In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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European Publishers Call on E.U. to Protect Copyright.
By Eric Pfanner, The New York Times, July 9, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/nybcek

Leading European newspaper and magazine publishers on Thursday called on the
European Commission to strengthen copyright protection as a way to lay the
groundwork for new ways to generate revenue online.

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J.D. Salinger Wins Copyright Battle.
Authorlink News, July 9, 2009.
http://www.authorlink.com/news/item/2116/J.D.Salinger-Wins-Copyright-Battle

Literary icon J.D. Salinger won his law suit July 1 against the unauthorized
publication of a sequel to his famous novel, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Judge
Deborah Batts ruled that Fredrik Coltings 60 Years Later would damage the
market for sequels and other derivative works by Salinger. The Judge barred
publication of Coltings book in the U. S. marketplace, but it will go on sale
in Europe sometime next week

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Internet Radio Saved by Rate Deal with Government's Copyright Royalty Board.
By David Hinckley, Daily News, July 9, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/m7els5

With more and more Americans listening to radio over the Internet, there was
some good news this week. Stand-alone Internet stations - the ones that aren't
part of a major conglomerate and don't just simulcast a regular terrestrial
broadcast - finally cut a royalty-rate deal they say will enable them to stay
in business.

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U. of Wisconsin, U.of Texas Expand Their Agreements with Google.
By Jennifer Howard, The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 9, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/ldy2hb

The University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of Texas at Austin,
two longtime participants in Googles massive book-digitizing project,
announced today that they have expanded their agreements with the company. The
new deals strengthen the alliance between two big university systems and
Googles Book Search program at a time when it is drawing scrutiny from
librarians and federal regulators, among others.

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France: Senate Approves New Version of Internet Piracy Bill.
By Christian Ehret, Jurist, July 9, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/nbelhb

The French Senate [official website, in French] on Wednesday approved [vote,
in French] a new version [text, in French] of a controversial Internet piracy
law after portions of it were rejected [decision, in French; JURIST report]
last month by France's Constitutional Council [official website].

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Google Image Search Gets Usage Rights Filtering.
By Josh Lowensohn, CNET News, July 9, 2009.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10283315-2.html

In an effort to keep people from incorrectly reusing or repurposing images
found on its image search tool, Google has added new options that let users
filter results by usage rights. Users can now filter photos by whether they're
available for reuse, commercial reuse, reuse with modification, or commercial
use with modification.

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AP Proposes New Article Formatting for the Web.
By Andrew Vanacore, The Associated Press, July 11, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/mwny3x

The Associated Press is proposing that publishers attach descriptive tags to
news articles online in hopes of taming the free-for-all of news and
information on the Web and generating more traffic for established media
brands. Tags identifying the author, publisher and other information  as well
as any usage restrictions publishers hope to place on copyright-protected
materials  would be packaged with each news article in a way that search
engines can more easily identify.

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Music Piracy Verdict Appealed.
By Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld, July 11, 2009.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/168269/music_piracy_verdict_appealed.html

The woman ordered to pay $1.92 million in fines for illegally distributing 24
copyrighted songs said she will appeal, and called the June 18 jury verdict
excessive, shocking and monstrous.

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Swiss form Pirate Party like Swedes.
AP, Forbes.com, July 12, 2009.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/12/ap6644780.html

Youthful Swiss have formed a Pirate Party promoting Internet freedom and
copyright reform in the footsteps of Swedish pioneers. A party statement says
some 150 people formed the party at a meeting Sunday in Zurich, rejecting a
right or left label and preferring ahead.

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Wikipedia Might Get Sued by the National Portrait Gallery.
By Tim Worstall, The Examiner, July 12, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/mqbqry

Or rather, a Wikipedia user, perhaps a Wikipedia updater, might get sued by
the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. Put very simply, the
National Portrait Gallery maintains a website where the collection is shown in
high resolution photographs. "Dcoetzee" downloaded these images and then
posted them on Wikipedia to provide users of the online encyclopedia with the
images of what is in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

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New Zealand: Round 2 in Copyright Fight.
By Tom Pullar-Strecker, Stuff.co.nz, July 13, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/kpvcj6

Hostilities are expected to resume this week between internet advocates and
the music and movie industries after the Government releases details of
controversial changes to copyright law.

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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College

amata@xxxxxxxx
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