Artists Encourage Cheating
“Major labels Sony BMG and EMI are releasing more and more new CDs that block fans from dragging their tunes to iPods.
“Now, in the most bizarre turn yet in the record industry’s piracy struggles, the Dave Matthews Band, the Foo Fighters and Switchfoot – and even Sony BMG, when the label gets complaints – are telling fans how they can beat the system.”
Brian Garrity. Frustrated Artists Show Fans a Few Copying Tricks. RockyMountainNews.com. Oct. 5, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Movie Studios Move Online
“The film industry is working to launch online movie download services to avoid the same fate as the piracy-ridden music industry, NBC Universal Chief Executive Bob Wright said Tuesday.
Wright was speaking at the launch of an antipiracy and counterfeiting initiative with senior executives from media, software, pharmaceutical and food industries known as “Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy.”
Reuters. Studios to Move Online to Beat Pirates. News.com. Oct. 4, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Cities Protect Copyright in Subway Maps
“Transit officials in New York and San Francisco have launched a copyright crackdown on a website offering free downloadable subway maps designed to be viewed on the iPod.
“IPodSubwayMaps.com is the home of iPod-sized maps of nearly two dozen different transit systems around the world, from the Paris Metro to the London Underground.”
Matt Reed. IPod Maps Draw Legal Threats. Wired News. Sept. 26, 2005.
Updates:
The Patry Copyright Blog. Subway Maps and Copyright. Sept. 27, 3005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
FTC Targets Spyware and Adware Site
"The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday moved to the courts to shut
down an operation that secretly installed spyware and adware that could
not be uninstalled from infected machines.
"The FTC’s complaint (.pdf), filed in U.S. District Court for the District of
New Hampshire, accuses Odysseus Marketing and its principal, Walter
Rines, of using the lure of file-sharing software to launch ‘stealthy
downloads’ of spyware."
Ryan Naraine. FTC Targets Illegal Spyware Operation. eWeek. Oct. 5, 2005.
See also:
United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire.Federal Trade Commission, v. Odysseus Marketing, Inc., and Walter Rines. (.pdf) Sept. 21, 2005.
Federal Trade Commission. FTC Seeks to Halt Illegal Spyware Operation. (Press Release.) Oct. 5, 2005.
Federal Trade Commission. Federal
Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Odysseus Marketing, Inc., and Walter
Rines, Defendants., United States District Court, District of New
Hampshire. Oct. 5, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Music Lovers Face Digitization Challenge
“Technology has long been regarded as a realm for the young. Analysts talk about a digital divide between you and the not-so-young. So is a 37-year-old [programmer who has a large music collection which has been transferred to various MP3 players] the exception or the rule?
“Exception, according to the president of Riptopia LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based company that converts individual CD collections into digital files. May music listeners older than 30 have thousands of dollars invested in CDs and are reluctant to make the digital transition.”
Dan Eaton. From Beatles to Beyoncé, Listeners Are Going Digital. Columbus Business First. Sept. 30, 2005.
Foster Posts FEULA Update
“I’ve just posted the next version of the FEULA, our model Fair End User License Agreement. Both the original beta version and version .90.1 of the FEULA produced a wide range of comments and suggestions from readers, and I think both resulted in some improvements to the draft.
“So the next beta FEULA, version .90.2, is now posted at http://www.gripewiki.com/index.php/FEULA under the EULA category on Gripewiki.com.
The Gripe Line Weblog by Ed Foster. The FEULA Discussion, Part II. (Version .90.2) Sept. 26, 2005.
Google Shouldn’t Punt on Litigation
Commentary by K. Matthew Dames, executive editor.
Here’s what I fear will happen in the Google Print Library Project: the copyright controversies will never go to trial, and instead will be resolved by the parties in a confidential settlement agreement.
Of course, it is easy for me to sit here and pontificate about these issues going to trial and having a judge or jury render judgment: after all, I’m not the party being sued. And it is likely that Google’s legal counsel is urging the company to settle these issues out of court to avoid what I am seeking — a judgment on the merits. An adverse judgment could bring considerable financial risk to the company, diminish the vast reservoir of goodwill it still holds in the information community, sap executive resources, and risk bad publicity. (One could argue that Microsoft still is feeling the effects of its lengthy antitrust trial.) Any smart legal counsel would urge Google to settle this matter.
But is the smart move really the right move here?
COPYCENSE 