Archive for February 2006
French Move Forward WIth File Sharing
“The French government is moving ahead with plans for a controversial law that would legalize file-sharing of music and films, a move that could undo years of antipiracy work by the entertainment industry.
“France’s Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres is set to be questioned about the draft on Wednesday by the parliamentary commission for cultural affairs and the commission for economic affairs.
“The project has worried the music, film and television industries because it would make France the first country to allow unlimited peer-to-peer downloading for a flat fee of several euros a month.”
Reuters. Inquiry Set for French File-Sharing Plan. News.com. Feb. 3, 2006.
See also:
Anne Broache. France May Sanction Unfettered P2P Downloads. News.com. Dec. 22, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
HarperCollins Gives It Away
“At a time when publishers are suing to prevent Google from putting excerpts of copyrighted books online, HarperCollins has started an advertiser-supported program that will offer a free look at the full text of selected works.
“The Harper program, announced Monday, is being launched with Bruce Judson’s “Go It Alone! The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own.” The book was published in hardcover at the end of 2004, and recently came out as a paperback. Anyone who wants to read the whole text can visit the author’s Web site.”
Hillel Italie. Publisher to Offer Book Content Online. WashingtonPost.com. Feb. 6, 2006.
See also:
CopyCense. HarperCollins Offers Digitized Catalog to Online Players. Dec. 12, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Old RIAA Head Opens Consultancy
“For a few years, at the height of the debates over Napster and file swapping, Hilary Rosen, then-chief of the Recording Industry Association of America, was nearly as well-known online as any rock star.
“Now, after two years largely out of the spotlight–aside from a few pundit and blogging appearances–Rosen is throwing her hat back into the antipiracy ring, starting a new consulting company with Jay Berman, her onetime counterpart at the globally focused International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
“The new firm, called Berman/Rosen Global Strategies, aims to advise technology and entertainment companies on piracy and licensing issues and to help develop legislative strategies, but will not be an active lobbying firm, Rosen said.”
John Borland. Ex-RIAA Chief Opens Antipiracy Consultancy. News.com. Feb. 2, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Cingular Seeks to Patent Smileys
“According to recently released documents, Cingular applied provisionally for patents of shortcut steps used to transmit emoticons in 2004. Six months later, in March 2005, the company filed a claim to patent “a method and system for generating a displayable icon or emoticon form.”
“Cingular is the second major company to apply for patents for technology relating to emoticons, which are so common as punctuation marks in electronic communication that trying to patent them almost seems like trying to copyright a speech tic.”
Maria Aspan. Cingular Seeks Patent on Icons in Text Messages. The New York Times. Feb. 6, 2006.
(Editor’s Note: The Times allows free access to their stories on the Web for seven days before sending the stories to the paper’s fee-based Archive.)
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Public Knowledge Director Urges Web Regulation
“As Congress begins writing new telecom legislation, a big question is whether Internet users will have the same broad freedom to access applications and content as before, or whether their online experience will be controlled by companies supplying your Net access.
“Those seeking to preserve this freedom are asking Congress to codify “Net neutrality.” Those seeking to control the Internet dismiss it as unprecedented regulation of the Internet.
“But the dirty little secret is that without regulation, the vital Internet we know today would never have developed. Most of the rhetoric over the past few years has painted a much different picture–that the lack of regulation was crucial to the Internet’s development.”
Gigi Sohn. Perspective: Don’t Blow It, Congress. News.com. Feb. 6, 2006.
See also:
Public Knowledge. Good Fences Make Bad Broadband: Preserving an Open Internet through Net Neutrality. Feb. 6, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Yahoo, AOL Crack Net Neutrality
America Online and Yahoo, two of the world’s largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. The senders must promise to contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely.
The Internet companies say that this will help them identify legitimate mail and cut down on junk e-mail, identity-theft scams and other scourges that plague users of their services. Thy also stand to earn millions of dollars a year from the system if it is widely adopted.
But critics of the plan say that the two companies risk alienating both their users and the companies that send e-mail. The system will apply not only to mass mailings but also to individual commercial messages like order confirmations from online stores and customized low-fare notices from airlines.
Saul Hansell. Postage Is Due for Companies Sending E-Mail. The New York Times. Feb. 5, 2006.
Update:
John C. Dvorak. Paid E-Mail and the Road to Perdition. PCMag.com. Feb. 6, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
ALA Releases 2006 Copyright Agenda
The American Library Association, by far this country’s largest library representative organization, has released its 2006 Copyright Agenda. The Agenda notes several initiatives with which ALA is involved, including the Section 108 Study Group, the Family and Entertainment Copyright Act of 2005, and the broadcast flag initiatives.
Interestingly, there is no mention of a database protection initiative on the chart. Granted, database protection has been a hard sell in the United States. But with the 15th anniversary of the Feist decision approaching late next month, I am surprised ALA omits this as something that is on its radar.
Currently, I am writing an article on the Feist decision and the current state of database protection initiatives. The article will include some theories why such legislation has yet to become law, and hypothesize about how such legislation could get the support of one of this country’s best known technology companies.
American Library Association. 2006 Copyright Agenda. (.pdf, 43 KB) January 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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