In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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Rep. Conyers, Once Again, Trying to Lock Up Federally Funded Research.
By Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt, February 12, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090212/0335043743.shtml

"Last year, Congress finally got fed up with the fact that publicly funded
research was being locked up in various scientific journals. The whole journal
business is something of a scam."
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The Kindle Swindle?
By Roy Blount Jr., The New York Times, February 24, 2009.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html?_r=1

"I am president of the Authors Guild, whose mission is to sustain book-writing
as a viable occupation. This borders on quixotic, given all the new ways of
not getting paid that new technology affords authors. A case in point:
Amazon's Kindle 2, which was released yesterday."
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House Judiciary Hearing on Copyright, Compensation, and Licensing at Capitol.
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable, February 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/bkvru5

"In a House Judiciary Committee hearing, "Copyright Licensing in a Digital
Age: Competition, Compensation and the Need to Update the Cable and Satellite
TV Licenses," NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow and NAB President David Rehr
weighed in, joined by representatives of the satellite, programmer and
consumer sides."
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Apple Should Avoid Copyright Fight, Allow Users to Escape the App Store Jail.
By Colin Gibbs, RCR Wireless, February 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/adpcgg

"The looming copyright battle centered on Apple Inc.'s iPhone may seem
obscure, but the outcome could have wide-ranging implications for U.S. mobile
users and the developers who target them. It's also a fight Apple should walk
away from."
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Annie Leibovitz Pawns Copyright to Life's Work to Pay Debts.
Telegraph.co.uk, February 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/baot6c

"Annie Leibovitz, the renowned New York photographer who has taken portraits
of the Queen, has pawned the rights to her life's work in order to raise
nearly $16 million (#11 million) to pay off her debts."
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Music Industry Takes Stand in Pirate Bay Case.
By Louise Nordstrom, Telegraph.co.uk , February 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/d5xhfa

"The music industry has lost more than 30 percent in sales since 2001 because
of illegal downloading, a top industry official said Wednesday, giving
evidence in a Swedish trial."
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Ireland: Internet "death penalties" Unacceptable.
By T.J. McIntyre, Sunday Business Post, March 1, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/d5fnjn

"A private deal between the music industry and Eircom could lead to innocent
internet users being denied access, writes TJ McIntyre."
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Amazon Misread Book Sector Speech Feature.
By Greg Sandoval, CNET News, March 1, 2009.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10184765-93.html

"Amazon chose to keep secret from much of the publishing sector the
text-to-speech feature built into the Kindle 2. This is exactly the kind of
public relations blunder that Amazon can ill afford as it attempts to breathe
life into the digital-book market."
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New Zealand: Chance of Copyright Solution "Fluffed."
By Tom Pullar-Strecker, The Dominion Post, March 2, 2009.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/1763028

"Judith Tizard, architect of section 92a of the Copyright Act, says the
National Government has fluffed an opportunity to craft a Kiwi solution to the
problem of music and movie piracy by telling internet service providers (ISPs)
that the controversial clause may be rewritten."
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Neil Young: Failed Warner/YouTube Negotiations 'Penalized' Artists.
By Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired Blog Network, March 2, 2009.
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/neil-young-yout.html

"'YouTube has a responsibility to respect the artists it facilitates and
resist punishing them to make a business point," wrote Young. "It is time for
industry-wide standards of artist compensation on the web.'"
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Lawrence Lessig Answers Your Questions on Copyright, Corruption, and
Congress.
By Stephen P. Dubner, The New York Times, March 2, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/au5ykw

"You asked good questions about copyright, corruption, and other topics, and
Lessig responded with equally thoughtful answers, including such tasty pieces
of advice as:
'Never underestimate the importance of naoveti in launching critical political
reform.'
and: 'If the Internet has taught us anything, it is that you can always get
people to do what they already want to do.'"
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Brooklyn Band Busts Sarkozy for Copyright Infringement.
Fox News, March 2, 2009.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,503245,00.html

"French President Nicolas Sarkozy may be a law-and-order type of guy, but he
may have run afoul of copyright law."
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Prison Threat for Pirate Bay Four.
BBC, March 2, 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7919674.stm

"Prosecutors in the trial against the four men who run the file-sharing site
The Pirate Bay have called for a one-year prison sentence to be imposed."
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Cafi Wha? Being Sued for Copyright Infringement.
Posted by NYPress Staff, March 2, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/ajpa2w

"Having launched the careers of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen,
Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Kool and the Gang and others, you'd think the
MacDougal Street Beat Generation hangout would get a reprieve from corporate
music greed. But BMI and ASCAP are after the club, which is named in a "pair
of copyright-infringement suits charging unlicensed performances of Billy
Roberts' 'Hey Joe' and more than a dozen other hits."
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High Court to Look at U.S. Copyright Law.
The Wall Street Journal Market Watch, March 2, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/cbsajz

"The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to look once again at whether federal
copyright law allows the courts wide review of copyright infringement
issues."
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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College
amata@xxxxxxxx