In The News

["Olga Francois" <OFrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

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Yahoo's Top IP Lawyer Quits.
By Zusha Elinson, The Recorder, December 16, 2008.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202426801626

"Joseph Siino, the lawyer who built Yahoo Inc.'s intellectual property
department, is leaving the struggling search giant."
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Vietnam: Where Pirated Apps Match Personal Budgets.
By Dong Ngo, CNet News, December 17, 2008.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10122530-1.html

"You say you can't afford the $699 price tag on Adobe Photoshop CS4? How
about a $698 discount?"
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WSJ Law Blog: Recording Industry to End Litigation Strategy; Thanks,
Judge Davis?
Posted by Dan Slater, The Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/4v7coh

"Major news for online music geeks: The recording industry plans to lay
down its litigation offensive against music pirates in favor of a more
PR-friendly, if not more effective, strategy."
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Copyright Holders to Radio: Don't Be a Scrooge.
By Chloe Albanesius, PCMag.com, December 18, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/79l9nr

"The season of 24-hour holiday music is upon us, but it's not all jingle
bells and Rudolph for a music copyright coalition, which is demanding
that radio stations hand over adequate royalty rates."
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No ISP Filtering Under New RIAA Copyright Strategy.
Posted by David Kravets, Wired Blog Network, December 19, 2008.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/no-isp-filterin.html

"The Recording Industry Association of America on Friday announced a new
strategy in its quest to curtail online copyright infringement - a plan
that for now requires no filtering from internet service providers."
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Three Sentenced for Selling Pirated Software.
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service on PCMag.com, December 19, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/78w9qe

"Three Texas men have been sentenced to prison terms for their role in
selling counterfeit software worth US$2.5 million, the U.S. Department
of Justice said."
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RIAA President: No Talk of Blacklisting File Sharers.
By Sandoval, CNet News, December 19, 2008.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10127313-93.html

"At this point, there are still many more questions than answers
regarding how those Internet service providers that have agreed to help
the music industry thwart illegal file sharing will actually weed out
accused pirates."
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MPAA Targets Video Search Sites in New Law Suits.
By Wendy Davis, Media Post News, December 19, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/a8ztdz

"In a new round of enforcement actions, Hollywood has filed lawsuits
against three video search sites, Campusist.com, Movies-on-Demand.tv and
Sswarez.com, that allegedly make it easy for users to find pirated
movies."
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Meeting Fails, Music War Rages.
By Cithara Paul, The Telegraph - Calcutta, December 20, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/9zmes5

"Radio channels and music companies are still locked in a tussle over
royalty despite repeated interventions by the information and
broadcasting ministry."
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India: Law Against Piracy Highly Complicated.
By Laxmi Birajdar, The Times of India, December 21, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/9l887b

"Publishers point out that the Copyright Act, 1957, is an effective tool
at the industry's disposal to deal with book piracy."
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Copyright - "Protect you have created."
By Vibha Sahay, indlawnews.com, December 23, 2008.
http://www.indlawnews.com/display.aspx?4441

"The word copyright derives from the expression copy of words, first
used in this context in 1586. The word copy alone probably dates from
1485 and was used to connote manuscript or other matters prepared for
printing."
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Target of RIAA Lawsuit Says Music Piracy Case has been an Ordeal.
By Jaikumar Vijayan, Computer World, December 19, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/9n8wea

"College student Joel Tenenbaum claims trade group wanted to make an
example of him."
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Recent Cases: Copyright Ownership in Commissioned Work.
Lawdit Reading Room, December 20, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/9d7hnr

"Companies often contract out their work to third parties who develop
work on their behalf. The issue of copyright ownership for that work is
therefore an important one."
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Australian Writing under Threat from Copyright Law Change.
By Janet Fife-Yeomans, Courier Mail, December 21, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/87d6p5

"Now there are fears that proposed changes to Australian copyright laws
will kill the country's publishing industry and lead to Australianisms
disappearing from books altogether."
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Coldplay Reject Copyright Lawsuit.
Sky News, December 9, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5pra84

"Brit band Coldplay has rejected accusations made by American guitar
virtuoso Joe Satriani that they ripped off one of his songs."
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Fighting IP Extremism with Online Video - The Lawrence Lessig Interview.
By Erika Blackwell, ReelSEO, December 9, 2008.
http://www.reelseo.com/lawrence-lessig-ses/

"We caught up with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Standford Law
school's Center for Internet and Society, and the opening Keynote
Speaker the Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008 conference for "Remix:
Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy."
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AVID Home Studios Says Borrowed Home Plans May Prove Costly.
Market Watch, December 10, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/56kjys

"Little Known Copyright Laws Prevent the Use or Duplication of Any Home
Plan Without the Permission of the Original Designer; These Laws
Encompass More Than Just the Drawings; They Protect the Design of the
Actual Structure Itself; Even After Modifying an Existing Plan, a Home
Owner or Home Builder Could Face Huge Fines and Penalties by Using a
Home Plan Without Proper Licensing Agreements."
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Bold Moves: Ford Threatens Enthusiasts Sites with Lawsuits over
Copyright Infringement.
Posted by Auto Insider, December 10, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6m5rul

"In a recent letter to enthusiast web sites, Ford's reportedly requiring
the relinquishment of all Ford trademarks including domain names,
banners, signs and merchandise as well as a restitution payment of
$5,000 by December 19th."
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Who Owns Christmas?
By William Pentland, Forbes, December 10, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/64rlh4

"In late November, Louisville, Ky., abruptly abandoned plans for a
Christmas display based on the story "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
It wasn't because of public uproar, or the big green meanie terrifying
small children. No, it was the cease-and-desist letter from lawyers
representing the estate of legendary children's author Dr. Seuss,
threatening to sue for copyright infringement if the city went ahead
with the Grinch-themed display."
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UK Consumer Group Goes After Copyright Bullies.
By Jaqui Cheng, Ars Technica, December 10, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5rhpfm

"UK consumer advocacy group Which? has filed a complaint against the law
firm responsible for sending out letters to Internet users threatening
them with legal action if they don't pay up for various copyright
violations."
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Psystar: Apple's Hardware Lockdown Violates Copyright.
By Mark Hachman, PCMag.com, December 10, 1008.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2336617,00.asp

"Psystar has dropped its antitrust complaints from its ongoing legal
battle with Apple, replacing them with a charge that Apple has illegally
used copyright law to prevent cloned Macs from working properly."
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Blog: 20-Year Copyright Extensions Coming to Europe.
Slashdot, December 13, 2008.
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/12/13/179226.shtml

"After a UK government-led commission said that the current 50-year term
for musical copyrights was fine, and the government last year publicly
agreed that there was no need to extend the term, culture minister Andy
Burnham yesterday made the logical follow-up announcement that yes, the
government would now push for a 20-year extension on copyright."
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Rhode Island Pub Owner Faces Suit over Music Copyrights.
By Katie Zezima, The New York Times, December 13, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/14pub.html?_r=1

"In February, some patrons at Patrick's Pub, which sees as many
politicians as any government building, cobbled together a band. Their
gig was unmemorable - until it sparked a lawsuit that could shut the bar
down."
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Evel Knievel Estate Sued Over Contract Breach.
By Michael Hinman, Tampa Bay Business Journal, December 12, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5pjz6m

"In the final years of daredevil Robert "Evel" Knievel's life, his
daring stunts were featured in cable shows on Country Music Television
Inc., MTV Inc. and Spike TV, using a $69,000 licensing agreement
procured from Knievel himself."
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South Africa's Ruling Party Loses Copyright Case.
By Richard Lapper, Financial Times, December 13, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5epf6u

"South Africa's governing African National Congress has failed in a
legal bid to stop a breakaway faction using a name it claims is
intimately linked to it own history."

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