From the category archives:

INTERNET LAW

A follow up on yesterday’s post: Safe harbor textbook copying percentages for copyright fair use defense.

The Georgia State 10 percent Copying Rule….What if 10 Libraries from 10 different library systems each copy one chapter of a 10 chapter textbook and make it available on the Internet at the same time?

Make no mistake about your interpretation of the stakes involved in the Georgia State decision. College libraries are trying, without explicitly declaring, to constructively destroy the textbook industry that no longer ought to be entitled to copyright protection granted in this country a long long time ago to offset the cost of paper print. There is no moral highground or low ground at 9.9 percent or 10.1 percent.

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The fate of an estimated 25 million English language orphan works hangs in the balance as Great Britian awaits the report of Professor Ian Hargraeves.

BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz writes that much of the support for a not-for-profit licensing system comes from the copyright enforcing publishing world itself, which now realizes the profit potential of digitaliation of archives.

We hope that the holders of these archive materials take action, licensing statutes in place or otherwise, before the certain and ongoing deterioration of physical works causes irreperable harm to our cultural history.

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As the Authors Guild pursues here in New York its injunctive relief copyright case against the Hathitrust Orphan Works project, it sues, among others, Hathitrust, The Regents Of The University Of Michigan, The Regents of the University of California, The Board Of Regents Of The University Of Wisconsin System, The Trustees Of Indiana University, and Cornell Universit.

We turn our attention to the eloquent letter of Kevin Smith, Duke’s Scholarly Communication Officer to plaintiff author J.R. Salamanca, whose 1958 out of print novel appears to be on the verge of extinction. Mr. Smith writes:

“I am sure I do not have to tell you that libraries, including those that intend to participate in the Hathi Orphan Works project, are not your enemies. We are in the business of helping authors find readers, which hardly seems like it should be an objectionable activity. So let’s think for a minute about The Lost Country and what might be best for it and for you.”

Our friends at TechDirt are less diplomatic: Novelist Joins Lawsuit Against Libraries; Would Apparently Prefer His Book Rot In Obscurity.

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Rebecca Blain and TechDirt force us to ask the question of whether there are really attorneys practicing law who formulate such draconian threats about what we cannot do with our eBook files:

“Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distrubition rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the South African Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or other method currently known or not yet invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.”

Three cheers to the legal team for “Last of the Lesser Kings,” the precious book in question.

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Pornography Download Copyright Defendant Allowed to Proceed Anonymously

March 10, 2012

Does the public really need to know who has downloaded “Horny Black Mothers and Daughters #8″? New York Federal Judge Katherine Forest thinks not, at least for now. The John or Jane Doe copyright infringement defendant was tracked down via ISP subpoena and proceeded pro se (might it be an attorney?) and won a motion [...]

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Pinterest, TechoLlama, Hot Link,Thumb Nails, Copyright, Complaining Photographers (Humming “We Didn’t Start the Fire”)

February 29, 2012

Pintesrest (online Pin Board, hailed as Facebook for Women), TechoLlama (brilliant IP professor with silly handle, so prefer his real name Andrés Guadamuz), complaining photographers, did I make a sentence yet? Certainly not a cause of action, I will take whatever odds on that offered by Bet365. We didn’t start the fire It was always [...]

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Federal Plaintiff Via EFF Claims Pornography not Protected by Copyright

February 8, 2012

At the intersection of 1709Blog and TorrentFreak, a copyright Trollee asks a San Francisco court to deny copyright protection to adult content. Not as good as Super Bowl 46 (no Roman numerals for me), but when EFF send their A team (IP Litigator Steven Yuen) to fight trolls, anything can happen. So, if we deny [...]

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Richard O’Dwyer Criminal Copyright Extradition of U.K. Citizen Video Report

January 25, 2012

Copyright mania hits new heights. Watch the RT video and check out the BBC article quoted from here: “Richard O’Dwyer, 23, set up the TVShack website which US authorities say hosts links to pirated copyrighted films and television programmes. The Sheffield Hallam University student lost his case in a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. If [...]

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Key Moments in Social Media and Copyright Law – A Graphic

January 20, 2012
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European Football Pubs Can Country Surf

January 13, 2012

The European Court of Justice ruled earlier this year that a British pub owner could purchase a decoder and rights from a Greek media outlet. The court reasoned as follows: “In its judgement, the court said that attempting to prohibit the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards is “contrary to the freedom to [...]

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