Intellectual Property Law

It Doesn't Work for an Intermediary to Own the User

Posted on November 23, 2009
That line, from a column excoriating Apple for the ongoing disaster that is their App Store, is by Paul Graham. Now it happens that he's talking about software and the ways in which it is not like hardware or like media. And yet it's also fundamentally true about the media business...

A Little Light Weekend Reading - Google Books Settlement

Posted on November 20, 2009
In case you didn't have enough reading to do this weekend, here are couple of items analyzing the Google Books settlement. First, Fred von Lohmann at EFF just published his third blog entry on the topic. The first piece, very short, points out the key conflict of this settlement: we're trading off increased access to works that might otherwise be difficult to find, but at a potential cost in lost privacy, lock-ins that discourage competition, and limits on what otherwise would be fair use...

"Veihl'd" Assumptions

Posted on November 19, 2009
It has been pointed out to me that I may have underestimated the impact of some of Lynn Viehl's hypotheticals in yesterday's Blink. Although the statement she posted is indeed a factual description of her income, the column surrounding it has several big "if"s in the middle that I glossed over on first read...

Income Breakdown for "Best Selling" Author

Posted on November 19, 2009
One would think that the authors' positions in publishing, being better than the artists' positions in the recording industry, would lead to somewhat better incomes. No such luck. Rob Beschizza at boingboing pointed to Lynn Viehl's posting of her latest royalty statement...

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Cognitive Dissonance Writ Large

Posted on November 18, 2009
Nate Anderson provides extensive coverage of Michael Fricklas's talk at Yale Law. Fricklas is top legal attack dog for Viacom, and the headline on the ars piece highlights the lawyer's admission that the Cartel's jihad against its own customers was....

Must-See TV: ACTA

Posted on November 12, 2009
The indefatigable Michael Geist has posted the slides and audio of his "ACTA 101" talk. This is must-see stuff, covering pretty much everything you need to know about ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that's being negotiated mostly in secret right about now...

Now THAT's Funny!

Posted on November 09, 2009
Remember how I said that the EFF weren't being sufficiently sarcastic in covering the Cartel's revelations about PVRs? Right, well, sometimes you do get good sarcastic commentary on the Web and today's helping is dished up by Cory over at boingboing. He savages Rupert Murdoch for being the antiquated fossil he still is, someone who not only fails to understand the modern interlocked Web-centric methods of information distribution, but also someone who fundamentally opposes the very notion of fair use and seems to think if he just hires enough of the right lawyers he can make it go away...

In An Effort to Prove They Cannot Learn

Posted on November 05, 2009
...the Cartel are once again attempting to use law and regulation to control your home entertainment experience. Funny, it seems like just yesterday I was ranting about how they had stupidly misunderstood the value of PVRs. Oh, right, sorry, that was two days ago...

It's People Like You What Cause Unrest

Posted on November 03, 2009
The shocking part about this whole thing is that now, ten years or more into the Copyright Wars, we still have such stupid people in positions of control. Take this week's example, Alan Wurtzel. This specimen of executivius fossilus cartellae works for NBC as, apparently, some president of some research of something...

Pandora in the NY Times

Posted on October 22, 2009
Earlier this week the Times Magazine online published an extensive piece on Pandora, a service I've used for several years and started paying the premium for a year or so ago. Surprisingly, it looks like Pandora might actually turn a profit this year, due in large part to a popular iPhone app...

New Technology -> New Art

Posted on October 19, 2009
Sort of a case-in-point contrast to Nate Anderson's post, boingbong! highlights what are probably the first Google Wave mash-ups. As I said last time, mash-up isn't really the right word to use here, but we still don't have better language so it's what I'll use for now.

In Their Own Words

Posted on October 16, 2009
I wanted to point to two very different published items, both of which bring thought to bear on the current state of the Copyright Wars. First, Nate Anderson - who has been doing stellar work in the trenches of this slogfest for several years, primarily at ars technica - published a piece called "100 years of Big Content fearing technology"...

Dear Ralph Lauren - Choose Your Targets Carefully

Posted on October 07, 2009
Actually that probably should be addressed to Ralph Lauren's lawyers, but in theory they're acting on behalf of the company, so we get to mock R.L., Inc. The whole thing started with a photoshop disaster, reproduced here so you can see what we're talking about...

Dilbert Has a New Line of Business

Posted on September 09, 2009
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-09-09/. But... trademark? Everyone knows patents are more profit(eer)able.

Won't Someone Please Think of the Children

Posted on September 03, 2009
My wife pointed this one out to me. It's a couple years old but the message is sadly accurate. The assertion is that kids - today's learners, tomorrow's adults - want to be able to create, consume, revise, remix, and share. Where are the 21st century technologies, teachers, and most importantly the 21st-century thinkers who will teach them how? (And because I'm into shameless promotion of things I think are good causes, check out Donors Choose where you can find school projects (in America at least) that teachers have put together and are seeking funding to make happen...

The Cartel Swallows Marvel - IP Contention Ensues

Posted on September 01, 2009
The geek news sources have been abuzz the past few days with the news that Disney acquired Marvel. The mainstream press is focused on the financials, of course, but I couldn't help but think about the implications of trying to find and corral all the Copyfight-related interests at play here...

UK Photogs Get A Chance

Posted on August 21, 2009
Photographer Not A Terrorist appears to have gotten the attention of the relevant UK authorities. A new post on their Web site indicates that the British Home Office has issued new advice on how the anti-terrorism laws should be applied in the case of photographers doing their jobs...

TypeKit Promises to Unravel Font-Linking Rights

Posted on August 19, 2009
First, a bit of background - bear with me here. It's an ongoing frustration for Web designers to try and get the things that show up on peoples' screens to look like what the designer wants. I vividly remember going to visit a customer who complained that my product looked terrible on her screen and discovering that she had somehow jiggered her Web browser settings to map the colors I had chosen into some hideous chemical green and pink...

The Struggle to be Noticed

Posted on August 17, 2009
It has been said many times, but it bears repeating once more: the biggest threat to most new artists is not copying, but obscurity. I've been watching the struggle as one of my favorite new acts - the steampunk band Abney Park - works through the difficulties of getting themselves, and their unusual musical approach - noticed...

BMO Responds to EFF

Posted on August 17, 2009
When I posted the previous entry, noting EFF's critique of the Burning Man Organization (BMO) restrictive IP policy, I was uncertain what category to use. I chose "Culture" sort of on a hunch. Reading Andie Grace's extensive response in the "Burning Blog", I see this hunch was right...

Untangling the "Civil Rights for Musicians" Debate

Posted on August 17, 2009
A week or so ago, I noted that the debate over this proposal (to make broadcast radio pay the same sorts of fees that Web radio has to pay) was getting more confusing. Today Matthew Lasar at ars technica posted a long entry that examines the issue in depth...

A Win Too Fair

Posted on August 17, 2009
At least that's what the DoJ thinks is fair, according to papers it has filed in the Jammie Thomas punitive damages debacle. Yes, certainly Congress intended low-income students and single moms to be ordered to pay USD 2 million because... um, because something...

Burners Getting Burned About Play IP

Posted on August 14, 2009
I'm not a burner (person who attends the Burning Man festival) but several of my friends have gone in past years and some will go this year. And more than a few are unhappy with the Terms and Conditions that the festival is attempting to impose on recordings (photos and videos at least, probably audio as well) taken out on the playa...

Photographer, Not a Terrorist (UK)

Posted on August 12, 2009
Back in June of last year I suggested readers bookmark a link provided by Bruce Schneier that collected several items related to the false claims that anti-photography laws are a useful part of an anti-terrorism strategy. Today a friend pointed me to a blog entry by Phil Coomes, a picture editor (and photographer in his own right) for the BBC...

"Civil Rights for Musicians Act " Fight Gets Nastier (and More Confusing)

Posted on August 12, 2009
A friendly Copyfight reader sent me a pointer to V. Dion Haynes' story in the Washington Post covering the next round in the fight over this bill. The article highlights claims by the MusicFirst Coalition that, among other actions, radio stations have been refusing to run ads supporting the legislation...

Source linking back from browser copy-paste

Posted on August 11, 2009
I can't decide if this is cool, creepy, or both. Best if you do the experiment yourself to see what's on, so follow these steps: Go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205737/Man-killed-shards-glass-hurling-girlfriend-shop-window.html. In your browser (I've tried in Firefox and others report it works in IE, Chrome, and other desktop browsers) select a passage of text, say a paragraph, and "Copy" it...

Dionne Warwick versus the Cartel

Posted on July 29, 2009
I thought I had talked about the "Performance Rights Act" before - now called the Civil Rights for Musicians Act - before, but apparently not. You may recall that the act's sponsor, John Conyers, gained a moment of digital notoriety by publishing the Downing Street memos as samizdat that the official media wouldn't touch...

PhD Comics on Scientific IP

Posted on July 21, 2009
PhD Comics presents its take on the process whereby scientists produce original material and then give it away (for free) to a system where other scientists work (for free) to select from those works so they can be published in journals that then charge huge fees to read this freely contributed work...

Amazon's Gaffe Isn't What You Think It Is

Posted on July 21, 2009
I've been wanting to avoid writing about the (latest) mess Amazon finds itself in. However, the story is being mis-told all over the place, so I'm going to pontificate about it. Compare, if you will, these two headlines: "Amazon redacts Orwell on Kindle like it?s ?1984?" versus "Pirated copies of Orwell books pulled from Kindle"...

Do Patents Really Promote Useful Progress?

Posted on July 07, 2009
The stated purpose of patents, as spelled out in the US Constitution is "to promote the progress of science and useful arts..." I've pointed out cases in the past where the way patents are granted and used is actually contrary to progress in the useful arts I practice...

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