It’s a showdown of new media and sorta-old media as YouTube defends itself against Viacom in the TV leviathan’s billion-dollar copyright infringement lawsuit against the site that showed the world that cats can indeed play the piano. [More]
Big Media To Crack Down On Copyright Pirates
By March 5, 2010
On his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog, Alan Mutter says a company called Attributor has rounded up several big media companies and is set to go after sites that hock their content for free. [More]
Hot Topic Steals Adorable Designs From Webcomic
By February 27, 2010
Update: Meghan and Hot Topic have settled this situation. Fans of the adorable webcomic Kawaii Not were surprised to discover buttons made from comic panels for sale at Hot Topic. The problem? The artist sort of didn’t license the designs to Hot Topic, and they are copyrighted. Artist Meghan Murphy does sell her own buttons…and these aren’t those. [More]
Google Pulls Plug On Several Blogger Pages For DMCA Violations
By February 11, 2010
The folks at Google are a busy bunch — in the same day that they made your Gmail contact list a public matter with their Facebook wannabe Google Buzz, they pulled the plug without warning on a handful of popular music blogs in their blogger.com network for alleged violations of that holiest of Internet grails, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. [More]
Google Names Phone After Blade Runner, Irritates Copyright Holder
By January 6, 2010
Phillip K. Dick wrote a book called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” which is too long to put in the title of this post, but was adapted into the film Blade Runner (which is awesome.) In this book, the android model in question is called the “Nexus-6.” Google’s phone, which runs an operating system called “Android” is called the “Nexus One.” This has pissed off Phillip K. Dick’s daughter. [More]
Walmart Won't Let Family Print Photos Of Dead Relative For Funeral
By November 18, 2009
After the death of a relative, Mike put together a photo tribute for the funeral, in order to “remember the good times,” he says. Only a Walmart cashier put a stop to his purchase. Here’s what happened. Do you think Walmart was in the right?
Free Muni WiFi Back After MPAA Shut It Down For 1 Download
By November 18, 2009
Coshocton, OH has its free muni WiFi back up, less than a week after it was shut down by MPAA actions over a single illegal movie download.
MPAA Shuts Down Town's Free Muni WiFi Over 1 Download
By November 12, 2009
The MPAA forced the town Coshocton, OH to shut down their entire free municipal WiFi network because of a single instance of a single user illegally downloading a copyrighted movie. Here are some of the many other things the town used to use the network for:
Copycat Company Sues Original Artist To Void Copyright Claims
By October 28, 2009
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 Ways To Buy A Non-Apple Mac OS X Computer
By October 6, 2009
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.
30 Songs? That'll Be $675,000
By August 1, 2009
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…
B&N Wraps Public Domain Books In DRM To Protect Authors' Copyrights. What?
By July 29, 2009
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.”
How To Load Up Your Kindle With Non-Amazon Ebooks
By July 20, 2009
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.
By July 7, 2009
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.)
ASCAP Wants Royalties On Ringtones
By July 3, 2009
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.
Woody Allen Makes More Money Suing American Apparel Than Making Movies
By May 19, 2009
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.
National Federation Of The Blind Mounts Protest Over Kindle 2 Restrictions
By April 6, 2009
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.
Amazon Allows Publishers To Kill Text To Speech Function On Kindle 2
By March 2, 2009
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.
