Intellectual Property

Authors Guild finds author of so-called “orphaned work” in just two minutes

About two minutes of googling turned up a professor emeritus of one of the HathiTrust “orphan works” candidates. He lives in suburban Maryland. His second book sold a reported one million copies, and he’s listed in IMDb (two of his books were turned into movies: one starred Elvis Presley, the other Warren Beatty). He has a literary agent, and he signed an e-book contract earlier this month.

No, we’re not making this up.

Full blog post

Violate Terms & Conditions, Get Indicted

The Bits Blog online with The New York Times reports that programmer Aaron Swartz was indicted for allegedly stealing 4 million documents from MIT and JSTOR. According to documents posted to Scribd, the arrest warrant cites alleged violation of 18 USC 1343, 18 USC 1003(a)(4), 18 USC 1003(a)(2), 18 USC 1003(a)(5)(B), and 18 USC 2.

The Boston Globe summed up the charges stating:

Aaron Swartz, 24, was charged with wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer. He faces up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Activist group Demand Progress, of which Swartz previously served as Executive Director, has a statement posted. Internet luminary Dave Winer also has a thought posted as to the indictment. Wired's report cites the current Executive Director of Demand Progress as likening the matter to checking too many books out of a library.

(h/t Evan Prodromou and Dave Winer)

(Update at 1641 Eastern: The Register has reporting here) -- Read More

Research Libraries See Google Decision as Just a Bump on the Road

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Research Libraries See Google Decision as Just a Bump on the Road to Widespread Digital Access
By Jennifer Howard

Tuesday, a federal judge tossed out the proposed settlement in the lawsuit over Google's vast book-digitization project. Still, research libraries with a stake in that work said they were undeterred. They emphasized that widespread digital access is key to scholars' work, and reiterated their commitment to making as much material available to as many people as possible, whether or not the settlement is revived in some form. And they said they hoped the ruling, by Judge Denny Chin, would galvanize efforts to solve the vexing problem of orphan works, which are under copyright but whose rights-holders are unknown or unfindable......Read the rest here.

Open letter to Cory Doctorow

A letter to Cory Doctorow asking him to allow purchasers of his ebooks to OWN them.

copyright?

http://www.copyright.org.au/news-and-policy/details/id/1892/

Interesting story (well I thought so anyway) about bloggers whose images have been taken off their sites and reused in a fashion line without their knowledge.
Ignorance or Arrogance?

Konomark

Read about the Konomark here.

Intellectual Property’s Great Fallacy

Abstract:
Intellectual property law has long been justified on the belief that external incentives are necessary to get people to produce artistic works and technological innovations that are easily copied. This Essay argues that this foundational premise of the economic theory of intellectual property is wrong. Using recent advances in behavioral economics, psychology, and business-management studies, it is now possible to show that there are natural and intrinsic motivations that will cause technology and the arts to flourish even in the absence of externally supplied rewards, such as copyrights and patents.

Download full PDF here

Disney's New Ad Campaign was Ripped Off From Another Company

“DAVID vs. GOLIATH”
A SMALL CALIFORNIA BUSINESS AGAINST THE GIANT DISNEY EMPIRE

The legendary tale of “David vs. Goliath” has inspired countless “little guys” to take on the world “giants.” Today many small businesses must contend with the business “Goliaths” who have more money, more influence and more lawyers. These business “Davids” must stand firm, and hold their ground, or risk extinction. In this updated version of that classic battle, “David” is a little-known California company called “Let the Memories Begin photo booths” versus a well-know “Goliath”, “Disney.”
By now, anyone with a television or computer has either seen or heard Disney’s new park promotion to help celebrate Walt Disney World’s 40th Anniversary in 2011. It’s called, ‘Let the Memories Begin’ and designed to put park guests in the spotlight; and hopefully bring more of them into the parks. The promotion features snapshots and home videos of real guests during their stays at a Disney park. “A Disney vacation is the perfect way to create family memories that will last a lifetime,” said Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “We’ll spotlight those ‘only-at-Disney’ moments with family and friends during our ‘Let the Memories Begin’ campaign.” -- Read More

Costco, Omega and Libraries

The Library Copyright Alliance today released “The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Costco v. Omega on Libraries.” Prepared by Jonathan Band, the concise, informative paper examines the much-discussed Costco v. Omega non-decision, which left in place a controversial 9th Circuit ruling that could have significant consequences for library lending practices.

Read the Press Release here. Includes a link to the paper.

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