My Treatise is Now Available

My Treatise is Now Available
by WILLIAM PATRY
The Patry Copyright Blog, publication date: 10 January 2007
"One reason the book took as long as it did and is as big as it is, was my desire to break out of the specialist's blinders which I had voluntarily donned to my detriment for too many years. For too many years, I believed that copyright law was special, the Cinderella of the law, as some referred to it. This tunnel vision prevented me from understanding how the most important generalists in our society -- members of Congress and federal judges -- see copyright, but it also prevented me from seeing how some lines of case law in copyright law are simply wrong. "

French court says Sony 'deceived' consumers: watchdog

French court says Sony 'deceived' consumers: watchdog
PARIS (AFP), publication date: 5 January 2007
"Sony has been convicted of misleading the French public and told to pay damages to a consumer watchdog for selling downloadable songs that only run on its own music players, the association has said.

France's Union Federale des Consommateurs (UFC) took Sony's French and British subsidiaries to court in February 2005 over the music download site Sony Connect. The lawsuit also targets Apple, maker of the popular iPod, whose case is expected to reach the courts later this year."

Ailing music biz set to relax digital restrictions

Ailing music biz set to relax digital restrictions
by ANTONY BRUNO
Reuters, publication date: 2 January 2007
"Meanwhile, the music industry wants a strong competitor to the monster it created called iTunes. Forcing would-be competitors to sell music incompatible with the popular iPod is not showing any signs of working. Removing DRM would attract powerful new players to the market, and that -- the theory goes -- will result in more buyers."

Ailing music biz set to relax digital restrictions
by ANTONY BRUNO
Reuters/ Billboard, publication date: January 2, 2007
"In 2007, the majors will get the message, and the DRM wall will begin to crumble. Why? Because they'll no longer be able to point to a growing digital marketplace as justification that DRM works. Revenue from digital downloads and mobile content is expected to be flat or, in some cases, decline next year. If the digital market does in fact stall, alternatives to DRM will look much more attractive."

Has the tide turned in Digital Restrictions Management? A nice overview on developments from some of the major players in the online music industry.

Studios’ DVDs Face a Crack in Security

Studios’ DVDs Face a Crack in Security
by JOHN MARKOFF
The New York Times, publication date: January 1, 2007
"An anonymous computer programmer may have skewed the competition over standards for high-definition DVD discs by possibly defeating a scheme that both sides use to protect digital content."

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."