Blanket Licenses Will Not Blanket Human Nature. Commentary on "Functionally voluntary" music may lead to blanket licenses

Free downloading, via the Internet, is no longer a secret and has become commonplace, resulting in immense profit losses and copyright infringements. Established torrent websites and shareware programs, operating without license or authorization, knowingly allow full copies of musical work to be downloaded. These unfortunate circumstances resulted in Jim Griffin, consultant for the music label […]

Terminating Termination Rights: Steinbeck’s Heirs Denied Publishing Rights to Great Literary Works

Deliberate betrayal…a family torn apart in a quest for what is believed to be rightfully theirs.  Although it sounds like a teaser for one of John Steinbeck’s classic novels, the drama that unfolded in a New York courtroom in late August was straight out of the pages of the Steinbeck family feud.  On August 13, […]

"Scrabulous" Gets a Nip-Tuck, Returns as "Wordscraper"

Nearly half a million active “Scrabulous” users were surprised to find that their favorite Facebook application had been pulled from the social networking website.  Perhaps even more surprising was that less than two days later, the application resurfaced with a slightly modified exterior under the name “Wordscraper.”  One of Facebook’s most popular applications, the game’s […]

NZ Judge Bans Net Naming of Defendants

In making what has been dubbed as an “unprecedented ruling,”[1] a New Zealand Judge banned the publication of the names of two men charged with murder on internet-based news sites.  By allowing the names to be published in print, radio and television platforms, Judge David Harvey distinguishing between the internet and the aforementioned media based […]

Patent Office Finds Voice, Calls for Software Patent Sanity

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has begun to adopt a more strict stance towards software patents.  The USPTO, while not having yet called for the elimination of software patents, has certainly moved to restrict them.  In doing so, the USPTO appears to have aligned itself with the US Supreme Court on the issue, […]

Clear Skies? American Airlines and Google Settle Sponsored Link Dispute

"The fundamental purpose of trademark law, in the bricks-and-mortar world and on the Internet, is to protect consumers from being confused as to the source or affiliation of the products or services that they seek to buy", announced American Airlines in American Airlines, Inc. v. Google, Inc. in August 2007. The airline brought the lawsuit […]

In Montana, a Popular Expression Is Taken Off the Endangered List

What happens when a corporation files for a trademark on a popular phrase? In the case of “The Last Best Place”, the cries from outraged Montanans were heard all the way into the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, where lawmakers took unusual steps recently to try and ensure that no one could have […]

Steal This Hook? D.J. Skirts Copyright Law

In his New York Times Article “Steal This Hook? D.J. Skirts Copyright Law” Robert Levine presents Girl Talk, a D.J. “at the forefront of a group of musicians” who in Levine’s words “are challenging the traditional restrictions of copyright law along with the usual role of samples in pop music.” [1] Girl Talk, a.k.a. Greg Gillis, […]

Court orders Quebec file-sharing site shutdown

In 2007, a coalition of 31 major media industry groups brought an action against Sébastien Brulotte  (HYPERLINKs: http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-music-labels-take-on-bittorrent-trackers-071018/  AND http://torrentfreak.com/backdoor-to-banning-all-canadian-bittorrent-sites-071125/ )). On July 9, 2008, Mr. Brulotte received a permanent injunction from the Superior Court of Quebec, ordering the closing of his site QuebecTorrent, a peer-to-peer (p2p) network used to share files  (HYPERLINK: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=648919 )).  […]

Social Networking Sites: Users Beware

Social networking sites can help users communicate with friends, find people with similar interests, facilitate professional networking and give exposure to lesser-known artists. With these sites becoming all the rage, there is now a question of who owns the information posted on user profiles. Once you create a profile and post your thoughts, do you […]