Copyright Law

John Adams, not Samuel Adams

Posted on February 13, 2009
The Brooklyn Paper, Tapped out! Hook brewery is ordered to stop making ‘Obama’ ale: "Federal agents have ordered a Red Hook brewery to stop making its popular 'Hop Obama' ale — a beer that was first brewed during the presidential...

Take a look, it's in a book

Posted on February 11, 2009
This week, Amazon announced the details of its second generation Kindle e-book reader. One of the new features is text-to-speech software that can read aloud the text of a document stored on the Kindle. The Wall Street Journal reports that...

Benchler's Thoughts on Broadband Stimulus

Posted on February 03, 2009
Yochai Benchler compares the differing approaches towards creating economic opportunity through supporting broadband development in the economic stimulus bills introduced in the House and Senate, Broadband Stimulus: "Weaker or stronger, the fact that both the House and Senate bills clearly...

YouTube, Fingerprinting and Fair Use

Posted on February 03, 2009
Critic and filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz wirtes an essay about how YouTube and the DMCA Takedown procedure are harming online film criticism, The House Next Door: Copy Rites: YouTube vs. Kevin B. Lee: "When the history of intellectual property law...

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Justices Reject COPA Case

Posted on January 21, 2009
The New York Times reports, Justices Reject Pornography Law: "Without comment, the court handed down an order declining to take the case of Mukasey v. A.C.L.U., No. 08-565. The administration of former President George W. Bush, through Attorney General Michael...

Isle of Man Proposes ISP Blanket LIcenses

Posted on January 19, 2009
Is the Isle of Man, which eschews many of the taxes found in other European states, set to become a leader in levying a compulsory tax on internet use to compensate copyright holders for P2P file sharing? The New York...

Miscellany

Posted on January 16, 2009
WB and Fox Settle Watchmen Dispute. Variety reports, WB, Fox make deal for 'Watchmen': "Warner Bros. gets the right to open its superhero pic on March 6 as planned, and Fox's logo will not be on the film, sources said....

[Headline Redacted]

Posted on January 15, 2009
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Appeals released a redacted version of its ruling from August 2008 upholding the constitutionality of a statute authorizing an intelligence program to wiretap international phone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a specific court...

Who's Who in Internet and Communications Regulation, 2009

Posted on January 13, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports that President-Elect Obama plans to nominate his technology adviser, Julius Genachowski, to chair the FCC. Genachowski Picked to Head FCC - WSJ.com: "During the campaign, Mr. Genachowski served as the top technology adviser to Mr...

Hasbro drops Scrabulous suit

Posted on December 19, 2008
Earlier this week, the AP reported, Hasbro drops suit over Scrabble-clone Scrabulous: "According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in New York, Hasbro dropped the lawsuit Friday.... The court documents did not specify a reason for the withdrawal of...

This Week in Net Neutrality News

Posted on December 18, 2008
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google, Lawrence Lessig and the incoming Obama administration all revised their position to no longer support a free and open internet, Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web: "Google Inc....

This Week in Net Neutrality News

Posted on December 18, 2008
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google, Lawrence Lessig and the incoming Obama administration all revised their position to no longer support a free and open internet, Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web: "Google Inc....

IP Colloquium: Privacy in a Networked World

Posted on December 01, 2008
UCLA Law professor Doug Lichtman hosts The Intellectual Property Colloquium- a series of hour-long podcasts of conversations with leading legal thinkers about current issues in IP law. Professor Lichtman writes, "The conversation is about the legal rules that apply when...

Mayor of Batman sues Batman filmmakers

Posted on November 13, 2008
Variety reports, Mayor of Batman sues WB, Nolan: "The mayor of an oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, which has the same name as the Caped Crusader, is suing helmer Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from mega-grosser 'The Dark...

Fake New York Times

Posted on November 12, 2008
In a large scale operation, a 14 page "July 4, 2009" edition of "The New York Times" was distributed around New York this morning. Is this parodic? There's also an Online version (which is not loading for me). The Times...

FCC v. Fox Oral Arguments Today

Posted on November 04, 2008
It's hard to think about things non-electoral today, but today also happens to be the oral arguments in the Supreme Court for FCC v. Fox. The Court will be reviewing the FCC "fleeting expletive" standard for broadcast indecency. The Second...

Voting Machines

Posted on November 04, 2008
Here are a couple of video links vaguely related to the mechanics of voting, without getting into the question of how well our elections are enabling democracy. Mr. Rogers uses a mechanical lever voting machine: In New York, we still...

This is very Weird

Posted on November 03, 2008
MTV requested that Weird Al censor the name of P2P file sharing sites Morpheus, Grokster, Limewire and Kazaa from his 2006 video. The New York Times reports, Censorship, or What Really Weirds Out Weird Al - NYTimes.com: "In an e-mail...

Google Settles with Publishers

Posted on October 29, 2008
Google announces that it settled with the Association of American Publishers, who sued the search engine company in 2005 over its plan to scan and index books that are still protected by copyright. Official Google Blog: New chapter for Google...

Old Advertising Characters Revived...

Posted on October 29, 2008
... for political satire. NewTeeVee reports: Super Bowl Ads of Yore Revamped for '08 Election: "Now, with the election just a week away, we've come full circle with two more ads from Super Bowls past revamped for online political purposes....

FMC Creative License

Posted on October 03, 2008
On Monday, October 6, the Future of Music Coalition is holding a session on sampling and licensing at the Public Theater here in NYC: Creative License. Preceding that event is a seminar on What's the Future for Musicians....

Accio Injunction

Posted on September 09, 2008
In what is likely to be the most magical copyright case to come to the Southern District of New York this year, US District Judge Robert Patterson ruled in favor of Warner Brothers and J.K Rowling against RDR Books, finding...

Art auctions and false advertising at sea

Posted on August 01, 2008
The New York Times, Art Purchases Lead to Lawsuits Following Cruise Ship Auctions: "When most people think of art auctions, they think of Christie’s or Sotheby’s in New York or London, not a cruise ship. But over the last two...

Scrabulous-less

Posted on August 01, 2008
Michael Madison, Madisonian, has a thoughtful look on the Scrabulous and the online reaction, The Stakes of Scrabulous, "Still, on balance, I think that Hasbro deserves a win if the case were litigated to judgment; the name 'Scrabulous' would likely....

Scrabbled

Posted on July 29, 2008
I was too busy playing Scrabulous last week to blog about the complaint filed by Hasbro against the creators of Scrabulous, the online word game that happens to share the board layout and rules of play of Scrabble. Complaint in...

Community Standards, Sex, Violence and Blogs

Posted on June 24, 2008
The New York Times reports on the use of search engine data to establish community standards for web sites, What’s Obscene? Google Could Have an Answer: "In the trial of a pornographic Web site operator, the defense plans to show...

Value-Added Piracy

Posted on June 24, 2008
NPR reports on the Chinese groups using P2P to distribute subtitled versions of American TV shows: Chinese Fans Follow American TV Online - for Free: "Han says they can download untranslated versions of the American shows from the peer-to-peer file-sharing...

George Carlin

Posted on June 23, 2008
The New York Times reports on the passing of George Carlin, George Carlin, 71, Irreverent Standup Comedian: "Mr. Carlin was hailed for his poignant observations on the absurdities of everyday life in routines like 'Seven Words You Can Never Say...

Preventing Photography

Posted on June 20, 2008
Bruce Schneier, The War on Photography: "What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are? Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don't seem to photograph anything, why is...

More Little Orphan Works

Posted on June 20, 2008
Here are some more links to pieces discussing the orphan works problem in general along with specific criticisms of the Orphan Works Act of 2008. Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge, The Orphan Works Act of 2008: Copyright Reform Takes Its First...

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