Pennsylvania DCNR Offering Open Data Website; Affords Users Detailed, Easily Accessible Information; PR Newswire, 5/13/16

PR Newswire, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; Pennsylvania DCNR Offering Open Data Website; Affords Users Detailed, Easily Accessible Information:

"Speaking Thursday night before an annual, statewide gathering of environmental professionals, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn unveiled her department's innovative move to offer detailed, easily accessible information to all.

"In line with Gov. Tom Wolf's call for transparent, easily accessible government, DCNR is offering an Open Data site that should prove invaluable to this audience of science-based, data-driven environmental professionals," Dunn told more than 100 members of the Pa. Association of Environmental Professionals. "I urge you all to take advantage of this new service."

"Governor Wolf's recent announcement that Pennsylvania is joining the open data movement -- and that DCNR is at the forefront -- will lead to exciting opportunities -- not only for environmental professionals, but for the media, students, academia, taxpayers, businesses. The list is endless.""

Gene Kelly's Widow Claims Copyright In Interviews Done By Gene Kelly, Sues Over Academic Book; TechDirt, 5/12/16

Mike Masnick, TechDirt; Gene Kelly's Widow Claims Copyright In Interviews Done By Gene Kelly, Sues Over Academic Book:

"Another day, another story of copyright being used for censorship, rather than as an incentive to create. Here's the headline: Gene Kelly's widow is suing to stop an academic book exploring various interviews that were done over the decades with the famed actor/dancer. And here's the lawsuit, in which Kelly's widow, Patricia Ward Kelly, who was married to Gene Kelly for the last seven years of his life, claims that she holds the copyright on every interview that Kelly ever did...

Now, the legal issues here are at least somewhat nuanced. The question of who actually holds the copyright in an interview is actually a hotly debated topic in some copyright circles, and the answer is not as clear or as simple as you might think (or as it probably ought to be). Remember, of course, that the law is pretty explicit that copyright is given to whoever fixes the interview into a tangible medium. So, in most cases, it would seem that whoever is recording/transcribing/publishing the interview likely holds the copyright in it."

President Obama signs trade secrets bill; The Hill, 5/11/16

Vicki Needham, The Hill; President Obama signs trade secrets bill:

"President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation into law that will provide a federal remedy for U.S. companies seeking relief from the theft of trade secrets, which costs companies billions every year.

Flanked by a bipartisan group of seven lawmakers, Obama praised congressional efforts to pass an enforcement bill that allows companies to seek damages through criminal and civil actions against those who steal valuable trade secrets.

"As many of you know, one of the biggest advantages that we've got in this global economy is that we innovate, we come up with new services, new goods, new products, new technologies," Obama said.

"Unfortunately, all too often, some of our competitors, instead of competing with us fairly, are trying to steal these trade secrets from American companies," he said."

Google and Oracle's $9.3 Billion Fair Use Fight Starts Today, Here's a Guide; Fortune, 5/9/16

Jeff John Roberts, Fortune; Google and Oracle's $9.3 Billion Fair Use Fight Starts Today, Here's a Guide:

"Why are Google and Oracle in court?

The case is about intellectual property. It began six years ago when Oracle sued Google for using APIs tied to Java (more on this below) without permission. Google won at an initial trial in 2012 when a jury found the company didn’t infringe Oracle’s patents, and a judge concluded the APIs didn’t qualify for copyright protection.

But in a ruling that shocked the tech community, an appeals court found in 2014 that Oracle’s APIs were indeed covered by copyright. The ruling also kicked the case back to the lower court to determine whether Google’s use of the APIs counted as a “fair use.” Now, at this second trial, a jury will look at the fair use question."

Judge: Star Trek fanfic creators must face CBS, Paramount copyright lawsuit; Ars Technica, 5/10/16

Megan Geuss, Ars Technica; Judge: Star Trek fanfic creators must face CBS, Paramount copyright lawsuit:

"On Monday, a Los Angeles-based US District Court judge ruled that Axanar Productions, a crowd-funded Star Trek fanfiction production company, would have to face a copyright infringement lawsuit (PDF) from CBS and Paramount, which own the rights to the Star Trek TV and film franchise...

"Although the Court declines to address whether Plaintiffs’ Claims will prosper at this time,” the judge wrote, "the Court does find Plaintiffs’ claims will live long enough to survive Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss.”

In another blog post, Peters wrote that Axanar Productions is trying to settle with CBS and Paramount "so we can move forward with telling the story of AXANAR in a way that satisfies both the studios and the over ten thousand fans who financially supported our project.”"

Biden calls for open-data research; Politico, 5/10/16

David Pittman, Politico; Biden calls for open-data research:

"BIDEN GETS TOUGH AT HEALTH DATAPALOOZA:

Vice President Joe Biden issued some of his strongest words yet in support of sharing clinical and research data, in remarks to data scientists Monday at Health Datapalooza. He said science was at an inflection point, with the ease of genomic sequencing, massive increases in computing power and digitization of health records. “You told me that this is the way we can make great progress, by sharing more data, breaking down the silos,” Biden told a standing-room only crowd in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt. “Imagine what we could, you could do to help in the fight against cancer if you had access to millions of cancer pathologies, genomic sequences, family histories and treatment outcomes.”

Calls for a national research database:

The country needs a way to share and make public underlying data from medical research, Biden said, a one point criticizing the New Journal of Medicine editor for saying such policy would breed “data parasites.”

Flying records cross country:

The Biden family had to literally fly Beau’s medical records to Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center because EHR systems couldn’t talk to each out. And this was the vice president’s son. “We spent $35 billion to avoid that kind of thing from happening.”"

Hacker Who Stole IDs and Scripts From Celebrities Pleads Guilty; New York Times, 5/9/16

Benjamin Weiser, New York Times; Hacker Who Stole IDs and Scripts From Celebrities Pleads Guilty:

"Mr. Knowles said that it was difficult to go after “a high profile celebrity,” so he would begin by going after friends found in photographs with them. He would then hack the friends’ accounts to find the celebrities’ telephone numbers and other personal information.

“It boils down to the weakest link in the chain,” a former official of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Austin P. Berglas, told The New York Times in December, after the charges were announced.

At one point, the complaint said, Mr. Knowles showed the undercover agent a list of names, with phone numbers or email addresses of about 130 celebrities.

Mr. Knowles, in court, apologized to the judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, and acknowledged that he knew his actions had been wrong and illegal.

He pleaded guilty to both of the counts charged in a federal indictment against him: criminal copyright infringement and identity theft.

He could face a total of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 25. The federal sentencing guidelines, which are only advisory, suggested a sentence of 27 to 33 months, according to the plea agreement in the case."