COPYCENSE

Torrent Freak. Porn Company Vivid Sues Its Own Customer Over Copyright. Dec. 11, 2007. Vivid Entertainment Group, which now is to adult entertainment what Playboy used to be, sues an adult version of YouTube, even though PornoTube‘s owner (AEBN) already has a contractual relationship with Vivid to deliver pay-per-view porn. Either this is a colossal slip of due diligence, or Vivid had decided (like the movie and music industries) that lawsuits are the better business strategy.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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Threat Level (Wired). Recording Industry Tells Court (Again) That MP3s Are a Crime. Dec. 11, 2007. The blogosphere has been all over this story, and it seems based on the assertions of Ray Beckerman, whose work we respect. We have to say, though, we’re not seeing what the big deal is. What we read was this: “It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies of [] copyrighted sound recordings on his computer. … Virtually all of the sound recordings … ‘.mp3’ format. … Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs’ recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by [plaintiff recording companies].” If this is the quote to which Beckerman is referring, we see that as RIAA arguing the as yet untested “making available” theory, not necessarily that converting CDs to .MP3 files is de facto infringement. Don’t get us wrong: RIAA likely thinks CD to MP3 transfers are illegal, even to iPods. It just wants to be mealy-mouthed about it so as to preserve any remaining shred of public credibility it retains.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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dive into mark. The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts). Nov. 19, 2007. A great literary mashup that notes Newsweek’s breathless predictions that Amazon.com’s new e-book reader will change “the future of reading” is not due to the technology because the device’s license agreement and copy restriction technology will, in fact, impinge on “the future of reading.”

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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“It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies of [] copyrighted sound recordings on his computer. … Virtually all of the sound recordings … are in the ‘.mp3’ format. … Defendant admitted that he converted these sound recordings from their original format to the .mp3 format for his and his wife’s use. The .mp3 format is a ‘compressed format [that] allows for rapid transmission of digital audio files from one computer to another by electronic mail or any other file transfer protocol.’ Napster, 239 F.3d at 1011. Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs’ recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by [plaintiff recording companies].” — Recording Industry Assn. of America supplemental brief (.pdf) in Atlantic v. Howell.

MacNN. RIAA Claims CD Rips Are Piracy in Lawsuit. Dec. 11, 2007. The MacNN headline is provocative, but not quite accurate. What the music industry lobby argues is ripping copyrighted music from CD (i.e. the “original format”) to another format (e.g. .mp3 files, for example) and posting to a shared folder on a peer-to-peer program (like Kazaa) means the music becomes de facto illegal, and therefore copyright infringement. While most press coverage of this brief focuses on the alleged illegality of ripping music from compact disc to another format, the real story to us is about the recording industry’s attempts to extend into judge-made law the “making available” doctrine, which the industry argued strongly in the Jammie Thomas trial. Although the RIAA does, in fact, think that making personal copies of music is illegal, we think the likelihood of them trying to enforce that principle is, by itself, far fetched. We’ve seen stranger things occur, however.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of Copycense Clippings, and it was a Quote of the Week” selection.)

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Maura Corbett. ‘Tis the Season for Common Sense Copyright. News.com. Dec. 13, 2007. Last time we saw Qorvis’ Maura Corbett, she was defending the CCIA’s “Defend Fair Use” campaign. Now, like so many sequels, she is back, this time repping for the Digital Freedom Campaign (which counts ALA, Public Knowledge, and EFF among its partners), spouting the evils of the PRO IP bill that has caught the attention of many a media outlet. “Messaging” is as common a Washington activity as passing through metal detectors, but we continue to feel queasy about taking a public relations approach to legislative negotiations.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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Seth Mnookin. Universal’s CEO Once Called iPod Users Thieves. Now He’s Giving Songs Away. Wired. Nov. 27, 2007. First Edgar Bronfman, now Doug Morris. At some point, all these executives get the message that Slim Charles conveyed to Bodie early in Season 4 of The Wire: “The thing about the old days is that they the old days.” We can hear refrains of Gladys Knight singing “Can it be that it was all so simple then?”

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

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