COPYCENSE

This story has been updated. Original CopyCense coverage: Feb. 7, 2006.

“Over the last few weeks, I have been looking at YouTube until my head hurts.

“YouTube is an amateur video-sharing site that had its official debut on Dec. 15, after a seven-month public development.

“Assenting to YouTube’s terms of use, a potential uploader must aver that he has the necessary licenses and permissions for each clip he uploads, including the consent of every person in the clip. The assurance of the uploader is all that’s asked for, at least until a copyright holder with a potential copyright issue approaches the company.”

Ben Ratliff. A New Trove of Music Video in the Web’s Wild World. The New York Times. February 3, 2006.

See also:

Calcanis.com. Building a Business Based on Copyright Infringement (or, “Bad business idea #487”). Feb. 3, 2006.

Updates:

• National Public Radio. Viral Video and the Rise of YouTube. June 6, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Dressed in blue jeans, silver mesh sneakers and a black T-shirt and jacket, Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin came to Washington yesterday to lobby members of Congress and found it was a little harder than he had hoped it would be to get meetings.

“Brin, 31, described himself as naive about the ways of Washington. He said his trip was not well organized and admitted that he did not know which way Congress was tilting on the main issue that brought him to the nation’s capital.

“He and co-founder Larry Page made their fortunes by influencing cyberspace, not Capitol Hill. But the rapid rise of Google has plunged the company into public policy issues that the company is just learning to address. Google’s Washington presence is limited to a four-person office, which opened last year, and a contract with lobbying firm PodestaMattoon.”

Arshad Mohammed and Sara Kehaulani Goo. Google Is A Tourist In D.C., Brin Finds. WashingtonPost.com. June 7, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Hollywood is not happy about the SlingBox, and that displeasure is becoming increasingly visible. The SlingBox is a device that “place-shifts” your television programming by streaming it across the Internet for remote viewing on a laptop or portable device, but the ability to watch your TV anywhere in the world is making some broadcasters nervous. HBO’s Bob Zitter was the latest in a long line of television executives to make ominous rumbling noises about the legality of the new technology.

“No one has yet come out of the litigation closet to announce plans to sue the new company, but plenty of people are willing to question Sling’s business model. Is this just FUD on the part of content owners, or does it have some basis in law?”

ArsTechnica. Will Hollywood Sue the SlingBox Out of Existence? April 27, 2006.

Updates (Originally published in CopyCense on May 2, 2006):

Greg Sandoval. Major League Baseball Takes Swing At Sling Media. News.com. June 6, 2006.

Related Stories & Documents:

Andrew Wallenstein. Slingbox Could Spark New Lawsuits. The Hollywood Reporter. July 6, 2005.

Engadget. SlingBox Personal Broadcaster. Aug. 20, 2004.

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

“Google has again clashed with publishers over its controversial program to scan, digitize and make searchable the collections of libraries in the U.S. and the U.K.

“Publishers hit out at Google over the plan, and the effect it will have on copyright, at Monday’s launch of a report on digital rights management from the All Party Internet Group, an independent British parliamentary organization. The Google Book Search project, previously called Google Print, was launched in 2004. It quickly attracted controversy, and Google is currently being sued for alleged copyright infringement in the U.S.”

Tom Espiner. Google Argues With U.K. Publishers Over Digital Libraries. News.com. June 6, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Google has again clashed with publishers over its controversial program to scan, digitize and make searchable the collections of libraries in the U.S. and the U.K.

“Publishers hit out at Google over the plan, and the effect it will have on copyright, at Monday’s launch of a report on digital rights management from the All Party Internet Group, an independent British parliamentary organization. The Google Book Search project, previously called Google Print, was launched in 2004. It quickly attracted controversy, and Google is currently being sued for alleged copyright infringement in the U.S.”

Tom Espiner. Google Argues With U.K. Publishers Over Digital Libraries. News.com. June 6, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“As eBay has spread its innovative and influential wings across the Internet, it has also woven together a muscular and wily lobbying apparatus that spans 25 states. ‘It is a fast-moving train, and if you get in front of it you’ll get flattened,’ said one state regulatory official, who is concerned that eBay flouts regulatory oversight by persuading state legislators to take the company’s side.

“Regulators in other states also say that when they try to erect guidelines around eBay’s activities, they quickly encounter the realities of the company’s political power, raising anew the perennial questions about the proper balance among public policy, consumer protection and business interests. EBay’s lobbying tactics, meanwhile, illustrate the spoils to be won when a savvy, resourceful company combines local political persuasion and grass-roots rallying to get lucrative regulatory exemptions that allow it to safeguard its profits.

“EBay’s efforts have been remarkably successful, and the company, which has worked tirelessly to cultivate its image as a friendly neighborhood bazaar even as it engages in hard-nosed lobbying, is not shy about boasting of its victories.”

Katie Hafner. How eBay Makes Regulations Disappear. The New York Times. June 4, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“The digital music battle of the future may not be over where music is purchased, but where and how it is stored.

“A number of companies have created online content ‘lockers’ where users can upload their digital media files for storage that they can subsequently access from multiple devices. Examples include Oboe and MediaMax.

“While initially enticing as a media backup option, both services offer added accessibility intended to boost the value of music to users. But like anything else in the digital music industry, the concept isn’t quite as simple as those trying to sell it might like. Music wrapped in certain types of digital rights management (DRM) technology — such as Apple’s Fairplay — can’t be streamed from these lockers. Neither can tethered downloads acquired from subscription music services like Napster or Rhapsody,”

Antony Bruno. Digital Music Finds Some Locker Room. Yahoo! News. May 29, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.