Posts Tagged: "copyright"

What is going on with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)?  After many years of waging a war against anyone and everyone that they thought illegally copied music, capturing many innocent people up with their Gustapo-like actions, and fighting with Internet Service Providers at every turn to get private information about users, the RIAA seems to have become a…

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation announced that it has resolved its copyright infringement lawsuit against Dr. Edward Ray, on behalf of Oregon State University, and Stephen Garets, operators of the Team Oregon Motorcycle Safety Program. The Settlement Agreement was finalized by all parties on December 19, 2008.

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fired MediaSentry, the Recording company it used to help it gather evidence for mass lawsuits it filed against people it claimed were illegally uploading copyrighted music. It would seem that the RIAA is finally coming to its senses and realizing that the way forward is not…

Popeye the Sailor, one of the most recognizable of all comic book characters, has recently fallen into the public domain in Europe, which means that anyone can use the image of the popular cartoon character throughout the European Union without having to pay royalties.  Of course, as with virtually any intellectual property news story the popular press did not get…

The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google recentl announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers worldwide that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search. …

On Monday, August 4, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an important decision that sets the stage for Cable companies and Satellite TV providers to sell technology that will allow for the archiving of recorded television shows in digital format.  This decision overrules an earlier decision by a federal district court that ruled in…

On Friday, April 25, 2008, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual “Special 301” Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection by U.S. trading partners. This year’s Special 301 Report places forty-six (46) countries on the Priority Watch List, Watch List, or the Section 306 monitoring list.  There are nine…

Answering the question about how long a copyright lasts, or whether a particular copyrighted work is in the public domain and can be readily used without the payment of royalties, is an impossible question to answer in the abstract.  This is because over the years the United States Congress has periodically altered the length of copyright protection and the formalities…

The Egyptian government is attempting to enact legislation that would seek to force royalty payments from anyone who uses an image of the pyramids or one of the other to be protected antiquity images.  I saw this story in the LA Times this weekend, but it appears to have been first reported by National Geographic about four weeks ago.  Zahi Hawass,…

Recently Hollywood executives approached both AT&T and Verizon to seek their help in preventing piracy over their networks.  According to a New York Times article, AT&T is working with the entertainment industry to figure out how to identify illegally copied material that is being transmitted over its broadband network.  Verizon, on the other hand, said — NO — we are…

According to U2 manager Paul McGuinness, Internet service providers are to blame for continuing music piracy.  Speaking at conference in France, McGuinness said that ISPs should be disconnecting those who download tracks illegally, stating that ISPs have “been at our trough for too long.” He also claimed that ISPs are to blame for the “shoddy, careless and downright dishonest way” in which artists…

After reading the book and seeing the movie, it’s a wonder that Director Lawrence even states that the movie is based on this book. While discussing the difference between the book and movie, this very question came to mind. There are some similarities between the two, but the book is so incredibly different that one could think they were different stories all together.