The Tarnished Trump Brand; New York Times, 12/11/15

Editorial Board, New York Times; The Tarnished Trump Brand:

"It takes a lot of work to make brands successful, and they can be undone quickly by controversy and scandal. Thanks to Mr. Trump himself, his name increasingly stands for bigotry and racism. His licensees should ask themselves if they want to be linked to a brand that carries those connotations."

Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian; Northwestern Digital Library Collections, Northwestern University

Northwestern University, Northwestern Digital Library Collections; Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian:

"Sensitive images and text

This site presents the complete contents of The North American Indian originally published by Edward S. Curtis between 1907-1930. The images and descriptions reflect the prevailing Euro-American cultural perspective of Curtis’s time, that Indians were “primitive” people whose traditions represented a “vanishing race”. Contemporary readers should view the work in that context.

In The North American Indian some ceremonial rituals and objects are portrayed which were not intended for viewing by the uninitiated. No material has been excluded or specially labeled in this online edition. All descriptions and images are included in order to represent the work fully."

Copyright and use restrictions

This online edition has been derived from a copy of The North American Indian held by the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library. Northwestern University Library is not aware of any current U.S. copyright or other restrictions to the use of the original work.

The contents of this site are provided for educational, personal, and non-commercial use, provided that the site is properly credited.

Sample credit line:

Northwestern University Library, Edward S. Curtis's "The North American Indian," 2003.

http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/site_curtis/

Written request for permission is required for any publication, distribution, or transmission of data, images or text presented on this web site, beyond that allowed by fair use."

WIPO Copyright Committee Hears Case For Exceptions For Museums; Intellectual Property Watch, 12/10/15

Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch; WIPO Copyright Committee Hears Case For Exceptions For Museums:

"A study [pdf] was presented yesterday on the need for copyright exceptions and limitations for museums by Lucie Guibault, co-authored with Jean-François Canat, and Elisabeth Logeais, who collaborated on the study.

According to the authors, the study investigates the issue of limitations and exceptions to copyright for museums and means to raise the international understanding on the need for museums to have adequate limitations to copyright. The study gives an overview of relevant existing legislative provisions.

Museum collections include diverse objects, such as objects of art, texts, drawings, paintings, photographs, maps, films and sound recordings, according to the study. Museums have to adapt to the digital age and consider digitising and disseminating their collections via the internet.

In principle, said the authors, museums need rights holders’ permission to reproduce any copyright-protected objects in their collections, unless an exception or limitation to copyright applies. Of the 188 WIPO members, only 45 of them have laws which contain provisions specifically allowing museums to make certain uses of works in their collections without prior authorisation of the rights holder, the study found."

Batman v Superman: the latest exercise in corporate fan fiction; Guardian, 12/9/15

Noah Berlatsky, Guardian; Batman v Superman: the latest exercise in corporate fan fiction:

"Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ended their creative input in the 1940s; for decades the duo’s main involvement with Superman was lawsuits over rights. Batman’s main creator, Bill Finger, was denied credit from the beginning by artist Bob Kane, and he died in poverty. Not much of a dawn of justice there.

At this point, there is no right or wrong version of Superman, or Batman, or Lex Luthor. Batman v Superman is just the latest exercise in corporate fan fiction, remixing bits and pieces of fan fiction based on fan fiction past. The result may be good, or bad, or mediocre, and you can love or hate Jesse Eisenberg’s performance for any number of reasons. But to say he’s not true to Luthor is to pretend that there’s some “true” version of Luthor to begin with – and to create a platonic, real Luthor who exists separately from, and overshadows, the original folks who, intentionally or by accident, came up with the character. Better to just take the upcoming film on its own merits, or lack thereof – and maybe give a nod to Leo Nowak, and his own stumbling lack of fidelity to Lex Luthor past."

New EU copyright rules would give travelers cross-border Netflix access; ArsTechnica.com, 12/9/15

Glyn Moody, ArsTechnica.com; New EU copyright rules would give travelers cross-border Netflix access:

"The European Commission says it wants to tackle the lack of consistency across the EU when it comes to copyright exceptions. As it notes: "The fragmentation of copyright rules in the EU is particularly visible in the area of exceptions. The exceptions set out in EU law are, in most cases, optional for Member States to implement and are often broadly defined. As a consequence, an exception in the law of one Member State may not exist in a neighbouring one, or be subject to different conditions or vary in scope."

In its new copyright framework, the European Commission proposes a number of initiatives in this area. These include: finally ratifying the Marrakech Treaty, which allows for the creation and distribution of special formats of print material for people with disabilities, without needing additional licences; permitting "public interest research organisations" to carry out text and data mining of material they have already licensed; and clarifying the scope of an exception for teaching materials.

The Commission also wants to sort out the freedom of panorama issue—the public's ability to take pictures of external objects like buildings and to distribute them without permission of the architect."

‘Happy Birthday’ Copyright Case Reaches a Settlement; New York Times, 12/9/15

Ben Sisario, New York Times; ‘Happy Birthday’ Copyright Case Reaches a Settlement:

"After more than two years of litigation, “Happy Birthday to You” — often called the most popular song in the world, but one that has long been under copyright — is one step closer to joining the public domain.

In September, a federal judge ruled that Warner Music, the song’s publisher, did not have a valid copyright claim to “Happy Birthday,” which has been estimated to collect $2 million a year in royalties. But what that ruling meant for the future of the song — and Warner’s liability — was unclear, and a trial had been set to begin next week.

In a filing on Tuesday in United States District Court in Los Angeles, the parties in the case said they had agreed to a settlement to end the case. The terms of that deal are confidential. But if the settlement is approved by the court, the song is expected to formally enter the public domain, meaning that it will not be covered by copyright and can be performed freely."

Milano cookie battle: Pepperidge Farm sues Trader Joe’s over copyright infringement; Fox News, 12/7/15

Fox News; Milano cookie battle: Pepperidge Farm sues Trader Joe’s over copyright infringement:

According to a complaint filed on Wednesday in New Haven, Conn., federal court, the grocery chain’s version of a sandwich cookie, called Trader Joe’s Crispy Cookies, look too similar to the Milano cookie and the products’ sale is “damaging its goodwill and confusing shoppers,” reports Reuters.

Milano cookies, which were introduced to the market in 1956, are crispy oval-shaped vanilla cookies with a chocolate crème filling. Over the years, variations have been introduced, including mint chocolate, orange chocolate and even pumpkin spice. The cookie was trademarked in 2010."