Digital locks[DLs] are ‘virtual fences’ put around digital content.1 An example is a password authorizing the access to an online music store such as iTunes. The government, through legislation, has the responsibility to discourage abuses of DLs. There are at least two types of DLs abuses that harm society. The first involves the actions of users […]
The four factors steering Fair Use (FU) exceptions to copyright infringement are found at s.107 of the U.C.C. FU seeks ‘to work its way through the relevant factors and be judged case by case’ (D 40), and unfairness in any one factor does not necessarily render the whole unfair. Precedent for FU indicates that US […]
In 2006, Jason Fortuny posted a fake advertisement on Craigslist by a supposed “female bondage enthusiast” who was looking for a “white or latin man … 2 give intense pain and discipline.” The 178 responses, some of which had pictures attached, were then posted on an encyclopaedia website. Recently, a respondent sued Fortuny for damages […]
The DJ Girl Talk has won media attention for his new album “Feed the animals”. Besides positive reviews, Girl Talk has been put at the forefront of a phenomenon that challenged traditional restrictions in copyright law since his new album constitutes 300 clips from other artist’s songs. Pursuant to the Canadian Copyright Act, the owner […]
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, […]
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 […]
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, […]
August 13, 2008 was a day of vindication for plaintiff Robert Jacobsen, as the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in vacating and remanding a U.S. District Court decision, held that an “open source” software [1] copyright license can be enforceable. Jacobsen oversees the Java Model Railroad Interface (“JRMI”) project, which created DecoderPro, […]
On August 25, 2008, a New Zealand Judge made the unprecedented decision of banning publication of the names and images of the persons on a murder charge on news websites, while allowing newspapers, TV and radio to name them and publish photos.[1] The issue is whether banning online reporting could lead to infringement of copyright. […]
YouTube: Platform For Exchange of Original Videos or Copyright Infringement? In a suit filed by Viacom against Google for alleged illegal distribution of its copyrighted content, the Court has ordered YouTube to provide its logging database for discovery purposes. Viacom seeks access to this database in order to show that most YouTube viewers are […]