In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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Supreme Court to Revisit a Case on Breach of Copyright.
By Adam Liptak, The New York Times, March 2, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/d5oybs

"The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to revisit a case it decided eight
years ago in favor of freelance writers who said that newspapers and
magazines had committed copyright infringement by making their
contributions available on electronic databases."
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Leaner RIAA Still Moves to Terminate Online Access of Copyright
Scofflaws.
By David Kravets, Wired Blog Network, March 3, 2009.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/leaner-riaa-sti.html

"The Recording Industry Association of America, hobbled by a 20 percent
reduction in staff, said Tuesday negotiations were ongoing with American
internet service providers to adopt policies of terminating online
access of copyright scofflaws."
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Pirate Bay Awaits Court Verdict.
BBC, March 3, 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7921933.stm

"The trial of the creators of the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay has
ended. Lawyers for both the prosecution and defense have delivered their
closing arguments in the high-profile copyright trial in Sweden."
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Copyright Office Posts NAB, Sound Exchange Streaming Rates in Federal
Register.
Radio, March 4, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/ckf8xb

"On Feb. 15, 2009, the NAB and Sound Exchange reached agreement on rates
and terms for the streaming of music over the Internet for 2006-2015."
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Economists Say Copyright and Patent Laws are Killing Innovation.
By Melody Walker, Washington University in St. Luis News, March 5, 2009.
http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/13656.html

"Abolishing patent and copyright law sounds radical, but two economists
at Washington University in St. Louis say it's an idea whose time has
come. Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine see innovation as a key to
reviving the economy. They believe the current patent/copyright system
discourages and prevents inventions from entering the marketplace."
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Research Copyright Bill Would End Free Health Info.
By Megha Satyanarayana, Free Press, March 5, 2009.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090305/NEWS15/903050359

"The bill, still in committee, has patient advocates, scientists,
librarians and others up in arms."
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Docs Threaten Review Sites with Copyright Suits.
By Wendy Davis, MediaPost Publications, March 5, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/cvot5t

"In the five years since he co-founded RateMDs.com, a site where
patients rate their doctors, John Swapceinski has been threatened with
lawsuits at least once a week. Not one disgruntled physician has
actually carried out his threats, Swapceinski tells MediaPost."
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Market Impact May Have Led Amazon to Muzzle Kindle 2.
By Frederick lane, Newsfactor Business Report, March 5, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/cnx672

"The most surprising feature of Amazon's Kindle 2 is its ability to read
a book out loud. But the $1 billion audiobook industry and authors
weren't so impressed by the Kindle 2 feature. So Amazon is letting
copyright holders decide if the feature can be used. It seems that
authors' contracts don't include the right to sell audio-enhanced
e-books."
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Google Wants All Books.
By Sajid Farooq, MSNBC, March 6, 2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29516006/

"Apparently it wasn't enough for Google to lend a major hand in taking
out newspapers across the country but now the Silicon Valley giant wants
to shut down your local library, bookstore and Amazon.com while they are
at it."
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Biggest-ever Internet piracy bust claimed in Sweden.
By Erik Palm, CNET News, March 6, 2009.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10190977-93.html

"The seized server contained 65 terabytes of digital data, consisting of
films, TV series, computer programs, and the music equivalent of 16,000
movies, according to the Antipiracy Agency, an organization based in
Sweden that's supported by a consortium of film and game organizations
to fight Internet piracy."
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French ISPs: Playing Copyright Cop is Expensive.
By Karl Bode, BroadbandDSLreports.com, March 6, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/bvyqve

"France's biggest telco says it will cost $16 million a year..."
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Music tax war: PPCA, Fitness Australia in Copyright Tribunal of
Australia.
By Marnie O'Neill, The Daily Telegraph, March 8, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/bmb3kf

"The war between the music industry and Fitness Australia over a
proposed 'music tax' will finally shift to court after a three-year
public slanging match."
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Books, Tapes, and DVDs.
By Carrie Russell, School Library Journal, March 8, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/bgzyr9

"One of our instructors has asked the library staff to copy an entire
book. He would like to take portions of the copied text and distribute
them to his students. What does the copyright law have to say about
this?"
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Copywrongs: Artists Need Protection.
By Neil Steinberg, The Chicago Sun-Times, March 8, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/c2maem

"Bopped into work one day last week with the iPod cranked up, listening
to George Harrison's "This Song," the best song ever written about
copyright infringement."
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Canada: Minister's PVR Use Highlights Need for Clear Copyright Rules
Expert.
By Sarah Schmidt, Canada.com, March 9, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/dx7m7y

"Heritage Minister James Moore - one of the government's lead on the
copyright file - admitted Monday that he hasn't always abided by
Canada's copyright law."
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NAB Disputes RIAA Claims Ahead of Performance Rights Hearing.
Radio Ink, March 9, 2009.
http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=1206143&spid=24698

"'The Recording Industry Association of America's performance tax effort
is founded on an incomplete and therefore misleading comparison of U.S.
and international copyright law,' says the NAB, ahead of tomorrow's
hearing on the Performance Rights Act, which would for the first time
impose performance royalties on broadcast radio."
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Canada: Copyright Liability for Electronic Postings.
By Chris Bennett & Jeannine Tse, The Lawyers Weekly, March 13, 2009.
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=873

"What are the potential copyright liabilities here, and how do they
apply to the broader issue of copying and distributing electronic
articles in general?"
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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College
armata@xxxxxxxx