Archive for August 2005
Resources for Digital Copyright & Licensing
"The
digitization of life in our world is creating more and more questions in the
world of copyright and licensing.
"The following information is meant to give
you a brief overview of some of the many issues you may encounter.
Additionally, it is meant to provide you with some reliable resources to use in
your quest to obtain appropriate permissions for the use of copyrighted works."
Therese A.Clark Arado. Copyright and Licensing Digital Materials – A Resource Guide. LLRX.com. Aug. 19, 2005.
Sony to Launch Revolutionary P2P Network
"The first net service provider aimed at people who
want to share music legally has struck a significant deal with global
music giant Sony BMG.
"Playlouder MSP, launching at the end of September, will let its customers share Sony licensed music with others on its network."
BBC News. Sony Frees Music for File-Sharers. Aug. 23, 2005.
See also:
Andrew Orlowski. Sony to Launch P2P Music Swapping Network. The Register. Aug. 23, 2005.
Owen Gibson. Music File Sharing to be Offered Legally. Guardian Unlimited. Aug. 22, 2005.
PlayLouder MSP. World’s Only Music ISP Signs Landmark UK Deal With Sony. (Press Release.) Aug. 22, 2005.
Warner Plans ‘E-Label’ Internet Download Service
"Warner Music Group is creating a new music-distribution mechanism that will rely on digital downloads instead of compact discs.
"Edgar Bronfman Jr., Warner Music’s chairman and CEO, said Monday that
the new mechanism will be called an ‘e-label,’ in which artists will
release music in clusters of three songs every few months rather than a
CD every few years.
Declan McCullagh. Warner Music Readies CD-Free ‘E-Label’. News.com. Aug. 22, 2005.
See also:
Grant Gross. Life After Grokster: Music CEO Asks for Tech Help. InfoWorld. Aug. 22, 2005.
Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Remarks to the Progress & Freedom Foundation. (.pdf) Aug. 22, 2005.
LexisNexis Launches DRM Product
“LexisNexis and iParadigms have teamed up to create a product called CopyGuard to help detect plagiarism and copyright infringement and protect intellectual property. At a time where people and companies are having real problems with copyright protection, this may be a suitable solution for protecting their properties.
“The new product by LexisNexis enables users to verify content originality quickly and easily, searching billions of documents within minutes. LexisNexis says it has 6.1 billion searchable documents, including deep archives and four to five years of archived webpages from iParadigms.”
John Stith. LexisNexis Working On Copyright Protection. WebProNews.com. Aug. 22, 2005.
FedEx Overnights DMCA Notice
“Although Jose Avila has a good job as a software developer, he’s locked into two rents after moving to Arizona, and has no extra cash for an Ikea shopping spree. But Avila got creative and built an apartment full of surprisingly sturdy furniture — out of FedEx shipping boxes.
“FedEx is not amused. The shipping giant’s lawyers have sent Avila letters (.pdf) demanding he take down the site he created to document his project, invoking, among other things, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”
Kristen Philipkoski. Furniture Causes FedEx Fits. Wired News. Aug. 11, 2005.
Stanford Holds Conference on Harmonization & Trade
“Harmonization” is one of those terms that increasingly has crept into the copyright lexicon over the last few years. I first recall hearing the term in the late nineties, around the time the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was being debated and passed into law.
Simply put, harmonization is a concept whereby the intellectual property laws of different countries are made consistent, mostly to facilitate international trade and business. Ideally, each country’s IP laws will have similar weight and effect where harmonization occurs. Practically speaking, however, “harmonization” really means that the United States’ IP laws effectively become the world’s IP law because the U.S. holds a disproportionate trade negotiating advantage.
And we use that advantage by making other countries offers that they can’t — or won’t — refuse: as a result of doing business with the U.S., our trade representative demands that other countries’ IP laws become “harmonized” with our IP laws. In contrast, it is unusual that we would agree to agree to another country’s IP regimen.
Ultimately, harmonization is an important topic, and Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society (“CIS”) will hold a conference in September about this and related issues. The conference, entitled Standardization and the Law: Developing the Golden Mean for Global Trade, will focus on Full details are available from the CIS Web site.
Stanford Holds Conference on Harmonization & Trade
“Harmonization” is one of those terms that increasingly has crept into the copyright lexicon over the last few years. I first recall hearing the term in the late nineties, around the time the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was being debated and passed into law.
Simply put, harmonization is a concept whereby the intellectual property laws of different countries are made consistent, mostly to facilitate international trade and business. Ideally, each country’s IP laws will have similar weight and effect where harmonization occurs. Practically speaking, however, “harmonization” really means that the United States’ IP laws effectively become the world’s IP law because the U.S. holds a disproportionate trade negotiating advantage.
And we use that advantage by making other countries offers that they can’t — or won’t — refuse: as a result of doing business with the U.S., our trade representative demands that other countries’ IP laws become “harmonized” with our IP laws. In contrast, it is unusual that we would agree to agree to another country’s IP regimen.
Ultimately, harmonization is an important topic, and Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society (“CIS”) will hold a conference in September about this and related issues. The conference, entitled Standardization and the Law: Developing the Golden Mean for Global Trade, will focus on Full details are available from the CIS Web site.
COPYCENSE 