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Google+BizOp News asks the question: “Is the Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7″ Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) a disruptive device for the textbook market?”
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Applying DRM to the news
The AP wants to apply DRM to the news. It won’t work.
I get the frustration on the AP’s part. The world is changing, and they haven’t figured out to prevent that. They can try for legal changes, try DRM, or adapt. Adapting is hardest, but the only way to succeed long term.
Does selling access to court-filed attorney briefs violate copyright law?
California courts are turning over attorney work product to for-fee services like LexisNexis and Westlaw, which then resell them (or merely make them available?) to customers. Does this violate copyright law?
Amazon apologizes for Kindle fiasco
Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com apologizes for the 1984 Kindle fiasco.
Should there be no copyright for academic publications?
Worth reading and considering is a new draft article by Professor Steven Shavell that proposes abolishing copyright on academic works.
Google responds to publishers
According to Rob Salkowitz of Internet Evolution, in the so-called Hamburg Declaration issued July 9, publishers argued that services like Google are “using the work of authors, publishers and broadcasters without paying for it.”
Current themes evident in copyright arguments from 100 years ago
From thepublicdomain.org comes this interesting and revealing series of excerpts from the legislative history of the 1909 Copyright Act.
Amazon’s Kindle DRM strikes again
With physical books – or even electronic sales – the “first-sale” doctrine applies, and the seller cannot unilaterly reverse the transaction and take back the item (even if they credit the consumer for the price). Nor can the seller in a traditional sales transaction prevent resale, etc. – which Amazon also prohibits.
Will consumers adjust to this new model, or will we rebel and insist on our traditional first-sale rights?
New law journal launches that focuses on open source
There’s a new law journal in town: “The International Free and Open Source Software Law Review (IFOSS L. Rev.) is a collaborative legal publication aiming to increase knowledge and understanding among lawyers about Free and Open Source Software issues. Topics covered include copyright, licence implementation, licence interpretation, software patents, open standards, case law and statutory changes.”
Is online legal education a viable alternative to traditional schooling?
So are online options a viable alternative to traditional legal education? The ABA is considering opening up the option to allow greater accreditation for such schools. I think that’s a good idea.
When is print better than online?
Cost is a major element of this: online access to a treatise (a compendium of legal research, opinion, etc. that’s an extremely useful resource for understanding an area of the law before diving into more specifics) can run to around $825 an hour, while the print version of the same treatise costs $499 per year (or less, if you don’t mind out-of-date treatises). But it’s more than simply the straight-up cost of access – print research can be more effective and time-efficient for many tasks.
Openness and the social web
A recurring theme for me is the difficulty of keeping markets “open,” in the sense of empowering customers and users with information and choice, while still permitting businesses to grow and innovate.
Write an article; find a job
Debra Bruce suggests that lawyers looking for work think about writing an article to aid in finding a job.
Using a blog to get a job
A blog can be a very useful way for a lawyer looking for work to find connections and, hopefully, get a job.
Are law schools relevant to the future of law?
Paul Lippe, a well-known Silicon Valley GC and founder of Legal OnRamp (LOR), recently posted an essay on the Am Law Daily that essentially argues that law schools, at least in their present form, are not relevant to the future of law.
WordPress and the GPL
Any WordPress theme is so entwined with the main WordPress code as to make it a “derivative work,” and thus subject to WordPress’ copyright and licensing (which is the GPL).
