Archive for February 2006
Copyright Office Requests Section 108 Comments
The Section 108 Study Group of the Library of Congress seeks comment on certain issues relating to the exceptions and limitations applicable to libraries and archives under section 108 of the Copyright Act, and announces public roundtable discussions. The Federal Register notice (1) requests written comments from all interested parties on the specific issues identified in the notice, and (2) announces public roundtable discussions regarding certain of those issues, as described in the notice. The issues covered in the notice relate primarily to eligibility for the section 108 exceptions and copies made for purposes of preservation and replacement.
Roundtable Discussions: The first public roundtable will be held in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday, March 8, 2006, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. P.S.T. An additional roundtable will be held in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, March 16, 2006 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. E.S.T. Requests to participate in either roundtable must be received by the Section 108 Study Group by 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. on Feb. 24, 2006.
Written Comments: Interested parties may submit written comments on any of the topics discussed in the Federal Register notice after 8:30 a.m. E.S.T. on March 17, 2006, and on or before 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. on April 17, 2006.
U.S. Copyright Office. Section 108 Study Group: Information for the March 2006 Public Roundtables and Request for Written Comments. (.pdf, 127 KB) Feb. 10, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
AT&T Readies Hit List Over MP4 Patent
“AT&T has begun to name names in its hunt to license its MPEG video compression patents.
“AT&T possesses several patents related to video compression, which the company says are an essential component of the MPEG-4 video technology. In a bid to drive its global licensing program, AT&T has targeted Apple Computer, Inc., CyberLink Corp., DivX, Inc., InterVideo, Inc., and Sonic Solutions as unlicensed companies whose products and software utilize the MPEG-4 technology.
“AT&T has also contacted national retailers that distribute products from the companies listed above, to let them know that they may be held liable for infringement.”
Bary Alyssa Johnson and Mark Hachman. AT&T Warns Apple, Others, Of Patent Infringement. PCMag.com. Feb. 9, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
AT&T Readies Hit List Over MP4 Patent
“AT&T has begun to name names in its hunt to license its MPEG video compression patents.
“AT&T possesses several patents related to video compression, which the company says are an essential component of the MPEG-4 video technology. In a bid to drive its global licensing program, AT&T has targeted Apple Computer, Inc., CyberLink Corp., DivX, Inc., InterVideo, Inc., and Sonic Solutions as unlicensed companies whose products and software utilize the MPEG-4 technology.
“AT&T has also contacted national retailers that distribute products from the companies listed above, to let them know that they may be held liable for infringement.”
Bary Alyssa Johnson and Mark Hachman. AT&T Warns Apple, Others, Of Patent Infringement. PCMag.com. Feb. 9, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Resurrecting Vinyl in the Age of iTunes
“The digital music age hasn’t been easy on the old formats. The compact disc has been pronounced terminally ill, the woebegone cassette tape has gone the way of the wax cylinder, and long-playing vinyl survives only in the dank basements of pack rats and the climate-controlled collections of diehard audiophiles.
“The demise of these media spells more than just reduced clutter: Digital downloading has shifted focus from albums to individual tracks.
“Yet even as the idea of the album has come under seige, a movement to preserve it has recently been gaining momentum, and in an unlikely field — book publishing. In the past few years, there have quietly appeared dozens of books treating classic pop, rock, and jazz recordings as objects worthy of continued appreciation.”
James Sullivan. Reading Between the Lines. Boston.com. February 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Apple’s iTunes Licenses Cut Against Users
“Our recent discussion about whether licenses should apply to the user or the machine drew many interesting comments about the vagaries of Windows licensing. But it also led several readers to point at a surprising example of a vendor whose licensing policies seem to cut both ways against the user: Apple.
“One reader wrote: [Apple iTunes] ‘licenses each song to the user AND/OR the registered machine. If your hard drive goes down and you lose the songs you have bought Apple gives you no recourse to download the songs you have licensed. So, despite the fact that you have licensed the songs in your name, it’s your loss. This, in effect, licenses the music to your machine and runs contrary to the spirit of an individual license.’
“The reader only discovered that after he’d set up accounts on the same machine for each of his children.
The Gripe Line Weblog. Licenses, Families, and Apple. Feb. 10, 2006.
See also:
Ed Foster. Licensed Users or Licensed Machines? Jan. 24th, 2006.
Apple Computer Inc. iLife ’06 Software License Agreement. No date.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
P2P Software Maker Helps UK ISP
“One of the largest Internet service providers in Britain is teaming with the company responsible for the BitTorrent software to test a new high-speed movie download service, the companies said Friday.
“NTL, the largest broadband provider in the United Kingdom, will be testing the file-swapping service as a way to deliver video more cheaply than traditional downloads. Another company, called CacheLogic, will add its data-caching technology to improve the network’s efficiency.
“The deal is the first public step forward for BitTorrent’s hope to turn its technology, widely used for swapping illegal copies of video, into a tool used by movie studios and ISPs for legal services.”
John Borland. BitTorrent to Power ISP’s Video Service. News.com. Feb. 10, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
USA PATRIOT Act Renewal Comes Closer
“Legislation to renew the anti-terror PATRIOT Act was cleared for final congressional passage Friday when House Speaker Dennis Hastert blessed a day-old compromise between the White House and Senate Republicans.
“Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid also indicated he will vote for the bill when it comes to a vote, possibly next week.
“The legislation gives federal agents expanded powers to investigate suspected terrorists in the United States, and the Bush administration has said it is one of the key weapons in the war on terror.”
Jim Abrams. Hastert Backs Compromise on Patriot Act. WashingtonPost.com. Feb. 11, 2006.
See also:
The New York Times. Another Cave-In on the Patriot Act (Editorial). Feb. 11, 2006.
Nicole Gaouette. Senate Republicans Announce Deal for Renewal of Patriot Act. LATimes.com. Feb. 10, 2006.
Center for Democracy & Technology. PATRIOT Act Deal Fails to Protect Civil Liberties. Feb. 9, 2006.
Marketplace. What Worries Business About the PATRIOT Act? Feb. 10, 2006.
Updates:
LibraryJournal.com. ALA Criticizes Patriot Act Compromise. Feb. 13, 2006.
Annie Braun. Librarians: Patriot Act Has Led to Self-Censorship. AZDailySun.com. Feb. 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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