AirPlay Brings iPod Music to FM Radio
"XtremeMac on Tuesday released a gadget designed to let users listen to music stored on their iPods via any FM radio.
"The transmitter, dubbed the AirPlay, also works with the iPod Mini, Xtreme Mac said. The device transfers audio wirelessly from the music player to any FM radio, making it an attractive add-on, the company said, for people who don’t have casette or CD players in their cars.
"The gadget features a digital display that shows which frequency you’ll be transmitting on, and it does not require navigation of iPod menus. The display turns off after tuning to conserve the iPod battery, XtremeMac said. When the iPod begins to play, AirPlay automatically transmits on the last used radio frequency. The device costs $39.95, the company said."
Dinesh C. Sharma. Device Brings Your iPod Music to Any Radio. News.com. Jan. 12, 2005.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Copyright Could Be Killing Culture
"As Americans commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy today, no television channel will be broadcasting the documentary series Eyes on the Prize. Produced in the 1980s and widely considered the most important encapsulation of the American civil-rights movement on video, the documentary series can no longer be broadcast or sold anywhere.
"Why?
"The makers of the series no longer have permission for the archival footage they previously used of such key events as the historic protest marches or the confrontations with Southern police. Given Eyes on the Prize’s tight budget, typical of any documentary, its filmmakers could barely afford the minimum five-year rights for use of the clips. That permission has long since expired, and the $250,000 to $500,000 needed to clear the numerous copyrights involved is proving too expensive.
"This is particularly dire now, because VHS copies of the series used in countless school curriculums are deteriorating beyond rehabilitation. With no new copies allowed to go on sale, ‘the whole thing, for all practical purposes, no longer exists,’ says Jon Else, a California-based filmmaker who helped produce and shoot the series and who also teaches at the Graduate School of Journalism of the University of California, Berkeley."
Guy Dixon. How Copyright Could be Killing Culture. The Globe & Mail. Jan. 17, 2005.
See also:
Katie Dean. Bleary Days for Eyes on the Prize. Wired News. Dec. 22, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Apple Sues Harvard Student Over Leaks
"Nicholas M. Ciarelli was not even old enough to shave when he started getting under Apple Computer Inc.’s skin. As a 13-year-old middle-schooler, the New Woodstock, N.Y., native built a Web site in 1998 and began publishing insider news and rumors about Apple, using the alias Nick dePlume.
"Three years later, ThinkSecret.com was first to report that the company would debut a G4 version of the PowerBook laptop series. The product launched soon thereafter, along with ThinkSecret’s reputation among Apple’s legendarily zealous fans, generating millions of page views per month.
"But after a series of letters warning the Web site to stop publishing proprietary information, Apple decided enough was enough. When Ciarelli scored yet another scoop in late December, by predicting the arrival of a new software package and a sub-$500 computer rolled out at this week’s MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco, the computer maker filed a lawsuit accusing him of illegally misappropriating trade secrets."
Jonathan Finer. Teen Web Editor Drives Apple to Court Action. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 14, 2005.
See also:
Joseph M. Tartakoff. Apple Sues Student. The Harvard Crimson. Jan. 12, 2005.
Associated Press. Blogger Facing Apple Lawsuit Seeks Legal Aid. San Jose Mercury News. Jan. 14, 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.)
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Altnet Seeks Licensing Fees From P2P Competitors
"A software company and its parent are claiming they hold patent rights to widely used Internet song-swapping technology, and they are demanding that several file-sharing networks obtain licenses in order to continue operating.
"Attorneys for Altnet Inc. and its parent company, Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc., sent letters to several U.S.-based file-swapping firms — including Lime Wire LLC, BearShare operator Free Peers Inc. and Mashboxx — claiming that the companies were using patented technology in their products. The letter doesn’t explicitly threaten a lawsuit but does invite the firms to ‘discuss licensing opportunities.’
"’You could call it a warning. We call it an offer to license our technology,’ said Lawrence M. Hadley, counsel for Altnet and Brilliant Digital.
"A valid patent would give the firm a tight hold on a popular means of identifying and trading digital copies of music, movies and software, just as a fledgling industry has sprung up to turn file sharing into a commercial enterprise."
David McGuire. Patents Pressed Against File-Sharing Networks. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 13, 2005.
See also:
John Borland. Altnet Seeks Patent Royalties From P2P. News.com. Jan. 12, 2005.
(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Comcast to Offer VoIP Services
"Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, on Monday began selling its version of Internet phone service in three markets, kicking off one of the most significant challenges traditional local phone companies have ever faced.
"Initially launching its Digital Voice service in three cities–Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Springfield, Mass.–Comcast plans to reach 20 markets by year’s end. The Philadelphia-based company says it intends to make the service available to all its 21 million customers six months after that."
Ben Charny. Comcast Pushes VoIP to Prime Time. News.com. Jan. 10, 2005.
See also:
Colin C. Haley. Comcast Answers VoIP Call. InternetNews.com. Jan. 10, 2005.
Mary Claire Dale. Comcast to Offer Web-Based Phone Service. SeattlePI.com. Jan. 11, 2005.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Slides from K. Matthew Dames’ Lecture on Fair Use
As reported in SNTReport.com on Wednesday, executive editor K. Matthew Dames gave a lecture to information professionals at the AeA David Packard Conference Center in Washington, DC on the fair use doctrine of copyright law. The lecture, entitled "Fair Use in the Digital Age," was the first in a series sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of SLA, among others, that addresses some of the most important legal and policy issues that information professionals face today.
Dames will also give the lecture for the next presentation in the series, "Licensing Digital Resources," on Wednesday, February 9, 2005, also at the AeA David Packard Center in Washington, DC. Those interested in attending the February 9 lecture may register online at the AIIM National Capitol Chapter website.
An electronic copy of the lecture notes, as well as additional resources, are posted below.
Lecture Notes
K. Matthew Dames, "Fair Use in the Digital Age." (.pdf). Jan. 12, 2005.
Additional Fair Use Resources
Laura "Lolly" Gasaway. When Works Pass into the Public Domain.
Peter Hirtle. Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States.
United States Copyright Office.
United States Copyright Office. Copyright Law.
Stanford University Libraries. Copyright & Fair Use.
University of Texas. Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials.
SNTReport.com. Copyright Archives.
Copyright Management Center. Fair Use Issues.
Copyright Management Center. Fair Use Checklist.
Clean Up the Copyright System
“Last month, Google announced a partnership with major research libraries to scan 20 million books for inclusion in Google’s search database. For those works in the public domain, the full text will be available. For those works still possibly under copyright, only snippets will be seen.
“But the excitement around Google’s extraordinary plan has obscured a dirty little secret: It is not at all clear that Google and these libraries have the legal right to do what is proposed.
“If lawsuits were filed, and if Google and its partner libraries were found to have violated the law, their legal exposure could reach into the billions.”
Lawrence Lessig. Let a Thousand Googles Bloom. Los Angeles Times. Jan. 12, 2005.
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
COPYCENSE 