Archive for the ‘Web & Online’ Category
Miro Family Asks (And Receives) Removal of Google Logo
Interesting, the reaction to Google’s take on surrealist painter Joan Miro’s work. Since 2000, Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang has created original, interesting, and often memorable doodles that appear on the Google home page and incorporate the Google logo.
(In order to protect CopyCense from having to defend against a DMCA automatic takedown, the editors have chosen not to display the Google-Miro doodle or a snapshot of the Google homepage that includes the Google-Miro doodle.)
Last Thursday, Hwang (and we’ll presume it was Hwang) created a doodle to commemorate the anniversary of the 1893 birth of the Spanish painter. Neither Miro’s family nor the Artists Rights Society (ARS), an entity that controls the copyrights to many of Miro’s works, was not pleased, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The family of Joan Miro was upset to discover elements of several works by the Spanish surrealist incorporated into Google’s logo. Google has since taken the logo off its site.
The Artists Rights Society, a group that represents the Miro family and more than 40,000 visual artists and their estates, had asked Google to remove the image early this morning.
“There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights,” said Theodore Feder, president of Artists Rights Society.
In a written statement to the Mercury News, Google said that it would honor the request but that it did not believe its logo was a copyright violation.
It is possible that ARS was concerned about the way in which the doodle portrayed Miro’s work, and in the art world, portrayal and context both are important. Many industrialized countries outside the United States address the presentation and portrayal of visual work through a concept called moral rights. The main purpose of moral rights legislation is to protect the integrity and reputation of visual art by and for the work’s creator.
U.S. copyright law includes analogous legislation, called the Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”). Passed in 1990, VARA allows the creator of visual art (including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs or sculptures produced in limited quantities) from having his work mutilated or defaced, or being associated with works that are not entirely his. Under VARA, which is codified in the Act at Section 106A, creators of visual art receive these special rights in addition to all the usual rights the Act affords to copyright owners under Section 106.
Fair use is the only exception to moral rights under VARA. (In contrast, the six rights in Section 106 may be limited by any number of limitations or exceptions that are codified in Sections 107 through 122 of the Act.)
I have heard Miro’s name before, but I concede I was not aware of his work in any, way, shape, or form before Google posted the doodle last week. It is possible that there are several others who were unfamiliar with Miro’s work before Hwang created the doodle. If so, then ARS may have committed a sizable business error in having Google pull down the doodle: the doodle, which linked to a Google search on Joan Miro, may have spurred many to learn more about the artist. This increased recognition may have led to greater interest in Miro’s art, and in turn, higher prices for Miro’s originals and prints.
Further, Feder’s comments conveniently eliminate the possibility that Google and Hwang may have been able to create the doodle pursuant to fair use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Since ARS does business in New York City, the entity is subject to the copyright laws of this country, including, but not limited to, the fair use provisions.
In the MercuryNews.com piece, Feder said “the society receives hundreds of requests each day from media organizations who are interested in reproducing a copyrighted work in some form. He said the authorization process is simple: all Google needed to do was send an e-mail asking permission to use the images.”
Fortunately, the viability of fair use does not depend upon receiving permission from the copyright owner or its agent. Nowhere in Section 107 does Congress establish requesting or receiving permission as a condition precedent to fair use. In fact, the whole point of fair use (in addition to many other of the copyright limitations found in Sections 107 through 122) is to be able to use protected works without having to ask for, wait to receive, or receive permission from the copyright owner or its agent.
Of course, copyright owners will not tell you that because it’s not in their interest to do so. Also, they probably don’t tell you that information because they are ignorant about copyright law themselves.
Elise Ackerman. Artist’s Family Asks Google to Take Down ‘Painted’ Logo. MercuryNews.com. April 20, 2006.
See also:
The Patry Copyright Blog. How Copyright is Getting a Bad Name. April 25, 2006.
The Trademark Blog. Google’s Commemorative Logos. April 24, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC. CopyCense™ and CommuniK.™ are trademarks of Seso Digital LLC.
YahooI Software Allows PC To Record Video
“Yahoo has released a beta version of software that turns a PC into a digital video recorder.
“Yahoo Go for TV is free to download. After the software is installed, people plug their computer into their television’s video and audio input connections. The computer can then record and play back shows on the TV just like with a standalone DVR. Consumers can also play DVDs, music, photos or other downloaded content.
“The cost of a few cables and TV tuner card, in comparison with the hundreds of dollars being shelled out for DVD players or DVRs, could lure consumers away from DVR competitors like TiVo. And many industry leaders see TV-computer combinations as the portal for reaching consumers.”
Candace Lombardi. Yahoo’s Free Software Turns PC Into DVR. News.com. April 26, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Adult Filmmaker Allows Downloads to DVD
“A top producer of hard-core porn will start selling downloadable movies that customers can burn to DVD and watch on their TVs, illustrating how Southern California’s multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry may again set the technological pace for Hollywood.
“Hollywood has resisted burnable discs that can be watched on televisions because they fear piracy. It also doesn’t want to alienate retailers, which sell most of its DVDs. But if history is any guide, the online experiment by adult entertainment giant Vivid Entertainment Group will be watched closely by mainstream studio chiefs.”
Dawn C. Chmielewski and Claire Hoffman. Porn Industry Again at the Tech Forefront. LATimes.com. April 19, 2006.
See also:
Brett Pulley. The Porn King. Forbes.com. March 7, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Yahoo! Accused of Caving to Chinese Pressure
“Third time unlucky? Yahoo!, like several other giants of the Web, has seen its share of criticism about the way it juggles both its Chinese business and requests from Beijing. Now the group led by Chief Executive Terry Semel is in the thick of it again, and this for the third time. A free press advocacy group has published a verdict from Chinese authorities that may implicate Yahoo! as having provided evidence for the Communist state to prosecute one of its users for subversion.
“Jiang Lijun, 39, is serving a four-year prison term after being convicted in November 2003. The verdict published on the Reporters Without Borders Web site and translated by the Dui Hua Foundation said that Jiang Lijun had ‘used the Internet… to promote so-called Western-style democracy,’ and ‘advocate that our country implement a multiparty system.'”
See also:
Reporters Without Borders. Yahoo! Implicated in Third Cyberdissident Trial — U.S. Company’s Collaboration With Chinese Courts Highlighted in Jiang Lijun Case. April 19, 2006.
Associated Press. Group: Yahoo Helped China, Again. Wired News. April 19, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
U.S. Mulling Mandatory ISP Data Retention Laws
“The explosive idea of forcing Internet providers to record their customers’ online activities for future police access is gaining ground in state capitols and in Washington, D.C. Top Bush administration officials have endorsed the concept, and some members of the U.S. Congress have said federal legislation is needed to aid law enforcement investigations into child pornography. A bill is already pending in the Colorado State Senate.
“Mandatory data retention requirements worry privacy advocates because they permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity that normally would have been discarded after a few months. And some proposals would require providers to retain data that ordinarily never would have been kept at all. The European Parliament’s vote in December for a data retention requirement that seems to have attracted broader interest inside the United States.”
Declan McCullagh. ISP Snooping Gaining Support. News.com. April 14, 2006.
See also:
U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs. Draft Legislation: Child Pornography and Obscenity Prevention Amendments of 2006. (.pdf) April 20, 2006.
Anne Broache. U.S. Attorney General Calls for ‘Reasonable’ Data Retention. News.com. April 20, 2006.
Center for Democracy & Technology. Digital Search & Seizure. (.pdf) Feb. 22, 2006.
Jo Best. Europe Passes Tough New Data Retention Laws. News.com. December 14, 2005.
Declan McCullagh. Your ISP As Net Watchdog. News.com. June 16, 2005.
State of Colorado. A Bill for An Act Concerning Child Exploitation Offenses, And Making An Appropriation In Connection Therewith. (.pdf)
U.S. Code Annotated. Stored Wire and Electronic Communications and Transactional Record Access (18 U.S.C.A. sec. 2703). (Requires Internet service providers to preserve any data “record” for 90 days.)
Updates:
Declan McCullagh. Congress May Consider Mandatory ISP Snooping. News.com. April 28, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Software on the Web Changes Business Dynamics
“For years, organizations of all sizes have suffered the hassles and unexpected costs that accompany deploying and maintaining a variety of traditional software applications that, ironically, were intended to make them more productive. Now a new breed of Web-based services are pushing legacy applications aside and finally giving users the business benefits they’ve been seeking.
“This new form of software-as-a-service, or SaaS, has been spearheaded by Salesforce.com’s customer relationship management and salesforce automation applications, and NetSuite’s “net-native” enterprise resource planning applications.
“These companies have recognized the inherent inefficiencies of the traditional software market, including the tremendous time, effort, and cost that organizations — especially large-scale midsize businesses — have to expend to install applications and keep them up and running.
“Despite the success of these companies, many people are still skeptical about the long-term success of SaaS. Others are concerned that recent Salesforce.com outages represent a fundamental fault line in the SaaS landscape.”
Jeffrey Kaplan. Software-as-a-Service Myths. BusinessWeek Online. April 17, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Web Becomes New First-Run Cinema Platform
“Smooth-talking film distributors nearly robbed Kelly Schwarze of his love for moviemaking, he says. The Hollywood system offered him too many broken promises and too little creative freedom. So he asked himself, “Why not try the Web?”
“Schwarze is among a growing number of filmmakers and animators who once concentrated on feature-length films but are now telling much shorter stories on the Web. Insiders say that a mass migration of storytelling talent could someday put the Internet in a position to compete with television and theaters for the public’s entertainment dollars.
“The Net’s appeal to moviemakers has its roots in the rise of broadband adoption, technology upgrades in Internet video and white-hot demand for online films and user-created clips.”
Greg Sandoval. Filmmakers Flock to the Net. News.com. April 13, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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