Archive for October 2005
“Legal” MP3 Site Shuttered by FTC
“A U.S. court has ordered a Web site that bills itself as ‘Napster’s Number One Replacement Software’ to stop promising customers that they won’t face copyright lawsuits when they download songs for free, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.
“A U.S. court in California ordered MP3DownloadCity.com to temporarily remove its claims as it considers the FTC’s request for a permanent ban.”
Reuters. Music Web Site Ordered to Change Tune. CNN.com. Oct. 19, 2005.
See also:
Federal Trade Commission. FTC Clamps Down on File-sharing Service Site. (Press release) Oct. 19, 2005.
United States District Court, Central District of California. Federal Trade Commission vs. Cashier Myricks Jr. d/b/a MP3DOWNLOADCITY.COM.
Updates:
Eric J. Sinrod. Perspective: Nothing But the Online Truth–Or Else. News.com. Oct. 26, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Microsoft Joins the Book Scanning Fray
“In the wake of lawsuits filed against Google, Microsoft said on Tuesday that it would join a competing and less controversial library book digitization project sponsored by Yahoo and Internet Archive.
“Google faces two lawsuits alleging that the search giant is violating copyright law by scanning and digitizing all or parts of the collections at the libraries at universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and Michigan, plus The New York Public Library. Last month, the Authors Guild filed suit against Google, and last week, the Association of American Publishers also sued.”
Elinor Mills. Microsoft to Offer Book Search. News.com. Oct. 25, 2005.
See also:
Open Content Alliance. MSN Search Announces MSN Book Search. (Press release.) (.pdf, 76 KB) Oct. 25, 2005.
Elinor Mills. Google’s Battle Over Library Books. News.com. Oct. 24, 2005.
BitTorrent User Nabbed for Film Theft
“A Hong Kong man has been convicted of copyright infringement using the BitTorrent service, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.
“Chan Nai-Ming was found guilty of distributing three Hollywood films using BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, according to Taiwanese English-language newspaper The China Post.”
Karen Gomm. BitTorrent User Convicted Over Movie Sharing. News.com. Oct. 25, 2005.
See also:
The China Post. HK Computer User Convicted in BitTorrent Piracy Case. Oct. 26, 2005.
Susan B. Shor. Expert: BitTorrent Conviction Unlikely to Be Copied in U.S. TechNewsWorld. Oct. 26, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Copyright Lawyer Analyzes Google Print
“On September 20, 2005, the Authors Guild and several individual authors filed a complaint in federal district court in New York alleging that Google is engaging in ‘massive copyright infringement’ through the Google Print Library Project. This culminated months of publisher condemnation of the initiative, which involves scanning the collections of five major research libraries and making the full text of the books searchable on Google.
“Despite the allegations of infringement, libraries, users, and some authors have welcomed the Project, insisting that it will actually stimulate demand for books by helping readers identify books that contain the information they seek. Publishers and authors should carefully study precisely what Google intends to do and understand the relevant copyright issues before supporting the Authors Guild’s lawsuit.”
Jonathan Band. The Authors Guild v. The Google Print Library Project. LLRX.com. Oct. 15, 2005.
See also:
United States District Court, Southern District of New York. Authors Guild, et al. vs. Google, Inc. (Complaint) (.pdf, 104 KB). Sept. 20, 2005.
Jonathan Band. The Google Print Library Project: A Copyright Analysis. (.pdf, 132 KB) August 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Mossberg: DRM is Damaging
“In some quarters of the Internet, the three most hated letters of the alphabet are DRM. They stand for Digital Rights Management, a set of technologies for limiting how people can use the music and video files they’ve purchased from legal downloading services. DRM is even being used to limit what you can do with the music you buy on physical CDs, or the TV shows you record with a TiVo or other digital video recorder.
“Once mainly known inside the media industries and among activists who follow copyright issues, DRM is gradually becoming familiar to average consumers, who are increasingly bumping up against its limitations.”
Walter S. Mossberg. Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers’ Activities. The Wall Street Journal Online. Oct. 20, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Company Claims Patent on XML
“A small software developer plans to seek royalties from companies that use XML, the latest example of patent claims embroiling the tech industry.
“Charlotte, N.C.-based Scientigo owns two patents (No. 5,842,213 and No. 6,393,426) covering the transfer of “data in neutral forms.” These patents, one of which was applied for in 1997, are infringed upon by the data-formatting standard XML, Scientigo executives assert.”
Martin LaMonica. Small Company Makes Big Claims on XML Patents. News.com. Oct. 21, 2005.
See also:
Joe Beyers. Rise of the Patent Trolls. News.com. Oct. 12, 2005.
Michael Kanellos. Companies Trying to Cash in Via Licenses, Lawsuits. News.com. July 20, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
New Yorker Compliation Raises Rights Issues
“Just a few days ago, The New Yorker magazine released The Complete New Yorker, a $100, eight-DVD set that allows you to read, and print a copy of, every article that has ever appeared in the magazine. To get an idea of how the TCNY might work on your computer, a free demo is available at thenewyorkerstore.com.
“So I was wondering: What gives them the right to do this? It’s not possible that famous New Yorker contributors like Rachel Carson, Robert Benchley, Charles Addams, or even the young John Updike signed over electronic rights to the Tilley gang. The answer, as our friend John Roberts might say, is not a matter of settled law.”
Alex Beam. It’s a Case of Who Owns the Words. Boston.com. Oct. 4, 2005.
See also:
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Douglas Faulkner, et al. v. Mindscape, Inc., et al. (.pdf, 108 KB) March 4. 2005.
David Walker. Photogs Lose Appeal Over National Geographic CD. PDNOnline. March 10, 2005.
Richard Wiggins. The Tasini Decision: A Victory for No One. LLRX.com. Aug. 15, 2001.
Kendra Mayfield. Post-Tasini: Pity the Librarians. Wired News. June 29, 2001.
Supreme Court of the United States. New York Times Co. Inc. vs. Tasini, et al. (.pdf, 108 KB) June 25, 2001.
(Attribution: This story was sent to CopyCense™ by Jill Hurst-Wahl, who writes and edits Digitization 101, the premier blog on the creation, management, marketing and preservation of digital assets.)
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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