In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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UK: Consumers 'confused by copyright.'
BBC News, February 24, 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8531415.stm

"Consumers are confused by copyright laws that mean it is still illegal
to copy a CD onto their computer, a watchdog says."
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New Zealand: So Long Section 92A - a New Copyright Bill Revealed.
By Pat Pilcher, The New Zealand Herald, February 24, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yhf8trk

"After much controversy last year, Section 92A of the Copyright Act has
finally been repealed and a new version introduced to Parliament by the
Minister of Commerce, Simon Power."
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Thousands of Authors Opt Out of Google Book Settlement.
By Alison Flood, The Guardian, February 23, 3010.
http://tinyurl.com/ylb69zj

"Some 6,500 writers, from Thomas Pynchon to Jeffrey Archer, have opted
out of Google's controversial plan to digitise millions of books"
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US Copyright Czar Wants Your Thoughts on How to Measure and Reduce
Infringement.
By Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing, February 23, 2010.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/23/us-copyright-czar-wa.html

"Victoria Espinel, the Obama Administration's new copyright enforcement
czar, wrote in to tell us that her office is running a new public
inquiry into how the US should enforce copyrights."
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Lawyer Argues Illegal Downloader Only Caused $21 in Damage
By Jonathan Saltzman, Boston.com, February 23, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yjljvce

"A Boston University graduate student who was ordered to pay four record
labels a total of $675,000 in damages for illegally sharing 30 songs
online caused no more than $21 in damages, said his lawyer, who implored
a federal judge today to slash the jury award or order a new trial."
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Librarians to colleges: Keep on streaming.
By Janko Roettgers, NewTeeVee, February 22, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yej5jah

"The Library Copyright Alliance has published a legal analysis (PDF) of
the use of streaming video in higher education, and the bottom line
could be good news for colleges: Teachers are allowed to use streaming
videos as part of their courses without obtaining special licenses to do
so, the analysis concludes after diving into details of copyright and
education laws."
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DMCA Exemption Unlikely for iPad Jailbreak.
By David Kravets, Wired, February 22, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/y8dtrjk

"A lot and little has transpired following the Electronic Frontier
Foundation asking the U.S. Copyright Office for an exemption to the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act for authorization to jailbreak an
iPhone or any "wireless telephone handsets." For starters, the Copyright
Office's decision has been pending since December 2008 - although a
ruling is expected any time."
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ACTA Makes ISPs an Offer They Can't Refuse.
By John Bergmayer, Public Knowledge, February 22, 2010.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2915

"The leaked ACTA Internet chapter has a footnote that says an ISP can
only hang on to its "safe harbor" by implementing certain policies
designed to discourage the use of their networks for copyright
infringement, and that "An example of such a policy is providing for the
termination in appropriate circumstances of subscriptions and accounts
in the service provider's system or network of repeat infringers." Three
strikes and you're out."
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Judge Expresses Some Doubts about Google Deal.
The Pocono Record, February 21, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yf3fe23

"A judge Thursday questioned whether Google and lawyers for authors and
publishers went too far when they struck a deal that would let the
gigantic search engine make money presiding over the world's largest
digital library."
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ACTA Internet Chapter Leaks: Renegotiates WIPO, Sets 3 Strikes as Model.
By Michael Geist, Michael Geist Blog, February 21, 2010.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4808/125/

"Several months after a European Union memo discussing the ACTA Internet
chapter leaked, the actual chapter itself has now leaked.  First covered
by PC World, the new leak fully confirms the earlier reports and mirrors
the language found in the EU memo.  This is the chapter that required
non-disclosure agreements last fall."
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Google Fights for Orphaned Books.
By Joab Jackson, PC World, February 19, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yln22pb

"Fending criticisms from multiple parties, Google once again made the
case for digitizing millions of orphaned books before the U.S. District
Court Southern District Court of New York, in a fairness hearing held
Thursday."
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Google Books Settlement Ruling Delayed.
By Lucien Parfeni, Softpedia, Fenruary 19, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ykplhna

"All the tension built up in the Google Books case over the years is not
going to be dispelled as the judge presiding has delayed a ruling
claiming that the matter is too complex and he wanted to hear the
opinions and complaints of all the parties involved in the issue. As
such, the settlement deal between Google and publishers is still in
limbo as Judge Denny Chin is holding on making a decision."
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Google Books Fosters Intellectual, Legal Crossroads.
By David Kravets, Wired News, February 18, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ygq4kku

"Nobody in their right mind opposes the intellectual soundness of
digitizing the world's books -- even titles gathering dust in the stacks
of university libraries - and making them available online. Yet Google
will encounter stiff resistance in a Manhattan federal court Thursday
during a marathon hearing that could grant Google the keys to free the
written word from a business and intellectual model as old as paper and
ink.
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Copyright Reform Act Tries Fixing Fair Use with Seven Words.
By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, February 18, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yk3jxqx

"Current fair use law is hazy by design; instead of laying out specific
use cases, the law relies on the famous "four factors" about the purpose
of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount borrowed, and
the effect on the value of the original work."
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Copyright Kremlinology: Understanding the secret copyright treaty.
By Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing, February 18, 2010.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/18/copyright-kremlinolo.html

"My latest Internet Evolution column, "Copyright Undercover: ACTA & the
Web," talks about the absurd tea-leaf-reading exercise that we have to
engage in to figure out what's actually happening with negotiations for
a far-reaching, secret copyright treaty that could change the face of
the web, privacy, creativity, competition, and commerce."
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Australian Copyright Agency Paid itself more than it Distributed to
Content Creators.
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, February 18, 2010.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100217/1832548214.shtml

"One of the key problems we have with any sort of collection
agency/performance rights organization/collective licensing scheme is
that they introduce an unnecessary bureaucracy into the equation and, as
a result, money gets redirected from the actual creators to the
bureaucracy itself. It's a giant economic inefficiency that harms
content creators."
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Redbox, Movie Studios, and Subversion of First Sale.
Commentary by Fredd von Lohmann, EFF, February 18, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ykxc33e

"As we've explained before, a number of Hollywood movie studios have
been on the war path against Redbox, the kiosk-based DVD rental
operation, because Redbox offers DVD new releases for rent at 99 cents
per night. Thanks to the first sale doctrine in copyright law, Redbox's
business is completely legal-the company buys legitimate DVDs to stock
their kiosks. Great for consumers, and a great alternative for those who
might otherwise opt for an unauthorized alternative online."
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NBC Universal President Compares Copyright Filtering to Anti-Virus
Protections.
By Rachel Sanford, Broadbandbreakfast.com, February 18, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/y8btrva

"NBC-Universal Vice President Richard Cotton on Wednesday called upon
internet service providers to be permitted to filter content over their
pipes for copyright violations, and compared copyright filtering to
filtering for computer viruses."
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Ruling Due on Google's Book Plan.
By Bobbie Johnson, The Guardian, February 17, 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/17/google-books-copyright

"A New York judge is due to rule on Thursday whether Google's plans to
make millions of in-copyright books available online are legal -
potentially bringing an end to the company's controversial quest to
create the world's biggest digital library."
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Google Content-Filter Patent about Copyright, Not Censorship.
By Ryan Paul, Ars Technica, February 17, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ya44882

"Google has been awarded a patent that describes a software method for
selectively restricting the availability of content on the basis of
access privileges and geographical location. On the surface, it may look
like this patent covers techniques for censoring politically sensitive
content in specific countries-a practice that Google has recently spoken
out against in its ongoing feud with China. A closer look at the
patent's claims, however, shows that it has little to do with censorship
and may actually relate to the company's controversial book scanning
initiative."
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Will People Pay for Content Online?
By Mike Masnick, Techdirt, February 17, 2010.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100217/0133468193.shtml

"One fascinating thing to watch is how people in certain content
professions continue to hold out hope that there's some way that maybe,
possibly, really people will suddenly see the light and magically start
"paying for content online."
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Apple to Wrap Digital Books in FairPlay Copy Protection.
By Alex Pham, Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/18r

"When Apple launches its iBook store to sell titles for its new iPad
device in March, many of its titles are expected to come with a set of
handsome digital locks designed to deter piracy."
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Amy Mata
Graduate Assistant
Center For Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College
Rm. 2293, Largo, 3501 University Boulevard East
Adelphi, MD  20783
(240) 684-2967 office
(240) 684-2961 fax
amata@xxxxxxxx
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