had written to the Rev. Joseph Leonard over nearly 15 years. Those letters — in which Kennedy revealed some of her most private thoughts on marriage, motherhood, and death — had been set to be auctioned.

But under questions of ownership, copyright, and morality, the letters were pulled. The same day that attorneys for Caroline Kennedy contacted the Irish auction house planning to sell the letters, the auction was canceled. And the financially strapped college that discovered the letters and was hoping for a windfall — All Hallows College in Dublin — is now planning to close some 172 years after it opened."

Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy; U.S. Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force, July 2013

U.S. Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force; Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy: "“In April 2010, then Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke launched the Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF), which brings together the technical, policy, trade, economic, and legal expertise of many Commerce bureaus, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the International Trade Administration (ITA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Economic and Statistics Administration (ESA). Together, these bureaus have worked in the IPTF to identify leading public policy and operational challenges in the digital economy. In turn, the IPTF has developed approaches to strengthen protections for consumer data privacy, enhance cybersecurity practices, safeguard the global free flow of information, and ensure balanced and meaningful protection for intellectual property while preserving the dynamic innovation and growth that have made the Internet and digital technology so important to our economy and society. The paper that follows is the latest result of these cross-agency and multistakeholder discussions.”"

U.S. Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force to Host Series of Roundtables on Copyright Internet Policy Topics; Press Release, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 4/16/14

Press Release, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; U.S. Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force to Host Series of Roundtables on Copyright Internet Policy Topics:

"Public meetings were called for in U.S. Commerce Department’s Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy

Washington– The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force will host roundtable discussions in cities around the country on several copyright Internet policy topics, as part of the work envisioned in the Green Paper. The purpose of the roundtables is to engage further with members of the public on the following issues: (1) the legal framework for the creation of remixes; (2) the relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment; and (3) the appropriate calibration of statutory damages in the contexts of individual file sharers and of secondary liability for large-scale infringement. The roundtables, which will be led by USPTO and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will be held in Nashville, TN on May 21, 2014, Cambridge, MA on June 25, 2014, Los Angeles, CA on July 29, 2014, and Berkeley, CA on July 30, 2014. The meetings were called for in the Task Force’s Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy released last year.

In the Green Paper and subsequent requests for public comments on October 3, 2013, the Task Force stated its intention to hold roundtable discussions on these issues. On December 12, 2013, the Task Force held a day-long public meeting to discuss the issues identified for its further work in the Green Paper, which included panel discussions on remixes, the first sale doctrine, and statutory damages, as well as other topics. The purpose of the planned roundtables is to seek additional input from the public in different parts of the country in order for the Task Force to have a complete and thorough record upon which to make recommendations.

Requests to participate and observe are due three weeks in advance of each of the respective roundtables. While the Task Force may not be able to grant all requests, it will seek to maximize participation to the extent possible. The agendas and webcast instructions will be available approximately one week prior to each meeting on the Task Force website at www.ntia.doc.gov/internetpolicytaskforce and the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov/ip/global/copyrights/index.jsp. Additional information including RSVP instructions and directions can be found at http://events.Signup4.com/copyrightgreenpaper and in the Federal Register Notice: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-04-16/pdf/2014-08627.pdf.

For further information regarding the meeting, please contact Ben Golant, Office of Policy and International Affairs, at (571) 272-7070, or benjamin.golant@uspto.gov or Hollis Robinson, Office of Policy and International Affairs, at (571) 272-1500, or hollis.robinson@uspto.gov."