Tag Archives: copyright

Supreme Court gets it right in Wiley v Kirtsaeng

posted on 19 March, 2013 also tagged , ,

It’s really great to read today’s Supreme Court decision in Kirtsaeng, in which a bad opinion could have had very profound and negative consequences way beyond the normal contours of copyright. I attended the oral arguments in October (during Hurricane Sandy!) and wrote it up for EFF. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the decision since then, [...]

Viral Betamax tweet

posted on 17 January, 2013 also tagged ,

I never know when the things I’m interested in around copyright policy have general appeal, and I definitely thought this vague joke — on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sony v. Universal (the Betamax case) — was a bit obscure. 29 years ago today, the Supreme Court ruled [...]

A closer look at the “Girl on Fire” copyright lawsuit

posted on 20 December, 2012 also tagged , , , ,

Last week Earl Shuman, a songwriter behind several hits in the 50s and 60s, sued Alicia Keys for copyright infringement in her recent single “Girl on Fire.” He alleges that the song infringes a tune he wrote in 1962, which was recorded as “Hey There Lonely Girl” by Eddie Holman and which peaked at #2 [...]

Former Register of Copyrights says terms are too long

posted on 9 December, 2012 also tagged , , ,

In November 2005, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters gave an impressively candid answer about copyright terms being too long, and that she thought such a situation was a “big mistake.” Unfortunately link rot has begun to set in, and it was somewhat difficult for me to track down a copy of the video. (When BoingBoing [...]

100 years of cinematic copyright

posted on 14 October, 2012 also tagged , ,

I know this is a wonky thing, but I was reading the Library of Congress blog this week when I saw an article about the centennial of copyright for film works. Prior to that date, film was not on the list of classes of work that were eligible. Filmmakers would instead send in collections of [...]

Copying and creativity at day one of XOXO

posted on 15 September, 2012 also tagged , , ,

The talks at day one of the XOXO festival have been incredibly high quality: actual innovators and creators of disruptive media and technology have relayed their experiences of eliminating middlemen and charting new territory for success. It’s just amazing to see what a cool group of people have come together for this event. One common [...]

SXSW panel proposals

posted on 19 August, 2012 also tagged , , , ,

I’ve submitted two proposals for panels at next year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin. I really hope one of them gets picked. The PanelPicker is currently open for voting (I’d appreciate your votes!) and then I’ll know later this year if I’m in. Ebooks: A Coming War for the Soul of the Library will [...]

Questioning copyright’s trade-off

posted on 2 August, 2012 also tagged , , ,

This post is cross-posted from the EFF Deeplinks blog. The idea behind copyright is simple — it is supposed to be a balance in the service of the public interest. There’s a trade-off: for accepting a restriction on certain speech, the public benefits from the production of more new creative works each year. That delicate [...]

IP above all else

posted on 24 May, 2012 also tagged , ,

It can be hard to point a finger at exactly what is so offensive about the way the copyright lobby pushes its agenda. The rhetoric is sometimes charged, but I don’t think the problem lies in the moral foundation of intellectual monopolies (although some people certainly object to them on ethical grounds). I also don’t [...]

What’s the right ratio of creative success?

posted on 12 February, 2012 also tagged

It’s hard to ignore successes in middleman elimination like Radiohead’s In Rainbows, NiN’s Ghosts I-IV, Louis C.K.’s Shameless and the Double Fine Adventure. But they’re not immune to criticism either. Sure, it works for them — the argument goes — but they’re already famous. And the legacy players have always served (at least) two roles; [...]