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DOJ Launches Intellectual-property-enforcement Task Force
,----[ Quote ]
| The task force will work closely with the
| recently established White House Office of
| the Intellectual Property Enforcement
| Coordinator (IPEC), which has the
| responsibility of drafting a strategic plan
| on IP for President Barack Obama's
| administration. The task force will
| recommend ways to improve IP enforcement,
| the DOJ said.
|
| [...]
|
| There are some indications that the DOJ may
| target peer-to-peer file sharers, however.
| The DOJ, under Obama, has hired five former
| lawyers for the Recording Industry
| Association of America, and the DOJ this
| year supported a US$675,000 file-sharing
| verdict in Massachusetts.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/189244/doj_launches_intellectualpropertyenforcement_task_force.html?tk=rss_news
Recent:
Unconstitutional aspects of ACTA
,----[ Quote ]
| The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement exceeds the European
| Union competence. National Constitutional Courts may invalidate aspects of
| ACTA.
`----
http://action.ffii.org/acta/unconstitutional-aspects
White House: ACTA still âsecret in the interest of national defense or foreign
policyâ
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| On Thursday, July 30, 2009, the White House office of the United States Trade
| Representative denied release of 4 new proposals for text that were
| circulated in July to âall countriesâ in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
| Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The request was limited to documents that were
| prepared in the past 90 days for purpose of discussion at the July 2009 ACTA
| negotiating meeting held in Morocco.
`----
http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/07/31/whitehouse-denies-foia-acta/
The Basis for Micropatronage
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| The idea that a publication retains value that creates an obligation upon the
| recipient to repay is an epiphenomenon of copyright. This is the peculiar
| idea that the maker or recipient of a copy of a published work extracts value
| from it which must be repaid to its copyright holder (or million dollar fines
| are liable).
`----
http://www.digitalproductions.co.uk/index.php?id=203
EFF sues Obama administration for promised access to secret copyright treaty
documents
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| Rebecca from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "The U.S. government is
| still blocking the release of information about a secret intellectual
| property trade agreement with broad implications for privacy and innovation
| around the world, despite the Obama administration's promises to run a more
| open government. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) could
| establish far-reaching customs regulations over Internet traffic in the guise
| of anti-counterfeiting measures, but no one knows for sure the state of this
| pact, as the government is hiding the details. EFF is calling on the feds to
| change their minds, and will keep fighting this in court."
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/06/eff-sues-obama-admin.html
Goodbye WIPO, Hello ACTA?
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| What is really remarkable about this is that Greve can even be asking WIPO to
| consider free software and open standards: a few years ago, such a thing
| would have amounted to blasphemy.
| Sadly, there is another sign that WIPO is becoming more accommodating to the
| ideas behind free software: the fact that there seems to be a move to come
| up with an alternative forum for promoting intellectual monopolies where it
| will not be so easy to participate.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2101&blogid=14
New ACTA copyright treaty dodges the UN, poor countries and activists
,----[ Quote ]
| Michael Geist sez, "The World Intellectual Property Organization may be best
| known for the Internet treaties that led to the DMCA, but in recent years
| groups like EFF, KEI, and Public Knowledge has helped to open things up and
| move toward a Development Agenda that better balances international
| intellectual property policy. That progress may be threatened by the
| Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which officials now acknowledge is
| designed to exclude WIPO, developing countries, and NGOs."
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/14/new-acta-copyright-t.html
Leaked ACTA Draft: More Power to the RIAA
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| A recent draft of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
| (ACTA) surfaced on Wikileaks this weekend. Among other things, the draft aims
| to strengthen the power and rights of the entertainment industry and other
| copyright holders, by letting them choose how they want to be compensated for
| copyright infringements.
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-acta-draft-more-power-to-the-riaa-090414/
Classified US, Japan and EU ACTA trade agreement drafts, 2009
,----[ Quote ]
| The file presents US, Japan and EU drafts of the controversial international
| copyright and patent trade agreement, ACTA ("Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
| Agreement"). The documents were obtained by Wikileaks staff.
`----
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Classified_US%2C_Japan_and_EU_ACTA_trade_agreement_drafts%2C_2009
Call the Obama administration and ask for your copy of ACTA now!
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| The Obama administration wants to be called about the status of negotiations
| of ACTA. Call the Obama administration and ask for your copy of ACTA now!
`----
http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-144960/call-the-obama-administration-and-ask-for-your-copy-of-acta-now
Obama Administration Reiterates Its Support Of Secretive, Industry Written ACTA
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| We've been bothered by the incredibly secretive (except if you happen to be
| in the entertainment industry) ACTA Treaty negotiations for quite some time
| now. This is the industry-led effort to get a bunch of nations to agree to
| draconian and damaging new copyright laws by sneaking them through as a
| secretive "international treaty," such that countries are then compelled to
| change their copyright laws to "be in compliance with international
| agreements." It's a really sneaky trick that Hollywood has used for years.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090614/1819325224.shtml
U.S. Targets Canada Over Copyright in Special 301 Report
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| The move is not unexpected, given recent comments from Vice President Joe
| Biden and U.S. Congressional panels as well as the demands from U.S. lobby
| groups.
`----
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3911/125/
Former RIAA Lawyer At DOJ Will Only Avoid RIAA Issues For A Year
,----[ Quote ]
| Plenty of folks have noted that the Justice Department has been the landing
| place for a number of RIAA lawyers. Some have suggested not to get too worked
| up about this, given that the Obama administration's ethics rules supposedly
| forbade those lawyers from being involved in issues related to their former
| work.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090501/0209474714.shtml
Obama Names Craig Mundie to Sci-Tech Advisory Council
http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/blogs/mscorp/archive/2009/04/27/obama-names-craig-mundie-to-sci-tech-advisory-council.aspx
Joe Biden promises a blank check to the entertainment cartel
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| VP Joe Biden stood up in front of a bunch of Hollywood execs and promised to
| appoint a copyright czar, and furthermore, that this would be the "right"
| person to protect their interests. I would have voted Dem in the last
| election, if I got a vote, but make no mistakes: the Dems are the party of
| stupid copyright laws.
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/22/joe-biden-promises-a.html
Administration Lobbyist Ban Not Doing What It's Supposed To Do
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| We've already seen how the Justice Department is, for example, being filled
| with lawyers who regularly worked with the RIAA, MPAA and BSA -- three of the
| biggest copyright lobbying organizations, and those individuals have wasted
| no time in expressing their desire to continue pushing those industry's
| viewpoints in their new positions.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090422/0419234608.shtml
Copyright debate heats up over Obama appointments
,----[ Quote ]
| The president has, in fact, filled out some high-level Justice Department
| positions with lawyers favored by the copyright industry, including attorneys
| who have represented the Recording Industry Association of America and the
| Business Software Alliance. The signatories of the April 2 letter said the
| Justice Department's intervention last month in favor of a record label in a
| file-sharing case heightens their concern.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10223549-38.html
Biden promises 'right person' as new U.S. copyright czar
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| "It's pure theft, stolen from the artists and quite frankly from the American
| people as consequence of loss of jobs and as a consequence of loss of
| income," Biden said, according to a White House pool report.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10224689-38.html
MPAA reaches out to lawmakers
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| The occasion: the second biennial summit sponsored by the industry's chief
| lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Assn. of America.
`----
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002688.html?categoryId=18&cs=1
I got you, babe
,----[ Quote ]
| Obama is whistling the music industry's tune
`----
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/15/i-got-you-babe-obama-is-whistling-the-music-indust/
Obama Taps 5th RIAA Lawyer to Justice Dept.
,----[ Quote ]
| President Barack Obama is tapping another RIAA attorney into the Justice
| Department.
|
| Monday's naming of Ian Gershengorn, to become the department's deputy
| assistant attorney of the Civil Division, comes more than a week after nearly
| two-dozen public interest groups, trade pacts and library coalitions urged
| the new president to quit filling his administration with lawyers plucked
| from the Recording Industry Association of America.
|
| The move makes it five RIAA lawyers Obama has appointed to the Justice
| Department.
`----
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/obama-taps-fift.html
Obama administration sides with RIAA in P2P suit
,----[ Quote ]
| The Obama administration has sided with the recording industry in a copyright
| lawsuit against an alleged peer-to-peer pirate, a move that echoes arguments
| previously made by the Bush administration.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10201831-38.html
Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-sides-wit.html
U.S. Sides with RIAA in Filesharing Case
http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/03/us-sides-with-riaa-in-filesharing-case.html
Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets?!?
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| When the Obama administration took over, there was a public stance that this
| administration was going to be more transparent -- especially with regards to
| things like Freedom of Information Act requests. The nonprofit group
| Knowledge Ecology International took that to heart and filed an FOIA request
| to get more info on ACTA. The US Trade Representative's Office responded
| denying the request, saying that the information was "classified in the
| interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958." This is a
| treaty about changing copyright law, not sending missiles somewhere. To claim
| that it's a national security matter is just downright scary. As KEI points
| out, the text of the documents requested have been available to tons of
| people, including more than 30 governments around the world and lobbyists
| from the entertainment industry, pharma industry and publishing industry.
`----
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090313/1456154113.shtml
Obama names Doerr, Phillips to economic board
,----[ Quote ]
| Two Silicon Valley leaders have been appointed by President Obama to a
| 16-person committee that's charged with offering economic advice during what
| has become an unusually sharp and deep recession.
|
| John Doerr, the billionaire venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield
| & Byers, is one. Doerr was involved in funding companies including Google,
| Amazon.com, Sun Microsystems, and Cypress Semiconductor; he currently serves
| on the board of companies including Amazon and Google and has recently turned
| his attention to green tech.
|
| Charles Phillips, the president of Oracle, is another. Phillips became
| president in May 2003 and previously was with Morgan Stanley's Institutional
| Securities Division. He's a Linux aficionado and said in 2005: "On demand is
| the future of software for many years to come and we are building it on
| Linux."
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10158505-38.html
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