Issues and developments related to Intellectual Property (e.g. Copyright, Fair Use, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets) and Open Movements (e.g. Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources (OER)), examined in the "Intellectual Property and Open Movements" and "Ethics of Data, Information, and Emerging Technologies" graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. -- Kip Currier, PhD, JD
Friday, September 26, 2008
Public Knowledge Statement on Senate Passage of Intellectual Property Legislation - 9/26/08
Background: The Senate today passed S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008. The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“It is unfortunate that the Senate felt it necessary to pass this legislation. The bill only adds more imbalance to a copyright law that favors large media companies. At a time when the entire digital world is going to less restrictive distribution models, and when the courts are aghast at the outlandish damages being inflicted on consumers in copyright cases, this bill goes entirely in the wrong direction.
“Instead of being focused on giving large media companies what they want, Congress instead should take a comprehensive look at the current state of the law, and of technology and write legislation that recognizes the reality of the situation and the reality that consumers have rights also.
“At a minimum, we are pleased that the Senate bill as passed does not include the egregious provision allowing the Justice Department to file civil suits against alleged copyright violators on behalf of copyright holders. This provision was a total waste of the taxpayers’ money. We are grateful to Senator Wyden for his leadership in getting that provision removed. We still would have preferred that the bill not pass.”
Note: We understand the House may pass the bill tomorrow under suspension of the rules.
A copy of the bill, as passed by the Senate, is available here:http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/110-s3325-20080926.pdf"
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1766
Senate Passes Bill Creating 'Copyright Czar' - Wired.com, 9/26/08
"The measure (.pdf) creates an executive-level "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator" -- a copyright czar requiring Senate confirmation.
The executive and its office would be charged with creating a nationwide plan to combat piracy and "report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs...
The intellectual property measure approved Friday was strongly backed by Hollywood, the recording industry, unions, manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...
Digital rights groups, including Public Knowledge, opposed the measure.
Gigi Sohn, the group's president, said the bill goes too far but she was nonetheless pleased that the Justice Department won't be suing copyright infringers on behalf of the entertainment industry. "
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/senate-passes-b.html
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thomas Mistrial Decision Bolsters RIAA Litigation - Wired.com, 9/25/08
"At first glance, the decision appeared to have deflated the RIAA's legal position, (.pdf) which has helped it prevail in almost every one of its 30,000 cases –- most all of which have settled out of court.
But almost in passing, Judge Davis said that the music files the RIAA investigators allegedly downloaded from Thomas' share folder on Kazaa "can form the basis of an infringement claim."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/despite-thomas.html
$222,000 Copyright Infringement Damage Award for RIAA Against Jammie Thomas Overturned - ars technica, 9/24/08
"A federal judge has overturned the $222,000 copyright infringement verdict against Jammie Thomas, striking a huge blow to the RIAA's pet legal theory that making a file available over a P2P network is copyright infringement. He also calls on Congress to fix the Copyright Act so that the RIAA can't get six-figure judgments for P2P use."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-thomas-verdict-overturned-making-available-theory-rejected.html
Secret ACTA treaty emerges blinking into the sunlight - ars technica, 9/24/08
"The much-maligned, drafted-in-secret, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is an odd beast. It's being drafted by a group that includes the US, the EU, and Japan... but also Canada, Mexico, and Korea, which are on US Trade Representative's "special 301" watch list for intellectual property problems."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-secret-acta-treaty-emerges-blinking-into-the-sunlight.html
The ACTA Hearing: USTR Claims There's Nothing To See Here... Move Along - Techdirt, 9/25/08
"Earlier this week, the US Trade Representative held an open hearing on the international intellectual property agreement currently being negotiated in secret, ACTA."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080924/1732262362.shtml
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Copyright's Paradox: brilliantly argued scholarly book tackles free speech vs. copyright - BoingBoing.net, 9/18/08
"Netanel explores the history of copyright through this free speech lens, starting with the first copyright statutes in the 18th century and moving through the history of American publishing, the explosion in reproduction technologies at the start of the 20th century, and the horrible mess that is the 21st century."
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/18/copyrights-paradox-b.html
Fox News to McCain Camp: ‘Cease and Desist’ - Washington Independent, 9/19/08
"Fox News sent a tersely-worded “cease and desist” letter to the McCain campaign today, demanding the removal of Fox correspondent Major Garrett’s voice from a campaign ad, according to Politico...
The campaign has also received a long list of similar requests from artists and their representatives, whose material has been used without permission in ads, videos and campaign events, including: musicians Jackson Browne, Van Halen, Heart, Frankie Valli and comedian Mike Myers."
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/6554/fox-news-to-mccain-camp-cease-and-decist
Scud Stud Arthur Kent settles copyright infringing movie lawsuit - Brattleboro Reformer, 9/19/08
"The NBC reporter who became known as the Scud Stud during the first Gulf War has settled a lawsuit against the makers of "Charlie Wilson's War" over footage used in the Tom Hanks-Julia Roberts movie.
Arthur Kent, whose live reports on Iraq's Scud missile attacks on Saudia Arabia made him a celebrity, claimed in a lawsuit filed last April that Universal Studios and other violated his intellectual property rights by using without his consent segments of a 1986 news program he made about the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PEOPLE_ARTHUR_KENT?SITE=VTBRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Groups Demanding That ACTA Negotiations Be Made Public - Techdirt, 9/16/08
"We've been asking for months why the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) treaty is being negotiated in near total secrecy, allowing the entertainment industry to effectively rewrite international copyright law in substantial ways with almost no legislative review. Basically, various trade representatives, together with industry insiders, have been crafting ACTA to their own liking, with a plan to push it through for approval, claiming it's a trade agreement that shouldn't involve any legislative overview. It's an incredibly one-sided affair, from what's been leaked so far, and would substantially change copyright law around the globe in favor of protecting the entertainment industry's business model. "
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080916/1839352286.shtml
Hari Puttar and the case of the film that sounded too familiar - Scotland on Sunday, 9/14/08
"The release of Hari Puttar, a children's Bollywood film, has been postponed after Warner Bros complained its name was too similar to Harry Potter.
The Hollywood company filed a lawsuit against Bollywood film-makers Mirchi Movies because the name of the film was "confusing" and could infringe their copyright...
The lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal battles to protect the intellectual property rights of Scottish author JK Rowling's hugely successful creation."
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment/Hari-Puttar-and-the-case.4489918.jp
The Future of Copyright - Cato Institute, 6/9/08
"Unauthorized sharing of files will prevail in darknets, online and offline. On the other hand, certain non-digital activities, like book publishing, continue to work relatively well under the terms of classical copyright law designed for printing presses. Still other fields, like software and music, are characterized by complex competition among different models, where some make money on selling copyable units, while others profit by delivering uncopyable services. A qualified guess is that we will have to live in this landscape of gray zones for quite a while, for good and bad."
http://www.cato-unbound.org/2008/06/09/rasmus-fleischer/the-future-of-copyright/
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free - New York Times, 9/14/08
"Unlike other projects that share course materials, notably OpenCourseWare at M.I.T., Connexions uses broader Creative Commons license allowing students and teachers to rewrite and edit material as long as the originator is credited. Teachers put up material, called “modules,” and then mix and match their work with others’ to create a collection of material for students. “We are changing textbook publishing from a pipeline to an ecosystem,” he said."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em
Research Shows Students View Music Piracy as Socially Acceptable - Idaho Examiner, 9/14/08
"[University of Idaho researcher Darryl] Woolley said that piracy may not be perceived as an “immoral behavior” for students. They may not see it as unethical because they have no first-hand knowledge of prosecutions for piracy, and they may try to rationalize it because of financial situations. “They also view recording labels negatively and think that it does not hurt the recording artist,” he said."
http://www.idahoexaminer.com/reports/10057/research-shows-students-view-music-piracy-as-socially-acceptable
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Copyright row dogs Spore release - BBC News, 9/10/08
"Hundreds of people have complained about the copyright protecting system on the long-awaited game Spore. Scathing criticism of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) system have been posted by reviewers on Amazon.com...
In what reviewers described as "a draconian DRM system", the game can only be installed three times...
But many reviewers reacted with anger at the SecuROM DRM system used by EA. Some wrote that it would stop them from purchasing the product; others cancelled pre-orders...
"Our system works just like online music services that limit the number of machines on which you can you can play a song," an EA spokesman told the BBC. "This system is an effort to control piracy."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7604405.stm
Friday, September 12, 2008
A Perfect Storm of Bad Copyright Legislation - Public Knowledge, 9/10/08
"Here at PK, we’ve been keeping our heads down the past few days, trying to fight against some really bad legislation. Once we finally get word of one, another one popped up. There are three in all (so far) are four (another was introduced during the writing of this post!!!) and we’re going to need your help to put them away...
First up is the Senate’s version of the House’s PRO-IP bill, S. 3325, “The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008.”...
[Second:] The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act
Not long ago, Congress required that when grants from National Institutes of Health for research are made, researchers must deposit a copy of their articles in PubMed Central, an online archive...
[Third:] Broadcast Flag
Believe it or not, we’re hearing rumors of the broadcast flag returning...
[Fourth:] International Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Act of 2008
We just received word of this bill being dropped this morning...."
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1733
A Great Day for Creators - Copyright Alliance, 9/11/08
A Great Day for Creators:
"It is in my humble opinion a no-brainer that everybody wins when copyright laws are better enforced. Creators see their rights upheld. Both creators and their partners in distribution earn more due to a decrease in lost sales. Federal, state and local governments see tax revenue increases as goods that are taxed (legitimate creative works) are bought vs. untaxed goods (counterfeits). And society benefits, as the incentive remains for those works to be created to begin with.
The Senate Judiciary Committee demonstrated their understanding of that earlier today with the overwhelming passage of S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, authored by Chairman Leahy (D-VT) and ranking Republican Specter (PA)."
http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/2008/09/a-great-day-for-creators/
Opposition mounts to bill enabling US to prosecute suspected IP thieves - Beta News, 9/11/08
"The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008 (PDF available here), S.3325, would create a new appointed federal office called the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), who would report directly to the President. That person would chair what the bill describes as an "interagency advisory committee" on IP law enforcement, as well as serve as the principal coordinator of policy with regard to anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy activities.
But opponents see this IPEC position as a potential loose cannon..."
http://www.betanews.com/article/Opposition_mounts_to_bill_enabling_US_to_prosecute_suspected_IP_thieves/1221148060
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Google to Re-Publish 244 Years of Newspaper Articles? - Editor & Publisher, 9/9/08
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
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
Monday, September 8, 2008
Copyright Clearance Center Expands Blanket Pricing Offer - Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/8/08
"Harry Potter" author Rowling Wins Copyright Infringement Suit; Insufficient Transformative Use by Plaintiff, Vander Ark - New York Times, 9/8/08
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/business/media/09potterweb.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Sunday, September 7, 2008
OCLC Debuts Copyright Evidence Registry - OCLC Press Release, 8/25/08
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."
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril - New York Times, 9/3/08
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