MPAA Faces Hostile Audience at SXSW
“One of the most interesting panels at SXSW Interactive 2006 was The Future of Darknets, moderated by JD Lasica. In fact, we never actually got to hear much about DarkNets, much to my disappointment, because the panel was hijacked the moment one panelist said, ‘Hello, my name is Kori Bernards, and I’m from the Motion Picture Association of America.’
“What followed was an hour-long firing squad as one audience member after another directed angry questions her way. The feeling of pent-up frustrations with the movie biz was palpable, especially as her claims of flexibility and excitement within the MPAA to find ‘creative new solutions’ to the problems raised by the audience rang more and more hollow, the more times she repeated them.
“A couple times I almost felt sorry for her.”
Powazek. SXSW to MPAA: STFU. March 15, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Crichton Assails Patent System
Elevated homocysteine is linked to B-12 deficiency, so doctors should test homocysteine levels to see whether the patient needs vitamins.
“Actually, I can’t make that last statement. A corporation has patented that fact, and demands a royalty for its use. Anyone who makes the fact public and encourages doctors to test for the condition and treat it can be sued for royalty fees. Any doctor who reads a patient’s test results and even thinks of vitamin deficiency infringes the patent. A federal circuit court held that mere thinking violates the patent.
“All this may sound absurd, but it is the heart of a case that will be argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.”
Michael Crichton. This Essay Breaks the Law (Op-Ed). The New York Times. March 19, 2006.
See also:
U.S. Supreme Court. Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc., et al. (No. 04-607). Docketed November 5, 2004.
Patently-O. LabCorp v. Metabolite: Supreme Court To Hear Patent Case Questioning Patentability Of Medical Method. Oct. 31, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
French Seem Ready to Open iTunes DRM
“As French lawmakers completed the text of a new copyright bill early Friday morning, supporters of open-source software claimed a victory of sorts, while others lamented the coming criminalization of peer-to-peer software.
“Measures in the bill could force companies using DRM to publish details of the system, letting other manufacturers to develop interoperable systems. The measures are widely seen as aimed at companies such as Apple Computer Inc. By refusing to disclose details of its FairPlay DRM system, Apple effectively shuts out competitors from developing digital music players that can play music downloaded directly from its iTunes Music Store, or from selling DRM-protected music that will play on an Apple iPod.
Peter Sayer. French Bill That Could Open iTunes Ready. InfoWorld. March 17, 2006.
See also:
Thomas Crampton. France Drafts Copyright Law, But What Does It Mean? International Herald Tribune. March 17, 2006.
Yahoo! News. Apple’s iTunes Could Tune Out In France Over Proposed Law: Experts. March 17, 2006.
Updates:
Freedom to Tinker. Bernard Lang Reports on the Proposed French DRM Law. March 28, 2006
Australian IT. Uncle Sam Backs Apple. March 24, 2006.
Bill Rosenblatt. French Parliament Passes DRM Interoperability Legislation. DRM Watch. March 23, 2006.
Yahoo! News. French Copyright Law “State-Sponsored Piracy”: Apple. March 22, 2006.
Elinor Mills. Apple Calls French Law ‘”State-Sponsored Piracy.” News.com. March 22, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Uncleared Sample Halts Sales of Seminal Hip Hop Album
This story was last updated on Monday, March 20, 2006 at 10:14 hrs. EST.
A federal judge has ordered a stop to all sales of the classic hip hop album Ready To Die after a jury determined that one of its songs contained an illegal sample.
The order from district court judge Todd J. Campbell came late last week, after a federal jury determined that executive producer Sean “Diddy” Combs and his recording label, Bad Boy Entertainment, had not received permission to include a sample of Ohio Players’ “Singing in the Morning” in one of the album’s songs. According to an Associated Press report, the jury in the case awarded $4.2 million in punitive and direct damages on March 19 to Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, the song’s publisher and record company, respectively.
Copyright Case Against Google Is Dismissed
“A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google Inc. of wrongful conduct, including copyright infringement and defamation, providing the latest court opinion to weigh in on the contentious area of search engines and copyright.
“Some legal experts said the ruling, issued last week in a case brought by Internet publisher Gordon Roy Parker in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, could influence judges in other cases pending against Google, potentially bolstering the Internet company’s legal defenses. Those cases include high-profile suits brought last year by writers and publishers and by the Agence France-Presse news agency alleging that Google’s services violate copyright.
“Mr. Parker’s suit centered on 11 claims against Google, including that Google’s archiving of copyright material he posted on the Usenet community of electronic bulletin boards violated copyright laws. Mr. Parker also alleged that Google’s inclusion of excerpts from his site in its search results infringed copyright.”
Kevin J. Delaney. Google Wins Copyright Battle. WSJ.com. March 17, 2006.
See also:
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Penna. Gordon Roy Parker v. Google: Memorandum & Order. (.pdf) March 10, 2006.
The Patry Copyright Blog. Parker v. Google. March 17, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Sopranos Actors Seek More “Tribute” for Mini-Season
“The next mob war on “The Sopranos” may happen off camera.
“When HBO announced last August that the television show would finish with a 20-episode run that would be broken up over the next two years, it was careful to characterize it as a single season. But the concept of a “season,” once quite formal, continues to get fuzzier as TV changes, and HBO’s own idiosyncratic scheduling practices are part of the trend.
“Now, as Time Warner Inc.’s HBO is wrapping production on the first 12 episodes, key supporting-cast members are arguing that the additional eight shows constitute a new season, and they want their contracts renegotiated. James Gandolfini, who stars as Tony Soprano, has recently signed a new deal taking him through next year’s final eight shows that pays him in the neighborhood of $1 million an episode.
Joe Flint. ‘Sopranos’ Actors Take Another Whack At Their Contracts. WSJ Onliine. March 15, 2006.
See also:
The New York Times. Dark Days for Tony Soprano (Editorial). March 19, 2006.
CNNMoney.com ‘Sopranos’ Want An Offer They Can’t Refuse. March 15, 2006.
Bill Carter. Mob Boss Takes Hit; Housewife Implicated. The New York Times. March 15, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Power Outage: DRM Saps the iPod
“One of the key specs you mustn’t ignore before purchasing an MP3 player is its battery life. This number gives you an estimate of how long your gadget will play tunes on a single charge–in the best-case scenario.
“In the real world, there are plenty of factors that will help drain your battery much quicker than you’d like. Those who belong to subscription services have it worse. Music rented from some services arrive in the WMA DRM 10 format, and it takes extra processing power to ensure that the licenses making the tracks work are still valid and match up to the device itself. Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them.”
MP3.com. The Truth About Your Battery Life. March 13, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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