In the news

["Amy Mata" <AMata@xxxxxxxx>]

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Reinstated $18.9 Million Copyright Verdict Marks Latest Twist in
Long-Running Case.
By Shannon P. Duffy, Law.com, March 24, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ycvvyb4

"When a jury awarded almost $18.9 million in a copyright infringement
case nearly four years ago, it set the wheels in motion for a legal
roller-coaster ride that included a new trial with a verdict of less
than $1.7 million, followed by an appeal that led to reinstatement of
the first verdict."
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Court: Widow Owns 'King of the Road' Copyright.
By Sheila Burk, ABC News, March 22, 2010.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=10171094

"The widow of country music legend Roger Miller has won a protracted
legal battle over the rights to some of his biggest hits, including
"King of the Road."
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Viacom-YouTube lawsuit: Both sides look bad, YouTube looks worse.
By Mitch Wagner, Computer World, March 22, 2010.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/15790/viacom_youtube

"Opening salvos by both sides in the Viacom-Google copyright lawsuit
make both Viacom and Google look sleazy. But YouTube comes out worse,
with Viacom painting a picture of the video company as having a business
model built on bootlegging."
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Chinese Writers Body Urges Google to Keep Promise on Copyright Issue.
Edited by Xiong Tong, Xinhua News, March 22, 2010.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/22/c_13220428.htm

"The Chinese Writers Association (CWA) has urged Google to fulfill its
commitment to settle a copyright infringement dispute over its
digitizing of more than 8,000 books without authorization."
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Canada: MP shakes up copyright landscape.
By Michael Geist, The Star, March 22, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ylegf44

"Charlie Angus, the NDP Member of Parliament and musician, has a
reputation for speaking his mind. Last week, he did more than just speak
out. Angus single-handedly shook up the Canadian copyright landscape by
promoting two reforms - an extension of the private copying levy to
audio recording devices such as iPods and greater flexibility in the
fair dealing provision, the Canadian equivalent of fair use."
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Superhero Smackdown: Disney-Marvel vs. Hulk's Dad.
By Diane Mermigas, BNET News, March 22, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yafdslj

"In what is shaping up to be a knock-down, drag-out legal battle, the
heirs of superhero creator Jack Kirby are seeking a cut of the profits
made from his X-Men, Hulk and other Marvel comic book characters that
Walt Disney paid $4 billion for last year."
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UK: Digital Economy Bill: What you need to know.
By Charles Arthur, The Guardian, March 22, 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/22/digital-economy-bill

"The murmuring in parliament is that the digital economy bill will get
its second reading on Tuesday 6 April - the day that Gordon Brown is
expected to hop into a car and head over to the palace to ask for the
dissolution of parliament."
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Allegations Fly in Viacom-YouTube Case.
By James Temple, San Francisco Chronicle, March 19, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yfqt4wx

"Before Viacom Inc. launched a $1 billion copyright lawsuit against
YouTube, the company hired more than a dozen marketing agencies to
upload its TV clips there.
In the early days of the popular online video service, Steve Chen
admonished a co-founder to stop "stealing" copyrighted material for the
site."
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Bulgaria: Tenfold increase in copyright violation in fines proposed.
By Renee Beekman, The Sofia Echo, March 18, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ykbm3qo

"Fines for hotels, restaurants and shops that had not paid their
copyright fees for the music in their establishments should be raised
about 100-fold, collective rights organisation Muzikautor said."
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Highlights from Viacom vs. Google, Court Documents.
CNET News, March 18, 2010.
http://news.cnet.com/2300-13578_3-10002848.html?tag=mncol

"Viacom and Google on Thursday made hundreds of pages of court documents
public in their copyright dispute over YouTube. We've excerpted some of
the most interesting tidbits."
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Review: Texts without context.
By Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, March 17, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/21mash.html?emc=eta1

"In his deliberately provocative - and deeply nihilistic - new book,
"Reality Hunger," the onetime novelist David Shields asserts that
fiction "has never seemed less central to the culture's sense of
itself."
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Canada: Copyright Conviction Raises Privacy Concerns.
CBC News, March 17, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yc6nyp7

"The decision to send a Montreal man to prison for pirating movies has
set a dangerous precedent that could threaten privacy rights, say civil
rights advocates in Vancouver."
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Canada's $75 iPod Levy Returns (and might legalize P2P).
By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, March 17, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yzgh4f4

"Canadian MP Charlie Angus, a former rocker, has formally introduced a
bill meant to ease the legal uncertainty around format shifting. He
proposes a trade: Canada's levy on items like blank CDs gets expanded to
devices like iPods, and in return people can legally transfer their own
music to devices like iPods."
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UK: Do we need a digital parliament?
By Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC News Blog, March 17, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yfmg2ro

"The Digital Economy Bill is a hugely complex piece of legislation
currently making its way through Parliament - and it contains some very
controversial clauses aimed at battling online 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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