Copyright Law

Frosty Freeze

Posted on April 04, 2008
Wayne Frost, known in the hip hop world as Frosty Freeze, died April 3 in New York City. He was 44 years years old. For decades, Frost had been a member of the seminal break dance troupe Rock Steady Crew, which formed in the Bronx in 1977. People unfamiliar with hip hop instead may remember him as one of the break dancers whose routine became part of the penultimate performance for Jennifer Beals' character in the 1983 film Flashdance...

On Its Birthday, Superman Returns to Papa

Posted on March 31, 2008
Right before the Man of Steel celebrates its 70th birthday, a federal court judge has ruled (.pdf) that the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel could claim an ownership share of the character's domestic copyright. The ruling vests in Siegel's heirs ownership in the first Superman comic, Detective Comics' Action Comics No...

On Its Birthday, Superman Returns to Papa

Posted on March 31, 2008
Right before the Man of Steel celebrates its 70th birthday, a federal court judge has ruled (.pdf) that the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel could claim an ownership share of the character's domestic copyright. The ruling vests in Siegel's heirs ownership in the first Superman comic, Detective Comics' Action Comics No...

Pause for the Cause

Posted on March 06, 2008
Due to an unusually heavy February, we have been unable to post in the manner to which you (and we) have become accustomed. We promise to return to regular coverage as soon as possible. Copycense?: Incisive IP.?

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America?s Lagging Broadband Access

Posted on February 08, 2008
Educause. A Blueprint for Big Broadband. (.pdf) January 2008. America’s standing in global broadband access and speed continues to plummet, and American consumers continue to pay more per capita for slower and less available broadband. (See data from the Organisation for Economic Co?operation and Development for more information...

America?s Lagging Broadband Access

Posted on February 08, 2008
Educause. A Blueprint for Big Broadband. (.pdf) January 2008. America’s standing in global broadband access and speed continues to plummet, and American consumers continue to pay more per capita for slower and less available broadband. (See data from the Organisation for Economic Co?operation and Development for more information...

Site Check 2.04

Posted on February 07, 2008
Primer on Copyright Liability and Fair Use. A quick and dirty guide on copyright provided by the Citizen Media Law Project. Categories: Bundle of Rights; Fair Use & Other Exceptions. Music Download Warning List. The Center for Democracy & Technology publishes a list of Web sites that promise lots of music, but deliver much less because [...

Sweden?s Action Against Pirate Bay

Posted on February 07, 2008
Anna Ringstrom. Sweden to Charge Pirate Bay in Copyright Case. Yahoo! News. Jan. 28, 2008. Sweden’s involvement in enforcement efforts on the entertainment industry’s behalf is related directly to the Special 301 process and Sweden’s fear of being placed on a priority list (penalties for which include trade sanctions)...

Sweden?s Action Against Pirate Bay

Posted on February 07, 2008
Anna Ringstrom. Sweden to Charge Pirate Bay in Copyright Case. Yahoo! News. Jan. 28, 2008. Sweden’s involvement in enforcement efforts on the entertainment industry’s behalf is related directly to the Special 301 process and Sweden’s fear of being placed on a priority list (penalties for which include trade sanctions)...

Yahoo Pulls Its Music Subscription Service

Posted on February 06, 2008
“The [music subscription] services also have to overcome a conceptual hurdle with many consumers. Most music fans want something tangible when they buy songs. Subscription services, however, are like cable TV: They sell access to entertainment, not packaged goods...

Yahoo Pulls Its Music Subscription Service

Posted on February 06, 2008
“The [music subscription] services also have to overcome a conceptual hurdle with many consumers. Most music fans want something tangible when they buy songs. Subscription services, however, are like cable TV: They sell access to entertainment, not packaged goods...

Film Industry?s ?Piracy? Error

Posted on February 04, 2008
Yahoo! News (via The Associated Press). MPAA Admits Mistake on Downloading Study. Jan. 23, 2008; Inside Higher Ed. Downloading by Students Overstated. Jan. 23, 2008; Association for Computing Machinery. MPAA?s Data Oops: How Will Congress React? Jan. 23, 2008; News Blog (News...

Canadian Lobbyists Discuss Copyright Reform

Posted on February 04, 2008
On Copyright Reform. (.mp3) The Ottawa Citizen sponsors an hour-long debate on copyright reform in Canada. Lots of shouting and interrupting, but may be worthwhile listening if you want to hear frustrated content industry discuss the state of their nation...

European Union Rejects ISP Filtering

Posted on February 04, 2008
Jon Stokes. Proposed EU ISP Filtering and Copyright Extension Shot Down. ArsTechnica. Jan. 22, 2008. Just as AT&T begins considering filtering on its network for alleged copyright infringement violations, the European Union decides not to allow it for now on ISP networks in member countries...

Press Misreports Another IP Story

Posted on February 01, 2008
Public Knowledge. Don’t Trust the Media to Get Copyright Right: Scrabulous Coverage Scores Few Points. Jan. 22, 2008. Often, we have taken the press to task for its frequently errant and one-sided coverage of intellectual property issues. When IP was a backwater issue, poor (and sometimes inaccurate) coverage was a problem, but was not evident...

Testing the DMCA ?Safe Harbor?

Posted on February 01, 2008
Nate Anderson. Warner Sues “Playable Search Engine,” Tests DMCA Safe Harbor. ArsTechnica. Jan. 25, 2008. Warner Bros. trots out all the goodies in its 57-page complaint (.pdf) that alleges copyright infringement by search engine SeeqPod. One of the ways in which SeeqPod tries to differentiate itself is by providing links to music or video files [...

Compulsory Licensing Discussed at CES

Posted on February 01, 2008
Eric Bangeman. Debating Copyright Reform: Time for Compulsory Licenses? ArsTechnica. Jan. 21, 2008. Ars reports on a copyright panel convened at the Consumer Electronics Show entitled Washington, Intellectual Property and Your Living Room, which was moderated by Ars editor Kenneth Fisher...

Site Check 2.03

Posted on January 31, 2008
The Library of Congress Photos. LoC gets social with a 3,000 image contribution to Flickr … and leaves it to the public to do the classifying. On Copyright Reform. (.mp3) The Ottawa Citizen sponsors an hour-long debate on copyright reform in Canada...

Copyright?s Preemptive Effects

Posted on January 31, 2008
QuestionCopyright.org. Musicians Censoring Themselves. Jan. 21, 2008. We have to agree: when people interested in the performing arts discontinue sharing their craft because of copyright concerns — legitimate or not — it is time for a change...

Why the Wireless Spectrum Auction Matters

Posted on January 31, 2008
Paul Davidson. Google Could Cause a Stir in FCC’s Airwaves Auction. USAToday.com. Jan. 24, 2008. This story, and the coverage at InfoWorld, provide good introductions to the wireless spectrum auction and how it may affect everyday people. The airwaves that the Federal Communication Commission is auctioning are the leftover spectrum that will be made available [...

The Shrinking DVD Reissue Market

Posted on January 31, 2008
Gordon Cairns. Boxed Sets Exhaust Back Catalogue. Sunday Herald (Scotland). Jan. 28, 2008. The Herald is a new addition to Clippings, and its coverage of the UK DVD market suggests the film industry is beginning to feel the decay from which the music industry has suffered...

ICANN Seeks Separation From U.S. Government

Posted on January 31, 2008
BBC News. Net Body Issues Plea for Liberty. Jan. 24, 2008. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) likely is the most important quasi-government agency about which most Web users know nothing. It is, however, a critically important organization whose core mission — coordinating the Internet’s domain name system — essentially runs the [...

Revamping the Copyright Registration System

Posted on January 30, 2008
Dan Heller’s Photography Business Blog. Proposal for Privatizing the Copyright Registration Process. Jan. 21, 2008. Citing other instances of government outsourcing — including U.S. Postal Service allowing Mail Boxes Etc. and other commercial mail receiving agencies to manage mail delivery and pickup — Heller suggests that the U...

African-Americans & Intellectual Property

Posted on January 30, 2008
“One way to look at plaintiff’s difficulties here is as further evidence of the disproportionate difficulties African-Americans have had in getting the benefits of IP protection.” — Rebecca Tushnet. 43(B)log. Strikeout: Baseball Player’s Claim Against Cards Fails...

DRM Is Not Inherently Evil

Posted on January 30, 2008
Bill Board (BBC News.) Locking Down Open Computing. Jan. 28, 2008. BBC columnist Bill Thompson discusses copyright restriction technologies and digital rights management, and points to examples where both technologies have been implemented fairly. Most importantly, he positions them as benign technologies that only are as fair or onerous as their implementer intends them to [...

Google?s Alternative to Domain Tasting

Posted on January 30, 2008
SiliconValley.com (via The Associated Press). Google Cuts Ad Incentives for Domain Name Tasting. Jan. 26, 2008. Last week, we wrote about the “domain tasting” phenomenon and Network Solutions’ poor policy choice to eliminate that fraudulent practice...

P2P Tracking Companies As Investigators

Posted on January 30, 2008
Jeremy Kirk. Antipiracy Group’s Tactics Violate Swiss Law. InfoWorld. Jan. 25, 2008. This is another novel theory of the privacy issues that are raised when the music industry uses private firms to track file sharing networks for alleged copyright infringement...

Copycense Clippings (Jan. 22, 2008 to Jan. 28, 2008)

Posted on January 29, 2008
Some readers have informed us they appreciate Clippings’ incisive, retrospective commentary about the week in copyright and digital media, but have suggested that we break out some of our longer passages into distinct entries. Doing so, they have argued, will make certain longer entries easier to read, and will ensure that our readers can link [...

Wu on AT&T?s Filtering Proposal

Posted on January 28, 2008
Tim Wu. Has AT&T Lost Its Mind? Slate. Jan. 16, 2008. Columbia law professor Wu rhetorically poses the obvious question in response to news that AT&T is considering proposals to filter content, ostensibly to halt alleged copyright infringement...

Colleges Clarify Electronic Reserve Policies

Posted on January 25, 2008
Christina Hernandez. Colleges to Copyright Electronic Material. Newsday. Jan. 20, 2008. The Newsday editors’ headline reflects a misunderstanding of the issues, and (if he was quoted correctly) AAP representative Adler engages in a rhetorical stretch when he claims all three schools established their guidelines “in conjunction with” AAP...

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