COPYCENSE

“How the court (or courts) that consider this case define the issues presented will ultimately determine whether the suit against Google sets an important precedent in copyright law. Viewed expansively, the court may find that copying to promote online searching and indexing of literary works is a fair use. To many observers, such a holding could be the jurisprudential equivalent of [Sony Corp of America vs. Universal Studio’s] sanctioning of ‘time shifting.’

“If the court adopts a more narrow view of fair use that precludes Google’s digitization project, searchable literary databases are likely to evolve in a less comprehensive manner but with the input and control of rights holders who view them as desirable and participate accordingly.”

Robin Jeweler. The Google Book Search Project: Is Online Indexing a Fair Use Under Copyright Law? (.pdf, 37 KB) Congressional Research Service. Dec. 28, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

Google announced a service Friday that will let people rent or buy downloadable videos online, including classic and contemporary CBS television shows and NBA basketball games.

With Google Video Store, which the company said will be ‘available soon’ at video.google.com, consumers will pay $1.99 to download and view, for an unlimited time, episodes from last season’s ‘Survivor’ series, as well as episodes of 300 older TV programs like ‘I Love Lucy.’ Also for $1.99, people will be able to rent, for 24 hours, recent episodes of popular TV series from CBS like ‘NCIS,’ ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ and ‘The Amazing Race.’ National Basketball Association games shown on TV can be downloaded for permanent purchase within one day of broadcast for $3.95, he said. Classic NBA games will also be available.

Elinor Mills. Google Entering Video-On-Demand Business. News.com. Jan. 6, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“From the start, the Google Book Library Project has met with mixed reviews. The program is designed to scan millions of books and make them searchable online. Some academics and librarians lauded it as a way to make the world’s written knowledge accessible to anyone with Internet access.

“Upon learning that Google would also be scanning copyrighted books, certain authors and publishers were none too pleased — and they’ve taken their concerns to court.

“Legal issues aside, Google’s book project faces a host of technical challenges. And now that the scanning is well under way, it’s still not pleasing to some — including participating institutions.”

Burt Helm. Google’s Great Works in Progress. BusinessWeek Online. Dec. 22, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Starz Entertainment Group is introducing a $9.99-a-month subscription service that will allow people to download movies from the Internet and watch them on their computers, portable video players and television sets.

“The new offering, called Vongo, comes at a time when movie studios and television networks are rapidly expanding their efforts to distribute their content over the Internet, experimenting with both paid and advertiser-supported models.”

Saul Hansell. Provider of TV Movie Channels Looks to Expand to PC’s and Video Players. The New York Times. Jan. 3, 2006.

See also:

David B. Wilkerson. Starz Encore Sees DVD Opportunity. MarketWatch. Jan. 3, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Nearly 20 million people used Morpheus in its first four months, for example, to trade music and other files for free online. But the man behind Morpheus was worried. Michael Weiss figured popularity could bring its own perils.

“Now, like Napster founder Shawn Fanning before them, Weiss and other file-sharing barons are facing their own day of reckoning after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer. Over the last four months, several Napster heirs have shut down and others are contemplating what they once couldn’t abide — doing business by the entertainment industry’s rules to survive.”

Yahoo! News. File-Sharing Barons Face Day of Reckoning. Jan. 3, 2006.

See also:

Yahoo! News. Music Biz Blues: Hot New Releases Burn Out. Jan. 3, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“A firm that holds patents for technology used in Internet voice calling is suing search giant Google Inc. for US$5 billion over its Google Talk instant-messaging client, according to court papers.

“Rates Technology Inc. (RTI), a small, New York company that holds patents to telecommunications technologies but does not sell products, filed suit in October against Google, claiming the Mountain View, California, company is using two technologies RTI has patented but has not licensed them.”

Elizabeth Montalbano. Google To Fight Lawsuit Over Talk. ITWorld Canada. Jan. 3, 2006.

See also:

United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. Rates Technology, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (CV-05 4703). (.pdf, 2.3 MB). Oct. 5, 2005.

VoIP Blog/Tehrani.com. Rates Technology Inc. April 19, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“What are you going to do if you wake up one morning and discover that your indispensible BlackBerry e-mail service has stopped, shut down by the judge hearing a patent infringement case? While I still think this is unlikely, it could happen.

“The good news is that there are some pretty decent alternatives for companies and individuals.”

Stephen Wildstrom. If Blackberry Gets Smushed … BusinessWeek Online. Jan. 9, 2006.

OpenWyre™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Digital™ Venture.