Digital Media Holds Promise for Stakeholders
"Still using your cell phone just to make phone calls? How passé.
"If the seers are correct, within a year your cell phone will be capable of live television, music downloads and playback, videogames, storing movie clips and viewing everything from photo albums to digital home movies. In short, more than you may have ever thought possible.
"Of course, there are high hurdles to clear before all this great stuff happens–complex rights agreements, conflicting technology standards and the sometimes fractious relationship between carriers and content providers–but everyone involved has a stake in making it work.
"How big a stake? It’s almost too big to put a number on."
Lisa DiCarlo. The Only Exciting Thing In Tech?. Forbes.com. May 9, 2005.
Panel Discusses Future of Digital Entertainment
"The Internet and digital technology are changing entertainment at lightning speed. The coming years will scramble concepts of music-making, movies, TV networks and advertising. Last week, USA TODAY‘s Kevin Maney assembled a panel of some of the industry’s most influential players to talk about what’s ahead."
Kevin Maney. What’s Ahead for Net, Digital Entertainment. USA Today. May 11, 2005.
UCLA Libraries to Phase Out Print Subscriptions
"University of California libraries feeling the heat of the budget crisis will cut collections in an effort not to burn holes in their pockets. No information will be lost to UC students though, as long as they have access to the Internet.
"’The library is carrying out the first cancellation project as part of a multi-year plan to eliminate subscriptions to print when we license access to the electronic equivalent, said Cynthia Shelton, associate university librarian for collection management and scholarly communication, in a statement on the UCLA Library Web site."
Josh Blitstein. Libraries Cut Many Print Publications. Daily Bruin. May 6, 2005.
Federal Court Overturns Broadcast Flag
"In a stunning victory for hardware makers and television buffs, a federal appeals court has tossed out government rules that would have outlawed many digital TV receivers and tuner cards starting July 1.
"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to prohibit the manufacture of computer and video hardware that doesn’t have copy protection technology known as the ‘broadcast flag.’ The regulations, which the FCC created in November 2003, had been intended to limit unauthorized Internet redistribution of over-the-air TV broadcasts."
Declan McCullagh. Court Yanks Down FCC’s Broadcast Flag. News.com. May 6, 2005.
See also:
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Federal Appeals Court Scraps FCC’s Broadcast Flag Mandate. Breaking News. May 6, 2005.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. American Library Association, et al., v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America. (.pdf) May 6, 2005.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Waving Flags of Victory. Deep Links. May 6, 2005.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. American Library Association v. Federal Communications Commission. No date.
Declan McCullagh. Are PCs Next in Hollywood Piracy Battle?. News.com. Nov. 5, 2003.
Copyright Issues Halt Podcast
"A local radio pro has found out that distributing his program like an amateur isn’t as simple as it sounds.
"Chicago’s Steve Dahl thought he could be at the forefront of the so-called podcasting trend, which was virtually unknown a year ago.
"Last month he began making his WCKG-FM 105.9 afternoon show available online as a digital audio file, so those with iPods and other portable media devices can download them and listen at leisure around the world. He used the same new technology that enables computer users to make and distribute homemade programs.
"But this re-purposing of Dahl’s show has come to an abrupt halt because of copyright and royalty issues."
Phil Rosenthal. Dahl’s Podcasts Halt Amid Stream of Legal Issues. Chicago Tribune. May 6, 2005.
Orphan Songs Caught in Bottleneck
"In late 1946, glamorous Savannah Churchill, the Alicia Keys of her day, recorded the ballad "I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You)" for Manor Records, a New Jersey-based independent label.
"Other such Manor releases as Deek Watson & his Brown Dots’ reading of ‘(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons’ — later a hit for Nat ‘King’ Cole and Sam Cooke — also clicked with the record-buying public.
"But 58 years later, Manor Records is a mystery. Music historians say anyone who wants permission to reissue those discs will find that the paper trail to the ownership of Manor has disappeared. The Manor discs, in other words, are ‘orphan works.’"
Bill Holland. Copyright Office Seeks Authors of ‘Orphan Songs’. Reuters. May 6, 2005.
See also:
Glushko Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic Response to Notice of Inquiry on the Issue of "Orphan Works". (.pdf) March 24, 2005.
Oxford University Press Expands Open Access
"The drive to make scientific, medical and academic research more freely available on the internet got a shot in the arm yesterday as Oxford University Press widened its trial of open access publishing.
"In a separate move, a new plan was announced yesterday to digitise thousands of core legal judgments and law reports, making them available free over the web."
Richard Wray. OUP Widens Open Access Trial. Guardian Unlimited. May 6, 2005.
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