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From the Committee for Economic Development: “Promoting Innovation and Economic Growth: The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property, a new CED policy statement is now available. The statement includes an overview of copyright law and business innovation, as well as recommendations for overcoming the challenges inherent in digital media. Developing and testing new business models …
From an EFF press release this afternoon: “A California appeals court today overturned a 1999 injunction against Andrew Bunner that prohibited him from distributing the DeCSS DVD decryption computer code, because the court found there was no evidence that DVD Content Scrambling System (CSS) technology was still a trade secret by the time that Bunner …
From an EFF press release today: “…a California federal court sided with the major motion picture studios in ruling that a company creating tools people can use to make backup copies of their DVDs is liable under copyright law. Citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the court ordered 321 Studios, creator of DVD backup …
From the statement: “Microsoft is sending letters explaining to individuals who have already downloaded the source code that such actions are in violation of the law. Additionally, Microsoft has instituted the use of alerts on several peer-to-peer clients where such illegal sharing of the source code has taken place. These alerts are designed to inform …
From the Federal Register: February 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 25), Page 5693-5702: “The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is announcing final regulations that set rates and terms for the public performance of a sound recording made pursuant to a statutory license by means of certain eligible nonsubscription transmissions and digital transmissions made …
From the Copyright Office, January 26, 2004: “Upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, the Librarian of Congress is accepting in full the determination of the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) in the Phase I distribution of the 1998 and 1999 cable royalty funds and is announcing the final Phase I distribution of those …
From the Sunday, January 25 New York Times Magazine, The Tyranny of Copyright? reviews the impact of the Internet in the context of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Copyright Term Extension Act, the Copy Left movement, and the Creative Commons.
Today the House Judiciary Committee passed the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act, H.R. 3261. The bill has the backing of global publishers Reed Elsevier and Thomson Corp. The Committee’s press release See my previous postings on the legislation here. House Panel Sparks Database Controversy
From the EFF advisory, Recording Industry Announces Lawsuits Against Music Sharers: “Continuing a crusade against its own customers, the recording industry today announced lawsuits against more than five hundred individuals accused of illegal filesharing. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced it would seek the identity of “John Does” known by the addresses of …
Copyright Office Announces Voluntary Negotiation Period for Rates and Terms for Digital Performance Right in Sound Records and Ephemeral Recordings. [Link]: “The Copyright Office announces the initiation of the voluntary negotiation period for determining reasonable rates and terms for two compulsory licenses for the period beginning January 1, 2005, and ending on December 31, 2006. …
Ten music downloaders in Colorado have settled copyright infringement lawsuits by the RIAA by agreeing to pay fines of up to $4,000 each. [Link]
Sharp decline in music file swapping: Data memo from PIP and comScore Media Metrix, January 4, 2004 (link to full-text of the memo including graphics, in pdf). From the data memo: “The percentage of online Americans downloading music files on the Internet has dropped by half and the numbers who are downloading files on any …
