Copyright bill: clause for concern

Copyright bill: clause for concern
by STEPHEN BELL WELLINGTON
Computerworld [New Zealand], publication date: 20 December 2006
"Nevertheless, Jackson says that InternetNZ is very concerned about provisions which would levy criminal charges and heavy penalties against those dealing in devices or instructions designed to circumvent technological protection mechanisms (TPMs).

While these features are reminiscent of the much criticised Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) enacted in the US, the local proposed legislation is “not as severe”, he says. "

Copyright Tool Will Scan Web For Violations

Copyright Tool Will Scan Web For Violations
by KEVIN J DELANEY
The Wall Street Journal, publication date: 18 December 2006
"To deal with the mounting copyright issues swirling around video and other content online, a start-up founded by some respected Silicon Valley executives is taking a novel approach: combing the entire Web for unauthorized uses.

Privately held Attributor Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., has begun testing a system to scan the billions of pages on the Web for clients' audio, video, images and text -- potentially making it easier for owners to request that Web sites take content down or provide payment for its use."

Letter from Society of American Archivists to members of Congress about the Smithsonian/Showtime agreement

Letter from Society of American Archivists to members of Congress about the Smithsonian/Showtime agreement (pdf)
Society of American Archivists, publication date: 28 November 2006
"Using archival material held by a public institution to generate revenue for the institution through non-exclusive commercial alliances is an accepted practice among public archival institutions. But the Smithsonian's attempt to control use and distribution of information found in its archives through an exclusive agreement is virtually unprecedented among public archives. In our opinion, it is a violation of the public trust invested by donors and tax payers in public archives. We urge the Smithsonian to revisit the agreement and to abandon those portions that limit either access to the archives or distribution of a researcher's final results."

U.S. Copyright Office - Anticircumvention Rulemaking

U.S. Copyright Office - Anticircumvention Rulemaking
U.S. Copyright Office, publication date: 23 November 2006
Wow. When the rulemaking was delayed a few weeks back I did get my hopes up a little, but didn't really expect much. While some very good exemptions were not granted, six were and it's encouraging.

"The Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works."

Trying Out the Zune: IPod It’s Not

Trying Out the Zune: IPod It’s Not
by DAVID POGUE
The New York Times, publication date: 9 November 2006
"But PlaysForSure bombed. All of them put together stole only market-share crumbs from Apple. The interaction among player, software and store was balky and complex — something of a drawback when the system is called PlaysForSure.

'Yahoo might change the address of its D.R.M. server, and we can’t control that,' said Scott Erickson, a Zune product manager. (Never mind what a D.R.M. server is; the point is that Microsoft blames its partners for the technical glitches.)

...
Microsoft’s proprietary closed system abandons one potential audience: those who would have chosen an iPod competitor just to show their resentment for Apple’s proprietary closed system."

Red Hot Chili Peppers, QOTSA, T.I. Rock For Zune

Red Hot Chili Peppers, QOTSA, T.I. Rock For Zune
by JONATHAN COHEN AND BRIAN GARRITY
Billboard, publication date: 10 November 2006
"UMG refused to license its music to the Zune unless it could receive a percentage of each device sold, in addition to standard music licensing fees for downloads and subscriptions.

'These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,' UMG chairman/CEO Doug Morris says. 'So it's time to get paid for it.'"

WIPO At The Internet Governance Forum: DRMs, Access To Information, And Flexibilities

WIPO At The Internet Governance Forum: DRMs, Access To Information, And Flexibilities
by WILLIAM NEW
Intellectual Property Watch, publication date: 7 November 2006
"At the recent UN Internet Governance Forum in Athens, a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) representative said there is a “new emphasis on limitations and exceptions to copyright and user rights in areas such as freedom of expression and access to information.” But there is a need to promote interoperability of technology standards in areas such as digital rights management “as a way to avoid fragmentation of the online cultural market and as a way to bridge the digital divide and technological gap in developing countries.”"

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on Libraries

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on Libraries
by WILLIAM PATRY, publication date: 1 November 2006
The Patry Copyright Blog
"If things are still not worked out, the EC brings an action before the European Court of Justice. That happened with the lending directive over Spain and Italy's failure to comply. The opinions by the Court, released October 26th, make interesting reading on how process works and on how directives as a statute are interpreted."
[Note: Spain and Italy were found to be in violation of the directive]

Piracy stats don't add up (Simon Hayes, NOVEMBER 07, 2006)

Piracy stats don't add up
by SIMON HAYES
Australian IT, publication date: 07 November 2006
"A confidential briefing for the Attorney-General's Department, prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology, lashes the music and software sectors.

The draft of the institute's intellectual property crime report, sighted by The Australian shows that copyright owners 'failed to explain' how they reached financial loss statistics used in lobbying activities and court cases."

Digital Rights Management and Licensed Scholarly Digital Resources: A Report for ACRL

Digital Rights Management and Licensed Scholarly Digital Resources: A Report for ACRL
by KRISTIN R. ESCHENFELDER
Digital Library of Information Science and Technology, publication date: 23 September 2006

Digital Rights in question as business model

Digital Rights in question as business model
by ANTONY BRUNO
Reuters, publication date: 15 October 2006
"If the music industry truly wants to loosen Apple's iron grip on digital music sales, it should start allowing music to be sold without digital rights management protection.
...
DRM, they say, simply forces consumers to buy hardware with proprietary technology that enriches software companies rather than artists or labels."

Government should use DRM sparingly

Government should use DRM sparingly
by ROBERT GELLMAN
Government Computer News, publication date: 9 October 2006
"Comments of this type are usually public documents, and today they are often available on the Internet. What happens if a commentator used DRM to restrict access to the text?

A similar issue came up years ago when I worked for a House of Representatives subcommittee. Someone submitted testimony for a hearing with a prominent copyright notice. Did that mean that the testimony could not be distributed or printed? No one was quite sure, but we took the easy way out. We ignored the copyright notice. The submitter never objected, preferring to influence and not anger the committee. With a DRM-restricted document, however, subsequent dissemination of that testimony could have been difficult or impossible. "

Government should use DRM sparingly

Government should use DRM sparingly
by ROBERT GELLMAN
Government Computing News, publication date:9 October 2006
"Comments of this type are usually public documents, and today they are often available on the Internet. What happens if a commentator used DRM to restrict access to the text?

A similar issue came up years ago when I worked for a House of Representatives subcommittee. Someone submitted testimony for a hearing with a prominent copyright notice. Did that mean that the testimony could not be distributed or printed? No one was quite sure, but we took the easy way out. We ignored the copyright notice. The submitter never objected, preferring to influence and not anger the committee. With a DRM-restricted document, however, subsequent dissemination of that testimony could have been difficult or impossible. "

Google Rivals Hit by Subpoenas; Also, Book Search adds leading university in Spain

Google Rivals Hit by Subpoenas; Also, Book Search adds leading university in Spain [link not yet available; coming soon]
by ANDREW ALBANESE
Library Journal, publication date: 1 November 2006
"It's going to be a tough road for publishers and authors looking to halt Google's library scan plan. Opening its defense, Google prepared to drop subpoenas on its rivals, including Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as publishers and booksellers. The subpoenas ask for documents from Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., the Association of American Publishers, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., Bertelsmann/Random House Inc., Holtzbrinck Publishers, and Amazon.com pertaining to everything from content agreements to each company's analyses of copyright infringement and fair use, as well as fiscal forecasts, technical details, and digital rights management schemes."

Digital rights in question as business model?|?Tech&Sci?|?Technology?|?Reuters.com

Digital Rights in question as business model
by ANTONY BRUNO
Reuters, publication date: 15 October 2006
"If the music industry truly wants to loosen Apple's iron grip on digital music sales, it should start allowing music to be sold without digital rights management protection.
...
DRM, they say, simply forces consumers to buy hardware with proprietary technology that enriches software companies rather than artists or labels."

The Law Review's Commitment to Open-Access Publishing

The Law Review's Commitment to Open-Access Publishing
Colloquy: Northwestern University Law Review, publication date: 23 October 2006
"Here at the Northwestern University Law Review, we have read with interest the recent discussion concerning the importance of open access publication of legal scholarship. We wanted to take this opportunity to express our committment to maintaining broad and costless access to the information we publish.
...
Our current plan is to scan and post archival content at a steady rate, working backwards from the most recent issues towards the oldest. It may take some time before all of our content is open-access, but it is and will remain a key goal for the Law Review. "

Way to go, NU Law Review. Sounds like a great project for a certain book scanner of our acquaintance...

Scanning Books for Lexicography as Fair Use

Scanning Books for Lexicography as Fair Use
by WILLIAM MCGEVERAN
Info/Law, publication date: 21 October 2006
"It may be time to revisit whether scanning, even though it is literally a form of reproduction, should be considered more like machine-assisted reading, at least when the purpose is the kind of data-crunching of either indexing (as in Google) or analyzing linguistic patterns. "

Lawsuit Over Google's Book Project A Long, Long Way From Even Starting

Lawsuit Over Google's Book Project A Long, Long Way From Even Starting
Techdirt, publication date: 20 October 2006
"At this point, neither side needs to file until January of 2008, meaning that if the case actually goes to court, it won't happen for quite some time."

iPods vs. everything else: An audio quality arms race? More like a fashion arms race

iPods vs. everything else: An audio quality arms race? More like a fashion arms race
by DAVID BERLIND
ZDNet, publication date: 23 October 2006
"Of the bunch though, Microsoft is probably the only one with (1) the killer instinct, (2) a need to do some sort of bet-the-company move (all technology roads eventually lead to the company with the leading digital rights management system and Microsoft knows that it has to be that company), and (3) the advertising budget. "

Preserving a copy of the future

Preserving a copy of the future
by WENDY GROSSMAN
Guardian Unlimited, publication date: 19 October 2006
"Meanwhile, the recording industry is lobbying to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings from 50 years to 95, as it is in the US - a move opposed by the British Library Sound Archive.

'Under UK copyright law," says Ben White, copyright and compliance manager at the British Library, "we are unable to copy for preservation purposes film or sound material that sits in our permanent collection.'
...
Richard Mollet, director of public affairs for the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the industry's trade association, thinks issues of term extension and preservation copying should be kept separate.

'Many record companies maintain, at considerable expense, custom-built archives to collect and preserve and make available material over which they hold rights,' he says. 'The British Library isn't the only archivist in town. The idea that if it weren't for the British Library no archiving would be going on is false.' An exemption would solve the British Library's problem. The BPI does, however, want term extension."

How Accessible are Historic Television Broadcasts?

How Accessible are Historic Television Broadcasts?
by JEFF UBOIS
Television Archiving and Journal of Digital Information link to pdf document
"For example, libraries with print collections rarely prohibit the use of Xerox machines, but because of copyright law and contractual agreements with donors and program owners, video libraries are typically unable to allow or provide onsite reproduction, or offsite consultation via the Internet. Videos that can’t be legally reproduced are not typically usable for other purposes such as classroom showing. (p4)
...
Ultimately, reconstruction of the Dan Quayle – Murphy Brown interaction based on primary
source materials proved effectively impossible, despite extensive and prolonged efforts. The
speech by Dan Quayle that initiated the controversy was inaccessible for reasons of copyright,
and the owner of the Murphy Brown episodes refused to provide them for educational use. Other
news and entertainment footage was difficult to find, expensive, or unavailable.(p8)"

Forbidding Vistas: Windows licensing disserves the user

Forbidding Vistas: Windows licensing disserves the user
by WENDY SELTZER
wendy.seltzer.org, publication date: 19 October 2006
"'[C]ontent owners may ask Microsoft to revoke the software's ability to use WMDRM [Windows Media digital rights management] to play or copy protected content.' In other words, one movie or music file may take away your ability to play another, if the content owner (not the computer owner) chooses to cut back the Windows Media Player's features. Don't like the reports that Creative is removing radio recording functions from its MP3 players, under music industry pressure? Prepare for that kind of feature flux to be routine in Vista -- you've agreed to it in the license."

Rise of a copyright auto-cop

Rise of a copyright auto-cop
by ALEX VEIGA (Associated Press)
The Philadelphia Inquirer, publication date: 22 October 2006
"While YouTube is known as the place to find almost any kind of video clip, recent agreements with high-profile content creators require YouTube to deploy an audio-signature technology that can spot a low-quality copy of a licensed music video or other content. YouTube would have to substitute an approved version of the clip or take the material down automatically."

Reader Voices: Copyright Duration

Reader Voices: Copyright Duration
by ED FOSTER
InfoWorld, publication date: 20 October 2006
"Others thought a more modest rollback of the copyright term is in order. 'The current term of copyright is obscenely long -- why should your great-grandchildren get royalties on something you created? One of the sanest suggestions I have heard came from Orson Scott Card, someone who makes his living as a writer, who suggests the longer of 100 years or lifetime of the author plus 20 years. "

Obstructive copyright slammed

Obstructive copyright slammed
by KIM THOMAS
Information World Review, publication date: 20 October 2006
"A report on copyright from the scholarly body for the arts and humanities said copyright holders were obstructing many academic researchers by trying to stop them quoting from their work or demanding substantial payments. It accused commercial rights holders, particularly in the music industry, of being over-aggressive in defending their rights."

Boy Scouts get MPAA-approved copyright merit badge

Boy Scouts get MPAA-approved copyright merit badge
by NATE ANDERSON
Ars Technica, publication date: 20 October 2006
"'Research peer to peer websites—describe to your troop what they are and how they are sometimes used to illegally trade copyrighted materials,' suggests the official curriculum."

Copyright Jungle

Copyright Jungle
by SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN
Columbia Journalism Review, publication date: September/October 2006
"If every download replaced a sale, there would be no commercial music industry left. The relationship between the free version and the legitimate version is rather complex, like the relationship between a public library and a book publisher. Sometimes free stuff sells stuff."
...
"In the digital realm, however, copyright holders may install digital-rights-management schemes that limit the transportation of both the container and the content. So libraries may not lend out major portions of their materials if they are in digital form. As more works are digitized, libraries are shifting to the lighter, space-saving formats. As a result, libraries of the future could be less useful to citizens."

Do Academics Have an Ethical Obligation to Publish in Open Access Venues?

Do Academics Have an Ethical Obligation to Publish in Open Access Venues?
by LAWRENCE SOLUM
Legal Theory Blog, publication date: 13 October 2006
"The open-access imperative can be grounded on at least three ideas: (1) the idea that scholarship and the emergence of truth is an intrinsic telic good--an end worth pursuing for its own sake; (2) the idea that the creations of new ideas (a special form of information) is a public good in the economist's sense (because ideas have external social benefits and ideas cannot be rationed through price mechanisms); and (3) the idea that the fundamental moral equality of persons supports the maximization of access on reasonable terms of all persons to the realm of scholarly ideas."

More on Open Access Scholarship

More on Open Access Scholarship
by MIKE MADISON
madisonian.net, publication date: 13 October 2006
"At Pitt, I talked the other day with the current Editor in Chief, who reported to me that the number one topic of discussion for his board is how to improve the law review’s citation rank. How do you do that? Get the content out there. Allow authors to post to SSRN and BePress (which the law review does), and put its content on the Web in a timely way (which the law review knows that it needs to do)."

The Chicago Intellectual Property Colloquim Spring 2007

The Chicago Intellectual Property Colloquim Spring 2007
Lineup for Spring 2007 (January - April) has been announced, and speakers will include Glynn Lunney, Margaret Chon, and Pamela Samuelson.

Taking back educational fair use

Taking back educational fair use
by BRETT FRISCHMANN
Madisonian.net, publication date: 8 October 2006
"Suppose a State determines that all uses of copyrighted materials by any state-owned educational institution serve a genuine and important public purpose and thus should be permitted without a license. Could the State implement statewide educational fair use? Could the State implement a copyright safe harbor for state-owned educational institutions?"

Moneychangeseverything.com

Moneychangeseverything.com
by NORA EPHRON
Huffington Post via Yahoo News, publication date: 13 October 2006
"I've followed Myrvold's career in the meantime - he left Microsoft, bought a plane for himself, and started his own company, Intellectual Ventures - but it never crossed my mind that I would ever find him nine years later talking sentimentally about copyright. I mean, copyright? Even I have given up on copyright. I feel about copyright exactly the way Myrvold felt in 1997 about the end of print as we know it. But Myrvold seems to have fallen in love with copyright. He used it to attack the YouTube deal - 'But they don't own the content' seems to be the current conventional-wisdom-slash-Schadenfreude comment to make about the YouTube deal - and went on to say, in what I think was meant to be a moving moment, that he had ordered his twins to pay for their music downloads, even though none of their friends do. 'Copyright built our house,' Myrvold said. 'I told them, as long as you're sleeping here, you have to respect copyright.'"

The Zune, the Creative Commons, and the DRM

The Zune, the Creative Commons, and the DRM
by JAMES GRIMMELMANN
LawMeme, publication date: 17 September 2006
"Your Zune-enabled friend of convenience can only listen to the file three times, and must do so within three days. After that, the DRM in which Microsoft wraps everything that goes on a Zune will kick in and disable access."

First Blu-ray disc drive won’t play Blu-ray movies

First Blu-ray disc drive won’t play Blu-ray movies
by ASHER MOSES
CNet.com.au, publication date: 11 August 2006
"Vincent Bautista, Sony's product manager for data storage, told CNET.com.au that due to copy protection issues and lagging software development, the drive will only play user-recorded high-definition content from a digital camcorder, and not commercial movies released under the BD format."

Section 108 roundtable in Chicago, January 31, 2007

Public Roundtable Announced for January 31, 2007 in Chicago (PDF)
Section 108 Study Group, Library of Congress
publication date: 4 October 2006

Who Will Pay Next-Gen DVD License Fees?

Who Will Pay Next-Gen DVD License Fees?
by MARK HACHMAN
PC Magazine via ABC News
"'Advanced Access Content System (AACS) keys are integrated into your PC for copy protection purposes,' Toshiba says, in application notes for its latest GV35-AV60 Qosmio notebook. 'Occasional renewal of the AACS key is required, and easily done by connecting to the Internet. Toshiba will provide AACS key renewal for your new PC for 5 years from the date of purchase by the original purchaser at no charge, after which key renewal will be available pursuant to the software player provider's then current terms and conditions.'"

MySpace To Let Musicians Sell Tunes Directly To Members

MySpace To Let Musicians Sell Tunes Directly To Members
by ANTONE GONSALVES
InformationWeek, publication date: 5 September 2006
"Snocap Inc., a San Francisco company that sells digital licensing and copyright management services, would provide the technology behind the service, which is expected to be broadly available by the end of the year. Snocap was co-founded by Shawn Fanning, who launched the Napster file-sharing network in 1999."

Back from vacation

Back at last from long vacation, but off to a workshop. Slowly ramping back up to posting ... stay tuned.

Files Are Not for Sharing

Files Are Not for Sharing
by MATTHEW BALDWIN and GOOPYMART
The Morning News, publication date: 20 June 2006

Downloading Service to Allow Film Watching on TV Screens - New York Times

Downloading Service to Allow Film Watching on TV Screens - New York Times
by SAUL HANSELL
The New York Times, publication date: 19 July 2006
"The picture quality of the discs made through the downloading will not be as high as those on commercial DVD’s because the files need to be compressed to reduce the downloading time. Even so, it will take about three hours to download and burn a movie, hardly allowing for impulse purchases.

Mr. Marvis said users would not be inconvenienced by the time. “I was testing the service over the weekend with my family,” he said. “We picked out a movie to see, launched the service, cooked dinner, ate and by the time we washed and put away the dishes, there was the movie.”

And the studios are not yet allowing new releases to be sold in a form that can be copied to DVD’s. Initially, CinemaNow will offer about 100 older titles, including “Scent of a Woman,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Barbershop.” Prices will be about $9 to $15, the same as the films sold in versions that could be downloaded only to computers."

Studios Set Up DVD Download-and-Burn Plans To Fail

Studios Set Up DVD Download-and-Burn Plans To Fail
Techdirt, publication date: 19 July 2006
"Much to Movielink's chagrin, its major rival, CinemaNow, says it will start letting customers burn some movies to DVD, with the studios' blessing. It's slightly odd that the studios would let CinemaNow introduce the functionality before a site in which they have a financial stake, but they apparently feel somewhat comfortable with the technology the site's been using to let users burn porn DVDs for several months. Of course, there's a catch -- only about 100 movies are initially available to be burned, none of them new releases. "

Hong Kong's Boy Scouts on copyright patrol

Hong Kong's Boy Scouts on copyright patrol
by KEITH BRADSHER
CNET NEWS.COM, publication date: 18 July 2006
"When youths report to the authorities that movies, songs, television programs or other copyrighted material is being made available through an Internet posting, customs officials will verify the posting and then relay it to trade groups like the Motion Picture Association or the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The associations and their members then send warning letters to the Webmasters of the discussion forums, asking them to delete the offending posting; the customs officials keep secret which child has spotted which posting."

YouTube sued over copyright infringement

YouTube sued over copyright infringement
by GREG SANDOVAL
ZDNet, publication date: 18 July 2006
"'Mr. Tur's lawsuit is without merit,' YouTube said in a statement. 'YouTube is a service provider that complies with all the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and therefore is entitled to the full protections of the safe harbor provisions of the Act.'

Passed in 1998 to protect copyright holders from technology that facilitated piracy, the DMCA also offered protection to Web service providers by limiting their liability in cases where their customers were found guilty of copyright violation."

Kaleidescape - Legal Update

Kaleidescape - Legal Update
publication date: 30 June 2006
[the product Randy Picker referred to; see previous post]
"On June 1st, 2005, Kaleidescape filed its Answer and Cross-complaint against the DVD CCA. Kaleidescape’s cross-complaint states that the DVD CCA breached the CSS license by not allowing the ombudsman process mandated by its own bylaws to be completed, and that the DVD CCA breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by making its unreasonable and unsupported allegations against Kaleidescape and not participating in the ombudsman process in good faith. Kaleidescape’s cross-complaint also seeks a declaration from the Court that the CSS license does not include terms that the DVD CCA claims have been breached by Kaleidescape.

On March 15, 2006, the DVD CCA certified that it would not seek any monetary damages from Kaleidescape as relief for its claims in the case. On May 5, 2006, the Court issued an opinion confirming the DVD CCA’s declaration to the Court that no documents support the DVD CCA’s claim for damages and that, therefore, the DVD CCA has 'unequivocally and unconditionally [withdrawn] and waived' its allegations that it was damaged by Kaleidescape. In sum, the DVD CCA has dropped from its case its claim for monetary damages from Kaleidescape. Kaleidescape’s monetary damages claims against the DVD CCA, however, remain intact."

The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog: The Next Video Machine?

The Next Video Machine?
by RANDY PICKER
The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog, publication date: 17 July 2006
"A substantial fraction of copyright discussion, especially about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, emphasizes particular examples. The argument takes the form of “with the DMCA, the following use can’t take place and that can’t be right, can it?” Tim Lee, whose post on this spurred this post, makes this argument in describing how the DMCA has stifled innovation.

This is an incomplete way to frame the argument. These situations are usually about sets of uses. The technology will allow us to allow A, B and C or X, Y and Z, and we are not just choosing B or Z. We are choosing among different bundles of uses."

Copyright versus Database Right of Protection in the UK: The Bioinformatics Bone of Contention

UK Bioinformatics Forum - Copyright versus Database Right of Protection in the UK: The Bioinformatics Bone of Contention
Article abstract on UK Bioinformatics Forum, publication date: 11 July 2006
"Copyright and database protection are two notable and significant methods of exploiting innovations in bioinformatics. This article makes an in-depth analysis of the scope and utility of copyright and database protection laws in bioinformatics. This article focuses initially on the working of bioinformatics databases, and then delves into the issues and implications of copyright and database protection in bioinformatics. The article concludes that copyright in comparison to database laws serves as a better platform in keeping the balance between the interests of bioinformatics database makers and its users."

Consumer goods and copyright conundrums

Consumer goods and copyright conundrums
by STEWART MITCHELL
PC Pro [UK], publication date: 11 July 2006
"So is it a clear choice between restrictions on copying and levies? Apparently not; the EUCD allows member states to pick and choose from a host of directive elements. France has riled the copyright lobbyists by proposing lax laws, while Finland threw the regulatory form book out the window, introducing an effective ban on copying for personal use. Crucially, though, the existing levies remain in place."

A License to Audit

A License to Audit
by ED FOSTER
InfoWorld, publication date: 11 July 2006
"Russman believes that at least some of the larger software publishers are actually softening their approach, allowing more customers to conduct self-audits and even sometimes accepting it when the customer reports they are in compliance. But the software publishers may have little choice, because Russman also detects a growing intolerance among large corporate customers for these audit practices. 'There is a backlash because the customers are really sick of this,' says Russman. 'And the software publishers realize that they have alienated a lot of the big companies in the process. They are going to lose business, so they have to find a different approach.'

And what might that new approach be? Well, that brings us back to why I was talking to Russman in the first place. One idea some software publishers are moving toward is to at least supplement their audit demands by including embedded license controls in their products. We'll be discussing that topic further in the near future, because it's one that raises a lot of issues for customers and vendors alike."

The L.A. Times Gets It Right: "We Aren't All Pirates"

The L.A. Times Gets It Right: "We Aren't All Pirates"
by ART BRODSKY
Public Knowledge, publication date: 10 July 2006
"An editorial in the Los Angeles Times this morning captured perfectly the debate over the broadcast flag and the accompanying attack on digital radio.
...
'To attack the latter problem, industry lobbyists are pressing Congress to adopt at least five different proposals that would give them more control over their works as they flow through new digital pipelines into living rooms and portable devices. But these measures, like the technologies they would affect, have a hard time distinguishing between illicit actions and legitimate ones.'"

"Worst copyright law in Europe" passed in France

"Worst copyright law in Europe" passed in France
by BRUCE BYFIELD
NewsForge, publication date: 9 July 2006
"Some of DADVSI's provisions are relatively innocuous, such as its exceptions to copyright for educational purposes or its clarifications of what rights are transferred when a work of art is resold. However, the parts of DADVSI that concern anti-DRM activists are its efforts to prevent copyrighted worked being exchanged via peer to peer software, and its criminalization of any methods of circumventing DRM technologies."

Court say removing sex, profanity from films violates copyright laws

Associated Press Business News: Court say removing sex, profanity from films violates copyright laws - MSN Money
Associated Press
MSN Money, publication date: 8 July 2006
"U-S District Judge Richard Matsch (MAYCH) has ruled that editing movies to delete objectionable language, sex and violence is an 'illegitimate business' that hurts Hollywood studios and directors who own the movie rights"

UK court OKs AllofMP3.com suit

UK court OKs AllofMP3.com suit
by JIM WELTE
MP3.com, publication date: 5 July 2006
"AllofMP3.com exists in a quasi-legal state, whereby it charges users for downloads, but sells those downloads for as little as $1 for a full album. The site does not charge by song, but by volume, charging users 2 cents per megabyte.

Site owner MediaServices claims that the service pays the Russian groups responsible for managing royalties, but the music industry has said that those licenses would not apply to users outside of Russia."

Copyright Violations in Arms Trade Cost Russia $6Bln Per Year?— Official - MONEY - MOSNEWS.COM

Copyright Violations in Arms Trade Cost Russia $6Bln Per Year?
MOSNEWS, publication date: 5 July 2006
"Russia’s annual losses from exports of unpatented military hardware amount to $5-6 billion, the head of the Russian Federal Intellectual Property, Patent and Trademark Service (Rospatent) Boris Simonov said on Tuesday, July 4.

Speaking at a conference that dealt with legal support of the domestic defense industry, Simonov said: “Today there are no patents for protection of state interests, we deliver the samples of technology, which is not protected by copyright law.”"

Interoperability and DRM Are Mutually Exclusive

Interoperability and DRM Are Mutually Exclusive
by JOHN GRUBER
Daring Fireball,publication date: 20 June 2006
"But that’s not what the music industry wants. Yes, there exist legal download stores that sell music in MP3 format (e.g. eMusic.com) — but they don’t have content from the major record labels, because the major record labels refuse to allow their music to be sold for download without DRM. The music industry’s insistence upon DRM is what put the ITMS in the position that Apple now enjoys; the record industry is decrying a lock-in advantage that they themselves handed to Apple so they could deny their customers (i.e. us, the people who listen to music) the interoperability they now say they want."

Interoperability and DRM Are Mutually Exclusive

Interoperability and DRM Are Mutually Exclusive
by JOHN GRUBER
Daring Fireball, 20 June 2006
"But that’s not what the music industry wants. Yes, there exist legal download stores that sell music in MP3 format (e.g. eMusic.com) — but they don’t have content from the major record labels, because the major record labels refuse to allow their music to be sold for download without DRM. The music industry’s insistence upon DRM is what put the ITMS in the position that Apple now enjoys; the record industry is decrying a lock-in advantage that they themselves handed to Apple so they could deny their customers (i.e. us, the people who listen to music) the interoperability they now say they want."

AP Looks At Piracy Around The World... Misses The Real Story

AP Looks At Piracy Around The World... Misses The Real Story
by MIKE
TechDirt, publication date: 5 July 2006
"Nor does the AP bother to mention how software piracy helped boost certain aspects of the industry in China by decreasing the cost of inputs. This isn't to defend piracy -- but to note that there's a lot more to this story than what the various industry associations would have you believe. Would it be so hard for someone like the Associated Press not to take the corporate PR line, and maybe present a slightly more thoughtful set of articles? Apparently, that's too much work."

The Second Class Action Lawsuit over Microsoft's WGA

The Second Class Action Lawsuit over Microsoft's WGA
Groklaw, publication date: 5 July 2006
"Here's the thing. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a federal statute. The first litigation was under state laws. The CFAA is one of the serious, heavy-handed computer abuse laws Hollywood and other content owners dream about, designed to deal with 'pirates' and 'hackers'. And now, ironically enough, it is being applied to Microsoft, and I have to say, if all you look at is the actions and compare with the statute, it does seem to match up.

There is the disjoint that Microsoft isn't motivated like a cracker. It isn't going to sell your identity to an ID thief or put charges on your credit card or anything like that. It isn't going to post it on the internet either or cause other damage we normally would associate with the statute. But the law doesn't exactly distinguish such things. In discovery, there may be some digging to see what Microsoft was/is doing with all that data. Does it sell it to partners, for example? If it does, and it told you it was for your advantage, a necessary security update, is that fraud? Section 1030 of the Act is titled: 'Fraud and related activity in connection with computers.' The criminal penalties are significant. If you are a cracker, for example, found guilty of violating the Act, they can throw you in prison. This is civil only, so that isn't going to happen here, but it's not an insignificant thing to be accused of violating the CFAA. It's like I always say. Be careful what laws you pass, because they won't be used just the way you are thinking. Lawyers are creative."

Senators skeptical of need to fill analog hole

Senators skeptical of need to fill analog hole
by BILL HERMAN
Public Knowledge, publication date: 21 June 2006
"If I don’t want to break the law, I have to use an analog hole solution—options 2 or 3 above. Now, the studios are really upset about the analog hole because it gives consumers and other users (e.g., media literacy groups) the technical capacity to do things with content that the studio did not specifically authorize.

(Now about the hearing.)

Enter H.R. 4569, a bill mandating that all analog-to-digital converters respect a content protection scheme hand-chosen by the motion picture industry. Any encoder would have to recognize and obey CGMS-A, an encryption technology, and VEIL, a watermarking technology."

One flag debate down, another to go

One flag debate down, another to go
by GIGI SOHN
Public Knowledge, publication date: 27 June 2006
"What was different, however, was the hostility of a Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee to the industries that it regulates, namely broadcasters and satellite radio broadcasters, which both argued against the audio flag. The content industry usually does not fare as well in the Commerce Committee as it does in the Judiciary Committee, but you wouldn’t have had that impression today. With perhaps four or five exceptions of the eighteen who attended, the members were overwhelmingly in favor of an audio flag technology mandate.

What this says is that the recording industry worked the subcommittee hard, and our side has an awful lot of catching up to do. "

Bono Asked to Aid Copy-Protection Fight

Bono Asked to Aid Copy-Protection Fight
by MAY WONG
AP, publication date: 29 June 2006
"The Free Software Foundation, which is also behind the license that's used by the Linux operating system and other open source software, wants to eliminate DRM restrictions through its so-called Defective By Design campaign. It contends that more liberal access and usage models will actually help increase sales by widening the base of art lovers."

Bono Asked to Aid Copy-Protection Fight

Bono Asked to Aid Copy-Protection Fight
by MAY WONG
AP, publication date: 29 June 2006
"The Free Software Foundation, which is also behind the license that's used by the Linux operating system and other open source software, wants to eliminate DRM restrictions through its so-called Defective By Design campaign. It contends that more liberal access and usage models will actually help increase sales by widening the base of art lovers."

Ottawa will limit lobbying. It will also finance it

Ottawa will limit lobbying. It will also finance it
by MICHAEL GEIST
Toronto Star, publication date: 26 June 2006
"According to government documents, last fall the Ministry of Canadian Heritage entered into a multi-year agreement with the Creators' Rights Alliance, a national coalition of artists groups and copyright collectives with members both small (the League of Canadian Poets) and large (SOCAN and Access Copyright). The CRA has eight objectives, which notably include 'to ensure that government policy and legislation recognize that copyright is fundamentally about the rights of creators' and 'to ensure that international treaties and obligations to which Canada is signatory provide the strongest possible protection for the rights of creators.'"

10 Reasons Why High Definition DVD Formats Have Already Failed

10 Reasons Why High Definition DVD Formats Have Already Failed
by CLINT DEBOER
Audioholics, publication date: 21 June 2006
"For years we’ve heard about the evils of MP3 and illegal downloading. All the while the RIAA and music industry had two formats that could have prevented any illegal copying – at least for all but the most dedicated crackers: DVD-Audio and SACD. These formats proved to be higher quality than CD, presented much enhanced copy protection schemes and were easily used as alternative formats to CD. Yet both formats failed miserably to achieve any significant market penetration. Why? Without an artificial “shove” from the record industry – which never materialized – technology alone is never enough to push a new format into the hands of consumers. In terms of convenience and ease of use, DVD-Audio and SACD offered nothing to consumers. In fact, they made listening to music more complex, since most hardware was unable to correctly decode and provide adequate bass management for the new formats.

Could these formats have succeeded? Absolutely. If the recording industry had presented a plan to phase out CDs and the “format war” had been avoided (simply by the industry picking one format over the other) we would all be using DVD-Audio players and illegal downloadable music would be mostly confined to analogue rips or older music. Is this a stretch? Perhaps, but only because history shows us that corporate greed causes most companies to miss the long term economical gains over a short term loss of licensing revenues."

File-Sharing Still Thrives After Ruling

File-Sharing Still Thrives After Ruling
by ALEX VEIGA
Forbes, publication date: 30 June 2006
"Andrew Lack, then chief executive at Sony BMG Music Entertainment, predicted at the time: 'We will no longer have to compete with thieves in the night whose businesses are built on larceny.'

Yet a year later, peer-to-peer, or P2P, sharing continues to thrive, with firms behind favorite applications such as eDonkey, LimeWire, Morpheus and Kazaa, among others, still in business.

Although the threat of litigation did force the operators of BearShare, WinMX and i2Hub to shut down, the number of people using file-sharing services has gone up. "

French Law Affects Copyright, DRM

French Law Affects Copyright, DRM
by PETER SAYER, IDG News Service
PC World, publication date: 30 June 2006
"Companies that use digital rights management technologies to protect music downloads will be required to provide information about their technology to competitors wishing to create interoperable systems. This would mean that Apple Computer, for example, may have to relinquish its tight control of the FairPlay DRM technology it uses to tie songs downloaded from iTunes Music Store to its iTunes jukebox software and iPod music player.

So far, Apple has licensed the technology only to Motorola for use on a small number of cell phones. Vendors that use DRM do have one way around the law: they can sell songs for proprietary systems as long as the owner of the copyright holders agree."

Google Book project gets reprieve in Germany

Google Book project gets reprieve in Germany
by ELINOR MILLS
CNet News.com, publication date: 29 June 2006
"While Germany has backed down, the French are forging ahead. Publishing group Le Martiniere is suing Google for 'counterfeiting and breach of intellectual property rights' over the controversial book scanning and digitization project, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported earlier this month.

France's National Publishers' Union (SNE), which represents 400 publishers, has threatened legal action against Google over the project and publishers in the United Kingdom also have criticized Google over the plan."

U.S. fights flood of fake goods

U.S. fights flood of fake goods
by FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press
Mercury News, publication date: 29 June 2006
"Another problem is a reluctance by U.S. companies to cooperate publicly. Primosch said many are afraid that if they complain too loudly, China will retaliate, forcing them out of what's considered the most important major growth market in the world for U.S. manufacturers.

Until the problem is solved, industry representatives say many U.S. companies eyeing China face bleak prospects.

Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, estimated in recent testimony that U.S. publishers in China lost $52 million last year, part of a 'staggering amount of book piracy plaguing this most promising of markets.'"

Legal victory for Google in library project

Legal victory for Google in library project
by RICHARD WRAY
The Guardian, publication date: 29 June 2006
"As a result Google maintains that books it scans from US libraries on US soil are subject to US copyright even though the publisher may be based in another country. It has much stricter rules on what information can be seen from within copyrighted books digitised as part of its contract with the Bodleian.

Google argued before the Hamburg court that the display of short snippets from in-copyright books does not infringe German copyright law. The copyright chamber of the regional court of Hamburg indicated though it did not rule specifically that it agreed by telling WBG that its petition for an injunction was unlikely to succeed. The court rejected WBG's argument that the scanning of its books in the US infringes German copyright law."

German publisher retracts copyright case against Google

German publisher retracts copyright case against Google
by ANNA RICHARDSON
Information World Review, publication date: 29 June 2006
"But the publisher wanted to ensure German copyrighted titles would not be scanned in future without prior permission from publishers and took Google to court over this issue. The court, however, advised that this decision was a matter for the US courts. The Hamburg court also advised the publisher that Google’s previous action to remove WBG titles from Google Book Search ruled out a verdict of copyright infringement . Following the court’s assessment, the publisher decided to retract its case."

Copyright cases refused by Supreme Court

Copyright cases refused by Supreme Court
United Press International
Monsters and Critics, publication date: 27 June 2006
"Scotusblog.com reports that the high court chose to forgo deciding separate copyright cases involving Dwight D. Eisenhower`s 'Crusade in Europe' and A.A. Milne`s 'Winnie the Pooh' children stories."

Video piracy's new battleground

Video piracy's new battleground
by LOUISA HEARN
Sydney Morning Herald, publication date: 26 June 2006
"And now that indexes such as Peekvid are building businesses around the cataloguing of content appearing on video sites - including music, sporting clips and even entire television programs - pirated content is expected to become even more accessible to the casual browser.

Because the video portals act primarily as forums for uploading user-generated content, the copyright protection issue has proved difficult for the likes of YouTube to track and police."

Film critic pleads guilty in movie copyright case

Film critic pleads guilty in movie copyright case
by RICHARD CHERECWICH
Boston Globe, publication date: 24 June 2006
"Paul Sherman , 46, of Malden, sold on eBay copies of DVDs he had received to review, including ``Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.'

One man who bought Sherman's DVDs put several of them on the Internet, where they could be viewed before their commercial release, the Chronicle reported Thursday."

Copyright Clearance Center Presence in Elsevier's Scopus Introduces Copyright Permissioning into Advanced Databases; Opens Linking Opportunities for O

Copyright Clearance Center Presence in Elsevier's Scopus Introduces Copyright Permissioning into Advanced Databases; Opens Linking Opportunities for Other Application and Web Services Providers
PRESS RELEASE
BusinessWire, publication date: 24 June 2006
"The Scopus-CCC link, which will go live in mid-July, is designed to aid academic faculty and staff as well as corporate scientists and researchers who want to share content found in Scopus with students or colleagues."

US Creating New Office on Copyright Piracy

US Creating New Office on Copyright Piracy
Xinhua
CRIEnglish.com, publication date: 24 June 2006
"U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced on Friday that she was creating a new Intellectual Property Office at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)."

'DRM' Protects Downloads, But Does It Stifle Innovation?

'DRM' Protects Downloads, But Does It Stifle Innovation?
conversation between Wendy Seltzer and Friz Attaway (MPAA)
Wall Street Journal, publication date: 20 June 2006
"DMCA-backed DRM lets the majors dictate the terms, well beyond price, on which we can use and interact with media. It makes copyright's limited monopoly into a technology regulation, a gate on hardware and software development through which only 'approved' devices can pass. More sophisticated DRM will not improve that problem, just make the approvals more onerous and the range of consumer electronics smaller.

Nobody wants a door lock that locks its homeowner out too often. The law can support DRM in the short term, but as more and more honest people trip against its restrictions on their noninfringing activities, I predict they'll press Congress to change the law to allow for creativity in media and technology again."

Copyright event at American Library Association annual conference

This program is being offered at the American Library Association Annual conference next week in New Orleans.

If you find yourself perplexed about copyright, or if you are just stuck at conference for committee meetings and have some time on your hands, consider dropping by our program entitled "Copyright 101: Everything You Wanted to Know About Copyright But Were Afraid to Ask." The OITP Copyright Advisory Committee will present an open house of poster sessions on several copyright topics (including e-reserves, interlibrary loan, fair use, international copyright, public domain, and pending legislative actions) on Monday, June 26th from 1:30pm to 3:30pm at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel, Room Belle Chasse. Copyright experts will share their expertise and commiserate with you about the vexing copyright law. A real plus is that you can stop by anytime during the program, visit the posters sessions of interest to you, and pick up lots of handouts to take home to colleagues. For more information, contact Carrie Russell, Copyright Specialist at crussell@alawash.org.

We hope to see you there!!

Copyright Act sparks row

Copyright Act sparks row
Legalbrief Africa [Uganda], publication date: 19 June 2006
"Radio stations have not in the past paid royalties on music that they broadcast. The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2006, which requires only presidential assent to come into force, makes infringement on copyrighted works a criminal and a civil offence. In terms of its predecessor, infringement was a civil offence only."

Proskauer Rose Wins Important Copyright Victory for The White Stripes

Proskauer Rose Wins Important Copyright Victory for The White Stripes
Press Release
BusinessWire, publication date: 19 June 2006
"He added that the case underscored the importance of expanding the use of work-for hire agreements, which are commonly made between artists and producers to ensure that producers do not make a future copyright claim on their collaboration, but are often not made with engineers, sound mixers and the like."

U.S. Joins Industry in Piracy War

U.S. Joins Industry in Piracy War
by FRANK AHRENS
Washington Post, publication date: 15 June 2006
"More than a decade of hard lobbying by two powerful trade groups, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has convinced U.S. lawmakers and law enforcement officials that it's worth using America's muscle to protect movie and music interests abroad. Now, lawmakers are calling the trade groups, asking what else Congress and the government can do for the entertainment industry."

Captain Copyright can take a hit

Captain Copyright can take a hit
by MICHAEL GEIST
Ottawa Citizen, publication date: 15 June 2006
"Just days after the second linking policy appeared, the terms were changed yet again with the reference to moral rights removed. The current policy provides that Access Copyright has the right to withhold permission to link from any site that in its opinion may be damaging to its reputation, particularly sites featuring the objectionable content described earlier.

Notwithstanding the flurry of changes, it is doubtful that any version of the policy is actually enforceable. First, it is by no means certain that the terms and conditions associated with the site constitute a binding contract. All contracts require offer and acceptance -- an offer from one party and the acceptance of the offer from the other."

European Commission fears copyright levy for ISPs

European Commission fears copyright levy for ISPs
by Pinsent JMasons
OUT-LAW.com, publication date: 12 June 2006"The Commission is consulting with industry so that it can change the laws around this 'copyright levy' to suit the world of digital copying. It has warned, though, that applying traditional principles to digital media could cause consumers to reject any idea of a copyright levy.

'[In the digital media world] it would no longer be possible to hold only liable the manufacturers or importers of equipment and media,' said the Commission's consultation document. 'The logic of levies would also have to be applied to broadband and infrastructure service providers including telecommunications providers that carry content.'

'If this were to happen, levies would proliferate and there would be a serious risk of a backlash against the rights holder community and consumer welfare,' it said."

Blizzard abandons DMCA threat over 'WoW' manual

Blizzard abandons DMCA threat over 'WoW' manual
by ANNE BROACHE
CNet News, publication date: 9 June 2006
"The terms of the settlement do not provide for monetary compensation for Kopp, which he had originally sought. Instead, the companies agreed to withdraw their previous take-down notices and to drop their infringement claims. They also said they'd refrain from filing any future take-down notices against the same items Kopp had already disputed through counternotices."

Apple Faces Fresh Legal Attacks in Europe

Apple Faces Fresh Legal Attacks in Europe
by THOMAS CRAMPTON
The New York Times, publication date: 8 June 2006
"Bjorn Erik Thon, director of the ombudsman's office, said those provisions must be changed by June 21, or Apple could be fined.

As for making iTunes music compatible with non-Apple players, Mr. Thon said that his office expected a response from Apple by June 21, and would rule on the matter after that.

"We are likely to rule against Apple, but it is fair to hear their point of view," Mr. Thon said. "Consumers should be able to play music they have purchased on any device they want."

Mr. Thon said that he himself had bought a large number of songs from iTunes for about 1 euro apiece, and now wanted to transfer them to his new Nokia N80 cellular phone, but could not.

'I just cannot imagine an argument in favor of stopping someone from using a song they purchased,' he said."

Regulation Begets Regulation

Regulation Begets Regulation
by TIM LEE
Technology Liberation Front, publication date: 9 June 2006
"But I can’t say I’m shocked at their concern. The DMCA (and in Europe, the EUCD) have had the unintended consequence of giving Apple a monopoly on iTunes-compatible MP3 players. And so it’s not crazy for them to be looking into ways to remedy the problem.

But the right way to deal with the problem is to repeal the law that caused the problem in the first place, not to add another layer of regulations on top. Because those regulations, too, will have unintended consequences. If you repeal the DMCA and the EUCD, makers of competing MP3 players will reverse-engineer FairPlay and add the capability to play iTunes songs."

Line Noise talks S1RA

Line Noise talks S1RA
Electronic Frontier Foundation, publication date: 9 June 2006
"The second edition of Line Noise, the only* EFF podcast is online for your weekend listening pleasure. This episode, we spend a few minutes walking through the Section 115 Reform Act controversy in the company of EFF's Fred von Lohmann."
Approx. 13 minutes long, in this interview von Lohmann gives some background on the three controversial aspects of S1RA:
-licenses for incidental copies
-distribution vs. copying
-prohibition on products that allow or encourage local taping

House panel OKs digital licensing bill

House panel OKs digital licensing bill
by ANNE BROACHE
CNet News.com, publication date: 8 June 2006
"In a joint statement, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Digital Media Association and the National Music Publishers Association said they had 'much to gain' from the legislation but still hadn't reached 'complete agreement on all aspects' of it. An RIAA representative contacted by CNET News.com would not elaborate on those concerns.

Others, including two Democrats who reluctantly agreed to approve the bill on Thursday, have aired louder gripes about the current language. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for its part, encouraged its visitors to call their elected representatives and make their dissatisfaction known.

In a three-page letter (click for PDF) this week to the bill's authors, a coalition of 19 consumer-oriented advocacy groups and companies--including the American Association of Law Libraries, BellSouth, the Consumer Electronics Association, Public Knowledge, RadioShack, and Sirius and XM satellite radio--claimed the proposal poses a threat to fair use."

Google argues with U.K. publishers over digital libraries

Google argues with U.K. publishers over digital libraries
by TOM ESPINER
CNet News.com, publication date: 6 June 2006
"'You copy the whole text,' said Jones, the Publishers Association counsel.

Whetstone replied: 'That is how a search engine works--scan first, then index.'

'You are creating a massive digital file without consulting the copyright owner, when the burden of responsibility (to prove copyright infringement) rests on the copyright owner,' responded Jones. 'A powerful organization like Google has an exact copy of works and is making that available to a number of libraries.'

'You take a different view to us, and that is what a court will decide. We believe our program falls within copyright law,' Whetstone said."

U.S. faults China over copyright violations

U.S. faults China over copyright violations
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, publication date: 7 June 2006
"WASHINGTON A U.S. official said Wednesday that China's continuing failure to stop copyright piracy of U.S. movies, music, software and other goods put U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

'The problems in China run deep,' the official, Chris Israel, the U.S. coordinator for international intellectual property enforcement, said in remarks prepared for delivery before a congressional advisory panel. 'The rising tide of counterfeiting and piracy in China has created enormous challenges for U.S. businesses.'

He noted that industries dealing with intellectual property employ 18 million Americans."

Copyright Law Faces New Test On Thursday

Copyright Law Faces New Test On Thursday
by NATALL T. DEL CONTE
PC Magazing, publication date: 7 June 2006
"The Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) would amend Section 115 of the United States Code that covers compulsory licenses. Currently, digital music providers such as satellite and streamed radio stations have to obtain licenses from several sources in order to stream that content.
...
SIRA addresses ephemeral downloads, or what the EFF refers to as incidental downloads, meaning any content that is either temporary or cached in a computer. Chris Norgaard, partner and intellectual property attorney at Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, says that SIRA actually prevents incidental downloads from being licensed but speculates that the mere mention of it has EFF nervous."

APIG inquiry into Digital Rights Management

APIG inquiry into Digital Rights Management
All Parliament Internet Group [UK], publication date: June 2006
"A recommendation that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) bring forward appropriate labelling regulations so that it will become crystal clear to consumers what they will and will not be able to do with digital content that they purchase.

A recommendation that OFCOM publish guidance to make it clear that companies distributing Technical Protection Measures systems in the UK would, if they have features such as those in Sony-BMG’s MediaMax and XCP systems, run a significant risk of being prosecuted for criminal actions."
...
From the report itself:
"However, should all available versions of the material be protected by highly effective TPM systems, it may prove impossible, when the copyright expires, for the exploitation to occur – because the material will remain inaccessible except via the monopolistic TPM system. At our oral session Brian Fielding (Audible Inc) indicated that he though that this would be a desirable state of affairs, but no-one else who responded to us agreed with this position."

J.D. Lasica's Darknet: People in the Copyright Wars

J.D. Lasica's Darknet: People in the Copyright Wars
by ADAM C. ENGST
TidBits, publication date: 05 June 2006
"He tells the story of a pastor of an evangelical Christian church who uses snippets from movies and television shows in his sermons, and whether or not a case could be made for what he's doing being 'fair use,' the fact is that he's ripping the scenes from DVD in violation of the DMCA. Similarly illegal is a homemade DVD created by an Intel executive for his son's Pop Warner football team, because the guy added a snippet of fans cheering wildly from the DVD version of the football movie 'Rudy,' along with some scenes of NFL players doing touchdown dances and audio from the song 'Who Let the Dogs Out?'. Amusingly, Lasica describes the executive's homemade DVD to MPAA head Jack Valenti, who says flatly, 'He's committing a violation of federal law.'"

The final insult

Turmoil and fury.

Copyright bill faces partial delay

Copyright bill faces partial delay
AsiaMedia [Hong Kong], South China Morning Post, publication date: 2 June 2006
"In a bills committee paper, the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau said the Copyright (Suspension of Amendments) Ordinance, which originally expires on July 31, should be extended for another year. Passed in 2001, the legislation partially suspends the Copyright Ordinance provisions that make the use of infringing copies of copyright works in business a new criminal offence.

The suspension came amid public concerns that the provision would hamper dissemination of information and classroom teaching. And the partially suspended law remained effective in four categories of copyright works -- computer programs, movies, television dramas and musical recordings."

CNN, Cartoon Network sue Cablevision

CNN, Cartoon Network sue Cablevision
by REUTERS
CNet News.com, publication date: 30 May 2006
"But the networks say that because the proposed service allows subscribers to store television programs on the cable operator's own computer servers, it would be breaking copyright agreements by effectively retransmitting the programs.

Another Time Warner unit, Time Warner Cable, has been supportive of network DVRs in principle if proved legal."

Glass Artists Face Off in Court

Glass Artists Face Off in Court
by TIMOTHY EGAN
The New York Times, publication date: 1 June 2006
"'This lawsuit is not about money,' he said, puttering around the boathouse in paint-splattered shoes with a lawyer and publicity agent in tow. 'It's about what is fair. There are a million forms you can make that don't look like mine.'

In a 2003 copyright case involving glass art, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, ruled against an artist who said another artist had used his design of jellyfish encased in glass. The two designs looked similar, but the court said no one could copyright nature."

The DVD War Against Consumers

The DVD War Against Consumers
by DAVID H. HOLTZMAN
BusinessWeek, publication date: 30 May 2006
"The Blu-ray's DRM scheme is simply anti-consumer. The standard reflects what the studios really want, which is no copying of their material at all, for any reason. They're clearly willing to take active and unpleasant measures to enforce this. Last year's Sony/BMG rootkit fiasco comes to mind (see BW Online, 11/29/05, 'Sony BMG's Costly Silence'). The possibility that they would disable thousands of DVD players, not because they're hacked but just because they might be vulnerable, would have been unthinkable a few years ago; it's clearly an option today.

What do consumers really want? We want high-quality video and sound, of course. These days we also want interoperability. When we buy content, we expect to play it on every gadget that we own. The newest video servers require content to be copied to the hard drives, so that they can stream video throughout the house. Soon, we'll also want to take the movies that we paid for with us on small multimedia players like video iPods."

Piracy fears over net generation

Piracy fears over net generation
by LAWRENCE LESSIG
BBC News, publication date: 30 May 2006
"He said a war was being fought with law and technology to eliminate piracy, likened to using 'DDT to kill a gnat'.

'These tools are designed to kill piracy but also kill the read-write culture,' he said, adding the would 'force creativity underground'."

No Free Samples for Documentaries: Seeking Film Clips With the Fair-Use Doctrine

No Free Samples for Documentaries: Seeking Film Clips With the Fair-Use Doctrine
by ELAINA DUTKA
The New York Times, publication date: 28 May 2006
"'We're taking on the fight not only with 'Wanderlust' but also with the upcoming 'This Film Is Not Yet Rated,' ' said Mr. Shapiro, referring to a clip-dependent critique of the film ratings system set for release in theaters later this year. 'That was made, from the start, under the fair-use doctrine, as all of our documentaries will be from now on.'

Mr. Donaldson began contacting the studios at the Berlin film festival in February, initiating talks that dragged on for months. Accept $1,000 a title, he said, or IFC will move ahead anyway. Though Paramount held firm, 13 of the 18 copyright holders accepted the offer, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Universal Studios, Miramax Films and Warner Brothers Entertainment, whose price was cut from $149,850 to $8,000. In the end the clips cost IFC less than $50,000. The holdouts advised IFC to rely on the fair-use argument, which, after viewing the film, they said they might legally challenge. (Mr. Shapiro is ramping up his insurance and putting away money in case that happens.)"

Mary Rasenberger Director Of Program Management For National Digital Information Infrastructure

Mary Rasenberger Director Of Program Management For National Digital Information Infrastructure
Managing Information News, publication date: 31 May 2006
"In her new role, Rasenberger will direct and manage the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (www.digitalpreservation.gov), established by Congress in 2000 as a collaborative initiative of the Library of Congress. Rasenberger also helped establish an independent body, the Section 108 Study Group, which is a select committee of copyright experts convened by the Library of Congress and charged with updating for the digital world the Copyright Act’s balance between the rights of creators and copyright owners and the needs of libraries and archives."

China enacts internet copyright regulation

China enacts internet copyright regulation
by STEVEN SCHWANKERT
PC Advisor, publication date: 30 May 2006
"From 1 July, uploading or downloading copyrighted material from the internet will require the copyright holder's permission, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Monday. Using, producing or importing devices capable of evading copyright protection is also banned under the regulation.

The new edict follows recent tough talk from the Chinese government on piracy and copyright violations. Industry groups such as the BSA (Business Software Alliance), MPA (Motion Picture Association), and RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have pressured China for years to improve its dismal record on pirated software and media."

AllofMP3 is illegal, says music industry

AllofMP3 is illegal, says music industry
by OUT-LAW.COM
The Register, publication date: 30 May 2006
"According to MediaServices, everything is licensed by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). MediaServices says that it pays licence fees 'subject to the Law of the Russian Federation'. It adds that it is not responsible for the actions of foreign users.
...
Regarding the claim of a licence from ROMS, Rechardt described ROMS as "a Russian organisation that claims to be a collecting society."

He continued: "ROMS has no rights from the record companies whatsoever to licence these pieces of music. ROMS and AllofMP3.com are well aware that record companies have not granted authorisation for this service.""

Two New Fair Use Cases

Two New Fair Use Cases
by MIKE MADISON
Madisonian.net, publication date: 25 May 2006
"What is interesting, though, and possibly relevant to later cases, is the very different tone that each panel adopted. Even if the outcomes of these two cases are correct (and I think that they are, at least on fair use grounds), the Second Circuit’s opinion is clearly and simply more solicitous of the idea of fair use than the Ninth Circuit’s opinion is."

Fair Use and Network Neutrality

Fair Use and Network Neutrality
by LAWRENCE LESSIG
Lessig blog, publication date: 21 May 2006
"The something to recognize is that in a fundamental sense, fair use (FU) and network neutrality (NN) are the same thing. They are both state enforced limits on the property rights of others. In both cases, the limits are slight — the vast range of uses granted a copyright holder are only slightly restricted by FU; the vast range of uses allowed a network owner are only slightly restricted by NN. And in both cases, the line defining the limits is uncertain. But in both cases, those who support each say that the limits imposed on the property right are necessary for some important social end (admittedly, different in each case), and that the costs of enforcing those limits are outweighed by the benefits of protecting that social end."

Promoting Science and Useful Arts: The Growth of Copyright Since 1976

Promoting Science and Useful Arts: The Growth of Copyright Since 1976
by OMKAR MURALIDHARAN
The Stanford Review, publication date: 26 May 2006
"In this article, I have shown that copyright law has expanded greatly since 1976, with a peak in 1998, and that this expansion creates serious free speech problems. I argued that this expansion was driven not by a desire to maximize economic and creative output, but by technological progress and changing social perceptions of copyright.

As I end, however, I want to look at this issue from a broader perspective. The idea of culture is more fundamental than questions of copyright, and perhaps more fundamental than free speech, since free speech is a means toward building a type of culture. Yet the growth of copyright law threatens our very conception of culture as a common enterprise, a shared pool of experience that each of us shapes and is shaped by."

TorrentSpy suit accuses MPAA of hacking

TorrentSpy suit accuses MPAA of hacking
by NANCY GOHRING
Macworld, publication date: 26 May 2006
"In a tale of intrigue that’s perhaps fitting for the parties involved, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has denied that it paid a hacker to steal information from TorrentSpy, as alleged in a lawsuit filed by the file-searching company this week in California."

Output Content Protection (DRM) and Windows Vista

Output Content Protection (DRM) and Windows Vista
by JIMMY PALMER
DRM Blog, publication date: 26 May 2006
"Once again the consumer is the one paying for DRM and most people will never know about it. But the fun does not stop there. “If you are a graphics chip manufacturer”, it is your responsibility as one of the trusted links in the PC chain to make sure that you are not selling your chips to any rogue elements who are going to make “hacker-friendly graphics boards”. Logically, according to Microsoft, the easiest way to do this is to ensure that your GPU performs encryption in the chip itself. Apparently, it is also important that both the driver certificate and the private key both be “obfuscated”. In fact, Microsoft has come up with an obfuscation tool that they use for their Certified Output Protection Protocol (COPP). It is assumed that the driver makers will use this same tool when obfuscating their key."

More DRM woe

More DRM woe
by Claire

I spent the weekend setting up my new MacMini at home and researching HDTV options for our media center at work, which may have to accelerate hi def implementation due to a looming building-wide construction project. Both were painful and eye-opening experiences.

About two months ago, when a software incompatibility temporarily prevented me from playing them on my iPod, I finally did what I should have done long ago, and vowed to never again purchase albums through the iTunes music store. I still succumb to the occasional must-have-it-now urge and buy a track, but I can't in good conscience buy content I know is DRM-protected if I can get a truly compatible version from another source. And I'm talking about buying CD's here, not using P2P. I'm one of those law-abiding users who will always pay for my content, but the music industry punishes me with DRM.

The wisdom of this decision, and regret that I ever bought albums through ITMS, were reinforced as I attempted to migrate my music library to the new mac. Apparently that hard drive failure last June cost me one of my 5 precious authorizations, and I'm now 3 down instead of two. Even if this is reversible, it's so incredibly offensive that I can't move around the music I've purchased. I dread what will happen when we migrate my husband's Windows-based iTunes library to the mini. Then I found that I have even less access to all those streaming sites than I used to, thanks to Microsoft's refusal to continue Mac support for the Windows Media Player. As boneheaded as I think Apple's FairPlay support is, at least other forms of OS-wide DRM support are at bay for now.

The next media experiment was to try to shift an off-air recording from our Dish DVR to the Mini so that I could burn to DVD and free up some room on the DVR. I'm not planning to sell this content, or even give it away. Just want to format shift it. Of course, I'm screwed. That little USB port on the cable box isn't enabled; the only way to get the recordings seems to be to break the hard drive out of the box, voiding the warranty, and jump through any number of questionable software hoops to get the content. No thanks. Wish we'd set up our own DVR last summer, when the broadcast flag stuff was looming, or gotten a TiVO instead of the Dish-supplied DRM nightmare DVR that we are now stuck with.

Finally, I went to BestBuy to actually look at the current crop of HDTVs. Woe to the consumer who doesn't know exactly what HDMI is, and what HD-ready versus HD-capable are. I had a salesperson tell me that HD DVD players are only $150 already! I knew this was wrong, and it turns out he was talking about regular DVD players that can "up-convert" to HD. The Toshiba HD-DVD player, which at least can play current generation DVDs, is still a $450 bite. Jimmy Palmer covered this much better than I ever could a few weeks ago. It's just shocking to me how quickly we're getting locked down, and how easily we slip in to these unconvertible formats. Because I do what I do, I am fairly well-informed about the various video formats and about DRM, yet I still find that it has insinuated itself into my life, and that I have to consider buying content that cannot be preserved. It's bad enough to waste my own money on it, but spending the university's money on it seems almost criminal. Yet this is what we are forced to deal with. The rise of the network has given us licenses instead of purchases, less access to backfiles, and rapid obsolescence of video formats that will require us to purchase the same titles repeatedly, year after year, with no guarantee that we can ever preserve them, or even play them.

It really makes me sick at heart.

Record Labels Sue XM Radio

Record Labels Sue XM Radio
by FRED VON LOHMANN
Electronic Frontier Foundation, publication date: 17 May 2006
"Inducement isn't just for pirates anymore: In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in MGM v. Grokster, EFF warned that the newly minted 'inducement' weapon would not be reserved for 'bad actors,' but would also be leveled against legitimate innovators building the next generation of fair use technologies. Sure enough, the complaint accuses XM of inducement based on the following statements in promotional materials: 'Hear It, Click It, Save It!,' '[XM] delivers new music to you everyday and lets you choose tracks to create your own custom playlists,' 'record with the touch of a button,' and 'store up to 50 hours of XM.' Not exactly a pirates 'ahoy,' is it?"

DTV HDTV HDMI HDCP DVI = BAD DRM

DTV HDTV HDMI HDCP DVI = BAD DRM
by JIMMY PALMER
DRMBlog, publication date: 15 May 2006
"Both the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray organizations are quick to point out that none of the first movies that are being released actually implement the protection flag and assure us there is nothing to worry about. The fact remains that all HDCP devices must comply with the protection flag, and the protection flag is turned on by the content makers and not the hardware makers. There is nothing illegal about what these electronics manufacturers are doing but it is certainly unethical that they are not educating their customers.

If you think this is not a problem or that the buyer should beware then please consider some recent research from Scientific-Atlanta and Forrester Research. By the end of 2006 there will be 16 million U.S. households with HDTV sets and at that time only 7 million of them will actually be getting HDTV reception. Of the people that have HDTV sets now only 51% were actually using any of their HD capability. Twenty-Five percent of the people with HDTV were hooked up to standard cable but thought they were watching HDTV because at the beginning of television shows they saw a message that said 'Broadcast in HDTV where available'."

SCOTUS to Patent Holders: No, No, and Also No.

SCOTUS to Patent Holders: No, No, and Also No.
by ALAN WEXELBLAT
Copyfight, publication date: 15 May 2006
"I don't think that SCOTUS expressely addressed the notion of 'patent trolls' but Kaplan points to a concurring opinion signed by four Justices that expresses sympathy with the concerns of companies - particularly in high tech - that feel they are being held hostage by patent holders who have no function other than to sue everyone in sight."

FM10 Openness conference

FM10 Openness
I'm attending the First Monday 10th Anniversary conference May 15-17. Day Two, today, is starting out with a focus on open science. Excellent presentation by Tim Hubbard on the Open Genome project and new models before the WHO to incentivize R&D and new drug production without (or taking precedence over) IP.

New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems

New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems
by MONICA DAVEY
The New York Times, publication date: 12 May 2006

"Officials from Diebold and from elections' offices in numerous states minimized the significance of the risk and emphasized that there were no signs that any touch-screen machines had been tampered with. But computer scientists said the problem might allow someone to tamper with a machine's software, some saying they preferred not to discuss the flaw at all for fear of offering a roadmap to a hacker.
...
Computer scientists who have studied the vulnerability say the flaw might allow someone with brief access to a voting machine and with knowledge of computer code to tamper with the machine's software, and even, potentially, to spread malicious code to other parts of the voting system.

As word of Mr. Hursti's findings spread, Diebold issued a warning to recipients of thousands of its machines, saying that it had found a "theoretical security vulnerability" that "could potentially allow unauthorized software to be loaded onto the system."
...
'We're prepared for those types of problems,' said Deborah Hench, the registrar of voters in San Joaquin County, Calif. 'There are always activists that are anti-electronic voting, and they're constantly trying to put pressure on us to change our system.'

Aviel Rubin, a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, did the first in-depth analysis of the security flaws in the source code for Diebold touch-screen machines in 2003. After studying the latest problem, he said: 'I almost had a heart attack. The implications of this are pretty astounding.'"

Sony opts for open audio format

Sony opts for open audio format
by GREG SANDOVAL
CNet news.com, publication date: 10 May 2006
"The behemoth Japanese conglomerate, which once controlled the portable music market, announced Tuesday that the company's data compression technology would be compatible with a number of rival formats, including Apple's format of choice, AAC.

In the past, Sony has fiercely held to its own Atrac system. By switching to a technology that supports AAC, Sony appears to be acknowledging Apple's dominance in the digital music playing market, say analysts."

Cut copyright levies, fight piracy, SIA says

Cut copyright levies, fight piracy, SIA says
by DYLAN MCGRATH
EETimes, publication date: 11 May 2006
"In a press briefing here Wednesday (May 10), SIA Chairman Brian Halla, board member John Daane and President George Scalise said governments should focus on preventing piracy rather than levying the copyright tariffs, which they labeled as ineffective.

Copyright levies are mostly associated with European countries, though they are in force to a lesser degree in other parts of the world. They are designed to compensate copyright holders for the copyright infringement potential of blank media, such as a blank cassette tape.
...
The men outlined some less formal measures, emphasizing industry self-policing and swift action over formal legal proceedings, to combat and reduce piracy.

In one example, Scalise suggested that governments request that silicon foundries make "best efforts" to determine if a chip design that has been brought to them for fabrication has been pirated. Scalise emphasized that such an arrangement should be informal, not placing legal requirements or responsibility on the foundries. "

Copyright, Clean Flicks collide in federal court

Copyright, Clean Flicks collide in federal court
by SUE LINDSAY
Rocky Mountain News, publication date: 11 May 2006
"Lawyers for Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Paramount Pictures and other major motion picture studios say Clean Flicks is infringing on their copyright to the films.

But Clean Flicks attorney Mark Yablonovich said the company is providing an 'enormous public benefit' by offering films that some individuals and families would never otherwise view because they contain profanity or scenes of sex and violence."

Shakeup of 'absurd' copyright law demanded

Shakeup of 'absurd' copyright law demanded
by INGRID MARSON
News.com, publication date: 11 May 2006
"UK copyright law does not allow people to reproduce copyrighted material -- including CDs and DVDs -- for private use, a situation the NCC described as 'absurd'. The issue also affects businesses, as employees may copy CDs onto office computers."

French Senate caves on digital copyright bill

French Senate caves on digital copyright bill
by JUNKO YOSHIDA
EE Times, publication date: 11 May 2006
"The French Senate bowed to intense lobbying pressure, approving a watered down digital copyright bill that differs significantly from the controversial version passed at the National Assembly last March.

The new bill is likely to give Apple Computers enough leeway to keep its proprieatry digital rights management (DRM) system used in iTunes and iPod. But consumer advocates and developers of open source software here have called the Senate action late Wednesday (May 10) 'irresponsible' for 'having thrown away most of the work done by the National Assembly.'"

Xeni Jardin on NPR: Google, Microsoft Push for 'Net Neutrality' Law

Xeni Jardin on NPR: Google, Microsoft Push for 'Net Neutrality' Law
Public Knowledge, publication date: 10 May 2006

Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's

Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's
by DAVID POGUE
The New York Times, publication date: 11 May 2006
"You should know, too, that you're guaranteed the sensational high-resolution HD-DVD picture only if your TV set has an HDMI connector (a slim, recently developed, all-digital jack that carries both sound and picture). If you use S-video or component cables instead, you may see only 25 percent of the resolution you're supposed to get — a maddening antipiracy feature that the studios can invoke at their option. (Most studios have said that they won't 'down-res' those jacks, at least at first; they can begin doing so at any time, however.)"

BitTorrent Gets a Seller's Permit

BitTorrent Gets a Seller's Permit
Reuters
Wired News, publication date: 9 May 2006
"Starting this summer, Warner Bros. will make more than 200 films available at BitTorrent.com, including blockbusters such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and TV shows like Babylon 5.

The pact marks a big step for Hollywood as it increasingly makes digital files of movies and TV shows available on the web because until last year, BitTorrent's software and website were considered to be aiding piracy of major studio films.

...

Consumers continue to want to download movies and burn copies on blank DVDs, but executives in Hollywood believe that type of service is still months, and perhaps even years, away."

Has the US been candid about the status of the broadcasters/webcasters treaty?

Has the US been candid about the status of the broadcasters/webcasters treaty?
by MANON RESS
Offzroad (blog), publication date: 10 May 2006
"The timeline below shows that there's been a lot of work done on the issue of creating these new intellectual property rights for broadcasters, cablecaster and webcasters and that the treaty is moving forward. We have not had one public consultation meeting about the topic unless you count private meetings of the US delegation with Ben Ivens (NAB), Jonathan Potter and Seth Greenstein (DiMA) and a few others. We are asking (again) for a public discussion with stakeholders before a diplomatic conference date is set and the scope of the text is quasi impossible to change. Waiting for the implementation period as some have suggested is a mistake as we all saw when the DMCA was done as an implementation of the WCT and WPPT."

New Copyright Act would protect intellectual property

New Copyright Act would protect intellectual property
Home Page Ghana, publication date: 08 May 2006
"She said the Copyright Act 690, among other things, set up a National Folklore Board and specified the use of folklore and provided stiffer punishment for copyright infringement. It also dealt with the duration of copyright and protection, permitted uses of copyright and protection afforded performers and broadcasting organisations and also complied with the minimum requirements of the Trips Agreement and the WIPO Internet Treaties, she said."

Ukranian software pirate sentenced

Ukranian software pirate sentenced
Associated Press
KESQ NewsChannel 2 Palm Springs, publication date: 9 May 2006
"The United States Attorney's Office announced today that a Ukrainian man has been sentenced to 35 months in prison for his role in selling pirated copies software.

Maksym Vysochanskyy ('MAK-sim vee-soh-'CHAN-skee) was sentenced late yesterday afternoon in a federal courtroom in San Jose."

French rally against copyright legislation

French rally against copyright legislation
by NATE ANDERSON
ArsTechnica, publication date: 8 May 2006
"The initial bill produced all sorts of reactions—everything from rage to euphoria—but it didn't really matter because the bill was altered substantially in committee.

The many changes gutted some of the more significant aspects of the bill and prompted widespread French claims that legislators were simply bowing to the will of corporations such as Apple and Vivendi-Universal (one amendment to the bill is nicknamed the 'Vivendi-Universal amendment' because it was allegedly inserted at the request of that company). In the end, it appears that the hoped-for revolution will not be televised; instead it will be available on iTunes for US$1.99 and will be locked down with strong encryption."