In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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Copyright and the First Amendment.
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, April 10, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090406/1527374409.shtml

"There is a growing number of scholars questioning how to align the
First Amendment's rule that 'Congress shall make no law... abridging the
freedom of speech....' with intellectual property law that often does,
in fact, abridge freedoms of speech."
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Richard Prince, Gagosian Respond to Copyright Suit.
ArtInfo.com, April 10, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/dcjbth

"Richard Prince and his dealer Larry Gagosian have responded to a
copyright-infringement suit filed by French photographer Patrick Cariou,
saying that Prince's use of Cariou's work falls under "fair use," the
Art Newspaper reports."
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Statutory Damages in Copyright Law: Samuelson & Wheatland's Article
Provides Copyright Debate Context and Reform Solutions.
Posted By Alex Curtis, Public Knowledge, April 10, 2009.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2089

"Today, Prof. Pam Samuelson and co-author Tara Wheatland have published
a draft of an article that puts forth the need for copyright reform,
specifically to statutory damages. I have to confess I'm still digesting
it, but I wanted to put this post up so others could learn about it and
comment."
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Copyright Laws Not Always Easy to Follow for Professors.
By Meredith McGrady, The DePauw, April 10, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/c2rnot

"Every article distributed in a DePauw classroom is supposed to have one
thing in common: strict adherence to copyright law and policy. But that
doesn't always happen. A DePauw professor who asked to remain anonymous
explained it's not always possible to follow laws and policies."
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Germany: Bild Publisher Wants Websites to Pay for News.
By Ben Fenton and Gerrit Wiesmann, FT.com, April 12, 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8442213e-278c-11de-9b77-00144feabdc0.html

"One of Europe's largest newspaper publishers has lent its voice to the
call for internet news aggregators such as Google to pay for using
copyright material."
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Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?
By Eric Pfanner, The New York Times, April 12, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/cp5hbf

"Is Internet access a fundamental human right? Or is it a privilege,
carrying with it a responsibility for good behavior?"
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Saudi Arabia: Ministry steps up Clampdown on Copyright Piracy.
By Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News, April 12, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/cb28um

"Saudi Arabia has intensified efforts to check the growing market of
pirated CDs, DVDs, computer games and IT software, and launched raids to
confiscate goods and detain those involved in the business."
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Going Too Far In Kowtowing To Copyright Holders.
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, April 14, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090413/1818104489.shtml

"In the past, we've used the website Scribd to upload documents that we
want to show readers here -- usually things like court filings.
Recently, the company has come under some misguided fire by copyright
holders, falsely accusing the company of somehow making it easy to
infringe on copyrights. The company has pointed out that beyond its
existing DMCA safe harbors, the company goes above and beyond in helping
copyright holders stop unauthorized use."
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INTERNET LAW - Emerging Issues Related To International Digital
Copyright Protection.
By Alain Megias, Internet Business Law Services, April 14, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/dh8wfx

"International electronic commerce has certain implications on
Intellectual Property rights, and, in reaction, an adequate and
effective international legal framework is being implemented which helps
to deter fraud and the theft of intellectual property and to provide
effective legal recourse when these crimes occur. As a consequence,
e-businesses eager to take advantage of the upcoming digital
technologies must pay attention to this legislative evolution, which
follows the adoption of WIPO treaties, in the EU as well as in the US."
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UK: Copyright Term Extension Stalls.
By Andre Paine, Billboard.biz, April 14, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/c4xg6f

"The U.K. government had altered its position from no change, and given
its backing to the increase of copyright term from 50 to 70 years (the
original European Commission plan had been for a 95-year term). But
several countries were still blocking the directive when it was
discussed again last week."
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Open Rights Slams Copyright.
By Stephen Eddie, Music Week, April 15, 2009.
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1037511&c=1

"The UK has the worst copyright laws 'by far' according to a survey
carried out by Consumer Focus and digital rights campaigners the Open
Rights Group."
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South Korea Fits Itself for a "3 strikes" Jackboot.
By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, April 15, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/bu2rye

"South Korea adopts one of the toughest 'three strikes' laws against
Internet copyright infringers, giving the government power to disconnect
users, but also to shutdown websites that host a few infringing files.
User-generated content sites are running scared."
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Remember How ACTA Wasn't Supposed to Be A 'Major' Change to Copyright
Laws?
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt,  April 15, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090414/1750504513.shtml

"One of the excuses given by the various trade representatives
negotiating the ACTA treaty for the fact that they were keeping it quite
secret, was that it wouldn't represent any significant change to
copyright laws, and thus it was no big deal. Yet, the various drafts of
the proposed treaty have suggested otherwise."
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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College

amata@xxxxxxxx