Copyright Law

Quoting Scripture

Posted on June 24, 2008
Just juicy miscellany today... with a comment at the end. The publishing industry is filled with inept businesscreatures who don't understand their own business; consider these publishers whingeing about low profits as barrier to innovation. Hmm...

RIP Cardinal Glick

Posted on June 23, 2008
   This may not be safe for work, but it bloody well should be, under the "sticks and stones" theory of the First Amendment. RIP, George. Hopefully there's no FCC wherever you are now.

Putting the "Dis" in "Intermediation"

Posted on June 22, 2008
This is just a short observation. As an academic by nature, I could go on (and on, and on, with virtually endless footnotes, exceptions, snide remarks, etc.) with this theoretical discussion — certainly long enough to lose the point. As I don't wish to lose the point, I won't do so; that will make what follows seem rather conclusory...

Saturday Amusement

Posted on June 21, 2008
While waiting for the Supreme Court to misread the Second Amendment in Heller — and, no matter which way the Court jumps, it will involve an untenable reading — I glanced through a not-quite-local paper and found some amusement. I just had to share a couple of items...

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You Can't Say Seven Words on the Internet?????

Posted on June 18, 2008
I think the Associated Press has been hanging around the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for much too long now. The Sixth Circuit has by far the most restrictive view of fair use of any of the geographic circuits; I guess that the AP decided that five words is the same as three notes...

A Mass of Miscellany

Posted on June 17, 2008
Rather a large crop of miscellany, first, then an expansion on yesterday's note. The ill-advised Canadian copyright bill — as is usual for initial drafts of intellectual property legislation — reflects the phenomenon of "agency capture" all too well...

Just a Word Before I Go

Posted on June 16, 2008
Urggh. I've been rather out of it for the last several days, and it's not much better today, so I'll confine myself to a little bit of sniping instead of full treatment on a few items. I think (hope!) things will be better by tomorrow, so you can look forward to Tuesday miscellany...

The Rule of Law Still Has Meaning

Posted on June 12, 2008
I'm still digesting the entire opinion in Boumediene v. US, No. 06–1195, issued a few minutes ago. Based on the syllabus, though, it is excellent news for the rule of law: 1. MCA § 7 denies the federal courts jurisdiction to hear habeas actions, like the instant cases, that were pending at the time of its enactment...

Promises, Promises

Posted on June 10, 2008
Life. Can't live with it... wait a minute. It's that most-dangerous time of the year: June. The end of the Supreme Court's term. Yesterday, the Court issued two opinions of interest. Or, at least, I find them interesting. In Bridge v. Phoenix Bond and Indemnity Co...

Command Irresponsibility

Posted on June 05, 2008
There's a fascinating contrast between the firing of the USAF Chief of Staff and Secretary, essentially on "command responsibility" grounds over the quivering quiver incident last summer, and the continued refusal to hold senior military leaders accountable for either GITMO and military tribunal problems or mistreatment of captives in Iraq...

Rebel Yell

Posted on June 05, 2008
I'm moderately pleased that the first round of this electoral dogfight is over. Now... the main event! Well, not quite. We still need to learn the undercard: The candidates for Vice President. I'm against having Ms Clinton as Vice President for several reasons...

A June Moonshot

Posted on June 03, 2008
Life interferes again. The eldest remora has now graduated from high school, and is busy being a surly teenager in his room all day now. Not, however, without homework: As his school did not teach him proper documentation practices for writing papers, I've given him a homework assignment comparing and contrasting this classic with this contemporary retelling...

Tuesday Night Titans

Posted on May 27, 2008
One more wakeup and the oldest monster is done with high school. Which means I'll have to feed him all day, every day, all summer. Today on Tuesday Night Titans, we have John "Blindman" Milton versus Will "The Hard Bard" Shakepeare for the Intercontinental superheavyweight title! That, however, begs the real question: Isn't there room for both? Can't we have them tag-team against Dan Brown "

Nobody Sees Not Dead People

Posted on May 26, 2008
The real problem with Memorial Day is that it celebrates (if that is the right word) fatalities. At least in theory, the living have a different holiday — Veterans' Day, which should be moved to the first Tuesday in November and be made as mandatory as July Fourth...

Reversals of Fortune

Posted on May 20, 2008
The "news," such as it is, consists mostly of reversals of fortune. None involving David Marriott, fortunately. One of the constant laments of unpublished writers concerns how hard it is to get out of the slush pile — the veritable, and all-too-often literal, mountain of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishers — and into consideration by editors...

Unreal Estate (8)

Posted on May 18, 2008
Returning to the theme of "what is not work for hire" (and, thanks to the unanticipated delays caused by Life, you might want to review the consolidated "essay" version of the preceding entries)... A closer look at two of these groupings of excluded works will also prove helpful when later considering "contracting around" the issue...

Identity Politics

Posted on May 17, 2008
It sure was easier when old white guys were the only ones running for office. Now we have to figure out which of their puppets is going to get us the "right" set of old white guys who will actually be running things. (HT: The Perfesser)

Just as Dead as That Squirrel

Posted on May 13, 2008
Just a few miscellaneous items today. I promised more posting yesterday. The local squirrels and wind had other ideas... The line-repair tech came out, and it took over 45 minutes to replace the line going into the house. The squirrels — probably in retaliation for Lucy chasing (and occasionally catching and eating) them — had begun the process by chewing up the insulation and nibbling on the

Darkness Slightly Before Noon

Posted on May 11, 2008
...or, at least, Internet silence. The wind has been so bad here today that from about 1000 until now, I've had essentially no Internet service. In turn, that means that I couldn't finish up the research on two essays, or post other stuff, or finish long-overdue maintenance on the main site, or anything else...

Absolutely Ridiculous (I Don't Paint)

Posted on May 06, 2008
I'm down to one teenaged kid. The other one is officially an adult now. Speaking of which, he got mail from the Selective Service Administration a few days ago. Just as I was handing it to him, an all-too-appropriate song popped up on the random play...

Almost May Madness

Posted on April 30, 2008
Almost May. Definitely madness. Since you're reading this blawg, I have to assume that you have some grasp of international IP issues. Improve that grasp with Professor Patry's comments on the new Special 301 list from the US Trade Representative...

Annoyances Part 27

Posted on April 26, 2008
Migraines. 'nuf said. Al Sharpton. There's only one kind of "reasonable doubt" that matters to him: that in favor of a melaninically enhanced defendant from the 'hood. Hint: {Not guilty}beyond reasonable doubt ? {innocent} especially for a crime requiring a specific mens rea (state of mind and/or intent)...

Spring Sausages

Posted on April 22, 2008
An even-more-hectic-than-normal Tuesday, coupled with a very blah week in the entertainment industry and elsewhere, has resulted in a short miscellany list for today. Lucy Literary is back! My dog is a literary agent. The "War on Terror" (or is that "War of Terror"?) tried to claim another victim, but the least-dangerous branch of government wasn't buying it...

Unreal Estate (7)

Posted on April 21, 2008
Now that I've explained what types of works can legitimately fall into the WFH classification, it's time to look at what cannot. A work by an employee that is not within the scope of his/her duties does not meet the requirements of subparagraph 1...

Weekend Update

Posted on April 20, 2008
Mostly administrative stuff today — Warped Weft is back on line now. I can tell that all three of you are thrilled.

Unreal Estate (6)

Posted on April 19, 2008
So — after much too long an interval — I'll return to trying to make some sense of WFH under the Copyright Act. At the moment, we're trying to figure out what the following acceptable categories of WFH really mean: (a) a contribution to a collective work; (b) a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; (c) a translation; (e) a compilation; Unfortunately, my usual method of interpreting

Beware the Ides of April

Posted on April 15, 2008
Slightly late Monday Miscellany. On Tuesday. (So sue me — I need the business ;-) First, let's get one thing out of the way: I know perfectly well that technically, the Ides of April does not fall on the fifteenth. It's just so appropriate, though...

John Yoo, Ignorant Slut

Posted on April 15, 2008
Between being sick of late and being sickened by the memorandum itself, it has taken me quite some time to both properly work my way through the Yoo Memorandum (PDF image, 5.6mb) and write this in a way that will keep from frying too many semiconductors...

Friends, Romans, Country Bumpkins

Posted on April 13, 2008
...lend me your browser windows. I come here not to defend Barack Obama's purported "bitter bit," but to praise it. He was correct, and there's nothing wrong with that, nor any shame to anyone in admitting it. Now, before y'all lynch me, understand that I live in the middle of small-town America; in farm country...

Unscheduled Phlegmatism

Posted on April 12, 2008
...with phlegm, naturally. My annual respiratory infection arrived a couple of weeks early this year (thus the recent quiet, as on the Internet no one can hear you cough). So, just a couple of weird items: In the local library parking lot today, I witnessed a guy parking his suburban assault vehicle in a compact-car-only spot...

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