Eric Goldman on Perfect 10 v. CCBill
Eric Goldman writes about the 9th circuit decision in the fourth copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Perfect 10, Inc., this one against CCBill LLC.
Archives for March 2007
Volokh on Perfect 10 v. CCBill
Eugene Volokh comments on the decision in Perfect 10 v. CCBill.
Google Replies to Viacom
Michael Kwun, managing counsel at Google, has written a response to Viacom’s op-ed piece about copyright infringement on YouTube.
DVD Server Does Not Violate CSS
A Superior Court judge in California ruled against the DVD Copy Control Association in a suit brought against startup Kaleidescape over their product which stores hundreds of DVD movies on hard disks. The ruling stated that a key portion of the specification for the DVD Content Scrambling System (CSS) was not included in the license agreement.
Broadcasters Help Oppose Satellite Merger
The Corporate Crime Reporter has revealed that the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio, a group founded to oppose the merger of satellite radio providers Sirius and XM, is supported by the National Association of Broadcasters. Via Techdirt.
Students Sue Anti-Plagiarism Service over Copyright
William Patry reports that two high school students are suing an anti-plagiarism service hired by their school to prevent cheating.
Additional commentary from Eugene Volokh.
Musicians Rocking for Net Neutrality
Cory Doctorow: A new campaign called Rock the Net is encouraging musicians to support Net Neutrality.
AT&T Sued for Blocking Calls
FreeConference.com, a phone conferencing service, is suing AT&T for blocking wireless customers’ access to its service. The news story includes responses from both AT&T and FreeConference.com. Via Techdirt.
Additional commentary from Ed Felten and Mike Madison.
New Draft of GPL3
The Free Software Foundation has posted a new draft of the third version of the General Public License, the legal foundation for open-source software. FSF Press release. From John Ottaviani.
Michael Geist on P2P Popularity
Michael Geist comments on a news article titled Video Theft May Rise in Canada. He writes, "For years, the media has invoked a cause and effect with respect to P2P that amounts to people engage in P2P (the cause) which results in diminishing revenues and challenges for online services (effect). ... This article flips this around by focusing on the lack of online streaming services (the cause) resulting in greater P2P use (the effect)."
HP Sues Acer for Patent Infringement
On the WSJ Law Blog: U.S. computer maker HP has sued Acer, a Taiwanese computer maker, for patent infringement.
William Patry on Cablevision
William Patry, senior copyright counsel to Google, writes about the decision in 20th Century Fox v. Cablevision.
WSJ On Cablevision DVR
The WSJ law blog quotes a column by Jason Fry (available to WSJ subscribers) commenting on the court decision disallowing Cablevision from providing DVR service to its subscribers if the equipment is located in Cablevision’s facilities. Fry asks, "Who speaks for the consumer?"
FCC Inquiry Into Broadband Practices
The Federal Communications Commission has begun an inquiry to “better understand the behavior of participants in the market for broadband services.” They will examine how broadband Internet providers manage traffic, whether they charge different prices for different capacities, and how consumers are affected. Press release: [Word .doc] [PDF]. More statements by the commissioners at fcc.gov.
Review of The Wealth of Networks
Brett Frischmann reviews a book by Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, which he calls "a thorough and intellectually rich account of our modern information environment and its interrelationship with law, technology, and critically, networks."
DMCA Planner On DMCA Flaws
Bruce Lehman, drafter of the DMCA, spoke at McGill University on the need for new approaches in a "post-copyright" era. Michael Geist reports.
Viacom Explains YouTube Lawsuit
The Washington Post has published a piece by Michael Fricklas, general counsel for Viacom, explaining their Case Against YouTube. Via Techdirt.
DVR Service Infringes Copyright
Eric Goldman comments on 20th Century Fox v. Cablevision, in which Cablevision unsuccessfully defended its DVR service on the basis that its customers were doing the recording, even though the recording equipment was located in Cablevision’s facilities. "Does it really matter if the hardware is in the users’ possession or operated as a service for their benefit?" Goldman asks. According to him, "It shouldn’t!"
Randy Picker Asks What Courts Should Do With Copyright
Chicago law professor Randy Picker writes What Should Courts Be Doing in Copyright Cases? in response to Lawrence Lessig’s piece Make Way for Copyright Chaos. Picker points out that Fair Use was first created by the courts and was not part of statutory law until the Copyright Act of 1976.
Walter Mossberg on Fair Use and the DMCA
Congress Must Make Clear Copyright Laws To Protect Consumers writes Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg. “What consumers need,” Mossberg says, “is real clarity on the whole issue of what is or isn’t permissible use of the digital content they have legally obtained. And that can come only from Congress.” Via Techdirt
COPA Struck Down Permanently
U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. issued a permanent injunction against the 1998 Child Online Protection Act. Lawrence Lessig comments on his blog.
Quick Dismissal Via 47 USC 230
Eric Goldman on Eckert v. Microsoft Corp. A man sued Microsoft over defamatory comments posted on an MSN message board. Microsoft won a quick dismissal by filing a motion to dismiss under 47 USC 230.
Search Engines Not Forced to Carry Ads
The District Court of Delaware dismissed a lawsuit against Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. The suit was brought by an individual who was angry that the three search engines refused to carry his advertisements. Eric Goldman comments
Microsoft & Alcatel-Lucent Fight for Patents
AP reports that Microsoft has accused Alcatel-Lucent of infringement on its “unified communications” patents. The U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating the claims. Last month, Alcatel-Lucent won a $1.5 billion patent judgement against Microsoft, which Microsoft plans to appeal. Via Techdirt
Mark Cuban & Fred von Lohmann Debate in San Diego
On Tuesday, March 27, 2007, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will hold a fundraising event at the O’Reilly Emerging Tech conference in San Diego. Mark Cuban, chairman of HDNet and copyright advocate, and Fred von Lohmann of the EFF will debate on Copyright, YouTube, and the future of Web 2.0.
Oracle Sues SAP for Theft
On the WSJ Law Blog: Oracle sues SAP, a large German software company, for “stealing” copyrighted information from Oracle’s customer support web site and using that information to offer cheaper support to users of Oracle’s software.
Stanford & EFF sue Viacom
The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have filed suit against Viacom for violating the DMCA by sending improper takedown notices to YouTube. See also the EFF Press Release and case information page with the complete complaint.
Seltzer-NFL Dispute Continues on WSJ
The DMCA dispute between Law Professor Wendly Seltzer and the NFL continues at the WSJ Law Blog, including new comments by Seltzer and an NFL spokesman.
Sunstein on Wikipedia
Chicago Law Professor Cass Sunstein writes for the Washington Post on A Brave New Wikiworld, the emerging authority of Wikipedia, open-source software, and collaborative development.
Richard Epstein on Microsoft-EU Battle
Chicago Law Professor Richard Epstein writes for the Financial Times on the legal battle between Microsoft and the European Commission. At issue, he says, is the definition of “interoperability.”
Randy Picker on Data Portability
Chicago Law Professor Randy Picker writes on the future of law for data portability. “[A]s we move from products and local storage to services and centralized storage,” he asks, “who owns the data and what establishes rights to access and use the data?”
KinderStart v. Google Dismissed
Eric Goldman reports on the dismissal by by Judge Fogel of KinderStart.com’s lawsuit against Google over search engine placement.
Selling Licenses to Creative Commons Works
Blogger Cory Doctorow recently sold commercial rights to stories he had previously published under Creative Commons licenses. He posted a copy of the contract clause spelling out the license terms.
Law Prof. Fights NFL Over DMCA
Visiting Brooklyn Law Professor Wendy Seltzer posted a video clip on YouTube of the copyright notice placed on the Super Bowl by the NFL. The NFL sent a DMCA takedown notice, and YouTube pulled the clip. Seltzer then sent a counter-notification, and the clip was replaced. Then the NFL sent another takedown, and the clip was again removed. Seltzer writes that this puts the NFL into the 512(f)(1) category of “knowingly materially misrepresent[ing] ... that material or activity is infringing.”
Via Techdirt.
Blogging Jurors Worry Judges
Law.com reports on the emerging issue of jurors writing about cases in their blogs. Via Techdirt.
Click Fraud and Good Faith
Eric Goldman writes on a new click fraud lawsuit, Payday Advance Plus, Inc. v. Findwhat.com, Inc., the correct way to define “actual clicks,” and the “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.”
Net Neutrality After Web 3.0
MIT’s Technology Review has published an article on the future design of the internet, a so-called “Web 3.0.” Nicholas Carr, author of Does IT Matter?, discusses the implications for net neutrality: “Maybe it will be the geeks rather than the suits who end up killing net neutrality.” Via Techdirt.
Filesharing Law School Notes
Mike Madison writes on the reaction by law professors to a filesharing site for law school course notes, relating it to Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube and the evolving “content model” of modern legal education.
Two Larrys Weigh In On Viacom v. Google
Two Stanford law professors—both named Larry—have written their thoughts on Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube and Google: Lawrence Lessig in the New York Times and Larry Downes at the Center for Internet Society blog.
RIAA Versus Higher Education
Reported by Inside Higher Ed: Earlier this month, the RIAA sent letters to hundreds of university administrators alleging copyright infringement on the part of students and threatening lawsuits. Kenneth Green at Claremont Graduate University criticized this behavior, saying it “smacks of extortion.” Now, the chairman and CEO of the RIAA have responded.
P2P Effect on Physical Piracy
A blogger at the BitTorrent news site TorrentFreak has posted the story of a ‘physical pirate’ who made a fortune selling bootleg CDs of software and games—until filesharing put him out of business. Via BoingBoing.
Can a Web Crawler Enter a Contract?
John Ottaviani writes about Internet Archive v. Shell, in which a web site owner put a copyright notice on her web site, then sued sued a web archiving service for copyright infringement. Among the questions raised by the case is, can an automated web crawler enter into a binding contract? Via Techdirt.
NPR Fights Streaming Royalties
National Public Radio (NPR) filed a petition to the Copyright Review Board urging it to reconsider its recent decision to raise the royalty rates for music streamed over the internet. The new rates could force public radio stations to cease streaming online.
Utah Gov. Proposes 'Porn Port'
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has signed a resolution urging Congress to restrict pornographic content on the Internet to certain TCP/IP ports, keeping the regular web (port 80) as a “family content channel.” Via Techdirt.
Wife of Jailed Chinese Blogger Sues Yahoo
Via Wired News: Yu Ling, the wife of a man imprisoned in China since 2002 for his pro-democracy internet writing, is suing Yahoo for providing information to Chinese authorities that led to her husband’s arrest.
Takedown Is Not An Agreement
Public Citizen, a national non-profit, won an appeal reversing an injunction against a man who created a web site criticizing his doctors. The appeal overturned a 2005 ruling that the initial removal of the criticisms to avoid a threatened lawsuit constituted an agreement to waive free speech rights concerning future criticism.
Public Citizen’s press release includes the full opinion [PDF]. Via Techdirt.
Google to Anonymize Search Records
Google announced that it will soon begin removing personally identifying information, such as IP addresses, from its search logs. Via Techdirt.
Patry on Music Licensing Reform
William Patry, of the Patry Copyright Blog, comments on The Difficulties of Music Licensing Reform, particularly in Europe.
Patent Office on "Inadvertent" Filesharing
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has released a report titled Filesharing Programs and “Technological Features to Induce Users to Share” [PDF]. The report determines that the makers of five popular filesharing programs “repeatedly deployed features that had a known propensity to trick users into uploading infringing files inadvertently,” and goes on to conclude that “such features justify further investigation to determine whether particular distributors intended for such features to act as duping schemes.”
Reported by InformationWeek, Techdirt, ars technica, and many others. Copies of the report are also at Shadowmonkey.
Unlimited Internet Has Its Limits
The International Herald Tribune reports on Internet service providers dropping customers who use too much of their “unlimited” bandwidth.
The article quotes Linda Sherry, of Consumer Action, who says, “Legitimately, everybody’s going to be a bandwidth hog sooner or later, because that’s what the Internet is, going forward.”
Via Techdirt.
EU Commissioner on iTunes lock-in
EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva criticized Apple’s FairPlay DRM technology for locking consumers into the iTunes/iPod combo. Via ars technica.
Neuroscience and the Law
The New York Times Magazine has a long article on neuroscience and the law. Excerpts:
“Lawyers routinely order scans of convicted defendants’ brains and argue that a neurological impairment prevented them from controlling themselves.”
“[S]keptics fear that the use of brain-scanning technology as a kind of super mind-reading device will threaten our privacy and mental freedom, leading some to call for the legal system to respond with a new concept of ‘cognitive liberty.’”
“Should courts be in the business of deciding when to mitigate someone’s criminal responsibility because his brain functions improperly, whether because of age, in-born defects or trauma? As we learn more about criminals’ brains, will we have to redefine our most basic ideas of justice?”
Viacom Sues YouTube for $1 billion
Viacom has sued YouTube and its new owner, Google, for one billion dollars for copyright infringement. Via WSJ Law Blog, commentary by Techdirt and Lessig.
WSJ Law Blog has more on the lawsuit’s relation to the DMCA.