Copyright Law

The Cheese Pawn Shop

Posted on June 27, 2010
Last week, Judge Stanton issued a summary judgment opinion in the Viacom v. YouTube case1 that gave YouTube the benefit of the DMCA's safe harbor. This opinion means both more and less than it seems to, and it's taken several days of thought (and a little bit of rereading of materials from Ellison) for me to be able to explain what I think is going on...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 17

Posted on June 27, 2010
Not much to say today - due to remora duty, I only got to see the second half of Germany's crushing of England (although I did see the replay, and Lampard's goal should have been given... and would have completely changed the way the game progressed) and the first half hour of Argentina's mauling of Mexico (and yeah, the first goal was clearly offside)...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 16

Posted on June 26, 2010
Another zombie day at the World Cup: All of the critical incidents (and most of the goals) came through a lack of braaaaaaaains. Uruguay 2:1 Republic of [South] Korea - This game became a problem for South Korea as soon as they went behind; they have a significant tendency to overdo things trying to catch up (they're impatient), and that leads to later letdowns...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 15

Posted on June 25, 2010
The last pair of groups finishes today. Group G: Brazil 5 +2 Portugal 5 0 Ivory Coast 3 0 People's Republic of [North] Korea 0 –2 after Brazil 0:0 Portugal and Ivory Coast 3:0 North Korea. This group was virtually locked in place before the matches; the only possible changes would have required either Portugal to defeat Brazil (which

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Bastard Progeny of Monster Link Sausages

Posted on June 24, 2010
I don't even have time for publishing news today, nor enough time to really take apart the significant copyright decision (Viacom v. YouTube, which - on first reading - was wrong at a fundamental level on the one hand, but reached a possibly defensible result on the particular facts...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 14

Posted on June 24, 2010
Another pair of groups finish today. Group F: Paraguay 5 +2 Slovakia 5 0 New Zealand 3 0 Italy 2 –2 after Slovakia 3:2 Italy and Slovenia 0:1 England. I watched the Slovakia : Italy match, and I was appalled...

Monsters

Posted on June 23, 2010
This is a platter of monster-sized legal sausages. Libel reform continues to move slowly forward in the UK, with a "second reading" in the House of Lords (roughly equivalent, in the US, to a formal sending of an introduced bill to committee in the Senate) set for 09 July...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 13

Posted on June 23, 2010
Another pair of groups finish today. Group C: US 5 +1 England 5 +1 Slovenia 4 0 Algeria 1 –2 after US 1:0 Algeria and Slovenia 0:1 England.    This hasn't been a great tournament thus far for England, as indicated by this wonderful rendition of England's team...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 12

Posted on June 22, 2010
Groups A and B completed round-robin play today. Group A: Uruguay 7 +3 Mexico 4 +1 South Africa 4 –1 France 1 –2 after Uruguay 1:0 Mexico and France 1:2 South Africa. I switched back and forth between the two matches without watching either one in full, so no grades...

Fat, Bursting Link Sausages

Posted on June 21, 2010
The Economist offers an interesting perspective on the future of BigMusic, in an environment of increasing dominance of digital sales in highly digitally connected nations. Yet more Wiley shenanigans: Wiley claims that its new deal with Apple for e-books is "confidential" and won't disclose whether it's following the "agency model"...

2010 World Cup, Match Day 11

Posted on June 21, 2010
At an unreasonably early hour - for the last time! - Group G finished up. Portugal 7:0 People's Republic of [North] Korea - The first real blowout of the cup, with North Korea reverting to its FIFA ranking. A somewhat slow, tentative start by Portugal (not that they weren't trying to attack, but they didn't have much verve about themselves) and North Korea actually tried to play some football

World Cup 2010, Match Day 10

Posted on June 20, 2010
The most-amusing World Cup news today concerns a team that didn't play. It's not surprising, either: France's players refused to practice after the fitness director threw a hissy fit and resigned from not just the team, but the entire federation. As the remora noted, "Iverson has a better work ethic than these guys...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 9

Posted on June 19, 2010
Two more groups finished their second matches today. Japan 0:1 Netherlands - Slept in. No grades. Then Group D finished its second round of matches for all teams. Australia 1:1 Ghana - This is a classic example of a moral victory not being quite enough...

Peerless Link Sausages

Posted on June 18, 2010
The ordering of a "peer group" is influenced more than anything else by the definition of the group; superior (or inferior) status/performance/whatever depends more on the basis for comparison than anything else. Kobe Jones is a superior athlete... until you put him on a soccer pitch against the national team of any nation that qualified for this World Cup, at which point he's at best average.

World Cup 2010, Match Day 8

Posted on June 18, 2010
The theme for the day was this: FIFA needs to put some of that "grassroots" money into developing new officials, not just new players. Germany 0:1 Serbia - Yes, the Germans self-destructed. However, they were only handed the opportunity to do so by an officiating crew that, among all four officials, deserves quite a bit of criticism...

Turning the Sausages Inside Out

Posted on June 17, 2010
Reflexive analysis r us. Noblesse oblige appears to still have its place, as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett call on the "ultra-rich" to give to charity instead of their descendants. Notice that this isn't a demand for the guy who built the family hardware store up into a three-store local institution; this is a call for those who have truly relied upon externalities to subsidize the

World Cup 2010, Match Day 7

Posted on June 17, 2010
First, via Ann Bartow at Madisonian, the FIFA Unofficial Soundtrack for the 2010 World Cup! Groups A and B completed their first two matches for all teams today. Argentina 4:1 South Korea - somebody substituted zombies for the South Korean team; their lack of movement and just-a-few-beats-slow thinking resulted in numerous needless free kicks to Argentina, and they even started the scoring off

Sausages, Bloody Sausages

Posted on June 16, 2010
The Saville report was released yesterday. So now the UK has its own admitted My Lai incident, complete with panic fire from an undertrained junior officer; dubious defenses from a company commander; inappropriate interpretation of higher directives at the battalion level; and an almost complete lack of training all around on how to tell a potential combatant from a potential threat.

World Cup 2010, Match Day 6

Posted on June 16, 2010
Here's a first for this cup: Nine points available, nine points earned! That is, there was a victor in all three matches. Chile 1:0 Honduras - I slept in. No grades. Spain 0:1 Switzerland - Oh my. The Spanish fragility and inability to come back from adversity rose up to bite them after going behind...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 5

Posted on June 15, 2010
Zombie day today: Somebody ate a lot of brains - coaching staffs, players, officials. Definitely the least-attractive day of this Cup thus far, being dominated by dumbness. New Zealand 1:1 Slovakia - both goals were the result of defensive brain-freezes in a game characterized by brain freezes...

Now It's Up to 20 Grams!

Posted on June 14, 2010
Part I: Wiley Raises Chocolate Ration to 25gm The kindergarten-recess spat over Wiley's deceptive rights grab continues... and Wiley is probably awfully happy that the AG isn't even attacking the more-disturbing change. The AG issued a surreply to Wiley's reply, narrowing the focus to royalties earned - a rhetorical victory for Wiley...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 4

Posted on June 14, 2010
Not many surprises today. Fortunately, it looks like Howard will be fit to play on Friday against Slovenia. In any event: Denmark 0:2 Netherlands - As usual, the Netherlands almost looked more like an intrateam battle was more important than the actual match, given the poor support from defense into attack (and poor tracking back of attack into defense)...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 3

Posted on June 13, 2010
Today saw several firsts for this edition of the cup: The first blow-out; the first penalty; the first cards for non-fouls; a goalkeeping gaffe to overshadow Green's for England yesterday (and, ironically enough, in the same group!); and the first referee in danger of losing control of the match, albeit not through blowing a major call...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 2

Posted on June 12, 2010
Today's three matches were a study in contrasts: Steadily declining standards of officiating through the day, contrasted with steadily improving standards of play on the pitch. Republic of [South] Korea 2:0 Greece - the Koreans get a B+ for doing what they had to and maintaining dominance once they had it; the Greeks get a D and brought shame and disgrace upon their team for generations to come;

Chocolate Ration Raised to 25gm a Week!

Posted on June 11, 2010
Yet more reason to be concerned about publishing consolidation emerged this morning, when John Wiley & Sons - a notorious bad actor on contracts1 - responded to criticism of its attempts to screw authors of an acquired imprint. Of course, Wiley doesn't see it that way...

World Cup 2010, Match Day 1

Posted on June 11, 2010
Today's action was... largely to be expected, except for one pleasant surprise. The first day of the World Cup tends to be somewhat tentative - nobody wants to lose. And nobody did. The pleasant surprise was the officiating crews, which - with the exception of the fourth official in the France-Uruguay match, who did not allot nearly enough stoppage time (when a player is off the pitch for

Last Chance Before the Cup

Posted on June 10, 2010
In a shocking, shocking development that nobody could possibly have anticipated, some agents are starting to realize that publishers' language on e-book rights (often non-negotiable) may be a rights grab. In similar news, there's gambling in Rick's casino...

He's Yo Daddy, Mr Lucas

Posted on June 10, 2010
I'm of multiple minds (and personalities!) on the sanctions issued against the Evil Empire's professional college football team today. It's for nancy-boy football, and the real football begins tomorrow, so it's just not earthshaking. Even if it is in LA...

Playing the 2–7–1

Posted on June 09, 2010
The definition of chutzpah now includes the opening statement from The Hair's lawyer to the jury, in which he proclaims "Rod ain't corrupt." Sorry, Mr Adam, but the fact that Rod Blagojevich was an elected, major-party Illinois politician by itself is probable cause for believing that he is, in at least some sense, "corrupt...

Consider the Source

Posted on June 07, 2010
I'm extra grouchy this morning about people who refuse to examine their own assumptions (and self interest) before spewing forth ill-considered self-interested pontification. Since that's a pretty good description of my normal state, though, I'm not sure how you'd know that it's extra grouchy today...

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