Posts tagged Copyright at Switched

Posts with tag copyright

TV Networks Criticized for Blocking Election Videos on YouTube

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 26th 2008 at 3:02PM

Networks Attacked Over Blocking YouTube Election Videos

Despite having signed off on User Generated Content (UGC) principles, which endorse fair use of copyrighted content in protected free speech, several networks have sent takedown requests to YouTube over politically-themed videos that use short clips from copyrighted broadcasts.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) earlier this week sent letters not only to YouTube, but also the networks involved: Fox, NBC, CBN, and CBS. The open letter to the networks requests that they stop sending takedown requests based on short news clips used in election-themed videos. The McCain-Palin campaign has recently been targeted by CBS, CBN, and Fox, and the Obama-Biden ticket had at least one video removed based on a request from NBC.

Fred von Lohmann (senior intellectual property attorney at the EFF) said,"The videos at issue include clips of news footage that last only a few seconds, used as part of constitutionally-protected political speech. This is not piracy, but fair use, no different from what Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show do every night."

In a separate letter to YouTube, the EFF asked the video hosting site to protect users from unfounded takedown requests. The nonpartisan public interest group asked YouTube to immediately respond to counter-notices filed by posters against takedown requests and restore videos that are clear cases of fair use.

Other groups have joined the EFF in protesting the networks heavy handed enforcement of copyright laws, including the ACLU, Citizen Media Law Project, the Center for Social Media, School of Communication, as well as American University's Program for Information Justice & Intellectual Property and their Law School. You can read the entire letters to the networks and YouTube online. [From: EFF Press Room]

Unofficial ' Harry Potter' Encyclopedia Banned, Thanks to JK Rowling

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 12th 2008 at 9:47AM

JK Rowling Wins Lawsuit, Unofficial Potter Encyclopedia Banned

Copyrights are frequently mysterious and sometimes crippling things. Creative minds obviously need to protect their rights to their creations, but as the RIAA and MPAA have shown again and again, it's quite possible to push the boundaries of copyright into the ridiculous. Sometimes, though, the boundaries are a little less clear-cut, as was the case regarding an unofficial encyclopedia about the Harry Potter universe that series author JK Rowling has prevented from publication, being ruled "not a fair use of the Harry Potter works" in a New York court.

The encyclopedia was written by Potter fan Steven Vander Ark, a school librarian who ran the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' fan site. Rowling originally supported the site, but when Vander Ark announced plans to sell a book based on the site's contents for profit, Rowling recoiled. As of the legal ruling, the site seems to have been taken offline as well, leaving Potter fans unfortunately out in the cold.

For her part, Rowling indicated that the lawsuit was not about money, but rather to protect her interests from the sale of a book she called "wholesale theft." She had earlier plans to write a similar encyclopedia and give the proceeds to charity, but as of now it sounds doubtful that even an official tome will see publication. [From: BBC News]

Comic Book Does the RIAA's Bidding

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 22nd 2008 at 4:57PM

Public Service Announcements in the medium of comics regarding the dangers of... well whatever the popular perils of the time are, have been hoisting well-intentioned gibberish on kids for generations. PSA comics have touched on everything from drugs, to smoking, to famine, and land mines.

The latest in a long heritage of comics urging you to do right comes without any super heroes or association with an established comic outlet like Marvel or DC. 'Justice Case Files' (really...) is an in-house effort from the National Center for State Courts, which we can only assume is a front for the RIAA, the most dastardly group of super villains to ever grace the pages of a comic book.

This disgrace to the label of propaganda bulges with misinformation so dense you'd have to bushwhack your way through its pages to find even a kernel of truth.

Issue one centers around Megan, a student with a file sharing addiction that puts her freedom and scholarship (seriously? jail time isn't motivation enough?) at risk. Megan is charged with Criminal Copyright Infringement by her fictional city government and faces charges at the state level that could net her a total of $25,000 in fines and 2 years in prison. Of course, in real life Criminal Copyright Infringement involves the selling of copyrighted materials, not peer-to-peer file sharing, and CCI is prosecuted by the federal government not local courts, but who's paying attention? Apparently, not the legal non-profit handing out this mumbo-jumbo.

You can download the entire comic in PDF form here, or for those with a taste for the ironic, you can search Limewire and BitTorrent. [From: Wired via: Boing Boing]

Read Magazines Online for Free, For Now...

by Will Safer, posted Aug 20th 2008 at 5:18PM

An offshore Web site is encouraging people to upload and share paid magazine content, something the magazine industry is none too happy about.

Mygazines.com wants its users to "upload, share and archive" magazines, and has full copies of titles such as 'The Economist' and 'Men's Health' available. There are no ads on the Web site and readers can register for free. While the site claims its digital copies are no different from the copies of magazines people pick up and read while waiting in a doctor's office, magazine publishers certainly feel different.

Several publishers are looking into ways of shutting the site down, but since it is registered in Anguilla, a British territory in the Caribbean, U.S. law doesn't reach far enough. Even its registration information seems a little shady: The domain name is owned by one "John Smith," who seems to be tough to find.

Lawyers say the site goes beyond fair use rules by encouraging people to upload and share protected content, and you may remember file-sharing site Grokster getting in trouble for this kind of activity. While protected content sometimes ends up on YouTube, for example, that site does its best to remove the video when asked by the copyright owner.

Interestingly there's a contest for users who sign up lots of friends, with a $1000 award being given out every month for the next six months, and then a $5000 grand prize being awarded in February of 2009. What we can't figure out is where Mygazines gets the money. With no registration fee and no advertising, we guess John Smith is just feeling generous. [From: USA Today]

China Will Block Internet During Olympics, But Will Go Easy On Pirates

by Tim Stevens, posted May 8th 2008 at 10:50AM

China Will Block Internet During Olympics, Not Pirates

Despite having the highest number of online users in the world, China is still one of the most strict censors of the Internet. In the build-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer, the nation has been talking about the easy availability of Internet access for the media covering the games, but now it's backing away from pledges of "complete freedom," indicating that some sites will continue to be censored.

So, the media may find themselves blocked from some sites while in the country, but, in an ironic twist, the Chinese government is also saying that it's unable to block those selling Olympic-themed memorabilia. Officials have complained about seeing vendors openly selling knockoff shirts and mascots (along with pirated copies of Hollywood movies and the like) on street corners in Beijing. The government has fined a number of them recently, but is indicating it is powerless to stop it completely.

So, between the censorship and bionic swimming suits, it's certainly shaping up to be an interesting Olympics, and we haven't even started talking about the competitors yet! [Source: Reuters]

Apple Questions NYC's GreeNYC Program and Logo

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 3rd 2008 at 7:20PM

New York -- 'The Big Apple' -- has filed for a trademark for it's new GreeNYC logo that is being plastered on the city's new hybrid taxis and buses. Thats the logo above, the infinity sign as an apple, with stem and leaf. Next to that is the Apple (formerly Apple Computers) logo. The silver apple shape with a leaf and a bite taken out of it.

Apple thinks the GreeNYC logo is a bit too similar to the Apple logo and has asked that the city's trademark request be denied. Apple claims the new logo will cause confusion and "seriously injure the reputation which [Apple] has established for its goods and services."

But before we go off carrying torches and pitchforks to Steve Jobs' front door perhaps we should see what a patent lawyer has to say about it. Nilay Patel at our sister site Engadget says that this is actually standard practice. Thousands of these types of petitions are filed every year by just about every company out there. Its part of the initial 30 day vetting process of any trademark request. In the end Patel seems to think its likely that Apple and the city of New York will come to some licensing agreement and everyone will just forget this ever happened. And we were really looking forward to forming an angry mob...

We still think this is a bit absurd. New York has been known as the Big Apple since the 1920s, more than 50 years before there was an Apple Computers to speak of.

From Wired and Engadget

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Japanese Internet Providers to Ban File Sharers

by Tim Stevens, posted Mar 17th 2008 at 9:10AM

Debates are raging around the world regarding exactly what role Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, should have when it comes to the illegal swapping of music or movie files. In the U.S., Comcast has already taken steps to block those who would share files, while Verizon has made it clear that it has no intentions to monitor those it provides service to. In Japan, though, the debates are over, as the country's four ISPs have decided to start using software to find, monitor, and potentially disconnect file sharers.

According to the Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper, ISPs have indicated that anyone caught sharing files will be given a warning, upon first offense. Future detections will result in file sharers being temporarily disconnected from their Web access. Those who share files illegally after repeated warnings will lose their Internet connection permanently.

What's unclear is just just many offenses it will take to lose one's license to surf, and whether the ISPs will be punishing only illegal file sharing over peer-to-peer networks or all file sharing.

Japanese surfers will find out next month when the new plan goes into action.

From TechCrunch

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Two More Pirate Sites Shut Down -- For Now

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 24th 2007 at 5:24PM

UK BitTorrent Site TV-Links.co.UK Closed, For Now

Another major BitTorrent site has been shuttered... for now. This time it's the U.K.based tv-links.co.uk. TV-Links was closed down for providing links to illegal copies of major motion pictures and TV shows. The closing of the site was accompanied by raids and the arrest of a 26-year-old man from Cheltenham, England for facilitating copy right infringement.

Officers from the Gloucestershire County Council Trading Standards Service, the Gloucestershire Police, and FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) worked together to bring the popular Torrent site down.

In addition, this week saw the closure of OiNK BitTorrent Tracker, an invite-only site that specializes in leaking albums before their official release.

TV-Links and OiNK BitTorrent Tracker are just latest target sin the fight against piracy. In 2003, popular site SuperNova.org closed up shop due to mounting legal pressure, as did the "world's largest" BitTorrent repository, The Pirate Bay. Both services returned, though, to their full illegal glory after only a fairly short closing, and it is likely that the same will happen with TV-Links and OiNK.

From the Guardian Unlimited and Ars Technica

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Are Copyright Warnings on DVDs and Games Too Scary?

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 3rd 2007 at 10:16AM

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which is made up of companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over copyright warnings used on books, DVDs, CDs, a sports broadcasts. The CCIA says the warnings blatantly overstate the legal restrictions placed on such material and don't do a good enough job explaining the Fair Use provisions in United States copyright law, which allow a certain amount of recording and copying for personal or scholarly use.

We've quoted it before, and here it is again: "Any rebroadcast, retransmission, or account of this game, without the express written consent of Major League Baseball...." The CCIA points specifically at the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBC Universal, Morgan Creek, DreamWorks, Harcourt Inc., and Penguin Group, accusing them of misrepresenting consumers rights for using copyrighted material. The CCIA singled out the NFL and some movies studios as being particularly intimidating to consumers.

The warnings are there to prevent people from, say, recording a game and posting it on a peer-to-peer file-sharing site, but the CCIA thinks the warnings are so general that most people are afraid to simply record games for their own use in their own homes (preventing people from using their nice new Windows Vista Media Centers to record games, among other Microsoft products).

The first step the CCIA seeks is to bar the accused from using the overly broad warnings, that they should be more specific. Secondly, it is seeking to force the companies named in the complaint to foot the bill for Fair Use education for consumers.

From Boing Boing and Ars Technica

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FBI Busts '24' Bootlegger

by Tom Conlon, posted Jun 4th 2007 at 11:44AM

Jorge Romero of Chicago -- no, not that George Romero -- should consider himself lucky that Jack Bauer and his ability to connect bullets with foreheads are both things of fiction. That's because, instead of sending the king of bad days after Romero for violating its copyrights, Fox had to settle for real-life federal authorities that tend to prefer arrests to senseless bloodbaths.

In January of this year, Romero downloaded the first four episodes of this past season's '24' from an unspecified site and re-uploaded them to media-sharing site, LiveDigital.com. The episodes appeared on the site more than a week before the season's television debut. Fox called the FBI into the matter and Romero, coincidentally age 24, now finds himself facing up to three years in prison for, "uploading copyrighted material to a publicly accessible computer network knowing the work was intended for commercial distribution."

While Viacom's tact has been to sue the Web sites on which copyright violations appear (YouTube), Fox's pursuit of an individual user is reminiscent of the RIAA's strategy for fighting copyright violation (remember the poor little 12-year-old girl who got sued?). So, is the tide turning to putting copyright responsibility back in the hands of individual 'Netizens? Doubtful. We think it's more likely that Fox saw an easy target in Romero who was dumb enough to use a site that he was a registered user of, as opposed to something more anonymous, like BitTorrent.

From AOL News

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