Verdict will have significant reverberations for copyright, DRM and innovation.
No further progress on this case is expected until at least June, but if a boring story about printer cartridges pops up you might want to pay attention. It could be a decision that leads to a virtual DRM on everything. READ : Supreme Court Printer Cartridge Case Could Be the Citizens United of Products | Gizmodo
I love this story! Librarians are definitely superheros. The outcome of the trial will certainly be interesting.
We here at Above the Law appreciate law librarians. Staci attended the AALL’s recent conference and it was the law librarian community that kickstarted the Twitter phenomenon #lawlibpickuplines. But for all their invaluable support, it’s rare that law librarians get to play the hero in a litigation. If anyone out there harbored lingering doubts over the importance of a top-notch law librarian, know that the most abusive copyright troll on the planet may have just gone down due to the diligent work of a law librarian. Not bad for a day’s work. READ MORE: Law Librarians May Have Killed World’s Biggest Copyright Troll | Above the Law.
Despite no study, no public demands, and the potential cost to the public of millions of dollars, the government announced that it will extend the term of copyright for sound recordings and performances from 50 to 70 years…
…Canada will extend term without any public discussion or consultation, yet other studies have found that retroactive extension does not lead to increased creation and that the optimal term length should enable performers and record labels to recoup their investment, not extend into near-unlimited terms to the detriment of the public. For Canadian consumers, the extension could cost millions of dollars as works that were scheduled to come into the public domain will now remain locked down for decades.
Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to steal other people’s work. There’s also a high risk you’ll be found out. So why do it? Rhodri Marsden goes in search of a little originality…via The big steal: rise of the plagiarist in the digital age | Technology | The Guardian.
A video game studio censored negative YouTube reviews of its latest title, using spurious copyright-infringement claims to get its way. And now the gaming world is hoisting its controllers in revolt.
via Video game studio uses copyright claims to censor bad reviews | The Daily Dot
You may also like: Want to Sell Your Game? Don’t Tick Off YouTubers | WIRED
I recently served as a mentor at a hackathon and came away shaking my head. In hackathons, teams compete intensively, typically for just a day or two, to create software (and sometimes hardware) solutions. What struck me was that most of the participants — young, tech-savvy programmers, engineers, and others — seemed largely uninformed or unconcerned about intellectual property. Participants tend to come from many different organizations, and often view hackathons as recreational social events, so perhaps they can be forgiven for not focusing on IP. But the companies they come from need to pay attention — or risk losing valuable IP.
See the full article at: Who Owns Hackathon Inventions? | Alan Steele – Harvard Business Review
WorldAffairs 2013 Keynote: Chris Anderson – The Maker Revolution | Stephen’s Lighthouse
Insightful keynote and Q&A discussing topics including industrial revolutions, manufacturing, machine power and brainpower. Desktop, digital and cloud = the third industrial revolution. Also some great anecdotes and stories on creating “things,” intellectual property, uses for drones, education and digital design, and more.
“Anything you can imagine you can make real.” – Chris Anderson
An informative exposition on the DMCA and security research. I thought the article interesting and a reminder of the power of political and lobbying bodies in the US. In Canada, we are weathering our own struggle against the muzzling of our scientific researchers and librarians by the PMO.
“The outdated copyright law doesn’t just hurt consumers—it cripples researchers.” via DMCA chilling effects: How copyright law hurts security research. – Slate Magazine.
You may also like:
“In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, today held that the doctrine of first sale, which allows for legally acquired copyrighted works to be resold by their owners, does apply to works made overseas.”
via Supreme Court Upholds First Sale In Landmark Kirtsaeng Ruling | Publisher’s Weekly
infophile 