Archive for the ‘Visual Art’ Category
Silverman Adds The Greatest To The King
“Under the same roof: The Greatest and The King.
“What’s his name? What’s his name? And how much will you pay to use it?
“Fisticuffs fans and social historians alike immediately recognize the first two-part question: It’s a paraphrase of the battle-cry immortalized in Don King’s brainchild, the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle.” A war-whoop thrown triumphantly at a beaten George Foreman by that Zaire boxing match’s victor: Muhammad Ali.
“The very name of the boxing legend, born and called Cassius Clay until his controversial conversion to Islam in the 1960s, became a cause célèbre. And now the latest chapter of a storied life: That bright-lights Arabic moniker will be celebrated by CKX.”
Greg Levine. The ‘Greatest’ Deal: Muhammad Ali Sells Name, Image. Forbes.com. April 12, 2006.
See also:
David Litterick. Ali Joins Elvis In CKX’s Stable. Telegraph.co.uk. April 13, 2006.
CKX. CKX Partners with Muhammad Ali; Company Acquires 80% Interest in Name, Image, Likeness, Trademarks and Existing Licensing Agreements of the “Greatest of All Time.” (Press Release) April 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Michael Geist Analyzes “Clip Culture”
Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa, has penned an interesting column on the rise of “clip culture.” As I understand it, “clip culture” is a term that describes the rise and pervasiveness of image and video sharing. Presumably, Flickr and YouTube are two of the Web sites that best manifest the rise in “clip culture.”
Writes Geist
Most of the videos on Youtube and other video sharing services are not full-length features. Instead, taking their cue from the movie studios and sports networks, the overwhelming majority of videos are shorter clips running anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
The clips themselves fall into three broad categories. Homegrown or “amateur” clips constitute a significant percentage of the collection as the mushrooming of user-generated content moves from blog postings to innovative multimedia featuring audio and video. Montage videos, which represent the next-generation of protest and fan sites, constitute the second category. A Youtube search for President George Bush yields hundreds of videos, many of which bring together multiple clips to make powerful political statements. Meanwhile, a similar search for NHL rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin produces dozens of compilations of highlight reel goals.
The third category — clips of network television shows — has generated the most controversy. Video sharing sites contain thousands of clips that previously aired on television. In some instances, the clips appear with the approval of the broadcaster either because the clip is available for a fee (some Google Video clips are available for purchase) or because the broadcaster has embraced the benefits of free publicity and cost-free distribution.
Geist acknowledges the thorny legal implications inherent in the third category, which CopyCense has covered elsewhere. But instead of challenging the legality of the third category of clip culture, Geist sagely calls for a reexamination and reaffirmation of the fair use doctrine.
Michael Geist. The Rise of the Clip Culture. March 19, 2006.
See also:
CopyCense. Comparing YouTube & Napster. March 16, 2006.
CopyCense. YouTube’s Questionable Copyright Business Model. Feb. 7, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Scanr Lets Digitization Go Mobile
“Camera phones are nice to have and fun to use, but let’s be honest: Is there any practical reason to have a camera on a cell phone?
“For the most part, the quality isn’t great, and most people are just snapping random shots of themselves, their kids or their pets. Now, a new company called Scanr wants to provide a more utilitarian use of that camera phone by turning it into a mobile scanning device.
“Scanr is aimed at the mobile professional, such as a real estate agent or sales representative who needs to quickly exchange and process documents and now relies on the retail copying stores.”
Sara Kehaulani Goo. Mobile Scanning by Camera Phone. WashingtonPost.com. March 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Google Loses Thumbnail Case
The issue is: Does a search engine infringe copyrighted images when it displays them on an “image search” function in the form of thumbnails but not infringe when through in-line linking, it displays copyrighted images served by another website?
Plaintiff Perfect 10, Inc. filed separate suits against Google, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. and its subsidiary A9.com, Inc., alleging copyright and trademark infringement and various related claims. The suits were consolidated. Perfect 10 [then moved] for a preliminary injunction against both defendants, solely on the basis of its copyright claims. Perfect 10 seeks to prevent defendants’ image search engines from displaying “thumbnail” copies of Perfect 10’s copyrighted images and also from linking to third party websites which host and serve infringing full-size images.
The Court conducted a hearing on November 7, 2005. The Court now concludes that Google’s creation and public display of “thumbnails” likely do infringe Perfect 10’s copyrights. The Court also concludes, however, that Perfect 10 is not likely to succeed on its vicarious and contributory liability theories. …
Google argues that the ‘value of facilitating and improving access to information on the Internet … counsels against an injunction.’ This point has some merit. However, the public interest is also served when the rights of copyright holders are protected against acts likely constituting infringement. The Court orders Perfect 10 and Google to jointly propose the language of such an injunction, and to lodge their proposal by not later than March 8, 2006.
United States District Court, Central District of California. Perfect 10, Inc. v. Google, Inc.: Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Perfect 10’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction Against Google (No. CV-04-9484 AHM). (.pdf, 1.98 MB) Feb. 17, 2006.
Attribution: CopyCense first learned of this story via a post in The Trademark Blog, edited by Marty Schwimmer.
Updates:
Edward Wyatt. Ruling May Undercut Google in Fight Over Its Book Scans. The New York Times. Feb. 25, 2006.
The Patry Copyright Blog. Google Nudes II. Feb. 23, 2006.
EFF Deep Links. Perfect 10 v. Google: More Smooth Than Crunchy. Feb. 22, 2006.
The Patry Copyright Blog. Google Nudes. Feb. 22, 2006.
Declan McCullagh. Nude Photo Site Wins Injunction Against Google. News.com. Feb. 21, 2006.
Elise Ackerman. Judge Says Google’s Image Search Violates Some Copyrights. MercuryNews.com. Feb. 21, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
YouTube Faces the Music, DMCA
“As anyone with an Internet connection and a love of cupcakes can tell you, “Lazy Sunday” is a tongue-in-cheek rap video starring Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg of Saturday Night Live. NBC first broadcast the video, a two-and-a-half-minute paean to New York’s Magnolia Bakery, Google Maps and C. S. Lewis, on Dec. 17.
“Fans immediately began putting copies of the video online. On one free video-sharing site, YouTube, it was watched a total of five million times.
“Julie Supan, senior director of marketing for YouTube, said she contacted NBC Universal about working out a deal to feature NBC clips on the site. NBC Universal responded early this month with a notice asking YouTube to remove about 500 clips of NBC material from its site or face legal action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”
John Briggs. A Video Clip Goes Viral, and a TV Network Wants to Control It. The New York Times. Feb. 20, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
NYC Loses Copyright to Ground Zero Photos
“A budding filmmaker that FEMA found in the yellow pages used his taxpayer-funded video of the smoldering World Trade Center ruins in a documentary featuring topless women chatting about their breasts.
“Provided with unique access in an NYPD helicopter, Gregg Brown was flown by cops over the restricted air space of Ground Zero daily for eight months beginning on Sept. 15, 2001, capturing countless hours of grim video while snapping 30,000 photographs.
“Red-faced officials at the city Department of Design & Construction concede that the stunning, gut-wrenching material was supposed to belong to the people who paid for it — the citizens of New York and the nation. But Brown, who was ultimately paid up to $302,000 in federal 9/11 disaster recovery funds, refused to sign a prepared agreement ceding ‘title and ownership’ to the city.”
Greg B. Smith. Shameful Abuse of 9/11 Footage. Daily News. Feb. 11, 2006.
See also:
Meredith McKeown. Gregg Brown’s Photographic Odyssey. LIFE. No date.
Gregg Brown. Above Ground Zero. No date.
Updates:
Greg B. Smith. WTC Pix Snafu Not My Fault. Daily News. Feb. 14, 2006.
Attribution: CopyCense first learned of this story via a post in The Trademark Blog, edited by Marty Schwimmer.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Nikon Pulls Plug on Film Cameras
“The Nikon Corporation, the Japanese camera maker, said Thursday that it would stop making most of its film cameras and lenses in order to focus on digital cameras.
“Nikon said it would halt production of all but two of its seven film cameras and would also stop making most lenses for those cameras. The company will halt production of the film camera models ‘one by one,’ though it refused to specify when.”
Martin Fackler. Nikon Plans to Stop Making Most Cameras That Use Film. The New York Times. Jan. 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
COPYCENSE 