The Mind Trap

Three Moms Fight Record Industry Lawsuits

MP3Newswire: This is a long and in-depth post on the people who are fighting the lawsuits initiated by RIAA rather than just rolling over...one example:

Andersen contacted the recording industry, Verizon, the Settlement Support Center, US congressman David Wu and US senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, "pleading for their help and investigation," her lawyer, Lorry Lybeck, told p2pnet, going on:

"She didn't engage in any copyright infringement nor did she download or share any songs on her computer. After offering to make her computer available to the strong-arming record industry and explaining to them that she could not, and did not, engage in any prohibited conduct, the secret suit was dismissed and she was then sued in her name by another group of large record companies in federal district court in Oregon.

"The continuing victimization of Ms Anderson and the unwillingness of the record companies to conduct even the most basic investigation before turning her life upside down betrays the total lack of concern they have for any concepts of fairness, due process and the rights of the individuals who they have wrongfully targeted.

The tone of the article is very anti-record labels, and for good reason...

P2P Sites Caving To Pressure From Labels?

News.com: The suggestion is made that several p2p sites have shut down following a letter from the Recording Industry Assocation of America threatening legal action. While some of them may have been created specifically to allow piracy (I'm not familiar with all the p2p services cited) I'm pretty sure that BitTorrent wasn't, at the least. I doubt -- hope -- that it isn't forced to shut down.

US Announces Global Intellectual-Property Plan

News.com: The Bush Administration has announced plans to "crackdown on piracy overseas"...which sounds like the usual American rhetoric that they run the world. Some of the initiatives are good, but this one raises concerns:

Another program, called the Global Intellectual Property Rights Academy, would train foreign judges, enforcement officials and other stakeholders in international intellectual property obligations and best practices. The academy, overseen by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, plans to convene in 24 sessions in 2006, paying all travel expenses for the foreign participants, who will come from many of the same areas where experts will be working.

The "Global" academy is run by the US Patent and Trademark office...right...personally I doubt it's going to take into account variations in copyright law between countries.
US intellectual property law is designed to funnel money into large US corporations, which is fine, but many developing nations are seeking to implement intellectual property laws which foster development -- which after all was the initial intent.

Authors Sue Google Over Book Plan

BBC: Authors are suing Google over its plan to digitise books, and are seeking 'class action' status...Google claims its plans benefit writers, but the authors disagree.

Christian Rockers Risk Wrath Of DMCA With DRM Tips

Outlaw: This is an interesting article about the fact that the bassist of the band "Switchfoot" posted information on the bands website of how to disable the copy-protection technology on the bands CDs, which was distributed by Sony. Apparently it could be a breach of the DCMA, despite the fact that the information was posted to allow the bands fans to transfer the music to things like iPods and the fact that it's the bands own music. Record labels should discuss with bands whether or not the DRM technology is wanted before they slap it on...

Update On The Baidu Thing

Forbes: "China's search engine operator Baidu.com will appeal a recent ruling from a Chinese court ordering it to pay fines for providing MP3 search technology that was deemed to violate copyrights, a company lawyer said."
Baidu was ordered to pay 68,000 yuan (about US$8,400) to Shanghai Busheng, but claims that "since Bucheng only provided Baidu with a list of copyrighted songs and not the links to the infringing websites, 'removal of links to such songs would entail 'filtering' or 'blocking' of any multimedia files containing that same file names as the names of the songs in questions.'...this would have interfered with the rights of other multimedia file owners."

Music Firms Sue Baidu Over Downloads

TelecomAsia: During many of the legal battles between recording studios and technology companies people have claimed that file-sharing programs and websites with links to music files were nothing more than search engines, and asked (in a sarcastic, rhetorical way) why the labels didn't try suing Google or another search engine. Well, now they have..."Music companies Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and their local subsidiaries are suing China's largest search engine Baidu for allegedly infringing the copyright of hundreds of songs, an AFP report said."
The labels allege that "Baidu has made it easy for users to download illegal copies of their songs via its MP3 search engine".

Artists And Their Intellectual Property

Stuff: This is an interesting article covering copyright as it applies to artists, rather than the more normal writers or filmers or musicians.
It also goes beyond most such articles by including moral rights, which often get overlooked: "The four moral rights are the right to object to the derogatory treatment of a work, the right to be identified as the creator of a work in certain circumstances, the right against false attributions, and the right to privacy of certain photographs and films."

UK Owner Of Gmail Trademark Keeps Up Legal Fight

PC Pro: The UK owner of the Gmail trademark is still trying to get Google to license it...apparently realising that it has no chance of getting the search giant to stop using the trademark. It sounds like it has got a pretty good case...

Linux Trademark Bid Rejected

ZDNet Australia: Linux Australia has failed in its bid to trademark the word "Linux", with IP Australia ruling the word does not have an "inherent adaptation to distinguish in the marketplace".
Linux Australia (and from what I understand, Linux Torvals) had argued that the trademark is necessary to stop people using the Linux name inappropiately, such as selling software that was buggy or not compatible with Linux. There was a fair amount of defence for this, with heavyweights such as Richard Stallman coming down on the side of Torvalds, claiming that the important thing was the open nature of the software, not the trademarking of the name. The trademark wouldn't prevent anyone from using Linux, only from selling it under the Linux name unless they bought a license.
However Linux Australia claims the decision has one good result: "My understanding is that if Linux Australia can't register that [Linux] as a trademark, then nobody else could either...Our goal was to make sure the name is used in a reasonable way. If it's not possible [for anyone else] to register it as a trademark, then that has to some extent been achieved," said Linux Australia president Jonathan Oxer. The organisation will seek its members approval on whether to continue to seek the trademark...