In the News

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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Japan and China Sign Copyright Deal.
By Mark Schilling, Variety, March 15, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ye637nl

"Japan and China have inked a memorandum -- similar to a treaty -- on
copyright protection"
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Copyright Holders Drop Bid to Block Pirate Bay in Norway.
By Mikael Ricknds, PC World, March 15, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yehftq5

"Copyright holders have given up legal efforts to force Norwegian ISP Telenor
to block file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, one of the parties to the case said
on Friday."
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British Put Teeth in Anti-Piracy Proposal.
By Eric Pfanner, The New York Times, March 14, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/technology/15iht-piracy15.html

"When asked how governments ought to deal with freeloaders who illegally copy
music and movies on the Internet, James Murdoch, head of News Corp.'s European
and Asian operations, does not mince his words: "Punish them."
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Duplicating Federal Videos for an Online Archive.
By Brian Stelter, The New York Times, March 14, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/technology/15fedflix.html

"Dust off a disc. Maybe it's video of a Bob Hope Christmas show, or maybe it's
the Apollo 11 moon landing. Insert a blank disc. Duplicate. It sounds
monotonous because it is. But every time Liz Pruszko presses the start button
on a DVD machine, she knows she is helping to unlock the thousands of videos
tucked away in the National Archives."
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Trouble: iBooks on iPad will Read Aloud.
By Dave Parrack, Technology Blorge, March 13, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ykn7w9n

"iPad buyers using the new iBooks feature to read e-books will be able to hear
the text read aloud thanks to the VoiceOver feature. Which is great. Except
that when Amazon tried to introduce the same feature on to the Kindle, there
was a big argument over copyright. I sense trouble brewing for Apple."
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Opinion: Should Fashion be Protected by Copyright Laws? A Guest Post.
By Freakonomics, The New York Times, March 12, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yc6y5ag

"Last week, Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman took us behind the scenes of
fashion copycatting, and explained why the practice is actually good for the
fashion industry.  This week, they explore historical and current efforts to
protect fashion from copycatters.  Kal Raustiala, a Professor at UCLA Law
School and the UCLA International Institute, and Chris Sprigman, a Professor
at UVA Law School, are counterfeiting and intellectual property experts."
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RIAA Claims Ringtone Copyright Confusion Causes Unfair Late Fees.
By Lauren Streib, Business Insider, March 12, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ykkqppu

"The never ending legal battles of the Recording Industry Association of
American landed at the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. today as attorneys,
including Jenner & Block partner Paul Smith, argued over ringtone rates."
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UK: Digital Economy Bill is Disaster for Digital Economy.
By Jim Killock, The New Scientist, March 12, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ybjtzgl

"Peter Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill is a complete mess. We at the Open
Rights Group believe the measures proposed by the Bill on copyright
infringement constitute nothing less than a violation of human rights. But
equally disturbing is its failure to take the complexity of internet usage
into account - a failure which threatens the future development of the digital
economy it supposedly safeguards."
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UK: Peers 'set to offer digital economy bill concessions.'
By Jason Deans, The Guardian, March 12, 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/12/piracy-internet

"Lib Dem and Conservative peers plan to address concerns raised by ISPs and
web companies over anti-piracy legislation."
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Obama to 'Agressively Protect' Intellectual Property.
By Greg Sandoval, CNET News, March 12, 2010.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20000347-261.html

"As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was young, a technology fan, and
appeared to be an establishment outsider. For those reasons some techies hoped
he might be sympathetic to copyright reform. Those hopes are fading fast as
President Obama appears to have lined up on the side of copyright owners. In a
speech at the Export-Import Bank's annual conference in Washington, D.C.,
President Obama told attendees Thursday that his administration is firmly
behind producers of creative works."
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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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