Who Owns XML?

Who Owns XML?
by WADE ROUSH
Technology Review, publication date: 26 October 2005
"But now executives at Scientigo, a small software maker based in Charlotte, NC, say the company owns two U.S. patents (No. 5,842,213 and No. 6,393,426), that cover one of the fundamental concepts behind XML: the idea of packaging data in a self-defining format that allows it to be correctly displayed wherever it travels.

Scientigo CEO Doyal Bryant says the company plans to capitalize on the patents either by reaching licensing agreements with big corporate users of XML or by selling them to another company."

Copyright events at MCN

Copyright events at MCN

by AMALYAH KESHET
publication date: 25 October 2005
The Museum Computer Network's Intellectual Property SIG is pleased to sponsor two sessions at the organization's annual conference, MCN 2005, in Boston, November 3-5, 2005. More information on the conference can be found at: http://www.mcn.edu/Mcn2005/mcn2005index.htm

"From Hip Hop to Oil on Canvas: Sampling, Art & Copyright"
The concept of sampling is integral to contemporary music, and a hot topic in terms of intellectual property. But the idea of licensing art and photography under a sampling license has yet to be explored. Does the painter in us tune into terms like "remix" and "mash?" Does looking at the latest Creative Commons project, ccmixter.org, intrigue the art historian in us with the idea of establishing a "family tree" of re-mixed samples during the creation of a new, collaborative, work of art? Can digital image files be remixed under similar technology and licensing terms? Join our panelists in hashing out current opinions on the state of the art of sampling, its importance in visual culture, and how copyright law fits in - or doesn't.

Panelists: Henry Jenkins, Director, Comparative Media Studies Program and Co-Director, Media in Transition, MIT, and Tyler Ochoa of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. Moderator: Amalyah Keshet

"Contract and Copyright: Whatever Happened to Fair Use?"
Is contract law supplanting copyright law when the latter provides "too much" latitude for fair use? Licenses controlling the use of copyrighted works govern whether and how we can access materials important for education, research, and creativity. Contracts that supersede user rights protected under copyright law threaten not only fair use but raise other social policy issues. This roundtable discussion will explore the limits of licensing and contracts. Participants will have 10 minutes to speak about their particular concerns, then will be asked to address a series of museum-based hypothetical scenarios presented by the Session Chair. This discussion will be followed by audience questions.

Panelists: Wendy Gordon, Boston University School of Law, Christine Sundt, University of Oregon, and Maureen A. OíRourke, Boston University School of Law. Moderator: Diane Zorich.


We look forward to some very lively discussion during these sessions, with your participation.


Amalyah Keshet
Head of Image Resources & Copyright Management
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Chair, MCN Intellectual Property SIG

Between What's Right and What's Easy

Between What's Right and What's Easy
by TARLETON GILLESPIE
Inside Higher Ed, publication date: 21 October 2005
"Automating the clearance process undoes the possibility of utilizing, and more importantly challenging, this slow disintegration of fair use. Even if the Blackboard mechanism allows instructors simply not to send their information to CCC for clearance (and it is unclear if it is, or eventually could become, a compulsory mechanism), the simple fact that clearance is becoming a technical default means that more and more instructors will default to it rather than invoking fair use."

Google's battle over library books

Google's battle over library books
by ELINOR MILLS
CNet News.com, publication date: 24 October 2005
"However, David Drummond, Google's general counsel, argued that Google's plans fall under the "fair use" provisions of U.S. copyright law, which do not require getting authorization from copyright holders in certain circumstances.

Last month, the Authors Guild, filed suit against Google, and this week the Association of American Publishers sued on behalf of McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster, John Wiley & Sons, Pearson Education and the Penguin Group"

What Are Affirmative Defenses?

What Are Affirmative Defenses?
by WILLIAM PATRY
The Patry Copyright Blog, publication date: 12 October 2005
"In Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises, the Supreme Court held (at my urging) that fair use is an affirmative defense. It has to be pled by defendant, who has the burden of proving it."

Copyright for the digital age

Copyright for the digital age
by BILL THOMPSON
BBC News, publication date: 17 October 2005
"The [Adelphi] charter continues that tradition, trying to make sense of a body of intellectual property law that is increasingly seen as unsupportable and damaging both to the development of the new economy and to the creative freedom that new technologies should make possible."

Who Did the Trade Minister Consult About Copyright?

Who Did the Trade Minister Consult About Copyright?
by RAMPHOLO MOLEFHE [Botswana]
allAfrica.com, publication date: 17 October 2005
"Secondly, there is the matter of principle. Government is busy with the
business of privatisation and it has framed what is now popularly known as
the 'privatisation master plan'.
The government now forms a copyright company that it wants to run at the
same time as it wants to give the impression that it is serious about
privatisation. What exactly does the government want to do?"

Judge laments lack of central copyright register

Judge laments lack of central copyright register
by NICK GENTLE
AsiaMedia, publication date: 16 October 2005
"It has been alleged that Cheung, chief shareholder in Topwide, signed a deal with a Thai company to produce VCDs in Hong Kong for distribution across Thailand. He had been given documents written in Thai purporting to be licensing agreements for reproducing those works in Hong Kong.

But unbeknownst to him, according to his defence counsel, the alleged licensing agreements were no good outside Thailand."

Copyright activists let off steam in London

Copyright activists let off steam in London
by INGRID MARSON
ZDNet UK, publication date: 17 October 2005
"A number of other copyright activists spoke at the event, including Salim Fadhley, an open source developer for the Plone CMS and Zope application server projects. He said that recent developments in the entertainment
industry confound the music industry's view that copyright promotes
creativity."

The big picture behind Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Real, and Sun deal-o-mania

The big picture behind Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Real, and Sun deal-o-mania
by DAVID BERLIND
Between the Lines, publication date: 13 October 2005
"Meanwhile Microsoft has a competing technology for music, but it's not doing nearly as well as Apple's. At least not yet. It's busy licensing it's playback and DRM technologies to as many licensees as it can to create the same sort of feeding frenzy around its PlaysForSure ecosystem has it did with system vendors for the Windows ecosystem (much to the chagrin of Apple). It's even giving away its DRM technology until the end of the year just to stimulate interest. By the time 2009 rolls around, when analysts think MP3-player demand will spike, I suspect the balance of power in the audio market will have shifted substantially towards the direction of the Microsoft PlaysForSure ecoysystem."
via Dan Gillmor

Europeans paying twice over for music downloads

Europeans paying twice over for music downloads
by SIMON AUGHTON
PC Pro, publication date: 14 October 2005
"The Business Software Alliance has found that most Europeans are paying 'private copying' levies on digital equipment. The monies collected are going to record companies and other copyright holders as compensation for supposed lost income as a result of copying."

PSU cracks down on copyright law

PSU cracks down on copyright law
The Daily Vanguard [Portland State University], publication date: 14 October 2005
"Following copyright law is not only time-consuming, it's more expensive, especially because the copyright holder sets the price. When the copy center gets a packet request, they obtain the copyright license and that fee gets factored into the price of the packet and the cost gets transferred to the student."

Sneak Preview of FEPP'S Fair Use Research Project Report

Sneak Preview of FEPP'S Fair Use Research Project Report
Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law, publication date: October 2005
"But the digital age, bringing with it a tilt toward increased control by owners of 'intellectual property' (or 'IP'), now poses a major challenge to fair use, and to related doctrines that protect free expression under trademark law.3 The employment of 'digital rights management' to restrict access to and copying of cultural products;"
via Siva Vaidhyanathan

Time-Shifted Video for the Masses

Time-Shifted Video for the Masses
by JENNY LEVINE
ALA TechSource, publication date: 12 October 2005
"All very interesting, but it worries me all the more when all of this is sold directly to the consumer and bypasses libraries. It's times like this I re-light a candle that Audible will wake up from its coma and bridge the Digital Rights Management (DRM) gap between libraries and iPods. Right now, I believe OverDrive is the only company that lets libraries circulate copyright-protected videos, but of course Overdrive's Windows-Media-encrypted files don't work on iPods."

Apple's new thing? Video iPod. But more crap-o copy-blocking.

Apple's new thing? Video iPod. But more crap-o copy-blocking.
by XENI JARDIN
Boing Boing, publication date: 12 October 2005
"But if you believe that hardware manufacturers shouldn't restrict your ability to enjoy video files you've purchased and have the legal right to play, you'll be disappointed."

CCC/Blackboard Integration

CCC/Blackboard Integration
by MIKE MADISON
Madisonian.net, publication date: 11 October 2005
"If you are using a CCC-enabled Blackboard system, is there any justification for relying on fair use in connection with teaching materials? As a practical matter, I doubt it. The CCC has taken even the Steve Martin defense "I forgot" out of the equation."
[Ed. note: In my previous job I was a Reserve librarian, overseeing our then brand new Electronic Reserve Service. When the CCC started offering permissions clearance for e-reserves, they introduced a $5 per request fee, regardless of whether or not the publisher actually agreed to grant them. They are also responsible for introducing a per-student charge into the permissions equation, and the result has been an enormous increase in the amount of money charged by publishers. Digital should not be an excuse to gouge the customer but libraries are so fearful on the copyright issue that they are paying. Here's hoping more universities just say no to the CCC.]

Stopping the Signal: Broadcast Flag Update #2

Stopping the Signal: Broadcast Flag Update #2
by DONNA WENTWORTH
Copyfight, publication date: 10 October 2005
"In other words, if government-mandated DRM + the DMCA remove your rights, Congressman Barton wants a way for you to take them back. Which Patrick Ross tells us is bad because it infringes upon...the freedom of corporations to impose a unilateral 'contract.'"

RIAA Sues Three Harvard Network Users for Music Copyright Infringement in New Round of Law Suits

RIAA Sues Three Harvard Network Users for Music Copyright Infringement in New Round of Law Suits
by MATTHEW S. LEBOWITZ
The Harvard Crimson, publication date: 11 October 2005
"The lawsuits accuse all of the university-network defendants of using i2hub--a software program that allows users to upload and download files over the intercollegiate network Internet--to illegally share copyrighted music.
"

Of Piracy, Motherboards, and Microsoft

Of Piracy, Motherboards, and Microsoft
by ED FOSTER
The Gripelog, publication date: 11 October 2005
"In other words, the reader's customer -- who has done nothing wrong other than have a motherboard fail on him -- has the choice of paying ransom to E-Machines or to Microsoft to have a functioning OS again. Which led the reader to wonder just what would constitute piracy in such a situation."

We've Not Seen the Last of The Copyright Class Action

We've Not Seen the Last of The Copyright Class Action
by CAROLE EBBINGHOUSE
Information Today, publication date: 10 October 2005
Quoting Edward Hasbrouck:
"On the eve of the court hearing scheduled for this coming Tuesday to decide whether to approve a proposed settlement giving the New York Times and its co-defendant copyright infringers future rights in perpetuity to sell, license, and sublicense the electronic rights to freelance articles that they've been stealing for years, the Times this past Monday began charging new fees (a US$50 monthly subscription fee and/or a per-article fee, none of which goes to the authors) for online access to articles (including those to which the Times has never paid for, nor acquired, the electronic rights).

The Times has been gearing up for this for months. So it's odd that they launched the new subscription fee and services now, rather than waiting a week for the settlement granting them rights to be approved. But their greed is, apparently, impatient."

Copying is Still the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Copying is Still the Sincerest Form of Flattery
by JOHN MAEDA
Simplicity, publication date: 06 October 2005
"Lexi was reeling from an interview from the previous evening where someone asked her how she felt about her movie being available to download for free off the Internet. First of all, she was surprised that it had happened to her movie. Second of all, she wasn't happy. Uh uh."

Any DVDs, Games You Want Cracked?

Any DVDs, Games You Want Cracked?
by HOLLY J. WAGNER
Wired News, publication date: 07 October 2005
"The DMCA forbids cracking of copy-protected or encrypted digital media, with certain exceptions. When the law was passed, Congress mandated the register of copyrights revisit the anti-circumvention section every three years to make sure consumers have proper access to materials they purchased -- even if content creators have them locked down.


If the copyright office finds instances where copy protection prevents fair use of the work, then those copy protections can be legally circumvented.


'I suspect that we will hear shortly from people who feel they have not been able to use copyrighted materials because of the DMCA,' said Ralph Oman, an intellectual property attorney and former register of copyrights."

iTunes for video? Don't hold your breath

iTunes for video? Don't hold your breath
by ALORIE GILBERT
CNET News.com, publication date: 06 October 2005
"Not surprisingly, the panelists expressed little sympathy for the music industry and its plight with illegal file sharing. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a high-definition TV venture, said lawsuits against consumers are mainly a way for the recording industry to distract people from the fact that their business is in decline. 'They need a boogeyman,' he said.

Fellow panelist Michael Powell, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, put it another way: 'Hiring lawyers is easier than innovating.'"

It's a case of who owns the words

It's a case of who owns the words
by Alex Beam
Boston Globe, publication date: 04 October 2005
"...The New Yorker can publish the DVDs because of a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in March involving National Geographic, which put out a digital version of the ''Complete National Geographic" in 1997. ''They were sued," Klaris says, ''and the Second Circuit held that an image-based compilation in context, like theirs, was protected" by the Copyright Act. ''As long as you maintain the integrity of your collected work, you can publish it in any medium. We have a copyright on that package."

But this situation looks very different over at the National Geographic Society, which had to take CNG off the shelves two years ago and has not put it back on sale since."
via FurdLog

RIAA Takes Shotgun to Traders

RIAA Takes Shotgun to Traders
by BRUCE GAIN
Wired News, publication date: 04 October 2005
"The RIAA began its litigation campaign in September 2003, resulting in more than 14,000 lawsuits. So far, more than 3,300 parties have settled, which the RIAA says proves the overwhelming majority of those summoned are guilty of stealing copyright files.

But attorneys representing many of the accused say that's not true. Estimates of how many people are being wrongly targeted for illegal file sharing vary, from hundreds to many more."

Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies

Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies
Copyright Office, Library of Congress
Federal Register, publication date: 03 October 2005"The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is preparing to conduct proceedings in accordance with section 1201(a)(1) of the Copyright Act, which was added by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and which provides that the Librarian of Congress may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works."

WIPO Negotiators Agree On Way Forward For Broadcasting Treaty

WIPO Negotiators Agree On Way Forward For Broadcasting Treaty
Intellectual Property Watch, publication date: 03 October 2005
"The proposal for a diplomatic conference had significant support from developed and developing countries alike, but some countries had resisted pre-approving the negotiation until they could ensure what the text to be negotiated look like. There are a number of concerns about the substance of the treaty, including whether it will ultimately cover webcasting despite objection by most member states."

Politicians want to raise broadcast flag

Politicians want to raise broadcast flag
by DECLAN MCCULLAGH
CNET News.com, publication date: 30 September 2005
"No legislation has advanced in either the House or the Senate, but opponents of the broadcast flag have been warning that the proposal could be attached to spending bills. The bill funding the Federal Communications Commission through 2006, for instance, is still before a conference committee."

Yahoo backs new digital book group

Yahoo backs new digital book group
by ERIC AUCHARD
Reuters, publication date: 03 October 2005
"The organization, known as the Open Content Alliance (OCA), plans to create a unified storehouse of both public domain and copyrighted materials, hosted by the Internet Archive"

Yahoo Works With 2 Academic Libraries and Other Archives on Project to Digitize Collections

Yahoo Works With 2 Academic Libraries and Other Archives on Project to Digitize Collections
by SCOTT CARLSON and JEFFREY R. YOUNG
The Chronicle of Higher Education, publication date: 03 October 2005
"Leaders of the project stressed that no books that are under copyright will be scanned unless the copyright holders give explicit permission."

By Tearing Open That Cardboard Box, Are You Also Signing on the Dotted Line?

By Tearing Open That Cardboard Box, Are You Also Signing on the Dotted Line?warning: subscription required
by J.D. BIERSDORFER
The New York Times, publication date: 03 October 2005
"A recent decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinforced the right of companies, in this case Lexmark International, the printer maker, to legally limit what customers can do with a patented product, given that the company spells out conditions and restrictions on a package label known as a box-top license."

when media becomes culture: rethinking copyright issues

when media becomes culture: rethinking copyright issues
by DANAH BOYD
Apophenia, publication date: 29 September 2005
[listening to Danah speak now at LITA National Forum 2005]
"But with media saturating our culture, how do we express ourselves devoid of references to copyrighted material? Why can't a kid wear a hand-made iPod costume for Halloween? Why can't i tell my story through the songs that i've listened to over the years? Media is the building block of storytelling and it has become so essential to what we do"