Illegal Art v. Sonny Bono
Illegal Art's latest project
is a protest against the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act ... We encourage artists to liberally sample from works that would have fallen into the Public Domain by the year 2004 [via boing boing]Category: Daily Links
Video Game Source Code Stolen Again
Alibre alleges that a former employee after being terminated has begun illegally distributing a product called "RaceCAD," which is actually Alibre's product.
See also: Half Life 2 Source-Code Leak Delays Debut
Category: IP Law Advisor
Workplace Computer Off-Limits?
"A Connecticut lawyer wants the state's high court to recognize that employees have some expectation of privacy regarding workplace computers -- even if the material they view or download is child pornography. The lawyer is appealing the denial of a motion to suppress by a Superior Court judge, who ruled that her client, a former Yale professor, did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy because he did not make his computer files inaccessible to other authorized users." [Connecticut Law Tribune]
Category: Workplace Privacy
Spybot.gen is scary
Bernhard Warner: "Spybot.gen is a pesky program that would imbed itself into the computer user's hard drive. From there, it had the power to read Microsoft Word documents and send the contents back to Spybot.gen's author, or to an accomplice. It could also record key strokes, potentially intercepting credit card or other banking details."
Category: Digital Privacy | More News: Spyware
Beam your MP3 files from your PC to your car
Gizmodo: "The Omnifi is a digital media player for your car with a 20GB hard drive and an 802.11b WiFi attachment which actually makes it possible (assuming your car is within range) to wirelessly beam your music directly to your car from your PC."
See also: Digital Music Migrates to the Home Stereo and MIT Offers Legal Cable File Sharing Alternative (shut down)
Category: Digital Music Wars, Daily Links More News: File Sharing
Blog of the Week
I recently syndicated Howard Sherman's Nuggets and I'm glad that I did. Two recent interesting posts were Your Chance Of Dying which references The National Safety Council's list of the odds on causes of death and the other on The Wisdom Of Jessica Simpson includes a link to the Jessica Simpson IQ test.
Category: Daily Links
204-124=80
RIAA is suing 80 more people after initially warning 204 that they would be next, 124 of whom settled.
The RIAA's most recent victims apparently include Kyle Broslofski. [via Furdlog]
Category: Digital Music Wars, IP Lit Reporter, Daily Links | More News: RIAA
No Taxation
The WSJ names the pols who want to tax your email: George Voinovich of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Kent Conrad of North Dakota.
On Taxing Digital Music: No, No, No, No, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Category: Digital Music Wars, Spam | More News: Net Tax
Where spam comes from?
WHOIS Protection: Should WHOIS protect buyer's privacy? A new international coalition thinks so.
Category: Domain Names | More News: Whois, Verisign
Is Google Toolbar Blocking Legitimate Content?
beSpacific: "According to this New York Times article, the Google toolbar is so effective in blocking unwanted pop-up ads that millions use it daily. However, website designers point out that along with blocking ads, the toolbar has the unintended consequence of blocking legitimate website content that is delivered via pop-up windows."
Which brings me to my next question: do websites provide legitimate content via pop-ups and why?
See also:
Category: Spam | More News: Spam, Google
Blogging under threat of subpoena
Chillingly, the email threatens: "Determining your identity for the purpose of making service of process can be easily accomplished through a subpoena to Blogspot.com."
October 31, 2003
Best Buy says opened software returns illegal under DMCA
greplaw reader: "This struck me as very odd. He indicated that, hypothetically speaking, I could have made a copy of this software title and simply been trying to return this software. This was the crux of his argument for stating that a return (even for store credit) would be in violation of the DMCA."
MS Fires Blogger
Of blogging and unemployment: "The day started like any other day - get up, dink around for a bit, bus into work, and start working through the stack of jobs. Just shy of an hour after I got in, my manager came in and asked me to step into his office when I had a chance. Sure, no biggie, and I headed over as soon as I finished the job I was setting up." Read more...
Michael Hanscom update: he has a new job.
See also: NYT on unemployment and networking and Jerry Nash thinks legal jobs exist. Also, survey finds more non Ivys are clerking for Supremes.
How Not to Get Fired Because of Your Blog (or Sued)
Blogger: "just a little friendly advice from all of us here at Blogger. We want you to keep your jobs, its good for the economy."
A Fair User's Manual: Bloggers should know their rights before the copyright cops read them to you...
MIT Offers Legal Cable File Sharing Alternative
Two students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system for sharing music over the university's cable television network that they say can avoid the copyright battles that have pitted the music industry against many customers because it falls within the time-honored licensing and royalty system under which the music industry allows broadcasters and others to play recordings for a public audience. [NYT]
Update: MIT has shut down the service while it hashes out the legal issues.
October 30, 2003
Tagliabue rejects Billicks pleas to overrule replay
Tagliabue: "My guess is replay will continue because they think, three-quarters or more of the clubs will think, it's an important tool in terms of officiating in the game."
New DMCA Exemptions
Seth Finkelstein discusses his censorware exemption.
Derek Slater on what's been denied.
McCullagh: "The U.S. Copyright Office has sided with Static Control Components saying that Lexmark's invocation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in its lawsuit against Static Control was invalid."
Is the DMCA n/a to toner cartridges? Denise, Donna and Robin help to clarify this proposition.
Is abandonware now legal? Steven Wu thinks it is ok to circumvent "the copy protection on your own 5-1/4" disk or Super Famicon game cartridge in order to transfer the data to your computer."
"Congressman Rick Boucher (D.-Va.), friend of fair use, voices his complaints with the Copyright Office's ruling on DMCA exemptions."
DRM you could live with?
Pogue: "Each downloaded song is copy-protected, but so intelligently that you might not even notice. You can burn songs onto blank CD's, play them on up to two other computers or download them to a music player. You just can't share them through free file-swapping services like Kazaa."
Blind Item
A fellow attorney let me know that my Young Cybersquatter's Handbook came in handy in preparing for a client presentation on UDRP proceedings.
October 28, 2003
You need to add this to your daily reads
Andrew Raff has a new blog category devoted solely to tech and IP [rss].
Also, I'm sure that it is highly unlikely that you don't already, but if you don't, then you need to visit Poon!
LSAT during Combat
I had trouble taking it under normal condition, but Spc. Steven Carley was able to take the exam near Mosul, a northern Iraqi city where he is stationed with the Army's 101st's 2nd Brigade. I hope he does well. [The Leaf-Chronicle via Law.com]
October 27, 2003
AOL's bad billing practices
I've discussed this issue before and now the "Ohio Attorney General's office ... filed a complaint against America Online, accusing ... of violating a pact to promptly honor disconnection requests." [Reuters]
Chewbacca Defense Revisited
Reuters article on the trojan horse defense.
My prior post discussing the defense here.
The defense is not yet tested in the U.S.
Fight the RIAA
The RIAA is having trouble counting ... "the RIAA is being very sloppy about how it counts files in shared folders and people who have some music and then a bunch of other things are sometimes being targeted if their total adds up to over 1,000."
This evidence is leading to a "few brave individuals including Lynette Neuman and Janet Bebell are publicly stating that they will not settle with the RIAA."
[Slyck News]
Non IP blawg posts of interest
The 21st Century Trumped by the 19th
Stuart Levine: "New York appellate court sustained a ridiculous statute, but was arguably correct in reaching its conclusion. The decision was handed down by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court in the case of Blaklee Realty Co. v. Pataki. The cost of compliance runs about $1,600. As a consequence, it is considerably more expensive to form an LLC in New York than in any other state."
Employment Defamation Case Kicked With No Mention of Privilege Statute
Michael W. Fox: "Austin v. Inet Technologies (Tex. App. - Dallas 10/23/03) has all the aspects of defamation cases that can arise in the workplace."
October 26, 2003
Shrinkwrap licenses are showing up everywhere
Ed Foster says one of his readers said the master jig he just bpught was accompanied by a shrinkwrap license: "The master jig contained a license that says I've licensed the master jig, not bought it. The license says I can't lend or sell the master, and furthermore I can't lend or sell the jigs I make with the master.”
Kevin J. Heller, Esq.
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