Category Archives: Copyrights & Intellectual Property

Remix Remix Remix: The Tracey Fragments

November 20, 2007 – 5:14 am

I guess the criticism is that it’s one thing for somebody to open up their music for remixing, but an entirely different thing to do the same with a movie. Or is it? Is it (click re-fragmented)?

By Casey | Also posted in Books, Movies, Music, Dispatches | Comments (0)



Copyleft: Defending Intellectual Property

September 25, 2007 – 6:53 am

Anybody who thinks Free Software is anti-copyright or disrespectful of intellectual property should take a look at Mark Jaquith’s post, What a GPL?d Movable Type means. Let’s be clear, Anil Dash takes issue with Jaquith’s interpretation, but the point is Jaquith’s offense at what appears to be Six Apart’s grabbiness for any code somebody might [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Dispatches, Technology | Comments (1)

Four Years Of Music Industry Lawsuits & Madness

September 19, 2007 – 12:46 pm

Marketplace reminds us the storm of RIAA lawsuits began in September 2003. In that time they’ve sued a thousands of people, and most lawyers apparently advise those caught in the madness to simply roll over and take it. But Tanya Andersen, a 41 year old disabled single mother didn’t.
After years of litigation (and mounting [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Politics & Controversy | Comments (0)

iPhones Around The World

July 26, 2007 – 3:35 pm

A long time ago somebody started the Newtons Around The World gallery, and it came to symbolize the love we Newton users had for the little device as well as our geeky pride.
The trend seemed to continue with iPods Around The World, and now iLounge wants to start a gallery for the iPhone. I was [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Photoblog, Technology | Comments (0)

A Fair(y) Use Tale

May 22, 2007 – 11:01 pm

From The Chronicle:
Copyright law, a constant thorn in the sides of scholars and researchers, is generating a lot of public discussion this week, thanks in part to a new 10-minute video that parodies the law. ?A Fair(y) Use Tale? has been downloaded from YouTube about 145,000 times since it was posted online Friday. The video [...]

By Casey | Comments (0)



Claims of Prior Art In Verizon/Vonage Patent Infringement Case

April 23, 2007 – 5:25 pm

Vonage has been saying Verizon’s patent claims are overly broad for some time, but now people have dug up some prior art.
One of the patents Verizon is complaining about is #6,104,711, what they call an ?enhanced internet domain name server.?
In short, it’s all about linking phone numbers to IP numbers, and Jeff Pulver says he [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Politics & Controversy, Technology | Comments (0)

The High Cost Of Innovation: Vonage’s Patent Woes

April 23, 2007 – 12:02 pm

Vonage will be in court again tomorrow defending itself against Verizon’s claims of patent infringement. The innovative VoIP company had lost the trial and was ordered to pay $58 Million in damages in early March, when a jury found them to have violated thee of seven related patents held by Verizon. Vonage appealed of course, [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Politics & Controversy, Technology | Comments (1)

Cut And Paste Is A Skill Too

April 9, 2007 – 12:38 pm

[Update: Keith pointed out that my small disclaimer at the end isn't clear enough. This post is copied, stolen, cut and pasted in its entirety from Keith's blog, ISTP Dad. I was glad to learn of the story, and this was meant to be ironic and funny.]
An editorial in the Washington Post is explicit about [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Books, Movies, Music | Comments (7)

EMI and Apple/iTunes To Offer DRM-Free Music Downloads

April 3, 2007 – 12:25 pm

Following Steve Jobs? ant-DRM post, people began to wonder if Apple was just pointing fingers or really willing to distribute DRM-free music via their online store. Yesterday we learned the answer.
Apple and EMI announced yesterday they would offer DRM-free 256bit AAC premium downloads, priced at $1.29 each.
Apple, DRM, DRM-free, EMI, ITMS, digital restrictions management, digital [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Books, Movies, Music, Technology | Comments (1)

The True Spirit Of Copyright

March 7, 2007 – 12:15 pm

I wrote to C|Net, owner of TechRepublic and Builder.com, asking if I could quote their Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming in an issue of Library Technology Reports journal on open source software for libraries and got the following canned response:
Thank you for your interest in including CNET content on your website. [...] There would be [...]

By Casey | Comments (0)

Steve Jobs’ Thoughts On Music, Music Stores, and DRM

February 7, 2007 – 12:16 am

Steve Jobs’ Thoughts On Music is surprisingly open and frank, almost blog-like, for the man and the company especially know for keeping secrets.
Jobs is addressing complaints about Apple’s ?proprietary? DRM used in the iTunes Music Store.
There is no theory of protecting content other than keeping secrets. In other words, even if one uses the most [...]

By Casey | Comments (2)

?I Hate DRM? And Other Projects To Preserve The Digital Artistic Commons

April 4, 2006 – 8:53 pm

People hate DRM. It prevents law abiding folks from enjoying the music and movies they’ve purchased, and it does little to prevent crackers from making illegal copies.

In response, somebody’s created I Hate DRM, ?a site dedicated to reclaiming consumer digital rights.?

And on the content creator’s side: Creative Remixes For The People.

By Casey | Comments (1)

Can Actors Sell Their Digital Clones?

March 18, 2006 – 10:35 pm

Alan Wexelblat in Copyfight poses a question from a reader about the future of entertainment:

what rights do you purchase/license/contract for in creating such a reproduction of a real person? Rights to the ?likeness?? Performance rights? Do either of these cover things the actor never physically did or said? Is there an exclusivity clause? There are clearly some issues around the ownership of a character, if that character has appeared before (e.g. Connery’s Bond) but usually the character rights reside with the studio. But if you want the Connery Bond instead of a generic James Bond you also have to incude Connery in the deal, as well as whatever studio or estate has the Bond character rights.

By Casey | Also posted in Books, Movies, Music, Technology | Comments (4)

Love Letters From Your ISP

February 24, 2006 – 12:34 pm

A friend got his own cease and desist letter the other day. His ISP forwarded the notice from a copyright enforcement agency along with five pages of content intended both to stop those that know they’re sharing and help out parents (or others) who may not be aware of what all is going on with [...]

By Casey | Comments (1)

Libraries vs. DRM

February 3, 2006 – 3:15 pm

Within minutes of each other, two friends from separate corners of the world sent me a tip about the following:
Slashdot pointed to this BBC News that talks about the ill effects of DRM on libraries.
What’s DRM? It’s that ?digital rights management? component of some software and media that supposedly protects against illegal copying, but more [...]

By Casey | Also posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)