GROKLAW
by PAMELA JONES
Groklaw, publication date: 22 February 2005
"The Lexmark case was about printers, about toner. Lexmark set it up so no other manufacturer's toner could work with Lexmark printers except its own, and it 'protected' this scheme with some software code and then sued a rival under the DMCA for reverse engineering so its own toner would work with Lexmark printers. This court found that the DMCA is about preventing piracy, not enabling a monopolist seeking to enforce its will on a smaller rival."
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
New approaches to television archiving
New approaches to television archiving
by Jeff Ubois
First Monday, publication date: March 2005
"Yet all sides in the copyright debate could benefit from the creation of a system that would simplify access to and reuse of archival footage, and streamline rights clearance procedures. An organization that handles rights for television, something like ASCAP or BMI does for the music industry, could reduce the barriers to access and use, and perhaps even help to fund preservation efforts."
by Jeff Ubois
First Monday, publication date: March 2005
"Yet all sides in the copyright debate could benefit from the creation of a system that would simplify access to and reuse of archival footage, and streamline rights clearance procedures. An organization that handles rights for television, something like ASCAP or BMI does for the music industry, could reduce the barriers to access and use, and perhaps even help to fund preservation efforts."
HP sued over pre-programmed cartridges
HP sued over pre-programmed cartridges
Out-Law News, publication date: 23 February 2005
"Meanwhile, rival printer maker Lexmark has suffered its own legal setback this week. The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that it would not reinstate a preliminary injunction ordering Static Control Components – a maker of microchips used in replacement laser printer cartridges – to stop making and selling its products."
Out-Law News, publication date: 23 February 2005
"Meanwhile, rival printer maker Lexmark has suffered its own legal setback this week. The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that it would not reinstate a preliminary injunction ordering Static Control Components – a maker of microchips used in replacement laser printer cartridges – to stop making and selling its products."
Is iTunes illegal?
Is iTunes illegal?
by RAYMOND BLIJD
P2PNet, publication date: 23 February 2005
"However, what makes this interesting is that making music available online is deemed illegal if done without a proper license. But those licenses might not even exist.
For example, CNET reported yesterday that the Russian Allofmp3.com is “illegal”. Although it had a license from the Russian collective agency, the agency isn’t yet recognized internationally and is struggling to meet those standards. Same goes for the Spanish Weblisten.com, as the report states.
"
by RAYMOND BLIJD
P2PNet, publication date: 23 February 2005
"However, what makes this interesting is that making music available online is deemed illegal if done without a proper license. But those licenses might not even exist.
For example, CNET reported yesterday that the Russian Allofmp3.com is “illegal”. Although it had a license from the Russian collective agency, the agency isn’t yet recognized internationally and is struggling to meet those standards. Same goes for the Spanish Weblisten.com, as the report states.
"
Court Debates Anti-Piracy TV Technology
Court Debates Anti-Piracy TV Technology
by TED BRIDIS, AP
Yahoo News, publication date: 22 February 2005
"U.S. Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards told the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) it 'crossed the line' requiring the new anti-piracy technology in next-generation television devices. But another appeals judge on the panel questioned whether consumers can challenge the FCC (news - web sites)'s rules in the courtroom."
by TED BRIDIS, AP
Yahoo News, publication date: 22 February 2005
"U.S. Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards told the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) it 'crossed the line' requiring the new anti-piracy technology in next-generation television devices. But another appeals judge on the panel questioned whether consumers can challenge the FCC (news - web sites)'s rules in the courtroom."
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Judge Says FCC "Can't Regulate Washing Machines"
Judge Says FCC "Can't Regulate Washing Machines"
by DONNA WENTWORTH
Copyfight, publication date: 22 February 2005
by DONNA WENTWORTH
Copyfight, publication date: 22 February 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
How Does Your EULA Suck?
How Does Your EULA Suck?
"Annalee Newitz counts the ways in a brilliant new white paper that provides example after example of stomach-turning end user license agreements (EULAs), explaining precisely how raw the deal is for anyone who clicks 'I agree.'"
by DONNA WENTWORTH
Copyfight, publication date: 19 February 2005
"Annalee Newitz counts the ways in a brilliant new white paper that provides example after example of stomach-turning end user license agreements (EULAs), explaining precisely how raw the deal is for anyone who clicks 'I agree.'"
by DONNA WENTWORTH
Copyfight, publication date: 19 February 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Macrovision tries passive anti-copying for DVDs
Macrovision tries passive anti-copying for DVDs
"As when used on CDs, this passive approach will only work against some ripping programs, and in any case will become useless as the bugs in ripping programs are fixed. If the goal is to keep protected DVD content off the P2P nets, then this product will fail."
by ED FELTEN
Freedom to Tinker, publication date: 15 February 2005
"As when used on CDs, this passive approach will only work against some ripping programs, and in any case will become useless as the bugs in ripping programs are fixed. If the goal is to keep protected DVD content off the P2P nets, then this product will fail."
by ED FELTEN
Freedom to Tinker, publication date: 15 February 2005
New copy-proof DVDs on the way?
New copy-proof DVDs on the way?
"The company could be hard pressed to break into the DVD protection market, which has historically been managed by companies or industry groups closely associated with the Hollywood studios themselves. However, studios have been deeply concerned by the failure of today's DVD copy protection and may be willing to experiment with an alternative if it proves practical."
by JOHN BORLAND
CNet News, publication date: 15 February 2005
"The company could be hard pressed to break into the DVD protection market, which has historically been managed by companies or industry groups closely associated with the Hollywood studios themselves. However, studios have been deeply concerned by the failure of today's DVD copy protection and may be willing to experiment with an alternative if it proves practical."
by JOHN BORLAND
CNet News, publication date: 15 February 2005
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
One Way the Right of Reproduction Screws Things Up
One Way the Right of Reproduction Screws Things Up
"The publishers aren't claiming that Google is distributing too much from the books it scans, but that mere reproduction is enough to trigger copyright law. They're right, of course. Whether Google can successfully raise a fair use defense is a question, but I wouldn't bet on it."
by ERNEST MILLER
The Importance Of, publication date: 08 February 2005
"The publishers aren't claiming that Google is distributing too much from the books it scans, but that mere reproduction is enough to trigger copyright law. They're right, of course. Whether Google can successfully raise a fair use defense is a question, but I wouldn't bet on it."
by ERNEST MILLER
The Importance Of, publication date: 08 February 2005
Small orphan bill reintroduced, bigger implications? HR24
Small orphan bill reintroduced, bigger implications? HR24"And that's where I think the implications of this small bill are actually quite heartening. Howard 'Hollywood' Berman (CA) is sponsoring HR 24, with John Conyers (MI) and Zoe Lofgren (CA).
The implication, I think, is that film preservationists are willing to use the provision (once it's extended to films), despite the wretched 'normal commercial exploitation' language. Film copyrights are the absolute worst, what with underlying music, performance rights etc."
by MARY MINOW
LibraryLaw Blog, publication date: 07 February 2005
The implication, I think, is that film preservationists are willing to use the provision (once it's extended to films), despite the wretched 'normal commercial exploitation' language. Film copyrights are the absolute worst, what with underlying music, performance rights etc."
by MARY MINOW
LibraryLaw Blog, publication date: 07 February 2005
Chicago's public sculpture can't be photographed by the public
Chicago's public sculpture can't be photographed by the public
by CORY DOCTOROW
Boing Boing, publication date: 06 February 2005
"If I were them, I'd ask for my money back. What kind of jerk sculptor sells the city a piece of public art for a public park and then demands that no one take pictures of it? Christ, they should run this guy out of town on a rail and melt the goddamned sculpture down for scrap. Then they should fire the politician who signed a purchase contract that reserved the photographic rights and run him out of town on the same rail. Between the artist's greed and the procurement officer's malfeasance, this is about the vilest display of human venality I've heard of all day."
by CORY DOCTOROW
Boing Boing, publication date: 06 February 2005
"If I were them, I'd ask for my money back. What kind of jerk sculptor sells the city a piece of public art for a public park and then demands that no one take pictures of it? Christ, they should run this guy out of town on a rail and melt the goddamned sculpture down for scrap. Then they should fire the politician who signed a purchase contract that reserved the photographic rights and run him out of town on the same rail. Between the artist's greed and the procurement officer's malfeasance, this is about the vilest display of human venality I've heard of all day."
Eyewitness News 11.com: Duke Freshmen Use iPods for Classes and Tunes
Duke Freshmen Use iPods for Classes and Tunes
The iPods have been used mostly for recording lectures and interviews and replaying them on the go. Other academic uses include analyzing music, not only in a music theory course but also in engineering labs, which examined music from the standpoint of its sound properties.
...
"Students' private use of the devices is OK, O'Brien said, as long as it doesn't violate copyright or other laws."
The Associated Press
ABC 11 Eyewitness news, publication date: 08 February 2005
The iPods have been used mostly for recording lectures and interviews and replaying them on the go. Other academic uses include analyzing music, not only in a music theory course but also in engineering labs, which examined music from the standpoint of its sound properties.
...
"Students' private use of the devices is OK, O'Brien said, as long as it doesn't violate copyright or other laws."
The Associated Press
ABC 11 Eyewitness news, publication date: 08 February 2005
Thursday, February 03, 2005
NFL Tightens Super Bowl Restrictions
NFL Tightens Super Bowl Restrictions "In addition, Las Vegas will be one of five U.S. cities where league-hired investigators will be on the prowl this weekend to guard against potential violations of the league's copyright protections."
by CHRIS JONES
Casino City Times, publication date: 03 February 2005
by CHRIS JONES
Casino City Times, publication date: 03 February 2005
Bill to let companies sanitize movies moves fast
Bill to let companies sanitize movies moves fast
"The bill 'will help to end aggressive litigation threatening the viability of small companies like ClearPlay which are busy creating innovative technologies for consumers that allow them to tailor their home viewing experience to their own individual or family preferences,' Hatch said last week."
Associated Press
CNN.com, publication date: 02 February 2005
"The bill 'will help to end aggressive litigation threatening the viability of small companies like ClearPlay which are busy creating innovative technologies for consumers that allow them to tailor their home viewing experience to their own individual or family preferences,' Hatch said last week."
Associated Press
CNN.com, publication date: 02 February 2005
"Good luck with that..."
"Good luck with that..."
"Okay, that's about the best I can do without reading anything. For more BAR/BRI copyright violations from me, you'll have to wait until June, which will be the next time I touch any of these books."
by JEREMY BLACHMAN
The Record, publication date: 03 February 2005
"Okay, that's about the best I can do without reading anything. For more BAR/BRI copyright violations from me, you'll have to wait until June, which will be the next time I touch any of these books."
by JEREMY BLACHMAN
The Record, publication date: 03 February 2005
Righting copyright: fair use and "digital environmentalism"
Righting copyright: fair use and "digital environmentalism"
"As amazing an effort as Google Print is (creating nothing less than a virtual 'universal library of knowledge'), its logical goal—giving readers full access to the entire contents of that library—will be undercut by our intellectual property laws. It is an inherently unstable situation, and it is only a matter of time before someone (Amazon? Random House?) develops software to link this vast cache of literature to a convenient print-on-demand service (for which the hardware already exists). When it becomes possible to hold an inexpensive, physical copy of one of Google's digitized titles in one's hands—but only if it was first published prior to 1923 and is therefore in the public domain—people will begin to understand the implications of having something so obviously beneficial (universal access to universal knowledge) tethered to laws from another era. Google Print may be the Trojan Horse of the copyright wars."
by ROBERT S. BOYNTON
Bookforum, publication date: February/March 2005
"As amazing an effort as Google Print is (creating nothing less than a virtual 'universal library of knowledge'), its logical goal—giving readers full access to the entire contents of that library—will be undercut by our intellectual property laws. It is an inherently unstable situation, and it is only a matter of time before someone (Amazon? Random House?) develops software to link this vast cache of literature to a convenient print-on-demand service (for which the hardware already exists). When it becomes possible to hold an inexpensive, physical copy of one of Google's digitized titles in one's hands—but only if it was first published prior to 1923 and is therefore in the public domain—people will begin to understand the implications of having something so obviously beneficial (universal access to universal knowledge) tethered to laws from another era. Google Print may be the Trojan Horse of the copyright wars."
by ROBERT S. BOYNTON
Bookforum, publication date: February/March 2005
Groundhog Day
Freedom to Tinker: Groundhog Day
"Beyond this, the new passive measures, like the old ones, must rely on computer bugs that won't exist on some systems, and will tend to be fixed on others. On many computers, then, the new passive measures will have no effect at all, leaving only the old active measures, which will fall to the Shift Key trick. Now we can see why SunnComm's release stops short of claiming a Shift Key fix, and of claiming to prevent P2P infringement. We can see, too, why SunnComm's investors and customers will be disappointed, yet again, when the product is released and its limitations become obvious."
by ED FELTEN
Freedom to Tinker, publication date: 03 February 2005
"Beyond this, the new passive measures, like the old ones, must rely on computer bugs that won't exist on some systems, and will tend to be fixed on others. On many computers, then, the new passive measures will have no effect at all, leaving only the old active measures, which will fall to the Shift Key trick. Now we can see why SunnComm's release stops short of claiming a Shift Key fix, and of claiming to prevent P2P infringement. We can see, too, why SunnComm's investors and customers will be disappointed, yet again, when the product is released and its limitations become obvious."
by ED FELTEN
Freedom to Tinker, publication date: 03 February 2005
Microsoft Windows Really Crappy Edition
Microsoft Windows Really Crappy Edition
"Now, ordered by the European Union to sell a version of Windows with Media Player removed, Microsoft proposed to name the OS 'Windows XP Reduced Media Edition,' another example of the company's tendency to give the finger to government whenever the mood strikes. (This latest insult-the-judge move is even more puzzling given that the EU didn't tell our favorite monopolist to sell the 'reduced' version at a lower price, which means that PC makers are hardly likely to opt for a version that has less software at the same price.)"
by DAN GILLMOR
Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc., publication date: 02 February 2005
"Now, ordered by the European Union to sell a version of Windows with Media Player removed, Microsoft proposed to name the OS 'Windows XP Reduced Media Edition,' another example of the company's tendency to give the finger to government whenever the mood strikes. (This latest insult-the-judge move is even more puzzling given that the EU didn't tell our favorite monopolist to sell the 'reduced' version at a lower price, which means that PC makers are hardly likely to opt for a version that has less software at the same price.)"
by DAN GILLMOR
Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc., publication date: 02 February 2005
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
OSDL-Funded Legal Center Provides Free Services To Open Source Developers
OSDL-Funded Legal Center Provides Free Services To Open Source Developers
"The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) has forked over $4 million to seed the creation of a law firm offering pro bono counsel to open-source projects and developers on thorny legal issues and licenses."
by PAULA ROONEY
CRN, publication date: 01 February 2005
"The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) has forked over $4 million to seed the creation of a law firm offering pro bono counsel to open-source projects and developers on thorny legal issues and licenses."
by PAULA ROONEY
CRN, publication date: 01 February 2005
Microsoft, Macrovision align on copy protection
Microsoft, Macrovision align on copy protection
"The deal could make it harder for consumers to make permanent copies of TV shows and movies without permission, if they use computers running the Windows operating system. It should also help convince movie studios and other content producers to release their products in new ways online, the companies said."
by JOHN BORLAND
CNet News.com, publication date: 31 January 2005
"The deal could make it harder for consumers to make permanent copies of TV shows and movies without permission, if they use computers running the Windows operating system. It should also help convince movie studios and other content producers to release their products in new ways online, the companies said."
by JOHN BORLAND
CNet News.com, publication date: 31 January 2005
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