In The News

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

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DVD-copy software to be revamped
By Associated Press, Houston Chronicle.com, Feb. 28, 2004
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2425278

"NEW YORK  -- The maker of DVD-duplication software ruled in violation
of copyright law is nevertheless pledging to keep selling it -- but
without a built-in tool for descrambling movies."
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United Kingdom: Who Owns the Copyright? Dealing with "Silent" Contracts
By Kit Burden and Duncan Pithouse, 26 February 2004
http://www.mondaq.com/i_article.asp_Q_articleid_E_24599
(Registration Required)

"In R. Griggs Group Limited and Others v Ross Evans and Others [2003]
EWHC 2914 (Ch), a client was able to require an independent contractor
to assign the legal ownership of copyright in a commissioned piece of
work to it, even though there were no contractual provisions to this
effect and notwithstanding the usual vesting of copyright in the
"author", as per the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988."
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'Ripper' software circumvents DVD ruling
By Barry Fox, NewScientist.com, 27 February 04
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994727

"A US company selling software called DVD X Copy which bypasses
copyright protection mechanisms on DVDs has complied with a Californian
court order to rid the software of its "ripper".
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Ruling against DVD program latest twist in copyright law
By Mike Himowitz, Baltimore Sun, Feb 26, 2004
http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/custom/pluggedin/bal-pl.himowitz26feb26,0,3678479.column?coll=bal-business-indepth
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Court Overturns Ban on Posting DVD Descrambling Code, Finding a
Free-Speech Violation: No Evidence DeCSS Was a Trade Secret When Bunner
Published
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory,  For Immediate Release:
Friday, February 27, 2004
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/20040227_eff_pr.php

"San Jose, CA - A California appeals court today overturned as
unconstitutional a 1999 trade secret injunction against Andrew Bunner
that prohibited him from distributing the DeCSS DVD decryption computer
code, because the court found there was no evidence that the Content
scrambling System (CSS) encryption technology used in DVD movie disks
was still a trade secret by the time that Bunner posted DeCSS code on
his website. The Court held that the injunction therefore violated
Bunner's constitutional free-speech rights."
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Court doesn't extend database protection
By Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com February 26, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5165624.html

"In the first case of its kind, a federal court in New York has ruled
that one company's snatching of a database from a rival's Web site does
not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
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Malaysia Has to Do More to Fight Piracy, Microsoft Says
By Wong Choon Mei,  Feb 26, 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=4442893

"KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Software piracy remains big business in
Malaysia and the government must do more to fight the trade or risk
stunting the growth of its computer industry, a Microsoft Corp.
executive said on Thursday."
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The Answer to Piracy: Five Bucks?
By Katie Dean, Wirednews.com, Feb. 26, 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62434,00.html/wn_ascii

"SAN FRANCISCO -- Can $5 a month solve the file-sharing problem?
Perhaps, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The
digital-rights group recently proposed the idea of having file sharers
pay a monthly surcharge in exchange for the right to share away. The
charge would be voluntary and could be levied through the sharers'
Internet service provider, software client or university dorm fee. And
the money would go to the artists."
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EFF warns over harshness of EU content copyright directive
By Matt Whipp , [PC Pro]  25th February 2004
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=54179

"An imminent EU Directive could give intellectual property holders tough
new tools and punishments to exact on individuals that infringe
copyright accidentally, unintentionally and without profit motives,
warns the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)."