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What Will The Recording Industry Be Blaming For All Their Problems A Decade From Now?
,----[ Quote ]
| "Piracy" makes for an easy -- if totally
| incorrect -- scapegoat. The reality is far
| different. As we've seen over and over again,
| those who learn to properly use file sharing
| to their advantage don't see any "problems"
| from file "piracy," but actually see it as a
| huge opportunity.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091221/1731437454.shtml
Napster: The File-Sharing Service That Started It All?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121690908
Copyright: Towards a recognition of users' rights at WIPO?
,----[ Quote ]
| Last week (December 14th-18th), the World
| Intellectual Property Organization's standing
| committee on copyright and related rights
| (SCCR) was considering, among other things, a
| proposal by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay for
| an international treaty aimed at increasing
| the accessibility of books for blind people.
`----
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/copyright-towards-a-recognition-of-users-rights-at-wipo
A year out, where's RIAA's promised ISP help?
,----[ Quote ]
| Multiple music sources have told me over the
| past month the RIAA leaders were feeling
| pressure to drop the lawsuit campaign, but
| were also being lobbied by some at the labels
| to put some kind of deterrent in place, even
| if totally toothless. They didn't want the
| public to think there weren't any
| consequences to pirating music, even if the
| reality was exactly that.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10420803-261.html
Competitive Keyword Advertiser Wins at Trial--Fair Isaac v. Experian
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2009/12/competitive_key.htm
IsoHunt Loses Big; Court Says: You Induce, You Lose
,----[ Quote ]
| The court relies on the fact that IsoHunt
| owner Gary Fung made many statements that
| could be read as inducing infringement, but
| most of the statements appear to have been
| taken out of context. In fact, it looks like
| the court interpreted any time Fung mentioned
| "stealing" to mean support for copyright
| infringement, even if the words he stated
| were actually suggesting something different.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091223/1924027493.shtml
Hey Whatever Happened To Those Andrew Cuomo-Backed, RIAA Agreements With ISPs To Kick People Off The Internet?
,----[ Quote ]
| It's now been over a year since the infamous
| announcement, leaked to the Wall Street
| Journal, that the RIAA was going to
| effectively drop its strategy of suing
| individuals in favor of agreements, worked
| out between the RIAA and ISPs with NY AG
| Andrew Cuomo adding pressure, to kick people
| off the internet on a "three strikes" regime.
| The whole thing sounded pretty ridiculous at
| the time. Cuomo had absolutely no legal
| standing to pressure ISPs into such a deal,
| since the ISPs had every legal right to say
| no. And, since the "leak" many ISPs have
| insisted, quite vocally, that they have never
| made any such agreement with the RIAA and
| that they would never kick their customers
| offline in such a manner.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091223/1125567490.shtml
Copyright claim based on taping fashion show
,----[ Quote ]
| A women's clothing company is suing Canadian
| Broadcasting Company after a reporter for the
| television station snuck into a New York
| fashion show without an invitation and taped
| the event.
`----
http://www.thresq.com/2009/12/copyright-fashion-show-television.html
Ursula K. Le Guin Resigns From Authors Guild, Because It Didn't Keep Up Its Silly Fight With Google
,----[ Quote ]
| Ursula K. Le Guin is a very famous author who
| many people insist is one of the best --
| though, I have to admit never having read her
| stuff. Yet, she is one of those who is rather
| aggressive in policing the copyrights on her
| work, and who does not tend to side with
| those who believe in concepts like "fair
| use." Most certainly, she is not a fan of
| open culture. A few years ago, she got into a
| bit of a scrap with Cory Doctorow, because he
| dared to publish a single paragraph of hers
| in a blogpost as part of a larger (positive!)
| commentary.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091224/0017057497.shtml
Will new North Face trademark lawsuit come back to bite it in the butt?
,----[ Quote ]
| North Face has sued a company called âSouth
| Butt,â whose slogan âNever Stop Relaxingâ is
| a deliberate poke at the fashionable outdoors
| clothing company's "never stop exploring."
| South Butt's logo comes close to being a
| mirror image of North Faceâs logo.
`----
http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2009/12/will-new-north-face-trademark-lawsuit-come-back-to-bite-it-in-the-butt.html
Dr. Ficsor is wrong about many things - why should we believe him?
,----[ Quote ]
| Doctor Ficsor's views have been well
| documented for over a decade? Where? The man
| is virtually unknown according to Google.
| Most of the results it tosses up for his name
| link to my virtually unknown blog! My god man
| - didn't your teachers tell you to strive for
| accuracy if you want to be believed? Both you
| and Doctor Ficsor are fond of making
| statements, without providing proof.
| Document, document, document!
|
| And as to Doctor Ficsor's connections to the
| 'copyright lobby groups', I refer you to my
| earlier post where I came to the same
| conclusion. Doctor Ficsor's arguments are so
| similar to the arguments made by the US
| Ambassador to Canada in a recent speech.
| Which happen to be the same arguments made by
| the Motion Picture Association of America and
| the Recording Industry Association of
| America. Which may not be surprising, as the
| Obama regime is infamous for hiring RIAA
| lawyers for sensitive positions in the
| administration.
`----
http://crankyoldnutcase.blogspot.com/2009/12/dr-ficsor-is-wrong-about-many-things.html
Doctor Ficsor is wrong again
,----[ Quote ]
| Oh dear - here we go again. Doctor Ficsor,
| you are quickly gaining a reputation for
| inaccuracy. I was originally going to refute
| you point by point, but that would have
| resulted in another long document, and as you
| stated, this is Christmas. I have children
| and a wife (never mind two adorable dogs) who
| would like to see me away from the computer
| for a while, so I will make this short.
|
| Point Number One:
| You have stated that the United States is
| compliant with the treaty in regards to
| âTechnological Protection Measures (TPM)â.
| According to the wording that you, yourself
| have provided they are not. Their
| implementation, known as the âDigital
| Millennium Copyright Act of 1998â is
| defective in many areas. Iâll pick one to
| demonstrate, specifically the Kindle, an E-
| Reader marketed by Amazon. The Kindle uses
| âDigital Rights Management (DRM)â (a more
| accurate name would be Digital Restrictions
| Management), another name for a TPM, to
| prevent copying of the E-Books on the Kindle.
| According to your reading of the treaty, any
| legislation is supposed to outlaw
| âcircumvention devicesâ for any TPM.
`----
http://crankyoldnutcase.blogspot.com/2009/12/doctor-ficsor-is-wrong.html
Vintage Kidsâ Books: Look Quick
,----[ Quote ]
| I have to act fast, I think. Your Wonderful
| Beneficial Federal Government has all but
| banned childrenâs books printed prior to
| 1985, under the assumption that they might
| have been printed with ink containing traces
| of lead. So countless copies have already
| been burned as hazardous waste, and itâs more
| or less illegal to sell them. Never mind than
| an almost unthinkable portion of world
| culture will pretty much vanish over the next
| few years due to CPSIA. The most popular
| books will be reprinted with modern inks;
| most will not, and will eventually be
| forgotten.
`----
http://www.contrapositivediary.com/?p=1052
Indian Copyright Amendments Procure Cabinet Approval
,----[ Quote ]
| The government issued a press release
| announcing that the much awaited and
| controversial copyright amendment bill has
| now cleared "cabinet", a group of senior
| ministers that represent the highest decision
| making body of the government. Unfortunately,
| since the winter session of Parliament is
| over and done with, the Bill is only likely
| to be introduced in the budget session of
| Parliament in February 2010.
`----
http://spicyipindia.blogspot.com/2009/12/indian-copyright-amendments-procure.html
Elementary My Dear Watson....It's Called The Public Domain... Or Is It?
,----[ Quote ]
| Not surprisingly, the estate who owns the
| copyrights tries to present the situation as
| saying that all uses require a license. But,
| then again, it's not like they're going to
| tell you what's in the public domain when
| it's in their best interest to claim that
| nothing is. Either way, it appears that the
| initial claim concerning the public domain
| isn't quite the case -- and I would bet that
| the studio that made this latest movie paid
| for a license to avoid a legal fight. Why
| they should have to -- especially given the
| fact that when the content was written there
| was no way for it still to be protected today
| under copyright law -- is a separate (but
| rather important) question.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091223/1120407488.shtml
Google & Media: Biting the Hand that Feeds You
,----[ Quote ]
| Rupert Murdoch's protestations aside, there
| is no doubt that Google is driving vast
| amounts of traffic to websites run by
| traditional media companies. In recent years,
| most of BusinessWeek.com's growth came from
| search optimization and direct traffic. Up
| until only three years ago, the number one
| referring domain at BusinessWeek was always a
| portal until Google's popularity replaced
| Yahoo Finance and MSN Money as the top
| referrer. Search--largely Google--now
| accounts for some 45% of the traffic at
| BW.com, up from less than 20% in 2006. That
| simple little box is driving vast amounts of
| advertising inventory (and therefore revenue)
| to the site. It's a similar story everywhere
| else.
|
| In the war between the traditional media
| brands and Google, the old cliche about
| biting the hand that feeds you is certainly
| in play. Some of the complaints from media
| can be attributed to sour grapes. Many
| incumbents resent that most efforts to find
| information on the Web no longer starts with
| a brand. It starts with Google which is
| largely brand agnostic. So, in effect, Google
| has become this massive transaction machine,
| and as everyone knows, transactions are the
| antithesis of relationships. If a brand wants
| a relationship with its audience, Google is
| getting in the way. It's how Google was able
| to siphon nearly $22 billion last year in
| advertising from traditional media. And it's
| the most obvious proof that media brands have
| diminished in value. People are more
| routinely turning to Google to get
| information, rather than a brand known for
| its expertise in a given area. They'll google
| (yes, I'm using Google as a verb) leadership
| before going to The Wall Street Journal,
| Fortune, BusinessWeek, or Harvard Business
| Review. They'll google President Clinton
| before going to The New York Times, Time, or
| Newsweek. Why? Because they trust Google to
| serve up unbiased results; because they want
| to see what is generally available out there
| and not tied to a brand, and because most
| brands no longer wield the power and
| influence they did years ago.
|
| Instead of complaining about this and
| threatening to block Google from crawling a
| site, media companies would do well to step
| back and more fully understand what they
| really need to do: rebuild the relationships
| they have with their readers, viewers, users.
| To offset the massive transaction machine
| that Google is, media brands need to focus on
| restoring relationships with users. That's
| why "user engagement" is not an idle phrase
| to throw around but is essential to making a
| brand successful online. Original content
| isn't enough. Gee-whiz tech tricks aren't
| enough. Neither is a fancy design or a search
| trap gimmick. You need an audience that is
| deeply and meaningfully engaged in the
| content of a site, so engaged in fact that
| many of those users become collaborators, and
| that requires tremendous amounts of work and
| editorial involvement with the audience.
`----
http://www.c-changemedia.com/2009/12/google-media-biting-hand-that-feeds-you.html
Former Musician Now Lawyer Comes To Terms With What's Happening To His Music Online
,----[ Quote ]
| G Thompson sends in this absolutely wonderful read by law professor
| Ben Challis, a former punk musician, explaining the mental back-and-forth
| he went through after discovering that some of his band's old music is
| available online -- specifically discovering that some sites are selling
| unauthorized copies of it. He reacts naturally at first -- which is to
| get upset -- but then as he thinks about it some more, he begins to
| recognize that this isn't all that productive. Eventually he seems to
| come all the way around to realizing that this actually is really good
| market research for him.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091223/2253347494.shtml
Recent:
Hungarian Copyright Treaty Author Insists That Those Who Don't Like
Anti-Circumvention Clauses Are 'Hatred-Driven' Maoists
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, if you're at all familiar with the
| Maoist Cultural Revolution, to compare that
| to those who are simply pushing for their
| own consumer rights on copyright issues or
| asking for actual evidence of the need for
| increasingly draconian copyright system
| changes, is downright ridiculous and
| insulting. No one is acting as a
| revolutionary, demanding "free access" or
| any sort of "Maoist" revolution. To make
| such a claim is pure ignorance.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091222/0310397462.shtml
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