Free Republic

Even today, sources on inventions list six by Franklin that are still in active use today. One of those sits in my back hall, cheerfully and economically heating the back of my home – the Franklin stove. Another sits on the bridge of my nose as I write this – a pair of bifocals. But this is about Franklin’s greatest invention, one that the lists never mention because it is mere words, not a physical object. Franklin made seven trips to Europe, as a diplomat and scholar. He was welcomed into all the learned societies that existed in Europe then....

When the UK Presidency suggested to the EU that telecoms service providers and ISPs should be forced to retain information about the telephone calls you make and the sites you visit, they stated that it was an essential “balance” struck between liberty and security: a grave compromise necessitated by the threat of terrorism and serious crime. We don’t remember them mentioning “and might help the recording industry fish for file-sharing networks, DRM workarounds, and spurious patent infringers”. The newly-formed Creative and Media Business Alliance (CMBA), made up of companies such as Sony BMG, Disney, EMI, IFPI, MPA and Universal Music...

Imagine sitting at your computer and, in less than a second, searching the full text of every book ever written. Imagine an historian being able to instantly find every book that mentions the Battle of Algiers. Imagine a high school student in Bangladesh discovering an out-of-print author held only in a library in Ann Arbor. Imagine one giant electronic card catalog that makes all the world's books discoverable with just a few keystrokes by anyone, anywhere, anytime. That's the vision behind Google Print, a program we introduced last fall to help users search through the oceans of information contained in...

It would be interesting to discover how far a seriously critical view of the benefits to society of the law of copyright ... would have a chance of being publicly stated in a society in which the channels of expression are so largely controlled by people who have a vested interest in the existing situation. — Friedrich A. Hayek, "The Intellectuals and Socialism A Dispute Among Libertarians The status of intellectual property rights (copyrights, patents, and the like) is an issue that has long divided libertarians. Such libertarian luminaries as Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, and Ayn Rand have been strong...

Evelyn won't return my phone calls. So that means she's ignoring me. Or she wants to talk to me, but can't, because the Recording Industry Association of America won't let her. In December, Evelyn found out she had been targeted by the RIAA in its ever increasing crusade against children, mothers and senior citizens who don't uncheck the "share" option in their peer-to-peer downloading software. The Daily Texan office received Evelyn's call on the last press day before winter break. She had received a notice from Time Warner stating that they were subpoenaed into releasing her personal information in a...

Russell Christoff was standing in line at a Home Depot in the spring of 2002 when a woman leaned over and said, "You look like the guy on my coffee jar." Christoff smiled. The Northern California model had been recognized before after appearing in corporate training films and landing a few movie and TV roles. He had even hosted his own program for public television, "Traveling California State Parks." But Christoff had never appeared on a coffee jar — or so he thought until several weeks later. That's when Christoff, shopping for bloody mary mix at a Rite-Aid store, happened...

Dear Jon, So “America (the Book)” was named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. More than successful, it’s a cultural phenomenon. I had to see what the shouting’s about. If your goal was money and self-promotion, congratulations. If you had a higher goal, close but no cigar. Begin with the Foreword “by” Thos. Jefferson. Ol’ Tom was one of the greatest political thinkers in history. I’m not going to pick on deliberate falsehoods or fake quotes. Nor brevity, nor attempts at humor. Just flat-out, factual errors. You have Jefferson say “we” composed “the Declaration and the Constitution.” You credit...

SCO seals deal for legal expense cap Published: November 5, 2004, 10:30 AM PST By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com The SCO Group has signed a previously announced agreement with two law firms that will cap legal expenses for its Linux and Unix litigation at $31 million, the company said in a legal filing Thursday. The expense cap agreement--announced Aug. 31 but signed Oct. 31--puts to rest some uncertainty about the company's abilities to pay the hefty legal fees incurred through its legal attacks against IBM, Novell, AutoZone and DaimlerChrysler and its legal defense against Red Hat. SCO's stock...

iPod users are music thieves says Ballmer October 04 2004 by Andy McCue 'Vested interest', say cynics... Speaking to an exclusive gathering of press in London on a number of issues, such as security, Steve Ballmer didn't pass up the opportunity to take several digs at his company's arch rival Apple. At the heart of the debate is Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology which will let content providers such as record labels and movie studios keep control of their intellectual property (IP) - or at least ensure all royalties are paid and copyright observed. Billing Microsoft as the good guys...

The nation's oldest conservative group has become the latest and most vocal critic of an anti-file-swapping bill that foes say could target products like Apple Computer's iPod. The American Conservative Union (ACU), which holds influential Republican activists and former senators on its board of directors, is running newspaper and that take a humorous jab at the so-called Induce Act--and slams some conservative politicians for supporting it. "This is the Hollywood liberals trying to crush innovation," said ACU deputy director "What's sad is that they've got Republicans on their side." A Senate committee vote on the bill is scheduled for Thursday....

IZHEVSK, Russia, July 24 - The bazaar in this industrial city shows why Western companies regard Russia as a land of piracy. Bootlegged copies of new American movies - "King Arthur,'' "Troy'' and "Spider-Man 2'' - sell for $3. Photoshop CS, a $600 program in Western stores, fetches $2.75. Markets like this, found throughout Russia, have been a longstanding subject of diplomatic complaint. Washington contends Russian intellectual-property pirates cost the United States more than $1 billion a year. Now Russia is striking back. A Russian industry and product designer are asserting that the United States has been abetting intellectual-property pirates...

Hatch's Induce Act comes under fire US Congressman Rick Boucher took up arms against the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act bill, being brought before Congress right now, in a website interview at Inside Digital Media this week. In answer to questions put by IDM's Phil Leigh, Boucher made it clear that he would fight tooth and claw to prevent the new bill from making it into law in its current form. Boucher himself is supporting and presenting a bill that calls for changes to be made to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which he feels is misguided in by making...

LOS ANGELES -- Author Ray Bradbury is demanding an apology from filmmaker Michael Moore for lifting the title of his classic science-fiction novel "Fahrenheit 451" without permission. Bradbury wants Moore's new documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," to be renamed. Bradbury's 1953 novel portrays an ugly futuristic society in which firemen burn books. "Fahrenheit 451" takes its title from the temperature at which books burn. Moore has called "Fahrenheit 9/11" the "temperature at which freedom burns." The film, which won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival, charges the Bush administration acted ineptly before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, then played on the...

In the recent and unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Canada -- CCH Canada v. Law Society of Upper Canada -- Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin clarified a number of important issues for copyright law in Canada. While it dealt with copying in a law library, the principles discussed in the decision could affect issues surrounding such things as music downloading, computer software and compilations such as phone or business directories. The lawsuit was brought by three major Canadian publishers against the Law Society of Upper Canada, alleging copyright infringement. They alleged the law society was in contravention of copyright...

Federal judge rules copyright doesn't cover all Internet Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. -- A U.S. District Court judge has ruled a Florida company's Internet-searching software program did not infringe on copyrights held by another Web site. Nautical Solutions Marketing Inc. of St. Petersburg runs a Web site called YachtBroker.com which uses a software program to harvest yacht sale information from other Web sites, including one owned by Boats.com of Lake Forest, Ill., and then compiles it for its subscribers. Nautical's practice of collecting yacht listings, photos and product descriptions from various Web sites represented lawful use of facts that weren't...

<p>It's not every day that a graphic artist finds his work cited as a major issue in a presidential campaign.</p> <p>Richard Taylor isn't exactly happy that John Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, named him as an example in support of Mr. Kerry's assertion that Republicans are the "most crooked ... lying group I've ever seen."</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leaving his post next month to lead the recording industry's efforts to stop music piracy.</p> <p>Bradley A. Buckles, who served ATF for 30 years and was named director in 1999, will come head of the Anti-Piracy Unit of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group announced Tuesday.</p>

The justices let stand a U.S. appeals court ruling that reinstated Parks' false advertising and publicity claims against OutKast and three Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) units -- LaFace Records, the record producer, and Arista Records and BMG Entertainment, the distributors. Parks made history in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest, which became a defining moment in the civil rights movement, led to a 381-day boycott of the bus system by blacks. It resulted in the end...

Like any good trade union, the Recording Industry Association of America is wielding its government-granted powers to terrorize. The RIAA has so far secured 871 subpoenas against individual computer users suspected of sharing music files on the Internet, with roughly 75 new subpoenas being approved daily. Sixty million people are estimated to use online file-sharing services and, presumably, to be at risk of violating copyright. By the looks of it, the RIAA wants to put more people through the courts than the failed and immoral Drug War has. Rising fascism and the ease with which the courts are willing to...

Don't Use Those Words: Fox News Owns Them By Jack M. Balkin, Jack M. Balkin teaches constitutional law at Yale Law School. Fox News is suing comedian and writer Al Franken in the New York courts, attempting to stop the sale of his forthcoming book, "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." Fox claims that Franken may not use the expression "fair and balanced" because it has been trademarked by Fox News and that Franken's book would confuse viewers about the source of the book and about the objectivity of its...