Third Circuit rules on webcasting
Where plaintiffs claimed that the exclusion from copyright protection for "nonsubscription broadcast transmissions" of recorded music is unambiguously intended to apply to simultaneous webcasting of their radio broadcast signal, judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed where the Copyright Office's interpretation of section 114(d)(1)(A) was persuasive and properly accorded deference. BONNEVILLE INT'L CORP. v. PETERS, No. 01-3720 (3d Cir. 2003) [pdf]
Category: IP Law Advisor
Conflict of Laws
This post by Howard Bashman has me questioning whether or not I'm liable if I repost libel on this blog.
RIAA Rips Off Artists
Greg Costikyan: "In general, when the RIAA complains about file-sharing, the refrain is that "artists" are being ripped off. I agree, 100%. Artists are indeed being ripped off--by the members of the RIAA. Anyone with more than a cursory understanding of business practices in the recorded music industry understands that the labels have refined the business of screwing recording arstists to a very fine art. With rare exception, musicians never see a dime beyond their initial advance--nor will they if the RIAA succeeds in its effort to suppress file trading. Realistically, this is not about defending artists. It's about defending the labels." [via boingboing]
DigitalConsumer.org Stop the Broadcast Flag
DigitalConsumer.org: If Hollywood studios have their way, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will force all future televisions to include Hollywood-approved content protection technology called the "broadcast flag". Fair use, innovation and competition will suffer. What’s more, the broadcast flag technology that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has proposed is so weak that it will do nothing to stem Internet redistribution of television programs. In fact, the only people hurt will be innovators, researchers, and law-abiding consumers.
Sponsor Support
Hugh MacLeod, of gapingvoid.com, who expresses his utter contempt for humanity by drawing cartoons on the back of business cards, advertises on this site. Scroll, click and enjoy.
Lawsuit Watch
Fimoculous: "NikeGround.com is not from Nike. It is from the design pranksters at 0100101110101101.org. I suspect it will get sued soon."
October 17, 2003
RIAA right, stealing wrong??
Hey Jimmy Jenkins -- you're deluding yourself if you think you can play Devil's Advocate with a poor analogy. We've all heard this one and discredited it before. Furthermore, unlike coins, you can not commit theft of a file shared mp3 since that requires depriving the owner permanently of its possession. Let me know when you've come up with a better analogy to "educate your readers about viewpoints they may never have considered."
Google France fined for trademark violation
zdnet: A French court has ruled against Google France in an intellectual property dispute, saying the company must pay a fine for allowing advertisers to tie their text notices to trademarked search terms.
Disbarment for Downloads?
Carolyn Elefant, in Disbarment for Downloads?writes: "Frankly, this is all a little troubling. Does downloading a couple of songs really impinge upon an attorneys' 'honesty, trustworthiness and fitness' to practice?" I agree. Has there even been a determination that downloading is copyright infringement?
October 15, 2003
Brooklyn Record Label defies RIAA
A tiny Brooklyn, New York, record label is redefining the age-old battle of the punks vs. the suits. Go-Kart Records founder Greg Ross has a problem with the RIAA's use of lawsuits to fight online piracy, so he began giving away music for free on Friday. First he wrote an open letter to the recording industry trade group, lambasting its take on the problem of illegal downloading. Then he posted six full albums from his latest signings on the Go-Kart Web site. [MTV]
a few of my favorite things
Derek Slater is busy discussing three of my favorite things (Copyright, Click-Wrap and the DMCA) here.
Bonus: Seth Finkelstein too.
One year ago: How Deep Linking Can Sink You.
RIAA to Charter: Give up file-swapper names
Stefanie Olsen: "The Recording Industry Association of America is pressing a federal court to ignore cable Internet provider Charter Communications' attempt to keep private the names of 93 subscribers who allegedly traded songs online illegally."
intelligent and reasonable arguments advancing the protection of intellectual property?
In The Left Sucks, Aaron Swartz states that
Unlimited Freedom ... has bravely taken the side of devil’s advocate on Internet mailing lists and newsgroups, intelligently arguing that trusted computing and other things Internet consensus is strongly against are good things....I don't disagree with the importance that someone make intelligent and reasonable arguments for the other side of the debate; I'm just not quite sure that Unlimited Freedom makes "intelligent and reasonable arguments."
While I disagree strongly with both these people on many issues, I’d feel greatly impoverished without their intelligent and reasonable arguments. It’s frustrating to try and debate an issue when you’re the only one playing with the facts.
For example, in Censorship on the cryptography list, Unlimited Freedom argues that "Now you're claiming to know more constitutional law than the United States Supreme Court, which just decided that such legislation is constitutional!" in response to a list member who stated that "Legislation to extend the term of copyright for works already published is bad policy. And unconstitutional."
How does that advance the argument? Why not bother to at least cut and paste some of the text of the decision to allow for a response. Why not discuss whether life plus 70 is a limited term? I guess you and the Supremes know more than the founding fathers then too, huh?
Another problem I have in this same post is his failure to acknowledge contracts of adhesion in the context of his pro freedom to contract cum 'DRM can replace copyright legislation' tirades.
I don't claim to be a copyright scholar, but I certainly disagree with Aaron's labelling of these arguments as intelligent and reasonable.
TechTV to potentially violate DMCA this Saturday
On Saturday, Kevin Rose, the host of TechTV's Unscrewed will potentially violate the DMCA by modding an Xbox to run Linux. [TechTV via Wasted Bits via boingboing]
October 14, 2003
Litigation Boom Spurs Efforts to Shield Assets
The drumbeat of litigation against doctors, accountants, business executive and other professionals is prompting a growing number of people to play defense: They're putting their money where creditors can't get to it.
A key technique is the so-called asset-protection trust. The idea is to put a big chunk of your money in an irrevocable trust. The trust is run by an independent trustee, who may opt to give you payments from time to time. If done correctly, the trust -- which has to be located in a jurisdiction that has passed special laws -- generally can't be touched by creditors if you're sued or file for bankruptcy protection. [wsj]
if you circumvent copy control, you circumvent access control
Derek Slater questions Daniel Terdiman's statement that:
"...the DMCA has no provision allowing exemptions in cases where software was designed with copy controls, such as encryption.Ernest Miller agrees with Derek's assertion that
The DMCA has no such exemption because there is no ban on circumvention of copy-protections. There is a ban on trafficking, but not on circumvention.but further explains that
The way most courts have interpreted the DMCA, virtually all copy control (and certainly the most common types of digital copy control) are also access control devices. Thus is you circumvent copy control, you are also circumventing access control. Thus, in order to backup a copy legally, you need an exemption to access control from the Copyright Office.The Copyright Office is expected to announce its ruling on the Internet Archive's request Oct. 28.
October 13, 2003
The Stop RIAA Lawsuits Coalition
An Invitation to Endorse a One Week RIAA Boycott:
A coalition of websites is coming together to create www.stopRIAAlawsuits.com, which will call for a one week boycott of RIAA music coinciding with the next round of lawsuits against music fans. We would like to invite your site to join the coalition. When the RIAA files its next round of suits, we will launch the website which will include a link to every endorsing site-- the more we have on board, the stronger a statement we can send. The record industry trying to use these suits to scare people into buying their products. To end the lawsuits, we need to show them that lawsuits will hurt their bottom line. To endorse, send an email from your domain to stopRIAAlawsuits@downhillbattle.org. More information follows.
On September 8, the major record labels sued 261 music fans and customers for using filesharing programs. These lawsuits are a desperate act by a failing industry. There is little evidence that filesharing has anything to do with the decline in record sales over the past three years and the record industry's effort to eliminate filesharing is a pathetic attempt to slow innovation so they can continue to control musicians and music fans. That the industry chose to fight 60 million filesharers by stomping on families is just the latest example of an industry out of control. Many people have heard of the 12 year old girl, Brianna LaHara who lives in public housing in New York City and was sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Her situation is not unusual; there are many many more who have been targeted and are being financially crushed by these suits. The record companies say that they will continue filing suits indefinitely, but if we act quickly we can stop them. The next round of lawsuits will be filed sometime in October.
The stopRIAAlawsuits.com coalition will call for a one week boycott to tell the record industry and the public that these lawsuits are unacceptable and must end. When it goes public, the site will explain why the boycott is important, suggest ways to buy independent music, and will feature the list of endorsing websites. With a broad coalition of websites calling for a boycott, we can become part of the story when the next round of lawsuits is filed. We hope your site will join us. Please pass this message along to other sites that may be interested. By October 8, www.stopRIAAlawsuits.com will list the websites that have already signed on.
Sincerely,
The stopRIAAlawsuits.com Coalition
To endorse the boycott, email: stopRIAAlawsuits@downhillbattle.org (your endorsement is strictly limited to this one week boycott, your site's name will not be used for any other purpose)
New Blawg Revue
Found a new blog titled By No Other by D. C. Toedt, a former partner in a big intellectual-property law firm, which contains his "notes of some lessons learned that caught my attention in my business-law reading." Looks like some good business law postings and offers an XML feed so I'll be syndicating the site and you can expect to see some linking to this relatively new blawg in the months to come. Here's one on California's new anti-spam law and another on forum selection clauses in software licenses.
Also saw Say What?! - a weblog of classic humor from U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer.
October 12, 2003
I've reinstalled my shift key
Frank Field finds the best comments on /.
macdaddy357: He doesn’t understand the implications of what he said at all. If I purchase a CD, it is my personal property. I have the absolute right to do with it as I see fit. Alex Halderman of Princeton University is only showing us how to take back our rights as property owners. Jacobs, and all the a-holes at Sunncomm are the ones trying to deny us our rights. They are the crooks here. They claim that they are protecting “intellectual property.” That term is a highly offensive misnomer. Copyright is a temporary loan from the public domain, not property. (emphasis added)While, the encrypted cd may technically be covered under the DMCA, do we really want to protect such weak technological measures?
Audio CD DRM Defeated by Use of ''SHIFT'' Key
ACM reports that "SunnComm won't sue Alex Halderman ... at least, not this time..."
LawMeme: "Apparently the system can be defeated, among other ways, by holding down the "SHIFT" key when inserting a CD in your computer's CD drive."
Derek Slater: "I don't see how his paper is a "device", or how a shift key fits the language of 1201(a)(2) ... But the fact that we're even having this discussion is ridiculous. It's a total joke. Yet I'm not laughing."
See also Raff, Copyfight, 213, Freedom to Tinker and Displacement of Concepts.
Oct 15, 2003: You must visit Derek Slater for continuing coverage of SunnComm and Haldermann.
Comments Spammer via Blogdex
A comments spammer named Lolita is utilizing the 'name of site' url to leave his pornography site url address all over blogs to get picked up in blogdex. This unfortunate site, along with several others, was one of the targets.
Update: Talkleft has found out who's behind it. [via Netlawblog]
Also, missed this on blogcritics last night: "If you run a Movable Type blog, be sure to add the IP Address: 209.210.176.20 to your IP ban list."
Great information from Mary Hodder in the comments.
BBC News (10/24/03): How spammers are targeting blogs
Litigation instead of innovation: the RIAA's failing business strategy
"'Suing Your Customers: A Winning Business Strategy?' details how the strategy of suing consumers is not new, in fact, this tactic was used against none other than Henry Ford a century ago." [Ars Technica]
Kazaa's P2P plan
Frank Field has comments and analysis here and here.
Will anyone looking for free downloads continue to use Kazaa or will they just move on to the next free thing?
I like that Mary Hodder uses the word
"fucking" about 20 times in her post Lawmeme Post Title Altered in Ironic Situation discussing some people being offended about Ernie Miller of LawMeme using "fucking" in the title of his post A Fucking Interesting Decision From the FCC discussing Bono's use of the word "fucking" in his acceptance speech. I received a similar reaction to a recent blog post where I quoted someone saying "fuck the telemarketers."
Kevin J. Heller, Esq.
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