In The News

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

----------------------------------------------------------------

'50 years on, song in public domain'
 By Fiji Times Limited, May 30, 2004
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=2600

"FIFTY years after a composer died their songs become public domain and
anyone could use it in anyway they pleased, Fiji Performers Right
Association Chairman Eremasi Tamanisau Junior said."
------

Two movie studios sue online seller of DVD-copying software 
By Associated Press, Silicon Valley.com, May. 28, 2004
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8786701.htm

"ST. LOUIS-- Two Hollywood movie studios have sued an online retailer,
accusing Technology One of defiantly selling DVD-copying software
previously barred by two federal courts."
-------------

Will copyright reform chill use of Web? Copyright proposal upsets the
balance
By MICHAEL GEIST, Thestar.com, May 31, 2004
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1085955306392&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851

"In hindsight, the fall of 1998 may be remembered as the shining hour of
Canadian Internet policy development. Led by then-Industry Minister John
Manley, Canada played host to an OECD ministerial meeting on e-commerce,
tabled new privacy legislation, unveiled several e-commerce policy
initiatives, and committed to providing every Canadian school with
Internet access."
------------

Copyright lawsuit in China
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/11184.shtml

"The Music Copyright Society of China has filed a music copyright
lawsuit against the local handset manufacturer, Capitel accusing the
company of using copyrighted music for ringtones without permission of
the copyright holder."
----------

Sony casts Audible Magic for antipiracy push 
By Technews.com , May 28, 2004
http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5219580.html

"Audible Magic, a content-filtering company, announced on Friday a
wide-ranging agreement with Sony Music, aimed in part at improving tools
to combat peer-to-peer piracy. The record label will provide digital
"fingerprints" to Audible Magic, which creates technology that
identifies and blocks songs as they are transferred online through
file-swapping applications or other tools. Sony will also license
Audible Magic's song-identification software for use in its internal
operations, and the two companies will work together on an antipiracy
program targeted at universities, they said.
--------

Copyright and wrongs
By Mike Barton, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 29, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/28/1085641706426.html

"New technology arriving next month will allow consumers to burn onto
one disc as much data as a fully fledged DVD movie, including director's
cuts, 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound and all other extras."
------------

Keeping Mickey in the Private Domain
By Norman Solomon, Media Beat,  5/28/2004
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/990310.html

"Who's the leader of the club that's paid for you and me?
S-E-N-A-T-O-R L-O-T-T!
And you know what, boys and girls? Thanks to Trent Lott and others in
the Senate club, the big people at the Walt Disney Co. don't have to
worry about Mickey and his pals getting lost in a scary place called
"public domain."
-----------

Region mods safe in FTA
By Simon Hayes, australianit.news.com, MAY 25, 2004
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9650319%5E15321%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

"THE Federal Government has moved to reassure users of DVD players they
will not be restricted by a regional encoding system. Australian
copyright law bans the distribution of circumvention devices, but not
their use, and DVDs are encoded for regions in an attempt to restrict
their sale around the world. "
---------

Lawfirm Brings Charges Against Netizens for Copyright Infringement
By Dailynews, May.27,2004
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200405/200405270042.html

"According to a report by Munhwa Ilbo on Thursday, Dongnyuk Law firm
plans to bring
charges against 20 Korean Internet users for violating copyright laws.
Those netizens are accused of downloading and sharing singer Baek
Ji-young!/s music video !0Concert for Adults!1 and several movies
-including !0Kill Bill 2!1, !0The Grudge 2!1, and !0Shin Yukiguni!1- on
the Internet without permission."
-------------

'Pirate Act' raises civil rights concerns
By Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com May 26, 2004
http://news.com.com/'Pirate+Act'+raises+civil+rights+concerns/2100-1027_3-5220480.html?tag=nefd.lede

"File swappers concerned about getting in trouble with record labels
over illegal downloads may soon have a major new worry: the U.S.
Department of Justice. A proposal that the Senate may vote on as early
as next week would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against
suspected copyright infringers, with fines reaching tens or even
hundreds of thousands of dollars."