Intellectual Property Law

RT @hyperactive: Lawrence Lessig on Charlie Rose, talking about copyright, creative commons, digital media and Obama. http://snurl.co ...copyright - Twitter Search

Posted on December 09, 2008
RT @hyperactive: Lawrence Lessig on Charlie Rose, talking about copyright, creative commons, digital media and Obama. http://snurl.co ...

MPAA Wants Obama To Target Canada Over CopyrightMichael Geist Blog

Posted on December 09, 2008
The election of Barack Obama has led to considerable speculation about what the change in administration might mean for U.S. pressure on Canada on intellectual property issues.  If the MPAA - the lead Hollywood lobbyist - has anything to say about it, the pressure will only increase...

Suggestion for Obama Foreign Policy on IPEXCESS COPYRIGHT

Posted on December 09, 2008
Here's a provocative op-ed in the Mercury suggesting that the new US Obama administration should be less aggressive on IP in US foreign and trade relations.Here's the conclusion:Whoever becomes Obama's U.S. trade representative must re-evaluate our IP foreign policy and reassess how much foreign infringement affects U...

Obama Gives You a Seat at the Table on Change.govlouisgray.com

Posted on December 06, 2008
By Jesse Stay of Stay N' Alive (Twitter/FriendFeed)Today the Obama-Biden transition team started an unprecedented move in transparency and openness to the public in a move to get feedback from the public.  The team launched "Your Seat at the Table" on Change...

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Amazon.com Add-On Hack Was a University ProjectWired: Threat Level

Posted on December 05, 2008
The Firefox browser add-on that provided a "download 4 free" button on Amazon.com linking to freebies on The Pirate Bay was developed as part of a university project, a social parody of sorts for a media design class. A tutor for the two students at the liberal art school, Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, Netherlands, said in an e-mail Friday that he and the course instructor "supported and encouraged it from its early beginnings," tutor jaromil said...

New short film asks, "Why Copyright?"Law & Disorder

Posted on December 04, 2008
50 years ago, did anyone but big rightsholders and lawmakers care about copyright? It certainly wasn't the tremendous public issue it has become today, and a new short film from Canadian law professor Michael Geist takes a look at why copyright matters to people and what they think copyright should cover...

Hackers, Others Seek DMCA ExemptionsWired: Threat Level

Posted on December 03, 2008
The U.S. Copyright Office has received 19 comments constituting nine requests for exemptions to anti-circumvention provisionsto the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Every three years, the office and the Librarian of Congress request proposed changes as required under the decade-old law...

Craigslist Rant Prompts Criminal Libel ChargesABA Journal Daily News

Posted on December 02, 2008
A Colorado man who reportedly bashed his ex-girlfriend and her lawyer on Craigslist now has the unusual distinction of being charged with criminal libel. The rarely used charges stem from posts that J.P. Weichel is alleged to have authored on the popular site's "rants and raves" section last December, ABC News reports...

Open Transition PrinciplesLessig Blog

Posted on December 02, 2008
As I indicated yesterday, I was very encouraged by the decision by the Obama transition team to freely license change.gov (not actually a .gov entity, so not exempt from the rights of copyright). But over the weekend, a bunch of us got together to begin (actually, continue) the process of framing "open government principles...

Barack Obama: Champion for Copyright Reform?The Legal Satyricon

Posted on December 02, 2008
I?m no fan of our President-elect, but I have to tip my hat to him on this interesting bit of P.R.: The new administration?s transition site, Change.gov, is being published under a Creative Commons license. (source) This means that the content is not subject to the draconian, life-plus-70 protection that is the default under the current federal copyright act...

Lessig?s call for a ?simple blanket license? in RemixThe Technology Liberation Front

Posted on December 01, 2008
I?m finishing up Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig?s latest book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy and wanted to make a brief comment about his call for a ?simple blanket license? to solve online music piracy. Overall, I thought Prof...

Apple Bullying Wiki Site Over Piss-Poor DMCA ClaimsThe Legal Satyricon

Posted on November 29, 2008
Manufactured in China, and learning valuable lessons in freedom by manufacturing osmosisAs an avid Apple user, sometimes I just want to punch somebody over at Cupertino in the balls. First, I love their nomenclature for their brutal DRM scheme ? Fairplay...

Copyright CzarPublic Law No: 110-403

Posted on November 24, 2008
Lessig has an inside track to Czar-dom. Apparently, he and Barack were profs together at Chicago.

On ObamaCTO.org: Wish Lists are for Santa ClausThe Technology Liberation Front

Posted on November 19, 2008
The idea of an Obama Administration CTO has captured the hearts of many. I am generally skeptical of the idea, which is likely to be more symbolism than substance. But I?m really skeptical of the priorities being suggested for a government CTO on ObamaCTO...

Linking to third-party content: Does Section 230 Provide Immunity?California Defamation Law Blog

Posted on November 18, 2008
Eric Goldman of the Technology Law Blog seems to think so and I agree.  The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996 and later was interpreted by courts to immunize internet service providers form torts committed by users of their systems.  In specific, it says: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider...

Harvard Law Professor Takes on the RIAALegal Blog Watch

Posted on November 18, 2008
If you're a fan of Jonathan Harr's book, A Civil Action, you probably remember Harvard law professor, Charles Nesson, who was retained by plaintiffs lawyer Jan Schlictmann to give his firm (which represented a group of Woburn, Mass., residents in...

Copyright Czar results on TwitterPublic Law No: 110-403

Posted on November 17, 2008

Lawyers not on Twitter?Blawg Review

Posted on November 16, 2008
Blawg Review #186 at the Res Ipsa Blog is following the Twitter War that just broke out in the blawgosphere.David Giacalone a lawyer who writes in haiku verse, not tweets, takes a full post on his weblog f/k/a to knock Twitter and lawyers who tweet, knowing full well some might call him a twit, or worse...

Classmates.com User Sues; Schoolmates Weren't Really Looking for HimWired Top Stories

Posted on November 12, 2008
When Classmates.com told user Anthony Michaels last Christmas Eve that his former school chums were trying to contact him, he pulled out his wallet and upgraded to the premium membership that would let him contact long-lost fifth-grade dodge-ball buddies and see if his secret crush from high school had looked him up online...

Obama Wants Your Media Reform IdeasSave the Internet Blog

Posted on November 07, 2008
Day two of President-Elect Barack Obama?s transition to the White House, and already he came out strong for media reform. Yesterday he laid out his science and technology agenda, prominently highlighting three core issues that Free Press and our activists work toward everyday...

MPAA Already Lobbying ObamaWired: Threat Level

Posted on November 05, 2008
The Motion Picture Association of America has wasted no time when it comes to cozying up with Sen. Barack Obama. Hours after Obama became the 44th president-elect, MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman applauded the Illinois senator's victory...

Genius Blawg Review (carinval of law blogs) this week. Must read! http://poprl.com/3CK (my previous favorite was by @kevinhell)kevinhell - Twitter Search

Posted on October 21, 2008
Genius Blawg Review (carinval of law blogs) this week. Must read! http://poprl.com/3CK (my previous favorite was by @kevinhell)

TWiL 18: Dispatches from the Electronic Frontierthis WEEK in LAW

Posted on October 18, 2008
Hosts: Denise Howell, Colette Vogele, Evan Brown and Karl Susman The McCain-YouTube DMCA takedown letter discussion, LimeWire, and more. Guest: Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation Talking points: http://del.icio.us/thisweekinlaw/18...

YouTube to McCain: You Made Your DMCA Bed, Lie in ItWired: Threat Level

Posted on October 15, 2008
YouTube on Tuesday rebuffed a request from John McCain's presidential campaign to examine fair-use issues more carefully before yanking campaign videos in response to DMCA takedown notices. "Lawyers and judges constantly disagree about what does and does not constitute fair-use," YouTube's general counsel Zahavah Levine wrote in a letter Tuesday...

Larry Lessig Defends PiratesAbove the Law

Posted on October 14, 2008
Stanford law professor Larry Lessig had an editorial in the Wall Street Journal's weekend edition, "In defense of piracy." Lessig starts off hating on the lawyers who went after the mother in the dancing baby/YouTube/Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" case. (Background here...

Law Profs Question Felony Charge Against Accused Palin E-Mail HackerABA Journal Daily News

Posted on October 14, 2008
Two law professors are wondering why the University of Tennessee student charged with hacking into Sarah Palin?s e-mail account was charged with a felony. Law professors Orin Kerr of George Washington University and Paul Ohm of the University of Colorado questioned the felony charge against David Kernell, the son of a Democratic state legislator, in blog posts at the Volokh Conspiracy, notes the Chronicle of Higher Education...

Google Profiting From Typo Squatting, Report ChargesWired: Threat Level

Posted on October 13, 2008
Google is profiting from millions of typo-squatting websites that earn advertising from Google's Adsense advertising program, Harvard University professor Ben Edelman says. In a report published Monday, Edelman says Google profits from typo-squatting websites that run ads using Google's Adsense ? which, ironically, are often bought by the owners of the legitimate sites web surfers were trying to visit...

3325 becomes LawPublic Law No: 110-403

Posted on October 13, 2008
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Court Rules That Palin Must Save Yahoo EmailsSlashdot: Your Rights Online

Posted on October 12, 2008
quarterbuck writes "An Anchorage judge has ruled that Governor Sarah Palin must save her emails, as they were apparently used for state business. Last week a Tennessee man was arrested over hacking one of her Yahoo email accounts. The Washington Post also reports that Sarah Palin, her husband, and officials had set up email accounts known only to each other...

Open Source Community Embraces Federal RulingLaw.com - Legal Technology

Posted on October 09, 2008
The first major ruling on open source licensing, held by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, has wide support in the open source community. They believe the ruling increases software developers' control over their products but maintains open source's collaborative goals.

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