The Mind Trap

Publishers To Build Own Online Book Network

Reuters: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em...A group of German publishers are banding together to create a web-based database allowing readers to browse, borrow or buy books online. The difference between their proposal and that of Google and Yahoo is that the publishers will keep the text of the books and allow search engines access, rather than hand over the full text to the search engines.
There's an interesting quote at the end: "Ulmer admitted there would always be a danger of hackers accessing whole books online, but said the problem of copyright was centuries old, and called for a legal framework to redress any fallout from copyright breaches... "We need a constitution, we need rules, but we don't need a wall," he said. "Even Goethe got angry that people copied his books," he added."

Drug Patents & The Avian Flu

People around the world are worried about the spread of the avian flu, which has hit Europe and even landed in the Americas. As my wife said: "It's all right for Europe, they have money, we can't do anything." As such news about the Roche drug Tamiflu is running around the web...
Inq7: The Philippine Department of Health has "urged local drug manufacturers to reproduce a certain flu vaccine in preparation for a possible outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in the country"... refering to the drug Oseltamivir which is sold under the brand name Tamiflu. Apparently the government is "not really sure" if the drug is patented in the Philippines, which is odd...anyway, they've decided to issue a certificate of product registration authorizing the sale of a locally produced vaccine and leave it up to Roche to file a complaint if they object...
IndianExpress: Meanwhile, in India the drug is already being produced in a generic version by a company called Cipla, which has been challenged by Roche. "Generic manufacturers cannot legally manufacture patented drugs in India, but the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS agreement allows the government to cancel patents and issue compulsory licensing during emergencies. This can force patent holders to licence out their formula to rival companies."
The problem appears to be whether the government can declare an emergency, but Cipla is insisting it will fight the legal battle all the way...

U.S. Is Faulted on Protection for Ideas and Innovations

BlackEnterprise: Apparently it's not doing enough to protect the $5 trillion a year generated by ideas and innovation each year in the US...which is "roughly 42 percent of the country's gross domestic product" and far more than any other countries GDP.
This is interesting: "The dollar value, an extrapolation based in part on new Federal Reserve data, is significantly higher than previous calculations of such intangible "intellectual property," say the study's authors, Kevin Hassett, a former adviser to the Bush administration, and Robert Shapiro, who worked for former President Bill Clinton."
They don't give any reason why this should be...

Copyright For The Digital Age

BBC: This is a very good article on copyright, as well as other forms of intellectual property. It starts off comparing a couple of very different politicians..."One was James Purnell, the MP for Stalybridge and Hyde who became Minister for the Creative Industries and Tourism after May's General Election...He shared what was by all accounts a remarkably pleasant meal at London's Royal Society of Arts with Gilberto Gil, the Brazilian guitarist and songwriter who happens to be his country's current Minister of Culture."
"The principles (of the charter of the RSA) go far beyond our current obsession with music downloads and movie piracy, and extend to tests for genetic predisposition to breast cancer, Aids drugs and other life-saving inventions that matter far more to humanity than being able to sample great music, even Gilberto Gil's."
"Effective change will only happen through the political process, even if the pressure for that change is created by technological innovations. And even if national policies are constrained by international agreement, change is possible. It just takes time and concerted effort."

Public Sector Should Adopt Creative Commons

eGov: A report by the Common Information Environment (CIE) Group has suggested that Governments should use the Creative Commons license as much as possible, and the least restrictive form. Apart from making things created with public funds as widely available to that public as possible the CC licenses could also help dissemminate the information widely, possibly saving the government money on fielding calls. The PDF of the report is available here.

New Search Engine Will Give Users Premium Content, For Free

MediaPost: "A new search engine, CONGOO, is currently partnering with premium content providers so that upon its projected launch a month from now, it can give that content away free. In a nutshell, consumers will be asked to fill out a basic registration form when they first search on Congoo. Then, when they conduct a search, Congoo will spider content from its premium partners, and display those results prominently above standard results from one of the top three search engines--with which Congoo plans, but has yet to partner."
There will be restrictions on how much free content users will be able to view, one site per search and probably a limited number from a given publication within a certain time period, but it could be a good way for premium sites to drum up interest...

Cases Pit Artists Against Copyright Holders

Billingsgazette: This is a fantastic article about large copyright holders (such as Mattel, Disney, DC and so on) taking exception to artists using their brands in art, and backed it up with legal action.
Here's a quote from Tom Forsythe who was sued by Mattel for using Barbie in his photography (Mattel lost, and had to pay Forsythe's $2.1 million legal bill):

"I believe artists should be compensated for their work, and I think the copyright has an important role in maintaining the incentive for creative people to do creative work. But I believe the copyright is far too often becoming a tool of greedy corporations at the expense of creative people," Forsythe says. "It seems wildly obvious that they're really just control freaks who want to define the way their products are seen within the culture. ... Corporate censorship is becoming - now more than ever - as serious if not more serious than government censorship."

At the moment artists rights seem to be being protected more often than not, but considering the corporations continue to mount the legal challenges it would be very easy lose that right of use (parody).

IBM Drops Patent Counterclaims in SCO Case

Data Compression News Blog: For those keeping track of the almost 4yr long IBM/SCO legal battle IBM has dropped its patent counterclaims against SCO, although it still has eight counterclaims ready to go...

Are Creative Commons-NC Licenses Harmful?

Podcasting News: Erik Möller puts forward some good arguments against using the "non-commercial" part of the Creative Commons license, and some alternatives. Worth a read.

Creative Commons Annual Fundraising Campaign

ZDNet UK: Creative Commons has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $225,000 by the end of the year. It's already got over $26,000 (as judged by the page here), and is encouraging donations by awarding different titles based on the level of donations and giving a t-shirt, sticker and button to people who donate more than $75...