Add to the circus: Amazon's caving in on the issue of TTS (text to speech) function on its Kindle e-book reader. A serious infringement of readers' rights:
http://news.cnet.com/amazon-retreats-on-kindles-text-to-speech-issue/ http://www.lessig.org/blog/2009/02/caving_into_bullies_aka_here_w.html "We're worse off with the Kindle because if ... publishers get to control a right which Congress hasn't given them -- the right to control whether I can read my book to my kid, or my Kindle can read a book to me -- users and innovators have less freedom. And we may be worse off with Google Books, because (in ways not clear when the settlement was first reported) the consequence of the class action mechanism may well disable users and innovators from doing what fair use plainly entitled Google to do." Amalyah Keshet ________________________________ -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Diane M. Zorich Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 6:09 PM To: mcn-l at toronto.mediatrope.com Subject: [MCN-L] Fwd: VRA Intellectual Property Rights News: February 2009 The latest IP news from Jen Green via the VRA list... Wow, things are really getting "curiouser and curiouser". From Damien Hirst's threatened suit against a young collage artist (recently discussed by Amalyah Keshet on the Musematic blog - http://musematic.net/?p=599 and in articles noted below) to YouTube's takedown (on the insistence of Warner Brothers) of a young girl singing "Winter Wonderland". You can't make this stuff up. ________________________________ >Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 07:39:47 -0500 >Reply-To: Visual Resources Association <VRA-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU> >IPR-In the News >Compiled by Jen Green, Massachusetts College of Art + Design >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Thousands Sign Petition Demanding Cell Phone Freedom Electronic >Frontier Foundation, February 2, 2009 >http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/02/02-0 > >"EFF submitted a petition to the U.S. Copyright Office signed by more >than 8200 people demanding that the office lift the legal cloud hanging >over cell phone customers who modify their phones." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >YouTube Copyright System Gone Mad, EFF Prepares to Sue by Marshall >Kirkpatrick, Read Write Web, February 3, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/c7ncrj > >"YouTube and Warner Brothers have broken a little girl's heart by >deleting a video of her singing the copyrighted song "Winter >Wonderland," and the Electronic Frontier Foundation isn't going to take >it anymore." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >YouTube's January Fair Use Massacre >by Fred von Lohmann, Electronic Frontier Foundation, February 3, 2009 >http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/01/youtubes-january-fair-use-massacre > >"Fair use has always been at risk on YouTube, thanks to abusive DMCA >takedown notices sent by copyright owners (sometimes carelessly, >sometimes not). But in the past several weeks, two things have made >things much worse for those who want to sing a song, post an a capella >tribute, or set machinima to music." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >AP Alleges Copyright Infringement of Obama Image by Hillel Italie, AP >National Writer, Yahoo News, February 4, 2009 >http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_en_ot/obama_poster;_ylt=Av > >"On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during >last year's presidential >campaign: A pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, >splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the >caption HOPE." > >See also below: "AP Goes After Obama Artist for Copyright Violation" >and "Artist Sues The A.P. >Over Obama Image" >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >UK Copyright Holder Getting Creative in Quest for Royalties Zero Paid, >February 4, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/ajr55z > >"The UK Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS), a copyright holder >group that collects royalty payments for songwriters and composers, is >going after workplaces where anybody other than the one listening to a >radio can hear it." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Digital Pirates Winning Battle with Studios by Brian Stelter and Brad >Stone, New York Times, February 4, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/b4rpd4 > >"On the day last July when "The Dark Knight" >arrived in theaters, Warner Brothers was ready with an ambitious >antipiracy campaign that involved months of planning and steps to >monitor each physical copy of the film." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >RIAA Drops Lawsuits but Keeps the 'Takedown' Notices Coming by Sara >Lipka, The Chronicle of Higher >Education: Wired Campus February 4, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/alng6m > >"The Recording Industry Association of America announced in December >that it was shifting gears and would stop suing groups of students for >alleged illegal file sharing. So what is it doing now?" >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Blog: Idiot Copyright Holders >by Ryan J. Davis, Huffington Post, February 5, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/as6m6c > >"In 1947 Tennessee Williams wrote a masterpiece of a play, Streetcar >Named Desire, which has been a major part of the American dramatic >cannon for over sixty years. It's now 2009 and Mark Sam Rosenthal has >put together a satirical look at the government's response to Hurricane >Katrina through the eyes of Blanche DuBois, Streetcar's leading lady. >The play, Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire, is a >one person drag performance that didn't really work for me - but >certainly is not in any way infringement on Tennessee Williams' >intellectual property." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Copyright Alliance and AAP Welcome Re-introduction of Anti-open Access >Bill by Peter Suber, Public Knowledge, February 6, 2009 >http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1981 > >"Two publisher groups which supported the Conyers bill the last time >around are supporting it again. No surprises here." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >AP Goes After Obama Artist for Copyright Violation by Gene Quinn, IP >Watchdog, February 6, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/c2qt69 > >"A Los-Angeles based street artist named Shepard Fairey created what >many would say was one of the most enduring images of the 2008 >Presidential Campaign, a poster of Barack Obama with a stern and >confident look gazing slightly upward and to his left. The trouble >with this poster is that is based on a copyrighted photo taken by the >Associated Press, and the Associated Press wants to be paid for the use >of the photograph." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Artist Sues The A.P. Over Obama Image >by Randy Kennedy, New York Times, February 9, 2009 >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/arts/design/10fair.html > >In a pre-emptive strike, the street artist Shepard Fairey filed a >lawsuit on Monday against The Associated Press, asking a federal judge >to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in >his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous campaign >poster image of President Obama. >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Judge: Psystar Can Claim Apple 'Copyright Misuse.' >by Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News, February 9, 2009 >http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10159450-37.html > >"A federal judge is letting Mac clone maker Psystar amend its legal >defense against Apple." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Berlin: Germany Rejects Three-Strikes Piracy Plan by Wolfgang Spahr, >Billboard.biz, February 10, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/bd9l4z > >"The German federal government has decided against embracing the >Olivennes Agreement - the French model for combating illegal >file-sharing activities. The French three-strikes scheme would cut off >the ISP connections of repeat offenders who violated copyright by >illegally downloading content." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Artists Flout Copyright Law to Attack Damien Hirst Telegraph.co.uk, >February 13, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/b2pjtm > >"Damien Hirst's work has been being 'ripped off' >by a group of artists who want to make a point about the >multimillionaire's stringent use of copyright law." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Amazon.com's Kindle 2 Faces Possible Copyright Battle by Nicholas >Kolakowski, eWeek.com, February 13, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/cw92f6 > >"Amazon.com's Kindle 2 mobile electronic reader had a buzz-heavy Feb. >13 launch with Jeff Bezos and Stephen King. But now The Authors Guild >says the Kindle 2's text-to-speech feature could violate authors' audio >book copyrights." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Record Labels Make ISPs 'Copyright Cops' for Piracy by Kristen >Schweizer and Adam Satariano, Bloomberg.com, February 13, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/cxp3pb > >"The world's biggest record companies sued college students, a >12-year-old girl and a dead woman and still failed to stamp out music >piracy. Now they're turning to Internet service providers." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >New From YouTube: Free Downloads of College Lectures by David Sheih, >Chronicle of Higher Educaiton: Wired Campus, February 13, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/dk4noo > >"YouTube began testing a new feature that lets users download videos >posted to the site from partner institutions - including colleges - >rather than just watching the videos in a streaming format. That means >people can grab lectures from Duke and Stanford Universities and >several institutions in the University of California system to watch >any time, with or without an Internet connection." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >The Pirate Bay Trial to Begin in Sweden by Peter Musil, CNET News, >February 15, 2009 http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10164777-93.html > >"File-swappers are expected to be keeping their eyes on a court in >Sweden this week as a landmark copyright-infringement trial gets under >way." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Could You Go to Jail for Jailbreaking Your iPhone? >by Saul Hansell, New York Times, February 16, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/ao7s34 > >"There is something deeply exasperating about the debate, spotlighted >Thursday, about whether unlocking an iPhone violates Apple's copyright >on the cellphone's software. There's a real issue at stake, but it >isn't fundamentally about copyrights." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Pirate Bay Joy at Charge Change >BBC News, February 17, 2009 >http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7895026.stm > >"Half of the charges leveled at the founders of the Pirate Bay >file-sharing site have been dropped." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Mozilla Backs Move to Decriminalize iPhone Jailbreaking by Gregg >Keizer, PC World, February 17, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/aoayyu > >"Firefox unwelcome on the iPhone, says CEO, who says 'choice shouldn't >be criminalized.'" >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Agreement Reached on Internet Music Royalty Rates by Rachel Metz, AP, >Washington Post, February 17, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/cldobr > >"A group that collects royalties for music artists and recording >companies has agreed to reduce rates for thousands of commercial radio >stations that also play songs over the Internet." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Blog: (c) ollectania: Just when you thought you'd heard enough about >Shepherd Fairey and the AP by Peter Jaszi, February 18, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/dafyqy > >"As you'll discover quickly, I'm a big fan and promoter of fair use -- >a user-friendly doctrine in our copyright law that is too often >misunderstood and (more critically) underutilized. A lot of my work in >the last five years has been around getting different practice >communities to recognize and own their fair use rights, and I'll be >blogging about the resultant "Best Practices" in fair use documents >sometime soon. Today, however, I want to suggest (somewhat >uncharacteristically) that the fair use handle may not be the best one >(or, at least, not the only one), by which to pick up the by now >widely-publicized controversy between the street artist turned culture >hero Shepherd Fairey and the Associated Press." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use >by Brad Stone and Brian Stelter, New York Times, February 18, 2009 >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/technology/internet/19facebook.html?_ >r=2&hp > >"After three days of pressure from angry users and the threat of a >formal legal complaint by a coalition of consumer advocacy groups, the >company reversed changes to its contract with users that had appeared >to give it perpetual ownership of their contributions to the service." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Delta Sued for Inflight Wifi Service >by Kelly Yamanouchi, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 18, >2009 http://tinyurl.com/bku47k > >"Ashland, Mass.-based Ambit Corp., a technology development firm, >claims in its suit that Atlanta-based Delta and Wi-Fi provider Aircell >LLC infringe on its patent for a "system for enabling communication >from personal computer communication devices located within a passenger >vehicle to a distant communication system located outside of said >passenger vehicle," >using antennae on the devices." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Fairy Use >by Chloe Johnson, The Wire, February 19, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/cbn8jj > >"As a freelance photographer covering Capital Hill and last year's >presidential campaigns, Mannie Garcia saw the chin-up image of Barack >Obama in "Hope" posters daily-without realizing it was his photo that >inspired it. >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Obama Administration Mulls Constitutionality of Copyright Act by David >Kravets, Wired Blog Network, February 19, 2009 >http://tinyurl.com/aox7pa > >"In a few weeks, we'll likely know the Obama administration's position >on whether it supports hefty monetary awards in file sharing litigation >brought by the Recording Industry Association of America." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >New Zealand Copyright Protest Blockades Parliament by Juha Saarinen, >ZDNet.com.au, February 19, 2009 >http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-270800.html > >"The fight over the controversial amendments to New Zealand's copyright >law is heating up." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Webcasters: Still (!) No Deal on Streaming Royalties by John Timmer, >Ars Technica, February 19, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/dkjx7h > >"The Webcaster Settlement Act gave those running Internet audio streams >until this week to come to an agreement regarding royalties for the >music used. Although public and traditional radio stations have cut >licensing deals with SoundExchange, Internet-only stations remain >unable to come to terms." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Judge Recognizes 'Hot News' Issue in Copyright Action by AP Service by >Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal, February 23, 2009 >http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428484361 > >"Harking back to a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court decision, a Manhattan >federal judge has recognized the right of The Associated Press to claim >a property right in the "hot news" it distributes." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >Library Associations Oppose Repealing Public Access Bill, Urge Action >Information Today Inc., February 23, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/czrkzt > >"The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, H.R. >801(http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.801:), >recently introduced by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., would repeal the NIH >Public Access Policy and prevent other federal agencies from enacting >similar open access policies." >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------------------------------- > >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 >jen.green at massart.edu -- Diane M. Zorich 113 Gallup Road Princeton, NJ 08542 USA Voice: 609-252-1606 Fax: 609-252-1607 Email: dzorich at mindspring.com or dianezorich at comcast.net _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
