COPYCENSE

Brooks Boliek. Berman to Exit Çopyright Role. The Hollywood Reporter. Jan. 15, 2008. California Rep. Howard Berman‘s likely departure to chair the House Committee on Foreign Affairs would leave an opening atop the House committee that is responsible for considering intellectual property legislation. The void would be notable under any set of circumstances, but the timing is important because it is a presidential election year and the final year of Term 110. History has shown the content and entertainment industries often try to slip in protectionist legislation during this period while others are paying attention to other, broader issues.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 22, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

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“Clearly, content creators deserve to be sufficiently rewarded for their work to make their endeavour worthwhile. At the same time, consumers have the right to enjoy the full capabilities of the equipment they’ve purchased, free from restrictions on what they can record and the use they make of content once it has been legitimately obtained. A revised copyright law must strive to find a balance between the rights of creators and ‘fair use’ by consumers.” — Vancouver Sun editorial board.

Vancouver Sun. Reformed Copyright Laws Shouldn’t Suppress Creativity. Jan. 16, 2008. Since there is no byline on this story from a major Canadian newspaper, we presume this is an editorial. If so, the tone is remarkably (and refreshingly) strident for a mainstream news outlet.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 22, 2008 edition of Copycense Clippings, and it was a Quote of the Week selection.)

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This week’s edition of Clippings is huge, with gadget news and copyright implications from the Consumer Electronics Show. This week we plumb why 24 hours is not enough time to watch an iTunes movie rental; more evidence that Canadians consider copyright a serious political issue; elevating copyright to human rights status; the Seinfelds being accused of infringement and defamation; and the chair of the House’s copyright committee leaving the building.

This is Copycense.

Article of the Week

The Patry Copyright Blog. Appeals to Human Rights: The Next Battlefield? Jan. 17, 2008. If there’s any single writer that can make copyright humorous, it is William Patry. When describing the push to equate copyright (a relatively minor issue in the broader scheme of world affairs) with human rights (an extraordinarily important issue), Patry comments with typical sarcasm: “I confess to being moved to tears by European human rights attorneys taking up the cause of very large U.S. broadcasting corporations: Donald Rumsfeld was so wrong.”

Seriously, though, the injection of copyright into international affairs has been steady and dangerous since the trend results only in more rights for multinational corporations. Talk about “authors” and “creators” has little to do with individuals who create original works fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Those words merely are code designed to make readers think Grandma needs more rights to protect her cross-stitch designs. In reality, “Grandma” is a global commercial behemoth with business presences on all continents that is hell bent on leveraging copyright and other intellectual property schemes to foster dollar-driven hegemony.

(Well, perhaps not the dollar these days. Substitute the Euro.)

In fact, one could argue reasonably that here in the U.S., the effort to move copyright past what Patry calls its “current Incredible Hulk level” is occurring at least as much on the international and local levels as it is in Congress. We have reported several of the entertainment and content industries’ lobbying efforts have resulted in a sort of “paracopyright” at the state level. (California’s passage of AB 307, which ties school funding to a copyright “education” program influenced by the RIAA, is one example.)

And, of course, we have chronicled at several junctures the Special 301 process under the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The Federal Register notice that effectively asks multinational corporations and their trade groups to tell the Trade Representative which countries have failed to draft (or enforce) copyright law at America’s “Incredible Hulk level” was published last week. It is due on Monday, February 11. The copyright choke hold is in full effect and running on all eight cylinders. Categories: Bundle of Rights; International; Politics & Government.

Quotes of the Week

“Clearly, content creators deserve to be sufficiently rewarded for their work to make their endeavour worthwhile. At the same time, consumers have the right to enjoy the full capabilities of the equipment they’ve purchased, free from restrictions on what they can record and the use they make of content once it has been legitimately obtained. A revised copyright law must strive to find a balance between the rights of creators and ‘fair use’ by consumers.” — Vancouver Sun editorial board.

Vancouver Sun. Reformed Copyright Laws Shouldn’t Suppress Creativity. Jan. 16, 2008. Since there is no byline on this story from a major Canadian newspaper, we presume this is an editorial. If so, the tone is remarkably (and refreshingly) strident for a mainstream news outlet. Categories: Broadcasting & Journalism; Bundle of Rights.

“Surveys reveal that both adults and children (aged 12-15) have very high levels of awareness and understanding of the basic principles of intellectual property. However, young people feel that copyright regimes are unfair and unjust and a big age gap is opening up. The implications for libraries and for the information industry of a collapse of respect for copyright is potentially very serious.” — University College London.

Information World Review. My Generation. Jan. 17, 2008. This passage on copyright is but a snippet of a report whose main focus is on information seeking behaviors. We find it interesting, however, and would like to see an independent American researcher conduct a rigorous, well designed social science study of high school and college children to gain their perspective on copyright. Categories: Libraries & Information Science; Web & Online.

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James Kanter and Gary Rivlin. WTO Gives Antigua Right to Violate U.S. Copyrights in Gambling Dispute. International Herald Tribune. Dec. 21, 2007. Yes, you read that headline correctly: the World Trade Organization has given a sovereign nation authority to infringe upon American copyrights. Antigua had sued the U.S., alleging unfair trade practices. If you follow international copyright, or study the intersection between trade and intellectual property, this saga is a “must read.”

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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Aaron O. Patrick and Sarah McBride. Showdown Looms Over Pirated-Media Directory. WSJ.com. Jan. 11, 2008. Sweden gets into the U.S. copyright enforcement act. We wonder whether the country will appear in the Trade Representative’s 2008 Special 301 report for its alleged copyright indiscretions.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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Nate Anderson. UK Wants to Make CD Rips Legal (At Last). ArsTechnica. Jan. 8, 2008. The proposal (.pdf) of Lord Triesman, Minister for Intellectual Property, could reform copyright law to allow an explicit right that allows consumers who legally buy compact discs to transfer to other media. As we have come to expect, William Patry provides a cogent analysis.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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This week, The New York Times has been hosting a copyright “debate” between Columbia’s Tim Wu and NBC Universal’s general counsel Rick Cotton. (The entire debate is available on The Times‘ site; the instant link is to one portion of the debate.) We use the term “debate” lightly because, as we analyze below, these commentaries are not discussions featuring opposing arguments. Instead, they are framed discussions that express implicit support for the content industries’ view that copyright and control are synonymous.

We’ll use as an example Monday’s question about the use of copy restriction technologies. The first problem with the Times‘ question is that it conflates creators of copyrighted works with owners of copyrighted works. By asking Rick Cotton (who represents a copyright owner) to respond, the Times perpetuates a common misperception that creators and owners are one and the same.

Typically in today’s commercial environment, they are not: the creator often surrenders ownership of his copyright to a corporation hoping the corporation can monetize that creation more effectively than the creator would on his own. The income stream a creator expects from this surrender may or may not occur, and history is filled with creators who never received a dime from corporate owners after surrendering their work.

Why is this conflation important to identify? It’s important to identify because one of the chief arguments corporate copyright owners put forth advocating more restrictive copyright law is that doing so will ensure compensation to the creators. This argument is — and always has been — utter garbage. Hip hop artist Q-Tip spoke for generations of stiffed artists when he rapped in “Check the Rhime”:

Industry rule number 4,080 / Record company people are shady

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