Image via Wikipedia Consider this idea: without copyright protection for digital media, we would have even more Digital Rights Management. Why? Because without it, recouping up-front investment without restricting distribution would be difficult or impossible. Since I often see a … Continued
copyright
Consumers and Copyright: Thoughts about reforming the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is much maligned, but, I think, not fully understood by very many people. Today, a visitor to our Software Law class from Microsoft presented a very good explanation of the 1998 law. He explained … Continued
Against Intellectual Monopoly
Against Intellectual Monopoly, a book by by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, two economists who have proposed abolishing copyrights and patents: It is common to argue that intellectual property in the form of copyright and patent is necessary for … Continued
Economists: Abolish Copyright & Patents to Save the Economy
Economists: Abolish Copyright & Patents to Save the Economy: Two economists from Washington University have looked at current copyright and patent laws and concluded that they’re not good. The pair see current intellectual property laws as similar to “medieval trade … Continued
Beyond Economic Analysis of Intellectual Property: The Need For Social and Cultural Theory
The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog: Beyond Economic Analysis of Intellectual Property: The Need For Social and Cultural Theory (Madhavi Sunder): Over the course of the last century intellectual property has grown exponentially, but its march into all … Continued
That Was the Copyright Year That Was (2008)
Image via Wikipedia That Was the Copyright Year That Was by Bruce E. Boyden of Marquette University Law School: I recently compiled a list of the biggest developments in copyright law in 2008, based on a not very systematic survey. … Continued
Amazon retreats on Kindle's text-to-speech issue
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Amazon retreats on Kindle’s text-to-speech issue | Digital Media – CNET News: Apparently, Amazon won’t fight the publishing industry on the issue of whether the Kindle 2′s text-to-speech function violates copyright. The retailer, which … Continued
Copyright Fight Brewing Over Amazon's Kindle 2
Copyright Fight Brewing Over Amazon’s Kindle 2 | Threat Level from Wired.com: “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under … Continued
Another Attempt to Repeal Open Access
Peter Suber writes: Yesterday Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) re-introduced the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. . . . The premise of the bill, urged by the publishing lobby, is that the NIH policy somehow violates copyright law. The premise … Continued
The Long Road to Open Access
An intriguing, far-ranging perspective on scholarly publishing that ties early 3rd century revolutions in scholarly publishing with modern trends towards open access and digital archiving: Instead of using the noble scroll, Origen decided to take advantage of the page structure … Continued
New vs. Old Media
Revision3 CEO: Blackout caused by MediaDefender attack – ars technica: Revision3, the Internet television network behind popular shows like Diggnation, experienced a serious network failure over Memorial Day weekend. CEO Jim Louderback revealed today that the outage was caused by … Continued
Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler
Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler – washingtonpost.com Cynthia Brumfeld noticed that Viacom actually raised the stakes in a recently (.pdf) amended complaint from April. In addition to pointing out that YouTube hosts … Continued
Copyright's Paradox: a book by Neil Netanel
Neail Netanel writes on The Volokh Conspiracy: The paradox referenced in my book‘s title is that copyright serves both as an “engine of free expression” and silencer of free expression. Copyright law provides a vital economic incentive for the creation … Continued
National Security Letters and the Internet Archive
Deven Desai writes in Concurring Opinions: Wired reports that the FBI subpoenaed the Internet Archive and demanded that Brewster Kahle (the Archive’s founder) provide records about one of the library’s registered users, asking for the user’s name, address and activity on the … Continued
When you die, become an intellectual property donor.
kottke.org: When you die, become an intellectual property donor.: Why let all of your ideas die with you? Current Copyright law prevents anyone from building upon your creativity for 70 years after your death. Live on in collaboration with others. … Continued
Danish Pirate Bay Block Breaks EU Law
TorrentFreak – Danish Pirate Bay Block Breaks EU Law A crucial factor in the ruling is thus that the ISP commits copyright infringement in their routers when they allow access to The Pirate Bay. An absurd claim of course, and … Continued