Study: Consumers See Piracy as Legal
“Campaigns to persuade people to stop downloading pirated games or software from the internet are not working, a report suggests.
“Two UK university researchers found that people did not see downloading copyrighted material as theft.
“The findings are unwelcome news for the games industry, which says it loses more than £2bn annually from piracy.”
BBC News. Software Piracy ‘Seen as Normal’. June 23, 2005.
AAUP Poses Questions & Concerns to Google
“A group of academic publishers called Google Inc.’s plan to scan millions of library books into its Internet search engine index a troubling financial threat to its membership.
“The Association of American University Presses said in a letter to Google that the online search engine’s library project “appears to involve systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale.”
“The association, which represents 125 nonprofit publishers of academic journals and scholarly books, asked Google to respond to a list of 16 questions seeking more information about how the company plans to protect copyrights.”
Michael Liedtke. Publishers Protest Google Library Project. Yahoo! News. May 24, 2005.
See also:
Jeffrey R. Young. University-Press Group Raises Questions About Google’s Library-Scanning Project. The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 23, 2005.
Burt Helm. A Google Project Pains Publishers. BusinessWeek Online. May 23, 2005.
BusinessWeekOnline. The University Press Assn.’s Objections. May 23, 2005.
AAUP Poses Questions & Concerns to Google
“A group of academic publishers called Google Inc.’s plan to scan millions of library books into its Internet search engine index a troubling financial threat to its membership.
“The Association of American University Presses said in a letter to Google that the online search engine’s library project “appears to involve systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale.”
“The association, which represents 125 nonprofit publishers of academic journals and scholarly books, asked Google to respond to a list of 16 questions seeking more information about how the company plans to protect copyrights.”
Michael Liedtke. Publishers Protest Google Library Project. Yahoo! News. May 24, 2005.
See also:
Jeffrey R. Young. University-Press Group Raises Questions About Google’s Library-Scanning Project. The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 23, 2005.
Burt Helm. A Google Project Pains Publishers. BusinessWeek Online. May 23, 2005.
BusinessWeekOnline. The University Press Assn.’s Objections. May 23, 2005.
Electronic Reserves Stir Copyright Dispute
“There’s been a change in Ellen Lichtenstein’s study patterns.
“For half her classes this past year, she no longer had to visit a library to get the reading materials professors had placed on reserve. Instead, she only needed Internet access and a password. And publishing companies are worried precisely because of that ease and convenience — it’s another way for publishers to lose sales.
“The Association of American Publishers already has contacted one school, the University of California, San Diego, claiming blatantly infringing use is being made of numerous books, journals and other copyrighted works.”
Anick Jesdanun. A Different Sort of Campus Copyright Fight. MSNBC News. May 21, 2005.
See also:
Marty Graham. Sides Clash Over Online Library. The National Law Journal. April 29, 2005.
Scott Carlson. “Legal Battle Brews Over Availability of Texts on Online Reserve at U. of California Library.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. April 22, 2005. Page A36.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Overview of Podcasting
"What do the pope and Paris Hilton have in common? They’re both podcasters – and you can be one too.
"Ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, podcasts are essentially do-it-yourself recorded radio programs posted online. Anyone can download them free, and, using special software, listeners can subscribe to favorite shows and even have them automatically downloaded to a portable digital music player.
"Despite what the name suggests, podcasts can be played not just on iPods but on any device that has an MP3 player program, including PC’s and laptops."
John R. Quain. Now, Audio Blogs for Those Who Aspire to Be D.J.’s. The New York Times. May 12, 2005.
(Editor’s Note: The Times allows free access to their stories on the Web for seven days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archive.)
Yahoo to Launch Online Music Service
"Yahoo Inc. on Tuesday said it was launching a new online music subscription service, aggressively competing against providers such as RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody and Napster Inc. with lower pricing.
"Yahoo said it was offering the service with an introductory price of $4.99 per month for an annual subscription, or $6.99 on a monthly basis. The service, available May 11, lets fans play tunes from a catalog of more than one million songs, transfer tracks to portable devices and share music with friends through Yahoo! Messenger."
Sue Zeidler. Yahoo Launches Music Subscription Service. Reuters. May 10, 2005.
See also:
Lisa DiCarlo. Yahoo! Takes On iTunes. Forbes.com. May 10, 2005.
Associated Press. Yahoo Readies Cheap Music Service. Wired News. May 10, 2005.
Liability: Open Source v. Properietary
"If you’ve heard lately (via Steve Ballmer at Microsoft) that you put your company at greater risk of being sued because you are using open source software (OSS), don’t believe it.
"Actually, there is, depending who you talk to, either an equal or somewhat reduced risk of liability from OSS than proprietary software. This is because OSS code is peer-reviewed by a group of proud developers who often have the ability to recognize other developers’ handiwork."
Allen Bernard. Can You Really Get Sued for Using Open Source?. CIO Update. May 6, 2005.
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