Free Republic

The Australian Federal Court has found an Aussie ISP not responsible for copyright offences committed by its customers. The Australian Federation against Copyright Theft claimed that iiNet authorised copyright theft by its customers. Judge J Cowdroy accepted that iiNet users had used BitTorrent to infringe copyright, but that the number was far less than alleged by AFCT and that iiNet in no way authorised the infringements. The judge found that providing the means to infringement, internet access, was not the same as authorising infringement - BitTorrent was. In summary the judge said: the key question is: Did iiNet authorise copyright...

Some of the biggest names on the web have written to Peter Mandelson to express "grave concerns" about elements of the Digital Economy Bill. Facebook, Google, Yahoo and eBay object to a clause that they say could give government "unprecedented and sweeping powers" to amend copyright laws. "We urge you to remove Clause 17 from the bill," the letter read.... The consortium believe that if Clause 17, as it is known, is approved it will give "any future Secretary of State" the ability to amend copyright laws as they see fit. "This power could be used, for example, to introduce...

31 years ago, in 1978, the television program 60 Minutes put on an episode about the awful threat of "video piracy" to the movie industry. Featuring the MPAA's Jack Valenti, the episode focused on how the VCR was going to destroy the movie business because anyone could copy and watch a movie in the privacy of their own home. Of course, in retrospect, that episode is hilariously wrong. You would think that, given how wrong they got it thirty years ago on this particular subject, 60 Minutes would be a bit more careful taking on the same subject again. No...

RIAA-fan Biden's influence in the Obama administration may be larger than anticipated, at least when it comes to file sharing: His good pals with RIAA and BSA connections keep getting Department of Justice's seats. According to CNET, "President Obama is continuing to fill the senior ranks of the U.S. Department of Justice with the copyright industry's favorite lawyers" with the selection of Donald Verrilli, from the Verrilli Family, el Señor Presidente's latest acquisition.

Can I begin with a few disclaimers? I believe that people who create things deserve to be rewarded for their efforts. Which means that I think that stealing entertainment and software is wrong. Actually, come to think of it, if there was a form of copy protection that was never a hassle for paying customers but which effectively prevented piracy, I might enthusiastically support it. (Go ahead, mock me if you must–I’ll wait.) With that out the way, I also believe this: Copy protection (also known in recent years as Digital Rights Management) just stinks. At its best, it creates...

The official tax assessor of Kanawha County in West Virginia, Phyllis Gatson, has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to block Seneca Technologies from publishing tax maps for the entire state of West Virginia on the Internet. Citing a state law which prohibits individuals from copying and redistributing tax maps without the county tax assessor's permission, one that also enables tax assessors to sell paper copies of the maps for approximately $8 each, Gatson asserts that Seneca's actions constitute copyright infringement and have caused her to suffer financial damages.

A judge has accused Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA of using “gamesmanship” tactics in joinder cases where defendants are linked together. One such is Arista v Does 1-27 in which two of the victims are being officially represented by two University of Maine School of Law’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic students. These kinds of cases allow the corporate enforcer to efficiently terrorise a number of people simultaneously, in effect. It also means they’re spared the time and expense of going after their victims one by one and, “it is difficult to ignore the kind of gamesmanship...

From reports that we are getting, starting yesterday a user account on YouTube, called cseministry, began fraudulently claiming that any video which criticized the felon, cheat, liar, fraud, huckster, etc. Kent Hovind violated the copyrights of the Creation Science Evangelism. Under the draconian DMCA, CSE can use such false claims to silence their critics, with little legal risk to themselves. Once a claim has been filed, YouTube is required by US Law to remove the content immediately and without any review. The real copyright holders then have to jump through hoops to get their content back on YouTube, that is...

--- snip --- Kidding. Or daydreaming. But this is important. The Computer & Communications Industry Association has filed a Complaint [PDF] -- "Matter of Misrepresentation of Consumer Fair Use and Related Rights" -- charging content owners including Universal, NBC Universal, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Dreamworks Studios, and others, with misrepresenting copyright law in their "copyright warnings". It's about time somebody noticed US Copyright Law includes fair use. Everyone in the entertainment industry that waxes poetic about the most holiness of copyright law seems to forget that the law includes a section limiting exclusive rights, the fair use...