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| Current Topic: Intellectual Property |
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Studios Using Digital Armor |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
8:22 am EST, Jan 5, 2003 |
Lying dormant in virtually every digital cable box in America is technology that can prevent viewers from recording certain programs to watch them later. Soon, several Hollywood studios are planning to tell cable operators to flip the switch. "We need to put in speed bumps to keep people honest," said Jack Valenti, the president of the MPAA, which is lobbying federal regulators to require many devices to incorporate technology that prevents consumers from sending digital media files over the Internet. "If we don't, our future is bleak." ... "You're not buying music, you're buying a key. That's what digital rights management does: it enables business models." If this war is indeed the Vietnam of the Internet, we may just be on the verge of the Tet Offensive. Studios Using Digital Armor |
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European Copyrights Expiring on Recordings From 1950's |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
10:09 pm EST, Jan 2, 2003 |
European copyright protection is expiring on a collector's trove of 1950's jazz, opera and early rock 'n' roll albums, forcing major American record companies to consider deals with bootleg labels and demand new customs barriers. RIAA: "The import of those products would be an act of piracy. The industry is regretful that these absolutely piratical products are being released." Larry Lessig reports that a decision in his Supreme Court case could be coming "as early as this month." Stay tuned ... European Copyrights Expiring on Recordings From 1950's |
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Public Comment on DMCA Anti-Circumvention Clause [PDF] |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
10:23 am EDT, Oct 12, 2002 |
The Copyright Office is seeking public comment on adverse impacts of the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause. "For a limited time only" -- you have approximately two months to submit your written comments. This notice requests written comments from all interested parties, including representatives of copyright owners, educational institutions, libraries and archives, scholars, researchers and members of the public, in order to elicit evidence on whether noninfringing uses of certain classes of works are, or are likely to be, adversely affected by this prohibition on the circumvention of measures that control access to copyrighted works. Public Comment on DMCA Anti-Circumvention Clause [PDF] |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
9:48 am EDT, Oct 12, 2002 |
I am not the only one digitizing music. Without breaking any law, I could just as easily have gone on the Web to download the songs I had bought in the same digital format, thanks to the prior work of many other music lovers. So far music listeners around the world have digitized more than 850,000 albums and 10 million songs of all musical genres. Fans have already converted almost all music ever recorded. Kevin Kelly has written an op-ed piece about the Eldred v. Ashcroft case in the New York Times. Can you guess which side of the debate he favors? Making My Own Music |
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Eldred v. Ashcroft legal document archive |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:27 am EDT, Oct 7, 2002 |
Here is the Openlaw archive for the Lessig copyright case that goes before SCOTUS this Wednesday. You'll find copies of the relevant documents, including briefs from: Yochai Benkler, Pamela Samuelson, Milton Friedman, Hal Varian, Eben Moglen, Jessica Litman, Eric Freedman, Phyllis Schlafly, David Post, ACM, CPSR, FSF, Apache Software Foundation, AOLTW, ASCAP, BMI, the Gershwin Trust (Ha!), Philip Glass, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, MPAA, Nashville Songwriters, RIAA, and many more. Even Ken Starr is involved! Eldred v. Ashcroft legal document archive |
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Court to Review Copyright Law |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:03 am EDT, Oct 7, 2002 |
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this week over the constitutionality of a 1998 law that extended copyright protection by 20 years. Experts on both sides of the closely watched case say that its outcome could reshape the way cultural products are consumed and how their profits are divided. Lawrence Lessig will argue that copyright law touches everyone who has an Internet connection, which makes it more important than ever to adhere to the limits the Constitution intended to place on the duration of copyrights. The government will say that no one, including the Supreme Court, can impose an arbitrary definition of "limited times." Jack Valenti: "Who is going to digitize these public domain movies? To digitize a movie costs a huge amount of money." The case has attracted 38 friend-of-the-court briefs. In an elaborate demonstration, Brewster Kahle, the founder of the nonprofit Internet Archive in San Francisco, is driving across the country in a van that has an Internet-linked satellite antenna on top and a laser printer inside. Lawrence Lessig goes to Washington. Be sure to tune in this week for what should be a good Court session. NPR generally has very good coverage of Supreme Court hearings. The hearings are scheduled for Wednesday, October 9. The docket number is 01-618. Court to Review Copyright Law |
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Copyright Hurdles Confront Selling of Music on the Internet |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:26 am EDT, Sep 23, 2002 |
Even though two of the three major pay music services -- MusicNet and Pressplay -- are backed by recording companies, the record labels do not always seem to be sure what side they are on. "It's as if Franz Kafka designed this system and employed Rube Goldberg as his architect. It's full of tripwires." Copyright Hurdles Confront Selling of Music on the Internet |
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Record Labels Want 4 Internet Providers to Block Music Site |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
12:31 pm EDT, Aug 17, 2002 |
Testing out a tactic to combat online piracy, a group of record companies asked a judge yesterday to order four major Internet service providers to block Americans from viewing a China-based Web site that offers thousands of copyrighted songs free of charge. The 13 record labels that filed the suit in Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan say the site, Listen4ever.com, is "even more egregious" than the music-sharing service Napster, which was shut by a court order. Through the AT&T network, the following comment appears on an otherwise blank web page: "No web site is configured at this address." Record Labels Want 4 Internet Providers to Block Music Site |
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Intellectual Property Rights (ipr) Charter | IETF |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
9:21 am EDT, Aug 3, 2002 |
This working group is chartered with updating and clarifying section 10 of BCP 9, RFC 2026, which deals with intellectual property rights, including, but not necessarily limited to, patent rights and copyrights. By next January, Steve Bellovin will issue three documents intended to clarify the IETF's position on IPR. Intellectual Property Rights (ipr) Charter | IETF |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
10:39 pm EDT, Aug 1, 2002 |
Powerful computers and easy-to-use editing software are challenging our conceptions of authorship and creativity. As usual, the entertainment industry doesn't like this one bit. Home remixing is technically incredibly easy to do. ... What we're seeing is the result of a democratization of creativity and the demystification of the process of authorship and creativity. ... turntables now routinely outsell guitars ... To teens, recombination -- whether legal or not -- doesn't feel wrong in the slightest. Bootlegs may be the first new genre of music that is almost entirely contraband. In blurring the distinction between consumers and producers, new digital tools are challenging the very ideas of creativity and authorship. The cultural landscape that emerges will be a plural space of creation in which it may even become pointless to designate who created exactly what, since everyone will be stealing from and remixing everyone else. Bootleg culture | Salon |
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