copyright

Billy Bragg's Copyright Reform Push Gains New Web Site

Kit Eaton — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:56:28 -0400

Singer/songwriter/activist Billy Bragg's just launched a new effort to try to push for a reform of copyright laws: a Web site that acts as a forum for conversations between artists and fans. It's being dubbed the Net's first and only artists-to-fans-to-artists blog.

Farewell to Shepard's "Fairey Use" Movement

Zachary Wilson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:49:38 -0400

It's no secret that we at Fast Company love an underdog. A little guy taking on a big guy? Bring on the popcorn.

The Glenn Beck Rape Meme Goes to Court

Chris Dannen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:41:41 -0400

Everyone loves Web memes--except, of course, the people they victimize. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has filed a complaint against the owner of a satirical website called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com, which has become a clearinghouse for a meme started on one of the Web's comedy dens, Fark.com.

Behind the Apple-Eminem Feud

Chris Dannen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:27:38 -0400

We wrote about Eminem's dispute with Apple yesterday. Now we've learned that Eminem is seeking $16 million in damages from Apple for selling his tracks without proper authorization, according to court documents. But Eminem made money off those sales. So why is he really suing Apple?

Will the Skype Founders Actually Win $75 Million Per Day From eBay?

Chris Dannen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:18:00 -0400

Earlier this week we reported that the founders of Skype were filing suit against eBay over a piece of programming code they allege the auction site is using without permission. They're asking $75 million in damages for every day that eBay continues to use the code. How did they arrive at such an astronomical number?

Skype Founders Sue eBay for $75 Million Per Day

Chris Dannen — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:36:21 -0400

The ever-litigious founders of Skype, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, are suing former majority stakeholder eBay at a rate of over $75 million per day for what they say is theft of intellectual property. The companies that are purchasing eBay's portion of Skype are also named in the suit. (Below, eBay's San Jose HQ.)

Are Apple App Store Bans Due to Third-Party Rights?

Kit Eaton — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:42:20 -0400

Okay, the iTunes App Store approvals process needs to be canned and re-invented. First there was Google Voice, then Apple banned a dictionary for profanity, and now it's ditching e-readers. What the hell is going on?

Should Google Be Allowed to Monopolize "Orphan" Books?

Chris Dannen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:07:42 -0400

Google may be guilty of antitrust violations for its Book Search initiative, reported several newswire services on Monday. The Department of Justice has opened an investigation of the search giant's settlement with the Author's Guild as of Thursday. But wait a minute--didn't Google settle that lawsuit for $45 million? What's the problem, Justice?

This Week's Top Tech News: Elimination Edition

Chris Dannen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:01:21 -0400

Put an end to blindness, bullshit, copyright laws and Time Warner's dark hegemony? Sure: the top tech stories of the week are all about the death of things that Web nerds hate--and that includes Bing, whether you like the idyllic backgrounds or not.

Intel's "Bullshit Filter"

Pirate Party Wins a Seat on E.U. Parliament

Kit Eaton — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:46:13 -0400

Europeans have been busy choosing new members of the European Parliament, and the Swedes have pulled off a surprising maneuver: They've elected a member of the Pirate Party. For the anti-copyright movement, it's a huge coup.

YouTomb Shows Music Labels Stepping Up YouTube Copyright Crackdowns

Chris Dannen — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:40:22 -0400

Every month, thousands of videos are pulled off YouTube for copyright infringement and other user-flagged violations. A student organization at MIT called Free Culture has compiled a kind of online eulogizer for videos lost to copyright claims, tracking all the metadata from the video, including which user asked that it be taken down. It's called YouTomb, and in the last year it's learned a lot about what gets flagged, what stays, and what's wrong with the system.

Four Convicted in Pirate Bay Trial

Chris Dannen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:42:41 -0400

The music industry won a major victory against copyright infringement today with the conviction of the four men behind the Pirate Bay, a file-swapping service with over 20 million members. The men were sentenced in a Swedish court to serve one year in prison, and pay $3.6 million in damages to a group of entertainment companies including Warner Bros., Sony Music, Columbia, and EMI.

Rant:Why Copyright MUST Be Respected

Shel Horowitz — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:12:21 -0400

Someone on a forum I belonged to posted a really great article. The only problem was, it looked like the poster hadn't gotten permission.

Social Responsibility

Kindle Gets New Legal Threat, Weirdly From Discovery Channel

Kit Eaton — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:19:13 -0400

The Kindle is clearly a paradigm-shifting device, signaling as it does the start of the digital book revolution--so it's only natural to expect people to get shaken up by it. And earlier this year the Author's Guild got antsy about the Kindle 2's electronic voice, claiming copyright issues.

The Big, Stupid Problem with a Kindle that Talks

Chris Dannen — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:13:46 -0500

As we reported yesterday, the new Amazon [AMZN] Kindle can read to you. Apparently, this is a problem.

Authors Guild Says Kindle 2's Text-to-Speech Violates Copyright

Kit Eaton — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:23:24 -0500

One of the most interesting new features in Amazon's Kindle 2 e-reader is the text-to-speech function built into the device. It's a primitive bed-time story reader, and while it won't match, say, HAL 9000 for elegance in pronunciation, it's a handy feature if you're in a situation where hearing your book is preferable to reading the text.

Are Google Books a Threat to the Kindle?

Kit Eaton — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:56:56 -0500

Google's Book Search has been a controversial background project for most of its four-year life, but its most recent move may see the scheme brought right into the limelight: Google Book Search is now available on the iPhone and Android-based smartphones. And that pitches its 1.5 million-book archive kinda directly against the Amazon Kindle e-reader.

Rumor: Apple Drops iTunes DRM, Enables 3G Downloads

Kit Eaton — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:27:31 -0500

There's an intriguing rumor ahead of today's Apple keynote at Macworld: The company has successfully negotiated with the major record labels to drop DRM copy protection from all tracks in iTunes. And, as a major bonus, it's likely to allow direct download of tunes over the airwaves to iPhones.

RIAA To Stop Suing Individuals For Music Piracy

Kit Eaton — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:47:18 -0500

'Tis the season traditionally associated with goodwill, but I'm not sure I could've predicted this piece of good news: the Recording Industry Association of America is going to stop suing individuals for music piracy.

There are 35,000 actions against individuals in the murky legal history of the RIAA, and it has created an equally murky public opinion of an industry now seen to be bullying, money-grabbing and lagging behind technological developments.

Psystar Keeps Shipping Mac Clones, Despite Lawsuit

Chris Dannen — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:57:11 -0400

Psystar ventured to do the impossible: sell generic Macintosh clones preinstalled with Apple's [NASDAQ:AAPL] Mac OS X operating system, without Apple's blessing. It's not usually a good idea to cross Apple's team of attack-dog IP lawyers, and sure enough, the Cupertino computer giant has sued small Florida-based Psystar.

Work/Life: Stealing vs Spruiking

Lynette Chiang — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:24:01 -0400

We've been talking about rigid rules and policies and when it's prudent to nuke 'em with a sprinkle of water and a paper towel.

A related example is what I call copyright overprotection : when protecting one's own turf protects you from attracting people and their purses into your lair. Rather like having a pit bull at the front gate and wondering why you don't get any fan mail.