Tag: Copyright
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Judge Rules Morpheus, Grokster Legal to Distribute
A Federal court has granted summary judgment in favor of Grokster et al., ruling that it is legal to distribute these peer-to-peer file sharing tools. More later, after I have had a chance to read the ruling.
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Will the RIAA Sue Google?
Recently, the RIAA sued four college students for alleged copyright violations, including contributory infringement. The contributory infringement claims are based on assertions that the students ran search engines that can be used to find infringing files. Jacques Distler asks this question: When will they sue Google? Certain parts of the RIAA’s complaint against the students…
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RIAA Lawsuit Complaints Available
More information is now available about the lawsuits filed by RIAA yesterday against college students. Findlaw has copies of the complaints in the four suits. complaint vs. Jesse Jordan [RPI student] complaint vs. Joseph Nievelt [Michigan Tech student] complaint vs. Daniel Peng [Princeton student] complaint vs. Aaron Sherman [RPI student] Direct and contributory infringement are…
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Verizon Files Briefs in Subpoena Case
Verizon has filed another brief (with supporting papers) in its battle with the RIAA, in Verizon’s continuing effort to protect the anonymity of one of its customers, who has been accused of copyright infringement. Verizon’s press release, with copies of the filings, is here. (Thanks to Jim Tyre for the pointer.)
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Needlepoint Piracy: An Exclusive Interview!
Here at Freedom to Tinker, we are relentless in our quest to bring you the finest in pseudo-journalism. And so when Frank Field lifted the lid on needlepoint piracy, our staff sprang into action to bring you an exclusive newsmaker interview with the ultimate insider source on this story, a source who was President of…
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Lexmark Opinion Available
The Court’s opinion in the Lexmark case is now available. Here’s a summary. (Caveat: I’m inferring some of the technical details, since all I have is the Court’s summary of what the expert witnesses said; but I’m fairly confident that my inferences are correct.) Toner cartridges for certain Lexmark printers contain small computer programs that…
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Who Uses Peer-to-Peer?
If you listen to the rhetoric about peer-to-peer copyright infringement, you might conclude that most of that infringement takes place at universities. But at this week’s House hearings on “Peer-to-Peer Piracy on University Campuses,” committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith reportedly cited statistics showing that 10% of P2P users are at educational institutions. That’s surprisingly low.…
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More on Targeting File-Sharers
Seth Finkelstein suggests a follow-the-money approach to thinking about the RIAA’s strategy in enforcing against file sharers. He reaches the same conclusion as I do (though for a slightly different reason), that ISPs are the leverage point for enforcing against file sharers. The reason for this, Seth says, is that ISPs have money and average…
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File Sharers Targeted Next?
Declan McCullagh, at CNet news.com, predicts that we will soon see criminal prosecutions of a few people who make extensive use of file sharing software. He cites RIAA rhetoric and congressional rhetoric supporting prosecution, and he reiterates the relevant laws, which dictate surprisingly stiff sentences for violations. Orin Kerr, at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, disagrees.…
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Copyright and Rhetoric
In a much-acclaimed blog posting, Doc Searls writes that the limited-copyright folks are losing the rhetorical battle to the copyright expansionists. I believe Hollywood won because they have successfully repositioned copyright as a property issue. In other words, they successfully urged the world to understand copyright in terms of property. Copyright = property may not…