Intellectual Property Law

global minilinks for 2009-01-25

Posted on January 25, 2009
Swedish Police want Personal Info from P2P usersCourt orders obtaining info on file-sharers would be easier under a proposed new Swedish law. China's Porn Crackdown may be Aimed at DissentObservers note that the Chinese arrests aimed at removing "vulgarity" from the Internet are part of a wider, political, dragnet...

GateHouse v. New York Times: Lawsuit Attacks Boston.com News Aggregation Site

Posted on January 23, 2009
On December 11, 2008, Boston.com launched a "hyper-local" site for the town Newton, Massachusetts. The site heavily features links to news stories aggregated from around the web. Much like many blogs and news aggregation sites do, the site includes the headline and a snippet from these stories, attributed and linked through to the original article...

Government Computer News Pans Printer Dots

Posted on January 23, 2009
In a recent review of the HP Color LaserJET CM3530 printer, the magazine Government Computer News called out the use of tracking codes -- which GCN referred to as "a secret spy program" -- as the biggest problem with that printer. GCN found that the yellow dots produced by this printer particularly degraded print quality and noted that some people would question the "logic or appropriateness" of having printers produce the dots at all; it concluded that even people who didn't object to the tracking codes in principle would regret the poor print quality they produced in this case...

Obama's Quick Response to Privacy Concerns

Posted on January 23, 2009
The incoming Obama administration has impressed advocates of open government, first by making a clear commitment to answer FOIA requests with a presumption of openness, and now by responding quickly -- within 24 hours! -- to criticism from CNET blogger Chris Sogohian and others that the retooled WhiteHouse...

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Whistleblower Reveals New Abuses of Wiretapping Power

Posted on January 22, 2009
Last night, less than 48 hours after George Bush left office, whistleblower and former NSA analyst Russell Tice revealed new information about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program: .msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;} ...

minilinks for 2009-21-01

Posted on January 21, 2009
Obama's AG on the Patriot ActEric Holder said at his confirmation hearing that he supports renewal of Patriot Act provisions that allow the government to access library and bookstore records. Report Finds Online Threat to Children OverblownMany parents fear the Internet may make their children vulnerable to sexual predators online, but 49 state attorneys general now say the Internet may be safe for kids after all...

U.S. Patent Office Rejects All Twenty Claims of Subdomain Patent

Posted on January 21, 2009
More good news for EFF's Patent Busting Project! Last week, the United States Patent Office (PTO) rejected all twenty claims of the Internet subdomain patent [PDF] on the Project's Ten Most Wanted list. Based on a combination of prior art that EFF had supplied and similar Internet newsgroup postings, the PTO concluded that the ideas claimed by the patent were obvious and, therefore, unpatentable...

After 10 Years, an Infamous Internet-Censorship Act is Finally Dead

Posted on January 21, 2009
In a victory for online free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear the government's appeal of a July 2008 ruling holding the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) unconstitutional and enjoining COPA's enforcement. The case was brought by the ACLU, EFF, and a coalition of plaintiffs...

On Day One, Obama Demands Open Government

Posted on January 21, 2009
It's only his first day in office, but President Obama has already signaled a serious commitment to transparency and accountability in government. The President ordered federal agencies in a memorandum released today to approach the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) "with a clear presumption: in the face of doubt, openness prevails...

Kentucky Court of Appeals Overturns Domain Name Seizure Order

Posted on January 20, 2009
The Kentucky Court of Appeals today granted petitions by the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association, Inc. (iMEGA) to overturn an earlier trial court ruling authorizing the seizure of domain names owned by operators of overseas gambling websites...

EU Copyright Extension: Help MEPs Hear the Other Side

Posted on January 20, 2009
From reading the official European Commission documentation on its proposed Copyright Term Extension Directive, one might believe perpetuating performer copyrights from 50 to 95 years in Europe is a charitable policy with no ill effects at all. That's certainly how Commissioner Charlie McCreevy would like it to appear, as he pushes for the Parliament to vote on the Directive in March of this year...

global minilinks for 2009-01-16

Posted on January 16, 2009
Online Gamers in China To Register with Real NamesNo anonymity, even in MMORPGs. South African IP Bill locks down innovationPublic sector innovators will have to hand over their ideas to be patented by the government. EU Privacy Watchdog: Protections Are Growing WeakerData retention laws have weakened European privacy, says Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor...

Global Net Censorship in 2009: For The Children, for the Rightsholders

Posted on January 15, 2009
Across the world, politicians perennially declare their intention to purge or blacklist websites they fear are damaging to children or the public welfare. The call for censorship hasn't stopped, despite many years of evidence that pervasive Net censorship is invasive, infeasible, and economically damaging...

Free Your Phone

Posted on January 15, 2009
Last month, EFF filed proposals with the Copyright Office seeking DMCA exemptions to cover mobile phone "unlocking" (allowing the phone to be used on any carrier's network) and "jailbreaking" (allowing the phone to run any software). Carriers like MetroPCS and Pocket Communications have also asked for an unlocking exemption, but the Copyright Office needs to hear from users, too...

EFF Kicks Off Campaign to Free Your Phone

Posted on January 15, 2009
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking for the public's help in its new campaign to free cell phones from the software locks that stifle competition and cripple consumers. The campaign's website is FreeYourPhone.org. Hundreds of thousands of cell phone owners have modified their phones to connect to a new service provider or run the software of their choosing, and many more would like to...

Secret FISA Court Approves Specific Application of Expired Law For Warrantless Wiretapping

Posted on January 15, 2009
The FISA Court of Review (FISCR) today released a public version of an opinion concerning warrantless wiretapping. An unnamed telecommunications carrier stood up for its customers' privacy by fighting the case through an initial decision by a FISA court and the appeal to the FISCR...

Community Organizations and Publishers Sue FBI and Other Agencies Over Illegal Computer Searches

Posted on January 14, 2009
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU of Northern California filed suit in federal court today to protect the privacy and free speech rights of two San Francisco Bay Area community organizations after the groups' computers were seized and the data copied by federal and local law enforcement...

@EFF is on Twitter

Posted on January 12, 2009
We've just started an EFF account on Twitter, the popular social networking service. It's a bit of an experiment — we're not really sure how we'll wind up using it. But expect to see everything from breaking news to random trivialities to conversations between EFF members and supporters...

minilinks for 2009-1-12

Posted on January 12, 2009
Mobile Phone Searches — Warrant Required?Courts are weighing the question of whether searches of handheld devices during arrests require a warrant. Inside a DHS Travel FileSean O'Neill made a FOIA request for his travel dossier kept by the Department of Homeland Security...

Year-end 2008, Darknet Assumptions = True

Posted on January 09, 2009
2008 was another tough year for proponents of digital rights management (DRM). As we have pointed out in years past, the infamous Darknet assumptions — three big reasons that DRM copy protection will never work, as set forth in 2002 by a team of Microsoft engineers — continue to be proven true by events...

Larry Lessig on The Colbert Report

Posted on January 09, 2009
Last night, Larry Lessig, a close ally and former board member of EFF, chatted with Stephen Colbert about Lessig's new book Remix, and how America's broken copyright laws are criminalizing our kids: Colbert: You say our copyright laws are turning our kids into criminals, because they're keeping kids from doing all the remixing they want of pre-existing art and copywritten material, right? Isn't that like saying that arson laws are turning our kids into pyromaniacs?? They're breaking the law! You can't just throw the law out the window! Lessig: "Totally failed war...

Calling All iPhone Developers: Support EFF's DMCA Exemption for Jailbreaking

Posted on January 08, 2009
iPhone application developers have until February 2, 2009 to submit comments to the Copyright Office in support of EFF's proposal for a DMCA exemption for iPhone owners who want to "jailbreak" their iPhones to gain the freedom to install applications of their choice...

Patent Office Grants EFF's Request for Reexamination of Patent on Internet Music Files

Posted on January 07, 2009
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has won reexamination of an illegitimate music patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). This was the sixth reexamination request filed by EFF's Patent Busting Project and the sixth time the PTO has granted EFF's request...

Apple Shows Us DRM's True Colors

Posted on January 07, 2009
At this week's Macworld Expo, Apple announced that by April, music from the iTunes Store will no longer be shackled by digital rights management (DRM). Finally, DRM is good and fully dead for digital music -- gone from CDs, gone from downloads, and largely dead for streaming...

Fox News Censors Political Expression

Posted on January 07, 2009
In a scenario that has become depressingly familiar, a news organization has again used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to censor legitimate political speech. Citizen Media Law Project reports that YouTube cancelled Progress Illinois' YouTube channel after Fox News had sent three notices of copyright infringement demanding the takedown of Progress Illinois' videos...

UMG v. Veoh: Another Victory for Web 2.0

Posted on January 05, 2009
Over the holidays, video hosting site Veoh won another victory under the DMCA safe harbors, this time against Universal Music Group (UMG). The ruling should put to rest the argument that transcoding and other activities necessary for making content accessible on the web are not covered by the DMCA's Section 512(c) safe harbor for storing material on behalf of users (i...

Al-Haramain Warrantless Spying Case Can Proceed

Posted on January 05, 2009
Today, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the United States District Court in San Francisco denied the government's third motion to dismiss the Al-Haramain v. Bush litigation. The ruling means that the case can proceed and the court also set up a process to allow the Al Haramain plaintiffs to prosecute the case while protecting classified information...

EFF's 18th Birthday Party with DJ Spooky

Posted on December 26, 2008
On Wednesday the 7th, EFF will be celebrating our 18th year of defending digital rights with our biggest bash yet! Special guest DJ Spooky will be rocking the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, with help from mashup party pioneers Bootie, copyfighter and Surya Dub DJ Kid Kameleon, and EFF's Tones and Qubitsu...

Keith Henson Appeal: Time to Undo an Injustice

Posted on December 24, 2008
The well-known Scientology protester Keith Henson has filed an appeal to the Appellate Division of the Riverside County Superior Court of his criminal conviction in 2001 of misdemeanor "interfering with a religion" for picketing in front of a Scientology "base" in Hemet, CA...

minilinks for 2008-12-23

Posted on December 23, 2008
Obama's Total Information AwarenessThe New Republic says no campaign in history has ever compiled more information on its supporters. FBI Turning Cell Phones Into Eavesdropping DevicesBy remotely activating the microphone in mobile phones, the FBI has been able to eavesdrop on suspects...

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