Monthly roundup of IP news from Jen Green....

>Thread-Topic: VRA Intellectual Property Rights News: February 2008
>Thread-Index: Ach8nWPUUAaz2TlHRAyPFKaDHQMfqA==
>Date:         Sun, 2 Mar 2008 14:41:22 -0500
>Reply-To:     Visual Resources Association <VRA-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU>
>Sender:       Visual Resources Association <VRA-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU>
>From:         Jen Green <jgreen at NHIA.EDU>
>Subject: VRA Intellectual Property Rights News: February 2008
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>IPR-In the News?
>Compiled by Jen Green, New Hampshire Institute of Art
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>European Court Issues New File Sharing Directives
>by Tim Smalley, bit-tech.net, January 31, 2008
><<http://tinyurl.com/246bh3>http://tinyurl.com/246bh3>
>
>The European Court of Justice decided earlier this week that EU law does not
>force the disclosure of file sharer's details in copyright infringement cases.
>In the ruling, the court was essentially asked to balance the consumer's right
>to privacy against the industry's right to protect its intellectual property.
>The court sided with the Internet user - something that could be seen as a
>massive victory for the file sharing community in Europe.
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>
>Blog: Deeplinks:  Savage v. CAIR: Another Year, 
>Another Attempt to Misuse Copyright Law to 
>Silence a Critic
>by Matt Zimmerman, Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 31, 2008
><<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/01/another-year-another-attempt-misuse-copyright-law-silence-critic>http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/01/another-year-another-attempt-misuse-copyright-law-silence-critic>
>
>"EFF, along with their co-counsel, filed a 
>motion for judgment on the pleadings asking a 
>U.S. District Court judge to throw out a 
>copyright infringement suit brought by talk show 
>host Michael Savage against the Council on 
>American-Islamic Relations.  Savage sued CAIR in 
>December, alleging that CAIR infringed the 
>copyright in his show when it posted on its web 
>site brief excerpts from Savage's radio program 
>in order to criticize Savage's remarks. Savage 
>also added a federal racketeering claim stemming 
>from that alleged copyright infringement."
>
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>
>Blog: Deeplinks: Senate Votes on Surveillance Law This Week
>posted by Tim Jones, Electronic Frontier Foundation, February 4, 2008
><<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/02/senate-votes-surveillance-law-week>http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/02/senate-votes-surveillance-law-week>
>
>This week, Senators finally cast their votes on 
>amendments to the Foreign Intelligence 
>Surveillance Act (FISA). This is a critical week 
>for the privacy and civil liberties of all 
>Americans -- the amendments are the last chance 
>the Senate has to prevent handing the 
>Administration a blank check to spy on you for 
>years to come.
>
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>
>Blog: Enterprise Insights: Technical Protection 
>Measures (TPMs) and Educational Use of the 
>Internet
>by Russell McOrmond, IT World Canada, February 4, 2008
><<http://tinyurl.com/2cy5da>http://tinyurl.com/2cy5da>
>
>"One of the most common themes you will see in the copyright debate is
>different people using the same terminology to mean entirely different things,
>and never really noticing that they aren't talking about the same thing as
>they argue. It is coming up on 7 years that I've dedicated to trying to make
>sense of this, which is why I'm writing so much about copyright....While I
>have hinted at language problems around the term "technical protection
>measures" or TPMs, I will talk about this confusion in the context of a debate
>you may be less familiar with: Educational use of the Internet."
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>
>Blog: The Crime of Selling Abandoned Copies
>by William Patry, The Patry Copyright Blog: February 7, 2008
><<http://williampatry.blogspot.com/2008/02/crime-of-selling-abandoned-copies.html>http://williampatry.blogspot.com/2008/02/crime-of-selling-abandoned-copies.html>
>
>"If you came across a trash can filled with 
>lawfully made compact discs and DVDs that the 
>copyright owner had authorized to be put in that 
>trash can and then thrown away because it didn't 
>want to pay the postage to have them returned, 
>do you think you could be criminally prosecuted 
>for selling those copies, and would you think 
>that the copyright owners would be entitled to 
>restitution under the Mandatory Victims 
>Restitution Act? If you answered no to these 
>questions, you would be wrong according to the 
>Eighth Circuit."
>
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>
>A Tight Grip Can Choke Creativity
>by Joe Nocera, New York Times, February 9, 2008
><<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/business/09nocera.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/business/09nocera.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin>
>
>On Friday, a lawyer named Anthony Falzone filed his side's first big
>brief in the case of Warner Bros. Entertainment and J. K. Rowling v. RDR
>Books. Mr. Falzone is employed by Stanford Law School, where he heads up
>the Fair Use Project, which was founded several years ago by Lawrence
>Lessig, perhaps the law school's best-known professor.
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>
>Report: Three-Strikes Copyright Enforcement May Come to UK
>by Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica, February 12, 2008
><http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080212-report-three-strikes-copyright-enforcement-may-come-to-uk.html>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080212-report-three-strikes-copyright-enforcement-may-come-to-uk.html
> 
><<http://tinyurl.com/22fcxs>http://tinyurl.com/22fcxs>
>
>A French copyright enforcement initiative has made its way through the
>Chunnel to the UK, and British ISPs less than thrilled about it. Should
>ISPs and Big Content prove unable to come to an agreement on their own,
>the UK parliament will reportedly soon consider legislation that would
>mirror France's planned "three strikes and you're offline" approach to
>copyright infringement, one that would cut off Internet access to repeat
>copyright infringers.
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>
>Business Coalition Opposes Harsh Copyright Reform
>by CBC News, February 13, 2008
><<http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/02/13/tech-copyright.html>http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/02/13/tech-copyright.html>
>
>A who's who of powerful companies and business associations have banded
>together to push for less restrictive copyright reform, driving a stake
>into the heart of the federal government's argument for its new
>copyright bill.
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>
>Threat Of Jail Time Increases Respect For Copyright, Microsoft Says
>by Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek, February 13, 2008.
><<http://tinyurl.com/2wrgug>http://tinyurl.com/2wrgug>
>
>Teens appear to be willing to curtail illegal downloading when told they
>face fines or jail time. This finding, among many in a survey published
>by Microsoft on Wednesday, is the basis for the software company's new
>campaign to teach teens respect for intellectual property rights.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Educause Cheers New Net Neutrality Bill
>by Andrea Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education: 
>Wired Campus, February 13, 2008
><<http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2743/educause-cheers-new-net-neutrality-bill>http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2743/educause-cheers-new-net-neutrality-bill>
>
>Proponents of network neutrality, including the 
>college technology group, Educause, heralded the 
>introduction today in the U.S. House of 
>Representatives of legislation supporting the 
>concept. The bill would require telephone and 
>cable companies to keep their broadband pipes 
>open to any kind of Web content or network 
>application -- even those that compete with the 
>companies' own offerings -- and to prohibit the 
>companies from favoring certain types of network 
>traffic with fast-lane delivery to people's 
>computers.
>
>More information can also be found here:
><<http://connect.educause.edu/term_view/Net+Neutrality>http://connect.educause.edu/term_view/Net+Neutrality>
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>
>When Pop Culture Tributes Become Copyright Infringements
>by Dan Bischoff, Star-Ledger, February 16, 2008
><http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2008/02/when_pop_culture_tributes_beco.html>http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2008/02/when_pop_culture_tributes_beco.html
> 
><<http://tinyurl.com/ysvmmj>http://tinyurl.com/ysvmmj>
>
>Recently the 71-year-old artist and heir to the Johnson & Johnson
>fortune has begun a series that he calls "American Icons," depicting
>famous images from Americana, like the sailor kissing the nurse in Times
>Square at the end of World War II, or "Forever Marilyn," Johnson's
>three-dimensional bronze of Marilyn Monroe standing on the subway grate
>from "The Seven-Year Itch."
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>
>Blog: Collectanea: Congressman Lessig?
>by Georgia Harper, February 18, 2008
><<http://chaucer.umuc.edu/blogcip/collectanea/2008/02/congressman_lessig_1.html>http://chaucer.umuc.edu/blogcip/collectanea/2008/02/congressman_lessig_1.html>
>
>"Lending credibility to the idea that Lessig may run for Congress in a
>special election to replace the late Congressman Lantos on April 8 (less
>than 2 months from now), he reportedly is "away with my family this
>weekend to think things through..."
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>
>
>Canadian Authors Get Short End of Copyright Collective Stick
>by Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, February 18, 2008
><http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080218-canadian-authors-get-short-end-of-copyright-collective-stick.html>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080218-canadian-authors-get-short-end-of-copyright-collective-stick.html
> 
><<http://tinyurl.com/27dfwm>http://tinyurl.com/27dfwm>
>
>Copyright collectives are supposed to make it easy to go straight. If a
>university wants to make photocopies in most parts of Canada, for
>instance, a single license from a nonprofit group called Access
>Copyright will take care of the legal issues. Businesses, government,
>and universities pay into the group, which then redistributes the money
>to publishers and authors. But where does the money go?
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>
>Blog: Verizon: Copyright Infringement May Be Good for Business
>by Preston Gralla, ComputerWorld, February 18, 2008
><http://blogs.computerworld.com/verizon_copyright_infringement_may_be_good_for_business>http://blogs.computerworld.com/verizon_copyright_infringement_may_be_good_for_business
> 
><<http://tinyurl.com/266ywc>http://tinyurl.com/266ywc>
>
>Has Verizon decided that copyright infringement will help its bottom
>line? In a backhanded way, the company seems to be saying that sharing
>copyright-infringing video files on its network could, in fact, be good
>for its business.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Russia Improves Copyright Law
>by Nick Holdsworth, Variety, February 18, 2008
><http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981057.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562>http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981057.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562
> 
><<http://tinyurl.com/28k9tn>http://tinyurl.com/28k9tn>
>
>Russia is making gradual progress on increasing and improving the
>protection of intellectual property, a key European audiovisual industry
>body said Monday.
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>
>EU Commissioner Wants to Extend Copyright to 95 Years
>by Rich Fiscus, Afterdawn.com, February 18, 2008
><<http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/12957.cfm>http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/12957.cfm>
>
>Much like songwriter and Congressman Sonny Bono did in the U.S. several
>years ago, EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is championing an extension
>to copyright terms.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Media Giants Harmonize Over Online Copyright
>by Guardian Unlimited, Buzzle.com, February 19, 2008
><<http://www.buzzle.com/articles/179030.html>http://www.buzzle.com/articles/179030.html>
>
>A coalition of nine of the world's leading media companies today struck
>a cooperation pact aimed at cracking down on people who infringe
>copyright on the internet - with Google conspicuously absent.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>Blog: FP Trading Post: Media Industry to Lobby Against Higher Copyright Fees
>by Zena Olijnyk, Finance Post, February 19, 2008
><<http://tinyurl.com/yp4s8p>http://tinyurl.com/yp4s8p>
>
>Lobbying efforts are heating up as executives at Canadian radio
>companies brace themselves against the prospect of paying a huge
>increase in copyright fees.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>Blog: Deeplinks: RIAA File-Sharing Complaint Fails to Support Default Judgment
>by Fred von Lohmann, Electronic Frontier Foundation, February 25, 2008
><<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/02/riaa-file-sharing-complaint-fails-support-default-judgment>http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/02/riaa-file-sharing-complaint-fails-support-default-judgment>
>
>The recording industry's litigation campaign 
>against individual file-sharers suffered a 
>setback earlier this month when a federal judge 
>ruled in Atlantic v. Brennan that the 
>boilerplate complaint used by the recording 
>industry in these cases would not support a 
>default judgment. Ars Technica [below] has an 
>excellent summary of the legal standards and why 
>the ruling represents a blow to the 
>"spam-igation" techniques of the recording 
>industry.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>RIAA Fails Again to get Default Judgment in Uncontested Case
>By Eric Bangeman, February 25, 2008
>Atlantic Records, et al., brought suit against 
>Christopher Brennan just over a year ago. 
>Brennan failed to respond to the complaint, 
>never appearing in court to answer the copyright 
>infringement charges. After an entry of default 
>was entered on August 6, 2007, the RIAA moved 
>the court for a default judgment, which Judge 
>Janet Bond Arterton denied in a ruling earlier 
>this month.
>
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>
>Tennessee Eyes Bill to Make Colleges Stop Online File Sharing
>by Andrea Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education: 
>Wired Campus, February 25, 2008
><<http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2770/tennessee-eyes-bill-to-make-colleges-stop-online-file-sharing>http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2770/tennessee-eyes-bill-to-make-colleges-stop-online-file-sharing>
>
>The U.S. House of Representatives is not the 
>only legislative group that is trying to force 
>colleges to be aggressive in stopping students 
>who swap music and video files illegally online. 
>A bill introduced last month in the Tennessee 
>State Senate, SB 3974, would force public 
>colleges in the state to police their networks 
>to prevent illegal file sharing.
>
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>
>
>Chronicle Tech Forum: Campus Rights vs. Copyrights
>by Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Education: 
>The Wired Campus, February 25, 2008
><<http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2772/chronicle-tech-forum-campus-rights-vs-copyrights>http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2772/chronicle-tech-forum-campus-rights-vs-copyrights>
>
>Campus officials don't want to be cops. They 
>made that point loud and clear today in Tampa, 
>Fla., in a panel discussion about the digital 
>piracy of music and videos by college students. 
>But a law professor and a representative of the 
>movie industry told them that, in certain 
>circumstances, colleges didn't have much choice.
>
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>
>San Francisco Law School Comes to Aid of 
>Students Accused of Copyright Infringement
>by Andrea Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education: 
>Wired Campus, February 28, 2008
><<http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2783/san-francisco-law-school-comes-to-aid-of-students-accused-of-copyright-infringement>http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2783/san-francisco-law-school-comes-to-aid-of-students-accused-of-copyright-infringement>
>
>Another law school clinic is assisting college 
>students who have been accused of swapping music 
>files online in violation of copyright law. 
>Students taking part in an intellectual-property 
>project of the University of San Francisco 
>School of Law are counseling some students at 
>the university and at San Francisco State 
>University on how to respond to letters they 
>have received from the Recording Industry 
>Association of America, accusing them of 
>copyright infringement.
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>
>Blog: Intellectual Privilege: The Specter of Copyism v. Blockheaded Authors
>by Tom W. Bell, February 26, 2008
><<http://www.intellectualprivilege.com/blog/>http://www.intellectualprivilege.com/blog/>
>
>View the abstract for Bell's article titled, 
>"The Specter of Copyism v. Blockheaded Authors: 
>How User-Generated Content Affects Copyright 
>Policy"
>
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>
>
>Book Draft:  "Intellectual Privilege: Copyright, 
>Common Law, and the Common Good"
>by Professor Tom Bell
><<http://www.intellectualprivilege.com/book.html>http://www.intellectualprivilege.com/book.html>
>
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>
>Professional Development: Image Rights: Perspectives from Copyright Owners
>Visual Resources Association IPR Plenary 
>Session: VRA Annual Conference, San Diego, CA: 
>Wednesday, March 12, 2008
><<http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/sandiego2008/ataglance.html>http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/sandiego2008/ataglance.html>
>
>While copyright is a frequent and important 
>topic of discussion for VRA members, we may not 
>always have the opportunity to hear the 
>perspective of copyright owners with respect to 
>these issues. The VRA IP Committee proposes to 
>sponsor a session in which a panel of 
>representatives from artists' estates and other 
>copyright owners express their views on the use 
>of copyrighted works and images for educational 
>and scholarly purposes, what fair use means to 
>them (particularly in the online environment), 
>and other concerns and thoughts they might have 
>about the use of images of their works in the 
>digital environment. The speakers will also 
>touch on other issues of importance, such as the 
>integrity and quality of images, and having 
>proper attributions associated with the works. 
>One theme that will be explored through this 
>discussion is the possibility of broader 
>collaboration between educational users and 
>copyright owners of images, and whether - in the 
>aftermath of CONFU - there is any possibility 
>for thinking afresh about the use of copyrighted 
>images in the educational context.
>
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>
>Professional Development:  Copyright Monopoly: Playing the Innovation Game
>University of Maryland University College: 
>Center for Intellectual Property: 8th Annual 
>Symposium, May 28-30, 2008, Metro Washington, 
>D.C.
>
><<http://www.umuc.edu/CIP2008/>http://www.umuc.edu/CIP2008/>
>
>"Are you stuck on your next move? Join the 
>Center for Intellectual Property, a trusted 
>source of accessible professional development 
>programming, and learn how to create a winning 
>strategy for managing your creations and the use 
>of third party copyrighted works. Sit down with 
>noted scholars and practitioners exploring the 
>relationship between the U.S. copyright 
>monopoly, technological innovation and higher 
>education institutions."
>
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>
>Many thanks to all of our VRA-IPR members who 
>are monitoring multiple listservs to make this 
>IPR news posting possible. Please submit any 
>comments, questions, or suggestions to Jen Green 
>at jgreen at nhia.edu
>
>
>Jen Green, Assistant Librarian/Interim Director
>New Hampshire Institute of Art, Teti Library
><http://www.nhia.edu/>http://www.nhia.edu/


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