In The News

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

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Selected Universities Report Taking Action to Reduce Copyright
Infringement
Highlights of GAO-04-503, a report to congressional requesters
May 2004
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04503high.pdf

"To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Linda Koontz at (202)
512-6240 or koontzlj@xxxxxxxx"
*
Study:
GAO United States General Accounting Office
Report to Congressional Requesters, May 2004 
FILE SHARING: Selected Universities Report Taking Action to Reduce
Copyright Infringement
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04503.pdf
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Kuwaiti lawyers call for amending country's copyright laws
By ameinfo.com, United Arab Emirates, June 12 - 2004
http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/41022.html

"At a conference on 'Protection of Intellectual Property' held recently
in Kuwait, the Lawyers' Society of Kuwait have issued a call for
amending the country's copyright laws to ensure better protection of
Intellectual Property rights (IPR) in the country's markets."
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Hi-Def Radio Static Over Copyright Protection
By Bill Holland, Reuters.com, Jun 11, 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=5404842

"WASHINGTON (Billboard) - The Recording Industry Assn. of America has
been working behind the scenes here for several months to obtain
copyright protection measures for sound recordings transmitted on a
high-definition digital radio service."
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Copyright: A Mesopotamian issue
By Ellen Whyte, Thejakartapost.com, June 14, 2004
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20040614.P04&irec=4

"Copyright is one of the hottest issues today. But did you know that one
of the oldest copyright notices was written more than 5,000 years ago,
in the dusty plains of Ancient Mesopotamia?"
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Government to Speed Up Amendments to the Copyright Act
By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka in Darwendale, The Herald (Harare), June 11,
2004
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406110327.html

"Government will soon speed up amendments to the Copyright Act with a
view of protecting the rights of artistes, the permanent secretary in
the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr David
Mangota has said."
*
OPINION: Copyrights: Who's Fooling Who?
By The Herald (Harare), June 11, 2004
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406110331.html

":We meet at a time when the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe is
concluding a stakeholders' workshop on Copyright and Neighbouring Act at
the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management in
Darwendel. What a timely intervention from the arts regulatory and
management body!"
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TALKS on broadcast rights may lead to new pact
By Financial Times - London,England,UK
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1086445588409
(Registration Required)

"... confident that differences on this important issue can be narrowed
in a reasonable time frame," said Rita Hayes, deputy director-general in
charge of copyright"
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Proposal would extend broadcasters' rights
By SAM CAGE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 10, 2004
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=UN%20Broadcast%20Copyright

"GENEVA -- A U.N. body recommended on Thursday extending broadcasters'
rights to control public use of their material, a move critics called a
blatant power grab by media companies."
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British Library opens online newsagent
By Computer Buyer, 11th June 2004
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=58866

"Read all about it. The nineteenth century, that is - the British
Library is to make digital copies of old newspapers accessible online.
The #2m project will cover 100 years of news from titles which are out
of copyright."
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European Copyright Law Explained
By DVD-recordable.org, Jun 10, 2004
http://www.dvd-recordable.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1343&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

"A new website has been launched which aims to calrify the murky area of
the European Union legislation as regards copyright and how that
legislation is implemented amongst the European member states. The EUCD,
European Union Copyright Directive, legislation is basically a European
version of American DMCA legislation, allowing content owners to
restrict consumers' ability to use, backup or modify content that they
have purchased by making it illegal to circumvent technical copy
protection measures."
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Music industry launches illegal downloading blitz
By expatica.com, 9 June 2004
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=8327

"COTTBUS - Germany's music industry has launched a blitz on illicit
downloading with a German already fined and ordered to pay damages for
illegal file sharing."
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IBM faces copyright infringement suit
By Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com June 9, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1007_3-5229785.html

"Software company Zero-Knowledge Systems has filed a copyright
infringement complaint against IBM, alleging it wrongfully reproduced
its privacy language specification."
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Song-swappers settle out of court
By BBC News.org, 8 June, 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3786547.stm

"Eighteen file-sharers in Europe have so far settled out of court as
part of the music industry's legal action against 200 illegal
song-swappers."
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Digital signatures added to PDF documents
By David Becker, CNET News.com June 8, 2004
http://news.com.com/2110-1012_3-5228673.html

"Publishing software maker Adobe Systems announced a partnership Tuesday
with authentication company Identrus to add secure digital signatures to
documents based on Adobe's portable document format (PDF). Identrus will
integrate its SimpleSign service with Adobe's Acrobat applications for
creating PDF files."