In The News

["Jack Boeve" <JBoeve@xxxxxxxx>]

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Supreme Court rules 'Shane' copyright won't come back. Daily Yomiuri
Online/AP. December 20, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2xgjdr

The Supreme Court rejected Tuesday a request by two film companies that
filed an appeal against two Tokyo production companies, including a DVD
company, to suspend the sales of cheap DVDs of the 1953 U.S. movie
"Shane." The companies, including Paramount Pictures Corp. of the United
States, had filed a lawsuit against the Tokyo firms over copyright
infringement.

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Blog: Is the ratchet really only one-way? By Georgia Harper,
Collectanea. December 19, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/yqsor3

I discovered a couple of papers recently that focused my attention on
the public domain, as what's left when copyright gets through with
"protecting" a work from, from, well, from what I am not sure any
longer, but Bill Patry's piece seemed to pull things together in a way
that compelled me to write about it all....But I also want to draw you
attention to two papers published recently on the subject of the one-way
ratchet, the continual lengthening of the term, the continual
heightening of the walls of protection.

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Blog: Copyright, Defamation, Bloggers, DMCA, Safe Harbors,
Cease-And-Desists And Anonymity... Oh My! By Mike Masnick, Techdirt.com.
December 19, 2007.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071219/020622.shtml

Well, here's a lawsuit that's got all the hot button issues going around
these days, and yet has received very little publicity. Both Eric
Goldman and Sam Bayard provide detailed legal breakdowns of what
happened (and it may take a couple reads to grasp all the details), but
let's try to summarize (some of it's good, some of it's bad).

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Blog: The Myth Of Finding A 'Balance' In Copyright Laws. By Mike
Masnick, Techdirt.com. December 19, 2007.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071214/184433.shtml

It never fails. During various battles over copyright laws, someone will
come along and present themselves as wanting to be the "moderate"
provider between the warring parties of "users" on one side and
"copyright holders" on the other side, declaring that what's really
needed is a good "balance" in copyright law that is fair to both sides.

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XM settles copyright suit filed by Universal. By Reuters. December 18,
2007.
http://tinyurl.com/yt9woe

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said Monday that it had settled a
copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Universal Music Group and hoped
to reach deals with other music companies. The dispute centers on XM's
portable Inno device, which can store and record music from satellite
radio.

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Copyright court fight leads 2008 playlist. By Deirdre McMurdy, The
Ottawa Citizen. December 17, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2zdeo6

Thousands of Canadians are likely to receive an iPod as a Christmas gift
again this year. But what they may not realize is that a gift so small
in size comes with a package of huge legal, financial and moral issues.

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Facebook more than just a cool tool for kids. By Michael Geist, Toronto
Star. December 17, 2007.
http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/286164

If 2006 was the year of YouTube, 2007 has been Facebook's year. The
growth of social media, led by Facebook, has taken the world by storm.
Since January, Facebook has added 250,000 new users each day. Canadians
have led the way, accounting for about 8 million of the site's nearly 60
million global users.

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Blog: CCC Seeks a New Formula With Launch of Copyright Labs. By Michael
LoPresti, Information Today. December 17, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/26fhs9

Ask a few chemists, mathematicians, or pastry chefs what problem-solving
methodology they turn to when insight and theory fall short. They're
likely to respond with a common answer. Trial and error, that age-old
approach to puzzling out dilemmas big and small, continues to be
employed in every laboratory, classroom, and kitchen on a daily basis.
When Copyright Clearance Center announced the launch of Copyright Labs
last week, it was a nod to that fact that even a nonprofit company in
the knowledge industry stands to gain from publicly testing new
applications to ensure that all of the wrinkles have been ironed out.

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Elvis release pulled in copyright row. By Reuters. December 17, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/yr5pqp

Music distributor Cargo Records has pulled the plug on an Elvis Presley
release after the singer's label threatened legal action, sources said.
In one of the clearest signs of Sony BMG Music Entertainment's tough
policy on enforcing the copyright of its vintage Presley works -- even
though some sound recordings have become part of the public domain --
the label pressured Cargo to withdraw "New York: RCA Studio 1: The
Complete Sessions".

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Press Release: Copyright Registration for the Arts Community. PRWeb.com.
December 14, 2007
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/12/prweb576477.htm

Artists frequently sacrifice their financial well-being to focus on
their artwork. Whether it is a lack of customers or because they funnel
any extra money toward art projects, many live on a limited income. As a
result, it is not uncommon for artists to forgo spending the fee to
register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office, especially if it
means getting an expensive lawyer to help.

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What the Creative in 'Creative Commons' Really Means. By Matt Safford,
PC Magazine. December 14, 2007.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2234809,00.asp

At the turn of the millennium, Stanford law professor and cyber-law
expert Lawrence Lessig had an idea. In the midst of a Supreme Court case
arguing that the latest lengthening of American copyright laws was
unconstitutional, Lessig decided that if he couldn't stop the
strengthening of copyright law, which was extended by an additional
twenty years in 1998, he would help create an alternative.

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Blog: A brief history of the new Copyright Act (so far).  By David
George-Cosh, FP Posted. December 14, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/27efx7

It should be safe to say that Governor-General Michaelle Jean had no
idea that her brief mention of copyright reform in October's Throne
Speech would spark a debate over what the updated Copyright Act should
look like.

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Blog: Why copyright laws must get even tougher. By Jack Kapica, Globe
and Mail. December 14, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/ywuehf

While Canadians tremble with anticipation at the arrival of new
copyright legislation, the Americans are doing the same. Again. And
while we're concerned that our new legislation might be even more
imbalanced than the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Americans
are preparing to toughen up their 10-year-old DMCA to make the penalties
for copyright infringement even more stringent.

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How did copyright become cool? By Ivor Tossell, Globe and Mail. December
13, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2u6xy6

When did copyright law become sexy? Jim Prentice must be wondering. This
week, Canada's freshly shuffled Industry Minister was set to table new
copyright legislation that could have completely changed the
relationship between Canadians and their digital media. But then he
backed down, at least until the end of the year.

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Lawmakers raise questions about copyright enforcement bill. By Grant
Gross, IDG News Service/MacWorld. December 13, 2007.
http://www.macworld.com/article/131068/2007/12/lawmakers.html

A handful of lawmakers, law professors and consumer groups have raised
objections to a new U.S. copyright bill that could significantly
increase the fines for copyright infringement.

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DOJ Blasts New 'Copyright Czar' Bill. By Chloe Albanesius, PC Magazine.
December 13, 2007.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2234098,00.asp

The Department of Justice on Thursday slammed intellectual property
legislation that would re-organize its IP enforcement structure, calling
it unnecessary and counterproductive to the work it has already
accomplished.

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Perspective: 'Tis the season for common sense copyright. By Maura
Corbett, CNET News. December 13, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/yrd2hh

It's the season of giving, and the House Judiciary Committee could give
consumers, innovators, and artists what they are asking for--fair and
balanced copyright reform--and even give a holiday boost to our
technology-driven economy.

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(C)ollectanea Blog. Collected perspectives on copyright.
http://chaucer.umuc.edu/blogcip/collectanea/
Center for Intellectual Property, UMUC