| |
 |
Monday, February 11, 2002 |
All Hail Creative Commons "In a boon to the arts and the software industry, Creative Commons will make available flexible, customizable intellectual-property licenses that artists, writers, programmers and others can obtain free of charge to legally define what constitutes acceptable uses of their work." [via Tomalak's Realm]
Lawrence Lessig puts his money where his mouth is. I'd like to post the whole article here, but that would be a violation of copyright. There are a lot of positive, good concepts in Lessig's plan, but here's the crux of the problem:
"He points out, for example, that when Congress first enacted copyright law in 1790, the protection extended for a term of 14 years, which could be renewed for another 14 years if the author was still alive. Congress has since increased that term to the life of the author plus 70 years. Given current life expectancies, that means a corporation can now bank on preventing a piece of intellectual property produced by a 30-year-old today from falling into the public domain for more than a century."
More power to Mr. Lessig.
11:32:47 PM 
|
|
Hollywood's Latest Attack on Customers "If Hollywood and the big television networks had controlled Congress 25 years ago the way they do today, you wouldn't have a fast-forward button on your video-cassette recorder. You wouldn't be allowed to tape a program to watch later. You would be allowed to view TV only the way they chose. Period." [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]
9:35:59 PM
|
|
Studios Assail ReplayTV Technology "The suit filed by MGM, Fox, Universal Studios and Orion Pictures goes furthest, arguing that it's illegal to let consumers record and store shows based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description. This claim threatens not just the ReplayTV devices, some copyright experts say, but all recorders like it."
"Unlike VCRs, which require users to record shows by time slot or unique number, PVRs record based on a show's name or program description. Users don't need to know when "Friends" is on. They just need to know the name or a leading actor. Once a program is found, the device can be set to capture it whenever it's on the air."
" 'If a ReplayTV customer can simply type 'The X-Files' or 'James Bond' and have every episode of 'The X-Files' and every James Bond film recorded in perfect digital form and organized, compiled and stored on the hard drive of his or her ReplayTV 4000 device, it will cause substantial harm to the market for prerecorded DVD, videocassette and other copies of those episodes and films,' the lawsuit states."
"The fundamental question posed by the MGM suit is whether the financial effect on the studios trumped consumers' ability to copy programs for personal use, said Douglas Wood, a New York attorney who specializes in intellectual-property and advertising law. If MGM wins on that point, he said, 'We'd be left with plain old VCRs.' "
"He's not betting on the studios, though, given the Supreme Court's 1984 ruling that consumers could legally record programs for the sake of watching them later. 'What difference does it make how I do it?' Wood said. 'The dilemma is, the technology is turning the business model upside down. But that doesn't mean it's copyright infringement.' " (emphasis is mine) [via bOing bOing]
I'm quoting liberally from this article because the LA Times link will be gone in a few days. This lawsuit just reeks of desperation. Let's file lawsuit after lawsuit and hope one of them sticks. Yeah, like that worked with Napster and file trading. It's like the bully on the playground who goes tattling on someone that outsmarts him, hoping that someone else will take care of the problem because he can't. I'm all for copyright, but you can't stifle progress just to keep making a buck.
9:31:21 PM
|
|
Kazaa picks up the speed with update "The update, called Kazaa Media Desktop 1.5, comes with a new function for download recommendations, faster search results, faster start-up time and an automated feature that lets people communicate with contacts, according to the developer. Like its notorious cousin Napster, Kazaa has been targeted in lawsuits from the recording and motion picture industries, which charge that its peer-to-peer technology enables unauthorized distribution of copyright works. But unlike Napster, which has essentially been forced by the courts to block the swapping of all copyrighted music, Kazaa continues to function as though it's business as usual." [at CNET News.com]
<sarcasm> Good thing the RIAA had Napster shut down and stopped all this silly file-trading business dead in its tracks. Good going, RIAA! </sarcasm>
2:49:58 PM
|
|
Copyright Fight Deck "How about a card game where you fight to control the rights to all of humanity's works? RIAA, I choose you!" [More Like This WebLog]
I don't know whether to laugh or cry this is so funny. And you get three "library" cards to boot! I'll be printing this out for the next game night....
10:53:21 AM
|
|
Comments by: YACCS
© Copyright 2002 Jenny Levine.
|
|
|
|
|
