In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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Copyleft v. Copyright: FSF, RIAA face off in court.
By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, May 21, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/oqftfb

"The Free Software Foundation, home of the "copyleft" movement, doesn't
often square off with the music business. When it does so, one thing
becomes clear: the two sides really, really don't like each other."
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Copyright Meets a New Foe: The Real-Time Web.
By Liz Gannes, Business Week, May 21, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/oqmttm

"Copyright law wasn't written with today's content consumption in mind.
The way online video copyright functions is based on a reading of the
10-year-old Digital Millennium Copyright Act that equates video hosting
sites with Internet service providers. That law provides a "safe harbor"
for hosts who respond to copyright claims by taking down infringing
content 'expeditiously.'"
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What to Expect from the RealDVD Decision.
By Greg Sandoval, CNET News, May 22, 2009.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10248134-93.html

"The future of RealDVD, and possibly a consumer's right to create backup
copies of their DVDs, now rests in the hands of Marilyn Hall Patel."
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Blog: Pro-Copyright Propaganda Enters US Classrooms.
Posted by Ernesto, TorrentFreak, May 22, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/oj27hj

"Pro-copyright lobbyists and anti-piracy outfits have a clear idea of
what is needed to manipulate the minds of the younger generations. The
MPAA most famously handed out a "merit patch in respecting copyright" to
LA Boy Scouts, and now the Copyright Alliance has entered US classrooms
in an attempt to educate today's youth about the benefits of copyright."
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Pirate Bay: In search of an unbiased judge.
By Mats Lewan, CNET News, May 23, 2009.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10248264-38.html

"The search for unbiased judges in the high-profile Pirate Bay case in
Sweden seems never-ending. Finding legal authorities who are not
connected to the people involved in the case is apparently difficult in
a country that counts only 9 million inhabitants."
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Deal or No Deal: What if the Google Settlement Fails?
By Andrew Richard Albanese, Publishers Weekly, May 25, 2009.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6660295.html

"The deal was almost done. In June, a tense four-year period of legal
conflict between publishers, authors and Google over its library
scanning program was poised to end with the approval of a visionary
class action settlement. But just one week from a key May 5 deadline-by
which authors and rights holders opposed to the settlement (agreed to
last October; see time line) would have been required to opt out of or
object to the deal-the federal judge overseeing the approval process
surprised court watchers by granting a four-month extension, asked for
by a group of authors led by Gayle Knight Steinbeck. Suddenly, a deal
that had looked all but certain just weeks earlier now seemed in serious
jeopardy."
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Nesson Speaks: Inside P2P's "David v. Goliath" story.
By Charles Nesson, Ars Technica, May 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/r7ef4y

"Op-ed: In this opinion piece, Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson
explains why justice compelled him to take on the Joel Tenenbaum
file-sharing case, why the RIAA's legal tactics are unacceptable, and
how he hopes to take down the music industry 'Goliath.'"
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Studios Win Australian Piracy Victory.
By Renai LeMay, CNET News, May 25, 2009.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10248869-93.html

"Australian film and music studios have claimed a victory in their war
against copyright offenses, with a Sydney man convicted for selling
pirated content last week."
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Copyright Exceptions Needed to Ensure Balance in Africa, Panellists Say.
By Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch, May 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/qvt7x7

"International copyright laws do not take into account the reality of
the conditions of accessing knowledge in Africa and clearer limitations
and exceptions are needed to achieve a balanced copyright regime at the
national level, panellists said at a seminar on development research on
20 May."
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Is Literary Fan Fiction Copyright Infringement for Series Like Harry
Potter?
By Amanda Bell, Examiner.com, May 25, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/r45p52

"With popular literary series such as J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter
series, the ending to the long, involving saga tends to be less than
sufficient for some readers. Drawing upon the locale, character set-up,
and plot of the final sequences of their favorite (sometimes, not the
actual ending of the book series) book(s), some readers take their
favorite stories to the next level - fan fiction."
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Judge Sotomayor Has IP Background.
Tech Daily Dose, The National Journal Online, May 26, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/rbkavy

"U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, whom President Obama named as
his nominee for the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, has a background
in intellectual property litigation -- as an associate and partner at
the Manhattan law firm Pavia & Harcourt and as a judge on the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New York."
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Canada: Conference Board report on copyright draws criticism.
CBC News, May 26, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/q88hw9

"University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist has attacked the form
and content of a Conference Board of Canada report advocating tighter
copyright rules."
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Apple Wants Single EU Copyright, iTunes Licence Harmonisation.
By Robert Andrews, paidContent: UK, May 26, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/p3sa2x

"Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has called for a Europe-wide copyright to be created
so that it can offer iTunes Store more easily in eastern Europe and
other countries. The proposal, which it says is "as opposed to the
current country-by-country basis of national copyrights", is amongst
suggestions included in a report for the European Commission, jointly
authored with EMI, eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) and others..."
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New Website to Amplify Debate on Google Book Deal.
By Michael Liedtke, Associated Press, USA Today, May 27, 2009.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/hotsites/2009-05-27-google-book_N.htm

"Caroline Vanderlip believes the escalating debate over Google's plans
for a vast Internet library of copyright-protected literature will yield
enough compelling material to fill a book."
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The Founding Fathers had Copyright Right.
By Gerry Canavan, Indyweek.com, May 27, 2009.
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A395551

"One of the duties given to Congress in Article I of the Constitution is
'to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries.' What this means-contrary to many
people's understandings of what copyrights are for-is that copyrights
and patents don't simply exist to enrich their authors and inventors;
rather, the idea is to allow these people to have 'exclusive right' to
created works 'for limited times' only insofar as this is necessary 'to
promote the progress of science and useful arts.' Copyright, in other
words, is a means to an end, not an end in itself."
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Copyright Needs Limits, as it Restricts Innovation.
By Gary Shapiro, The Huffington Post, May 27, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/ry2cce

"In recent weeks, the chorus of calls for further "protections" for
copyright owners has grown louder (see, for example, Mark Helprin's May
11 broadside in the Wall Street Journal against copyright critics:
"Copyright Critics Rationalize Theft"). Yet these copyright apologists
ignore how copyright owners overreach and hurt innovation. Representing
more than 2,000 American technology companies, I see it differently -
the rapid expansion of copyright laws threatens new and innovative
products and services."
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WIPO SCCR Day 1: Countries Divided About Limitations and Exceptions to
Copyright.
By Rashmi Rangnath, Public Knowledge, May 27, 2009.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2218

"Compliance with international treaty obligations has often been used as
a justification to erode user rights granted by copyright law, the most
famous example being the enactment of the DMCA. So when international
organizations embark upon the business of treaty making, we in the
public interest community pay attention."
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Google Books Copyright Policy May Face Probe in Europe.
By Paul Meller, PCWorld, May 28, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/oxejah

"Government ministers from the European Union's member countries are
meeting Thursday and expected to call for an investigation into the way
Google Books handles copyright."
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EFF Launches Copyright Curriculum to Counter RIAA Propaganda Being
Handed Out to Schools.
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, May 28, 2009.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090527/1836105038.shtml

"It's been quite troubling that for years various schools have simply
accepted propaganda and totally inaccurate "teaching materials" about
copyright and used them to teach students. These programs have been
created by both the RIAA and the MPAA, at times."
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Conference Board Recalls Controversial Copyright Reports.
By CBC News, May 28, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/lp9zvc

"The Conference Board of Canada has recalled three reports advocating
tighter copyright rules, stating that the reports didn't follow research
standards."
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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College

amata@xxxxxxxx
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