Online free speech: Damages a possibility in Universal Musics takedown of dancing baby

A federal judge ruled that a mother could get compensation from Universal Music for forcing YouTube to remove a 29-second video of her toddler son dancing to a Prince song. -db

The Recorder
March 1, 2010
By Zusha Elinson

Universal Music might have to pay for pulling video of a dancing baby off YouTube.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled [...]

Seattle: Photographer falls into legal soup with photo of public art

You would think that a sculpture commissioned with public funds and displayed in a public place could be photographed and the photo published, but Mike Hipple found himself sued by the sculptor who claims the exclusive right to reproduce the work and create derivative work from it. -db

Suffolk Media Law
Commentary
February 17, 2010
By Justin Silverman
To photographer Mike [...]

Trademark case: Chamber of Commerce battles critics over parody

Political activists are asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claiming the activists infringed on trademarks with a parody on the Chamber’s stance on climate change. -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundation
January 6, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A group of political activists including members of the Yes Men and [...]

Publisher sues hackers for copyright infringement after portions of GQ appear online

Condé Nast has sued anonymous hackers after they downloaded unpublished photos and articles from GQ’s December issue and published them online. -DB

Online Media Daily
December 23, 2009
By Wendy Davis
Condé Nast has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against unknown users who allegedly hacked into the company’s computer system, downloaded unpublished photos and articles, and then published them [...]

News media copyright policy could limit free speech

A Fellow at The Center for the Internet and Society argues that in trying to protect content, the news media can propose policies that hurt the very First Amendment that they are trying to preserve. -DB
The Center for the Internet and Society
Stanford Law School
Opinion
December 10, 2009
By Sarah Hinchliff Pearson

It’s nothing new for media organizations to [...]

Europe alarmed by U.S. government and entertainment industry negotiation stance on copyright accord

Leaked European Union documents say that in choosing their position on the  new international copyright accord, the U.S. and its entertainment industry does not adequately provide for balance and fairness and the rights of individual creators. -DB

Wired
November 30, 2009
By David Kravets

The European Union is alarmed the Obama administration is lobbying on behalf of the [...]

Arbitrator nixes talk show host Glenn Beck’s charge that parody infringed copyright

Online Media Daily
November 6, 2009
By Wendy Davis
Controversial talk show host Glenn Beck came up empty as a World Intellectual Property Organization arbitrator ruled that a unflattering url intended to be a parody came under the protection of the First Amendment. -DB

Critics blast Obama for conducting secret trade talks that could rewrite U.S. copyright law

Daily Finance
November 5, 2009
By Sam Gustin
The U.S. participated in secret talks in Seoul, South Korea last week that could result in harsh measures to root out copyright infringement. Civil liberties and consumer groups are upset by the lack of transparency in the proceedings. -DB

‘Three strikes’ penalty for file sharing a sticky wicket for British politicians

EFF’s Danny O’Brien says British politicians are in for a firestorm of protest and perhaps failed election bids if they support a government digital economy bill that includes a provision for terminating Internet access for repeated copyright infringement. -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
October 28, 2009
By Danny O’Brien
The arbitrary termination of Internet access for repeated accusations of copyright infringement [...]

Will it Work?: New German proposal for copyright system to save journalism

Citizen Media Law Project blogger Arthur Bright argues that Germany’s proposal to charge for journalism content using a system similar to that used by the movie and music industries is fraught with difficulty and will only delay the inevitable. To survive, says Bright,  journalism must develop a workable business model. -DB
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
October 30, [...]

Stifling criticism: Ralph Lauren concedes on attempted copyright takedown

A blog called Boing Boing won a battle against Ralph Lauren that began when it attacked a Ralph Lauren ad that it felt presented distorted images of women’s bodies, reprinting the ad at issue. Lauren countered with accusations that the blog violated copyright in printing the ad which contained a  photo and sent DMCA a [...]

Hallmark wants rehearing in First Amendment case against Paris Hilton

After losing a federal court appeal ruling on August 31, Hallmark Cards is asking for a rehearing with the full court concerning a dispute with Paris Hilton over a birthday card bearing an image of Hilton’s head. -DB
The National Law Journal
September 23, 2009
By Amanda Bronstad
Hallmark Cards Inc. has asked the full “Court of Appeals for [...]

Music industry enlisting school children in its campaign on copyright law

The efforts of the Recording Industry of American (RIAA) to indoctrinate school children to educate their peers about copyright law has raised hackles at the Electronic Frontier Foundation(EFF). The EFF says the RIAA curriculum is full of falsehoods and omissions and fails to educate children about their digital rights. -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Editorial
September 17, 2009
By Tim [...]

Tracking software will not protect Associated Press conten

Wired writer Ryan Singel says just copying and pasting will remove underlying code meant to prevent misuse of AP content -DB
Wired
Commentary
July 27, 2009
By Ryan Singel
The Associated Press announcement that it would “protect” its online content by including special html code in the stories it distributes to its member papers raised hackles around the internet from bloggers [...]

Associated Press taking hard line on use of its content

A.P. is adding new software to each of its articles to track how the article is used in an aggressive move to gain more profit from its stories. -DB
The New York Times
July 24, 2009
By Richard Perez-Pena
Taking a new hard line that news articles should not turn up on search engines and Web sites without permission, The [...]

Associated Press settles lawsuit over improper use of its content

AP settled their lawsuit against All headline News who had rewritten and posted AP stories online without assigning credit. AP used the “hot news” doctrine as the basis for their claim. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
July 14, 2009
By Lucas Tanglen
The Associated Press settled its lawsuit against All headline News over AP stories that were [...]

Information wants to be free, but the creators of information need to eat. Whether to charge for journalism online is fundamentally a question about legal rights.

By Peter Scheer
A debate rages in what remains of the newspaper industry over the question of whether papers should charge for their content online or, as most papers now do, give it away for free in hopes of reaping faster overall revenue growth through internet advertising. As more and more publications contemplate their own [...]

In far-reaching decision, Appeals Court affirms public's right to county mapping database

By Peter Scheer
In a stunning victory for freedom of information advocates, a California appeals court has sustained a public right of access to a government database that makes possible highly accurate digital mapping.
Holding that Santa Clara County must make public its geographic information system (GIS) parcel “basemap,” which shows real estate parcel boundaries, appraisals, and [...]