In the News

["Jack Boeve" <JBoeve@xxxxxxxx>]

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RECENT ITEMS FROM THE CIP COLLECTANEA BLOG:

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Blog: Works Made for Hire; Law Made for Confusion. By Kenny Crews,
Collectanea, May 15, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3wxkfz

In my entry about Orphan Works, I used the example of the stranger who
takes a picture of the family at the Grand Canyon. One reader asked:
"Couldn't you just consider the photograph a 'work for hire,' as you
'employed' the stranger to take it on your behalf?" (First, I hope and
trust that my copying of that sentence is within fair use, I hope and
trust.... Moving on...) the law of WMFH is highly counter-intuitive.

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Blog: Orphan Works: A Rant. By Kenny Crews, Collectanea, May 12, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/528uhq

I went to the Grand Canyon and found a copyright dilemma. I will
explain. Much has has been written about the Orphan Works bills that
were introduced into Congress in recent weeks. A simple Internet search
will connect you to the bills themselves and a host of opinions about
them.

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Blog: Yoko Ono Lennon, as an artist, on the wrong side of a fair use
claim? By Georgia Harper, Collectanea, May 14, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/44p968

Anthony Falzone posts at Stanford's Center for Internet and Society that
the Center will represent the producers of the controversial film,
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed: Fair Use Project to Represent Premise
Media Against Yoko Ono Lennon and EMI Records. The plaintiffs in this
case want an injunction and they want the 15 second clip of John
Lennon's "Imagine" removed from the film. No mention of damages.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

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Little Orphan Artworks. By Lawrence Lessig, New York Times, May 20,
2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3kvtfm

Congress is considering a major reform of copyright law intended to
solve the problem of "orphan works" - those works whose owner cannot be
found. This "reform" would be an amazingly onerous and inefficient
change, which would unfairly and unnecessarily burden copyright holders
with little return to the public.

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Blog: In defense of ample copyright. By Megan McArdle, The Atlantic, May
19, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5vzj3s

My understanding is that the French took a stronger line on IP precisely
because the abolishment of copyright around the time of the French
Revolution had bankrupted much of the publishing industry and resulted
in a race to the bottom that destroyed the market for new works;
commission a book, and if it failed you'd take the loss, whereas if it
succeeded, your rivals would copy it within weeks.

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Blog: What Is A Fair Copyright Term? By Alex Knapp, OutsideTheBeltway,
May 19, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3uu4sp

Without defending our current copyright terms, I think that this
demonstrates a complete ignorance of the IP world today. This is not
medieval England. It only takes a handful of real world examples to
demonstrate that.

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Blog: College Allows File-Sharing for Students Who Ace Copyright Law
Test. ZeroPaid.com, May 19, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/42ggqo

Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla, enables P2P
access for 6 hours on a user's on-campus registered PC if they get a
perfect score on a copyright infringement quiz.

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Iran should sign intl. copyright treaties: publisher. MehrNews.com, May
19, 2008.
http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=686275

The managing director of Iran's Qoqnus publishing company said that
Iranian publishing companies face problems because of the infringement
of copyrights in Iran. "International authors do not trust Iranian
publishing companies, and this is one of the consequences of the
violation of copyright laws in Iran," Amir Hosseinzadegan told MNA on
Monday.

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Who needs copyright, anyway? By John Degen, Globe and Mail, May 17,
2008.
http://tinyurl.com/3enr4h

Canada is locked in an epic and bloody war over copyright, or so we're
led to believe. Corporations, consumers and artists fight over new
technologies and the content they deliver. I used to believe in this war
myself, even fancied myself a bit of a warrior. But recently, the noise
of battle has begun to sound more and more inconsequential, like an
argument over directions between two people without a map. In fact,
there is no great copyright crisis in our culture. The panic is false.

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Blog: Danish Copyright Censorship Proposal Revealed. By Ben Jones,
TorrentFreak, May 17, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6dcx63

In February a Danish court forced ISP Tele2 to block its subscribers
from accessing The Pirate Bay, following a similar order late last year
to block allofmp3.com. A new proposal before the Danish government would
mean that such actions would be quick and easy to do, without the need
for a single court hearing.

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Japan uses copyright conviction to crack down on student who allegedly
spread computer virus. AP Digital/The Age, May 16, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5xtbya

A student who had allegedly spread a computer virus was convicted Friday
of copyright infringement charges in a case that has highlighted the
lack of laws in Japan to police malicious programs in cyberspace.

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RIAA Setback: Making Music Available May Not Be Copyright Infringement.
By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek, May 15, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6fpapn

A district judge may order a new trial in a music file-sharing suit that
won record companies $222,000 for copyright infringement. The act of
making music available online may not be a copyright violation after
all. And if that's the case, Jammie Thomas of Minnesota may not have to
pay the $222,000 judgment won by record companies last year, an amount
Thomas' attorneys argue is unconstitutionally excessive.

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Starbucks Sued for Breach of Music Copyright. Chosun Ilbo, May 15, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5l8oa4

The Korea Music Copyright Association filed a lawsuit against Starbucks
Coffee Korea on Wednesday, demanding the chain pay copyright fees for
the music played in its outlets.

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Blog: "Happy Birthday to You" copyright in dispute. By John Lucas,
Straight.com, May 15, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4gpx83

Ever wonder why, during birthday scenes in movies and TV shows, you
never hear anyone singing "Happy Birthday to You"? It's because
producers are loath to pay the hefty licensing fees (reportedly as high
as US$10,000) for the four-line ditty, the rights to which are owned by
Warner/Chappell Music and the descendants of the song's authors, Mildred
and Patty Hill... or are they?

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Blog: Copyright As An Engine Of Free Expression? By Mike Masnick,
Techdirt.com, May 15, 2008.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080514/0233311107.shtml

I recently bought a copy of the new book by professor Neil Netanel
called Copyright's Paradox. From what I've heard and seen so far, it
looks like a well-balanced book that explores what's good and what's bad
about copyright.

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LDS Church alleges Web site violated its copyright. By Lisa Carricaburu,
The Salt Lake Tribune, May 14, 2008.
http://origin.sltrib.com/news/ci_9259156

A Web site that publishes anonymous submissions of difficult-to-obtain
or private documents describes the LDS Church Handbook of Instructions a
source sent it as significant because "the book is strictly confidential
among the Mormon . . . bishops and stake presidents and it reveals the
procedure of handling confidential matters related to tithing payment,
excommunication, baptism and doctrine teaching [indoctrination]." The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn't see anything
particularly secretive or sinister about the handbook used as a
reference by church leaders, but that doesn't mean it wants it to remain
available on Wikileaks or Web sites operated by the Wikimedia
Foundation.

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Blog: How YouTube's sucking up to Modest Mouse (and other giants of
media). ValleyWag.com, May 14, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5bkge6

An eagle-eyed Valleywag tipster with a taste for Modest Mouse spotted an
interesting new feature on YouTube. Uploads of music videos from the
band by non-official sources now carry a link reading "Contains content
from Sony BMG," which leads users to the official Modest Mouse page on
the site.

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New Canadian copyright bill on downloading delayed. CTV/The Canadian
Press, May 14, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4w7kl4

It looks like Canadians may have to wait at least a few more months to
find out if they will be allowed to legally copy compacts discs, record
television shows, or rip music to their MP3 players.

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Blog: Royalty Logic Seeks To Prove Copyright Board Unconstitutional. By
Eliot Van Buskirk, WiredBlogNetwork, May 14, 2008.
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/05/disgruntled-web.html

Just when record labels thought it was safe to start charging webcasters
on a per-listener, per-song basis, the US Copyright Royalty Board that
set the rates has been charged unconstitutional in the Federal Court of
Appeals.

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Freedom Fighter of the Digital Age. By Caroline Yates, Epoch Times, May
13, 2008.
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-5-13/70552.html

As music, movies and books move further into the digital realm, the
question of our freedoms being diminished was raised by Richard Stallman
at Cambridge University on April 30th at his talk on "Copyright vs.
Community". Stallman, a legendary software developer and free software
activist, argued that current copyright laws are an attack on individual
freedom, are not beneficial to social progress and are unacceptable.


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