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WTO Awards Caribbean Country Right to Ignore US Copyright
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/43
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles |
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December 2007
The WTO’s recent ruling on Antigua’s complaint against the US over the banning of online gambling resulted in a payment to the island nation much less than they asked for. It appears, though, that this payment was just part of the WTO’s compensation package for Antigua/Barbuda. Via Kotaku, the Hollywood Reporter notes that the Caribbean country can now freely ignore US copyright laws - legally. This dispensation is apparently limited to some $21 million a year. “The WTO often takes decisions awarding trade compensation in cases where one nation’s policies are found to break its rules. But this is only the second time the compensation lets one country violate intellectual property laws. In this case, Antigua will — in theory — be allowed to distribute copies of American DVDs, CDs and games and software with impunity. ‘That has only been done once before and is, I believe, a very potent weapon,’ Antigua’s lawyer Mark Mendel said. ‘I hope that the United States government will now see the wisdom in reaching some accommodation with Antigua over this dispute.’”
Source: Slashdot
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Yahoo! Found Guilty of Mass Copyright Infringement
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/42
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles |
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December 2007
It is being reported by the IPFI that Yahoo China’s music search feature violates the law when it deep links users to pirated music. Yahoo China’s music search has been confirmed illegal in a Beijing court ruling which states that under new copyright laws it facilitates mass copyright infringement.
After being hounded by the IFPI since April 2006, Yahoo! China - partly owned by one the world’s most prominent internet businesses, Yahoo! - today had its music search (via deep linking) deemed illegal by a Beijing Court, who said the service violates Chinese law by facilitating mass copyright infringement.
Yahoo! China had appealed against the guilty verdict reached in the case in April, but this was today dismissed by the Court.
In an earlier case it was decided that another company, Baidu, also facilitated copyright infringement when it used similar methods to Yahoo!, but under Chinese laws in operation at the time they had committed no offense. However, new copyright laws came into force in 2006 and it was under these that Yahoo! China was found guilty, as explained by John Kennedy, Chairman and CEO of the IFPI:
“We are disappointed that the court did not find Baidu liable, but that judgment was about Baidu’s actions in the past under an old law that is no longer in force.”
The IFPI say that when sites like Yahoo! and Baidu - or even Google - deep-link “to hundreds of thousands of pirate tracks” they are “a huge drain on efforts to develop a legitimate music market in China.”
According to IFPI statistics, music sales in China were just $76 million in 2006, with 99% of all music downloading done in a way that infringes copyright.
They also claim that Yahoo! China and Baidu “account for the bulk of the problem” so presumably now that both site’s searches are going to disappear, Chinese internet piracy will virtually end over night. That’s China sorted, then. Next stop, Russia.
John Kennedy said: “The ruling against Yahoo! China is extremely significant in clarifying copyright rules for internet music services in China. By confirming that Yahoo! China’s service violates copyright under new Chinese laws, the Beijing Court has effectively set the standard for internet companies throughout the country.”
“Our member companies seek partnership, not conflict, with China’s internet companies” he said, presumably as he decides who to take action against next.
Source: TorrentFreak
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MPAA: Piracy as a leading indicator of sales (?)
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/40
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: Articles |
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December 2007
When they’re not suing grandmothers or children for downloading over P2P networks and bitorrent the MPAA are apparently using the exact same technology and networks to test the popularity of movies and TV shows.
…unofficial, but sanctioned television show leaks on BitTorrent. Broadcasters aren’t posting their shows directly on PirateBay yet, but they are talking informally and giving copies of shows to a friend of a friend who is unaffiliated with the company to make a torrent. Why? Well, it’s partially an experiment, but the hope is that distribution of content this way will lead to new viewers who wouldn’t have been reached through traditional marketing means. Early signs indicate that these experiments are working.
Source: CNET
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H.R. 4279 introduced in Congress; would provide for $1.5 million damages for a single CD from each pirate.
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/39
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles |
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December 2007
“Seems as if the DOJ is not particularly happy about HR 4729, the ‘Copyright Czar’ bill. The Deputy AG told Congress that the current structure works quite effectively. ‘Panel members also expressed concern over Section 104 of the bill, which would allow a copyright owner to collect statutory damages for each copyrighted work that is stolen. Detractors fear that this provision could result in protracted lawsuits … Section 104, however, would penalize criminals on a per-song basis, so if someone pirated a motion picture soundtrack that had songs from 12 different artists, the pirate would be charged with 12 separate offenses and be subject to exorbitant fees.’”
Source: Slashdot
Source: Yahoo
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Congressman Hollywood Wants To Make DMCA Tougher
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/38
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles |
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December 2007
“Congressman ‘Hollywood’ Howard Berman (D-CA) used a House subcommittee hearing today to express his view that the DMCA was in need of a rewrite. In his view, it doesn’t go far enough. During his opening remarks for a hearing on the PRO-IP Act, Berman said that the DMCA’s Safe Harbor needs further scrutiny and that it might be time to make filtering mandatory. There’s more: Berman also ‘wants to examine the “effectiveness of takedown notices” under the DMCA, and he’d like to take another look at whether filtering technology has advanced to the point where Congress ought to mandate it in certain situations.’”
Source: Slashdot
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RIAA argues personal copies ripped to computer are unauthorized
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/37
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles |
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December 2007
“In an Arizona case against a defendant who has no legal representation, Atlantic v. Howell, the RIAA is now arguing — contrary to its lawyers’ statements to the United States Supreme Court in 2005 MGM v. Grokster — that the defendant’s ripping of personal MP3 copies onto his computer is a copyright infringement. At page 15 of its brief (PDF) it states the following: ‘It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies… Virtually all of the sound recordings… are in the “.mp3″ format for his and his wife’s use… Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs’ recordings into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies…’”
Source: Slashdot
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Help Keep Bibliographic Data License-Free
Permalink: http://questioncopyright.org/keep-bibliographic-data-license-free
Posted by kfogel |
Posted in: Syndicated Articles |
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December 2007
The Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Information has at the Library of Congress just released its final Draft Report. There's much that's good in it, but it's lacking an important feature: an insistence that bibliographic data be license-free, as per point 8 of the Open Government Data Principles. (See also Jonathan Gray's post about this.)
This may just be an oversight on the working group's part, or it may reflect some deeper hesitancy about committing fully to the public domain. They've asked for comments on the draft, though, and it would be great if they heard from a lot of people about this. You can send them comments here:
Here's what I sent them...
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[UK] Charity Forced to Pay Copyright Fee So Kids Can Sing Carols
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/35
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles, Legal Articles |
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December 2007
Christmas is known world-wide as a time for sharing, a time for giving. But for one charity, instead of Santa arriving with gifts, the copyright police turned up demanding money. Why? Because the charity allows children to sing carols on the premises and their kitchen radio is a little loud. You couldn’t make it up.
Read the rest of this article »
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Open Government Data Principles
Permalink: http://questioncopyright.org/open_government_data_principles
Posted by kfogel |
Posted in: Syndicated Articles |
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December 2007
This Friday and Saturday, I took part in a working group meeting of 30 open government advocates, organized by Carl Malamud and Tim O'Reilly, to develop a set of Open Government Data Principles.
One of the few bright spots in United States copyright law has always been that data produced by the government is, in theory, in the public domain. While there have of course been encroachments on this doctrine from time to time, it has generally been been held to in practice as well as in theory.
Unfortunately, being in the public domain isn't necessarily the same as same as being online and accessible in reasonable formats via modern protocols. For example, Carl Malamud has spent a fair amount of effort prying the raw records of copyright registrations out of the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress and putting them online in a much more useful way than the government ever had. Similar stories abound among those with experience extracting electronic data from governments.
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Canadian DMCA Won’t Include Consumer Rights
Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/33
Posted by Bryan Andrews |
Posted in: External Articles |
Comments(0)
December 2007
“As protests mount over the Canadian DMCA, law professor Michael Geist is now reporting that the government plans to delay addressing fair use and consumer copyright concerns such as the blank media tax for years. While the U.S. copyright lobby gets their DMCA, consumers will get a panel to eventually consider possible changes to the law. Many Canadians are responding today with a mass phone-in to Industry Minister Jim Prentice to protest the policy plans.”
Source: Slashdot
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