When we read stories like Tanya Andersen's and consider the countless others who have been wrongfully targeted by trade groups like the RIAA, it becomes evident that the system by which DMCA takedown notices are issued is very far from perfect. For the uninitiated, DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notices are official statements which assert that an artist's or company's intellectual rights have been violated (i.e. copyright infringement) and often threaten legal action against an individual. In a study conducted by the University of Washington, researchers proved that this system is seriously flawed, according to the New York Times. In one experiment, the team received takedown notices from the MPAA which accused 3 laserjet printers of downloading the latest Indiana Jones movie and Iron Man. More, inside...
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Latest by InThrees: @mikelotus: "Rationalization" implies I'm trying to justify a habit or practice of mine, and that's not the case here. There more »
Although it won't affect other cases, the RIAA was handed a small smackdown this week when a U.S. district judge rejected their request for a summary judgement, and ruled that putting song files in a shared directory was not enough proof that infringement had occurred.
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Look at this kid dance and smile as he revels in his mother's blatant copyright infringement. The song fueling his happiness, Prince's "Let's Go Crazy," is owned by Universal Music Group, whose lawyers are not dancing, smiling, or happy. They sent a curmudgeonly DMCA takedown notice to YouTube, riling the Electronic Frontier Foundation to sue Universal in retaliation.
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When Jamie Olsen decided to become an eBay entrepreneur, she decided to start small: selling bottles of Aquage shampoo. And because people can tell a lot about the effectiveness of shampoo by staring at a grainy picture of the bottle, Jamie took a picture of the bottles with a camera phone.
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