In the News

["Jack Boeve" <JBoeve@xxxxxxxx>]

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Report: Japan to propose copyright fees on iPods, digital hard disk
recorders. International Herald Tribune/AP, May 6, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4ld86s

The Japanese government will propose this week a plan to charge
copyright royalties on sales of iPods and other portable digital music
players, as well as on digital hard disk recorders, a major daily
newspaper reported Tuesday.

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Media mogul Redstone says international attitudes on copyright
protection improving. International Herald Tribune/AP, May 6, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4sy2qj

U.S. media mogul Sumner Redstone said Tuesday that attitudes toward
protecting entertainment copyrights internationally are improving as
authorities see the benefits of safeguarding the growing value of
domestic products.

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Shuttleworth sponsors copyright probe. By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb, May
6, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4su8mk

The Shuttleworth Foundation and the Canadian International Development
Research Centre will, for the next two years, fund research in eight
African countries on the relationship between copyright and education.

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CCC Conference Examines Copyright Issues From Four Distinct Angles. By
Michael LoPresti, Econtent, May 6, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4gz3lz

Copyright Clearance Center hosted its first-ever copyright conference at
the Union League Club in New York City last Thursday. OnCopyright 2008
was an engaging, cerebral affair that featured four long panel
discussions, each of which examined copyright issues from a different
perspective, including technology, society, law, and the arts.

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Press Release: Artist Urges Creators to Fight Proposed Copyright
Legislation. By Mark Simon, PRWeb, May 5, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3t7xds

The Orphan Works Act of 2008 is about to reverse 32 years of copyright
protection. The new Bill before Congress will allow legal infringement
on every photo, graphic image and sculpture. Artist Advocate Mark Simon
warns all people that they may see their personal photos used in
national campaigns without their permission.

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Blog: Real-world experience important for politicians and other policy
makers/promoters. By Rusell McOrmond, ITWorld Canada, May 5, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3p7nf7

Reading a press release from Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus, you
will see the following: "Angus is one of the only MPs who has relied on
income from copyright royalties from music, book and textbook sales to
make a living. He says the New Democratic Party strongly supports fair
remuneration for artists but that copyright must be looking forward to
the 21st century reality rather than attempting to force consumers back
to an obsolete 20th century business model."

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House passage for copyright czar likely. By Brooks Boliek, The Hollywood
Reporter, May 5, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3kqr22

The full U.S. House is expected to approve a bill establishing a
"copyright czar" in the White House to oversee the myriad of
intellectual property programs run by the federal government. Under the
bill, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative would
have broad power to direct and implement the federal government's
policies to combat IP piracy. The USIPER would have cabinet status on
par with the U.S. Trade Representative.

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Blog: Fight for your writes. By Zoe Margolis, The Guardian, May 4, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5n68as

There's currently an interesting debate happening on (fellow member of
The Observer's Top 50 Most Powerful Blogs in the World) JonnyB's blog
about whether a newspaper has the right to publish excerpts from a blog
without permission or payment.

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Blog: RIAA Sucker Punched: "Making Available" Theory Shot Down. By Tom
Corelis, Daily Tech, May 2, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/669lw6

Arizona District Court Judge Neil V. Wake dealt a heady blow to the RIAA
last Monday, striking down its popular "making available" theory as
insufficient grounds for accusations of copyright infringement.

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Criminals try to "copyright" malware. By Jordan Robertson, AP, May 1,
2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5fa4b3

Even criminal hackers want to protect their intellectual property, and
they've come up with a method akin to copyrighting - with an appropriate
dash of Internet thuggery thrown in. Professional virus writers are now
selling a suite of software on the Internet with an unusual attachment:
a detailed licensing agreement that promises penalties for
redistributing the malicious code without permission.

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Blog: Analysis: Despite Blogosphere Reports, RIAA Retains Legal Muscle
Under Howell Decision. By David Kravets, Wired Blog Network, April 30,
2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6zntv5

The blogosphere is celebrating a recent Arizona federal judge's decision
that, at first glance, seems to portend the death of the Recording
Industry Association of America's thousands of pending copyright
infringement lawsuits against Kazaa file-sharers. But that's simply not
the truth. In fact, the opposite might be true under Monday's ruling by
U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake.

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Blog: Universities Baffled By Massive Surge In RIAA Copyright Notices.
By Ryan Singel, Wired Blog Network, April 30, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6y4u6y

In the last 10 days, universities around the country have seen more than
a 20-fold increase in the number of filesharing takedown notices from
the recording industry, in an unexplained spike that seems focused on
colleges in the Midwest. The spike is not matched by an increase in
actual file sharing.

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Five copyright myths and the countries that love them. By Nate Anderson,
Ars Technica, April 30, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3vm6lt

Law professor Michael Geist, one of the leading Canadian authorities on
copyright, gave a talk this week to the Public Policy Forum in which he
tackled five major copyright myths. All take aim at the idea that Canada
needs a major new set of IP protections to "keep up" with the rest of
world.

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US Man Gets 30 Months in Prison for 'warez' Operation. By Grant Gross,
IDG News Service/PC World, April 30, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/699um4

A Woodbury, Connecticut, man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison
for operating Web sites where users could download unauthorized copies
of movies, music and software titles, the U.S. Department of Justice
announced.

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Zimbabwe: More Needed to Develop Viable Copyright Sector. By Stephen
Chifunyise, The Herald, April 30, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/59rjh3

On 23 April artists, the world over commemorated World Copyrights Day,
this is the day the world remembered the critical lace of intellectual
property rights in the development of viable and sustainable creative
industries in the world. In Zimbabwe, it was a day to recognise that a
lot still needs to be done to ensure the growth and development of a
viable copyright industry.

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Blog: RIAA files copyright suit against Project Playlist. By Greg
Sandoval, CNET News, April 28, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6jy9wd

The recording industry filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that Project
Playlist, a company that provides an embeddable music player used at
MySpace and Facebook, has violated its copyright.

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Record companies sue Project Playlist on copyright. AP, April 28, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6qq57a

Nine major record labels filed suit against an online music provider on
Monday, accusing Project Playlist Inc of a "massive infringement" of
their copyrights to the songs of artists such as U2 and Gwen Stefani.

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Canadian Federation of Students issues statement on copyright reform.
CNW Group, April 28, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6es8bd

A balance between the rights of creators and users has to be a
cornerstone of a revised Copyright Act, according to a statement
released today from Canada's largest students' organisation.

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