Google to Re-Publish 244 Years of Newspaper Articles? - Editor & Publisher, 9/9/08

Google to Re-Publish 244 Years of Newspaper Articles?: "Google Inc. is trying to expand the newspaper section of its online library to include billions of articles published during the past 244 years...

Besides the [Quebec] Chronicle-Telegraph, other newspapers that have already agreed to allow Google to copy and host their archives include the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the St. Petersburg Times in Florida...

Google already has committed to spending tens of millions of dollars to make electronic copies of books and other material kept in dozens of libraries around the world. The book-copying program, launched in 2004, has triggered a lawsuit from group of authors and publishers that alleges it infringes on copyrights — a charge that Google is fighting."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003847066

"Finger Lickin' Good" Trade Secret's Security Revamped - Yahoo News, 9/9/08

Trade secret is one of the four categories of Intellectual Property (the other three are Patent, Trademark, and Copyright). This KFC story provides an excellent example of a trade secret, underscoring the lengths to which corporations will go to avoid disclosure of a secret, in order to ensure continuing legal protection and competitive advantage.

KFC shoring up security for secret recipe: "Colonel Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices was to be removed Tuesday from safekeeping at KFC's corporate offices for the first time in decades. The temporary relocation is allowing KFC to revamp security around a yellowing sheet of paper that contains one of the country's most famous corporate secrets...

I don't want to be the president who loses the recipe," KFC President Roger Eaton said. "Imagine how terrifying that would be...

The biggest prize, though, is a single sheet of notebook paper, yellowed by age, that lays out the entire formula — including exact amounts for each ingredient — written in pencil and signed by Sanders."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080909/ap_on_bi_ge/kfc_secret

Copyright Clearance Center Expands Blanket Pricing Offer - Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/8/08

Copyright Clearance Center Expands Blanket Pricing Offer: "The Copyright Clearance Center, which helps colleges buy rights to reprint journal articles, book chapters, and other material in course packs and for other uses, now offers its blanket-pricing option to large institutions that were previously ineligible. And it has signed up one of the country’s largest universities, the University of Texas at Austin." http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3299&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

"Harry Potter" author Rowling Wins Copyright Infringement Suit; Insufficient Transformative Use by Plaintiff, Vander Ark - New York Times, 9/8/08

‘Potter’ Author Wins Copyright Ruling: "Judge Robert P. Patterson of Federal District Court said Ms. Rowling had proved that Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon” would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. He permanently blocked publication of the reference guide and awarded Ms. Rowling and her publisher $6,750 in statutory damages...He added that he ruled in Ms. Rowling’s favor because the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/business/media/09potterweb.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

OCLC Debuts Copyright Evidence Registry - OCLC Press Release, 8/25/08

OCLC pilots WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry: "OCLC is piloting a new service for libraries that encourages librarians and other interested parties to discover and share information about the copyright status of books.

The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry is a community working together to build a union catalog of copyright evidence based on WorldCat, which contains more than 100 million bibliographic records describing items held in thousands of libraries worldwide...

The goal of the Copyright Evidence Registry is to encourage a cooperative environment to discover, create and share copyright evidence through a collaboratively created and maintained database, using the WorldCat cooperative model to eliminate duplicate efforts...

Users can search the Copyright Evidence Registry to find information about a book, learn what others have said about its copyright status, and share what they know...

The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry Beta can be accessed at http://www.worldcat.org/copyrightevidence."

Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril - New York Times, 9/3/08

Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril : "It’s simple to get free music from online services like LimeWire, but it could also bring an unfriendly letter from a lawyer.

Dave Dederer feels your pain. As a songwriter and former guitarist for the Presidents of the United States of America, the owner of a record label and an Internet music entrepreneur, he is especially suited to assess the rights of artists, fans and distributors. After a close study of the laws that regulate his business, one thing is clear, he says: “It’s a swirling cesspool.”" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/technology/personaltech/04basics.html?ex=1378267200&en=5941bed8165f9d07&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink