Consumerist
shepard fairey
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legal battles
Copycat Company Sues Original Artist To Void Copyright Claims
It's a natural impulse to want to support the little guy, the David who faces down a powerful Goliath. That's why it's easy to get behind this guy's claims that a copycat business is suing him to force him to abandon his own copyrights. Wtf!, you might say when you read something like that. Is that even possible? It is, and the story is more nuanced when you look at both sides, which makes it a good example of why it's sometimes hard to be a "good consumer" when deciding where to spend your money. More » -
think different
More Ways To Buy A Non-Apple Mac OS X Computer
Since last year, a small company called Psystar has been selling Mac clones that, in some cases, are more powerful than Apple's own computers in the same price range. Now, the company has hit on another way to spread the OS X love: It will begin licensing its software to other companies that want to build and sell ersatz Macs. There are just a couple of problems that potential buyers might want to be aware of: Apple hasn't given Psystar permission to do this, and is in the process of suing the company for copyright infringement. Oh, and Psystar is also in Chapter 11. More » -
verdicts
30 Songs? That'll Be $675,000
A Boston jury yesterday ruled that file sharer Joel Tenenbaum would have to pay the Recording Industry of America $675,000 for sharing 30 copyrighted songs. The hefty award was all the more surprising because Tenenbaum was represented by a crack team of legal eagles from Harvard's law school. The trial didn't unfold nearly the way they planned... More » -
you get nothing!
B&N Wraps Public Domain Books In DRM To Protect Authors' Copyrights. What?
The ebook "war" is a race to the bottom, apparently, with Barnes & Noble trying to out-do Amazon on DRM stupidity. A reader emailed B&N customer service to point out that their "free books" offer consists of 5 public domain titles that are no longer protected under copyright, yet are still locked down with digital rights management (DRM). Their response? "For copyright protection purposes, these files are encrypted and cannot be converted or printed." More » -
how to
How To Load Up Your Kindle With Non-Amazon Ebooks
So you've got a Kindle, and you have books on it, and you want to keep those books—no matter what Amazon or a publisher decides you deserve in the future. Your legal options are limited, but you do have some. More » -
Pez Candy is suing the Pez musuem in Burlingame, CA for copyright infringement. The museum has a 7-foot-tall Pez dispenser that they want destroyed. Maybe Pez should make a new candy flavor called "Copyright Overkill" that tastes like all the joy has been removed. [Laughing Squid] (Thanks to sizer!) (Photo: Hryck.)
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copyright
ASCAP Wants Royalties On Ringtones
Not content to let the RIAA get all the recent publicity for stupid lawsuits, ASCAP has sued AT&T over sales of ringtones, saying each time a ringtone plays it's a public performance and royalties should be paid. Luckily (?) for consumers, ASCAP wants AT&T, not individuals, to pay—although we wonder what they'll say when you take a track from your own library and make a ringtone out of it.
"Group Sues AT&T Over Ringtones Heard In Public" [MocoNews]
(Photo: Ewan-M) -
woody allen
Woody Allen Makes More Money Suing American Apparel Than Making Movies
Woody Allen found a new way to make ends meet other than that zany "sell movie tickets to people" scheme: He waited until American Apparel made an unauthorized billboard using his graven image, then sued the crap out of them for $10 million and settled for half the amount. More » -
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kindle
National Federation Of The Blind Mounts Protest Over Kindle 2 Restrictions
When the Authors Guild successfully agitated for the right to selectively remove the text-to-speech feature from books read on Amazon's Kindle 2, they alienated an entire group of potential consumers: people who have trouble reading normal printed works. Now a group called the Reading Rights Coalition is going to storm the Authors Guild's NYC office tomorrow at noon to protest. More » -
amazon
Amazon Allows Publishers To Kill Text To Speech Function On Kindle 2
The 8,000 member Authors Guild—the RIAA of the publishing world—has complained about the text to speech feature on the Amazon Kindle 2, which can read aloud your ebook in a computerized voice (something text to speech programs have been doing for years). The Guild says that's equivalent to an audio book, and that Amazon can't just allow it without paying extra, so last Friday Amazon caved in and announced they'll let writers and publishers disable the feature on a title by title basis moving forward. More » -
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consumer rights
Apple Wants To Make Jailbreaking Worthy Of Jail Time, $2500 Fine
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has petitioned the Library of Congress to officially protect phone owners who bypass software restrictions on their phones—aka "jailbreaking." Apple has just filed an objection, arguing that doing so would infringe on their copyright. If Apple gets its way,
[it] would have the right to claim statutory damages of up to $2,500 "per act of circumvention." People who jailbreak phones, might even be subject to criminal penalties of as long as five years, if they circumvented copyright for a financial gain.
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hot topic
The Hits Keep Coming: Hot Topic Is Selling Another Eerily Familiar Design
We really hope there's a good explanation for this. Hot Topic is selling Twilight perfume, a fragrance that comes in a bottle very similar to Nina, by Nina Ricci.
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hot topic
Hot Topic Steals Yet Another Design And Sells It As Its Own
Once again, Hot Topic is selling someone else's art as original work. The mallternative retail chain purchased the supposedly original design from Newbreed Girl, which has its own history of ripping off designs.
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hot topic
Hot Topic Likes Your Art So Much... They're Selling It!
I'm glad I'm bad at everything so I never have to worry about anyone plagiarizing my work. Sadly, this is not the case for Nina Matsumoto. Whoever is in charge of "designing" Halloween merchandise for Hot Topic is apparently a big fan of Nina's. More » -
3m
3M Steals Viral Image Idea To Avoid Licensing It
There is probably nothing more pathetic in the world of marketing than watching a big corporation try to do something "viral"—usually they end up looking like Elaine dancing. But sometimes, they're so cynical and soulless about it that they don't just come across as incompetent, but as exploitative cheapskates as well. In 3M's case, they wouldn't pay $2,000 to license a well-known photo with its own viral history, and instead recreated a fake version of it to save a grand. We guess they're just hoping none of the sites and communities that made the photo popular in the first place will notice. Oh wait, this is supposed to be viral or something... More » -
walmart
Walmart Says You Can't Scan That 1925 Family Portrait, Because Copyright Lasts Forever
If you combine a mindless and petty tyrant with Walmart's draconian photo rights policies, you get a story like the one Boingboing reported today, where a woman in Florida was told she couldn't scan an 80-year-old portrait of her dead grandmother, because its copyright is surely held by the studio that took it—and copyrights last forever.
If you're going to scan old photos at Walmart, you may want to brush up on copyright basics, since clearly Walmart isn't bothering to train its employees. More »
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viacom
Viacom Retracts Fraudulent Ownership Claims On Indie Filmmaker's YouTube Clip
Last week we told you about how Viacom was sending fraudulent ownership claims to indie filmmakers on YouTube. A few days after our post went up about how they were doing this to animator Joanna Davidovich, a Viacom executive got in touch with her to explain what happened. More »
