Getty Images Tries To Copyright Troll 2600 Magazine Over Content It Has No Copyright Over. So, we were just discussing Getty Images' latest foray into ridiculous copyright trolling (something the company has a long history with), by demanding money for a meme image used on a blog. Today, we have another example of Getty Images copyright trolling that is even worse. It's so bad, that Getty Images doesn't even have a legitimate copyright claim here at all, let alone abusing a legitimate copyright to shakedown someone. The target? The famed hacker publication 2600, which a Getty subsidiary, Trunk Archive, claimed was infringing on one of its images. Already we have a slight problem in that the statute of limitations on copyright in the US is... three years. But, of course, you might be wondering what the hell is infringing in that image -- especially when you learn that this is the image that Trunk claims is infringing: Yeah, those two images look nothing alike. Okay.
But, the story is even worse than that. European Parliament shows little ambition on copyright reform. By Heini Järvinen The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee approved on 16 June, with 23 votes in favour and 2 against, a non-legislative “Report on the implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society(2014/2256(INI)), the so-called InfoSoc Directive.
This Report covers how the InfoSoc Directive, one of the core elements in EU copyright law, has been implemented across the EU and makes policy recommendations for the expected upcoming reform. “What Europe needs is a clear, modern copyright framework,” said Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights. “Today’s vote shows that there is considerable resistance to this. Commission Vice-President Ansip’s statement that ‘today’s rules are a mess’ shows that ambition, vision and leadership are needed. So far, we have seen little from the Parliament.” Please find more information here: Rebecca Giblin on Twitter: "Hollywood Creative Accounting: do 80% of motion pictures really fail to turn a profit? cc @glynmoody"
Rechtsausschuss. EU copyright evaluation report. Parliamentary reactions Shadow rapporteurs (representing the other parliamentary groups) I think the report has fallen into a trap. And that is the trap of taking a polarised view of this outcome. … The way forward for this report definitely is to have amendments in order to bring in the balance between rightsholders and users in it.EPP shadow rapporteur Therese Comodini Cachia (Malta) „This was meant to be an evaluation of the 2001 InfoSoc directive.
„I imagine that this is just a provisional opinion which you’re going to further work on. […] If I was in ill faith I would see in your generosity towards the users the shadow of the suppliers, as if they slipped into your thinking, but I’m not […] [There are] major risks in certain aspects of your report […] they’ve already been mentioned by my colleagues. […]“ALDE shadow rapporteur Jean-Marie Cavada (France) (Did not participate in debate)ECR shadow rapporteur Angel Dzhambazki (Bulgaria) Debate in the Legal Affairs Committee Amendments.
Julia Reda sur Twitter : "Final vote on my #copyright report: the 2 votes against are Front National. I can live with that. Paula simoes sur Twitter : "Streaming of @EP_Legal meeting on #copyright stopped working on laptop too... Reda report: the good, the not-so-bad and the ugly compromise amendments. Back in April we published our list of the 10 worst and the 5 best amendments to Julia Reda’s draft report on the implementation of the InfoSoc Directive. Tomorrow the Legal Affairs committee (JURI) of the European Parliament will vote on these amendments to the draft report. In light of the upcoming vote and given that Julia Reda has just published the final voting list – including the compromise amendments – it is time for one last round of analysis. As the name implies, compromise amendments are amendments the different political groups have agreed on as replacements of sets of (often contradictory) amendments related to a specific section of the draft report.
Given that they reflect a partial consensus among some of the political groups, they are relatively likely to be adopted. If a compromise amendment (AMC) is adopted, the individual amendments that they replace are automatically rejected. The Good The Not-so-bad The Ugly. Julia Reda sur Twitter : "Make #copyright work for artists & users! 12 days to contact your representatives! #copywrongs. Copyright in the age of the internet. Committee on Legal Affairs. EP Legal Affairs Committee debates amendments to Reda Report on copyright. Paula simoes sur Twitter : "No Smart Christie for the Smart Traveler #mobileapps #copyright #idea #reading #booklovers… No Smart Christie for the Smart Traveler #mobileapps #idea #reading #booklovers | paula simoes' blog. MEPs defend national borders on the Internet.
Julia Reda on Twitter: "Livestream of #copyright discussion in EP, starting now: Committee on Legal Affairs. Paula simoes sur Twitter : "Safeguard the #PublicDomain is the most voted. Vote and comment too! #Copyright #EU. Evaluation of the EU Copyright Directive | Discuto. Paula simoes sur Twitter : "Nice to see that the p. with more + votes, in @Senficon #copyright report, is the one...
Evaluation of the EU Copyright Directive | Discuto. Committee on Culture and Education. Evaluation of the EU Copyright Directive | Discuto. Paula simoes sur Twitter : "Pontaria - Jonasnuts #Livros #Editoras #Copyright. Pontaria - Jonasnuts #Livros #Editoras #Copyright Paula simoes on Twitter: "Incentivo #copyright. Incentivo #copyright Plus.google. Plus.google. Plus.google. Oracle’s Java API code protected by copyright, appeals court rules.
A federal appeals court on Friday reversed a federal judge's ruling that Oracle's Java API's were not protected by copyright. The debacle started when Google copied certain elements—names, declaration, and header lines—of the Java APIs in Android, and Oracle sued. A judge largely sided with Google in 2012, saying that the code in question could not be copyrighted. "Because we conclude that the declaring code and the structure, sequence, and organization of the API packages are entitled to copyright protection, we reverse the district court’s copyrightability determination with instructions to reinstate the jury’s infringement finding as to the 37 Java packages," the US Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday. Google, which said it was exploring its legal options, decried Friday's ruling. The Mountain View, CA-based media giant said the decision "sets a damaging precedent for computer science and software development.
" The purpose of copyright is to encourage creativity. Paulasimoes : New book "intelectual privilege"... Plus.google. Plus.google. Public Consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules. Help reform copyright! European Commission Public Consultation on Copyright: La Quadrature du Net's Answer. Plus.google. Copyright: cross-border licences for online music services. New rules on music copyright approved by Parliament on Tuesday aim to make it easier for online providers to get licences to stream music in more than one EU country. The law, already informally agreed with Council, should stimulate the development of EU-wide online music services for consumers and ensure that artists' rights are better protected and that they receive adequate royalties promptly “The directive will effectively protect the interests of European creators and make it possible for end users to have access to copyright-protected content throughout Europe," said the rapporteur, Marielle Gallo (EPP, FR).
“This directive is a clear signal that copyright can be easily adapted to the Internet. Copyright has an essential role to play in the digital economy,” she added. Cross-border licenses for EU-wide online music services Preserving cultural diversity Timely and appropriate remuneration for artists Next steps. Paulasimoes : #Copyright for #Creativity... Plus.google. Paulasimoes : #ACTA by the backdoor: hiding... Plus.google. Fplus. Esta semana fez 85 anos que foi publicada pela primeira vez uma representação do Rato Mickey, no filme Steamboat Willie. Pela legislação em vigor na altura, isto conferia à Disney um monopólio de 28 anos sobre esta obra, renovável por mais 28 anos, se a obra fosse publicada com um aviso de copyright em conformidade com a lei. O que aparentemente não foi o caso (1). Fosse como fosse, quando Walt Disney criou este personagem, a lei conferia um monopólio sobre a obra por um período máximo de 56 anos. Foi esse o contrato. Em troca da Disney publicar e registar esta obra recebeu o direito exclusivo de a reproduzir e transformar até 1984.
Mas, ao aproximar-se a data em que o Rato Mickey passaria ao domínio público, foi aprovado o Copyright Act of 1976(2) que estendeu retroactivamente o período de monopólio sobre estas obras de 56 anos para 75 anos. Mas a culpa não é só do rato e dos seus amigos, como o Donald, o Pateta e companhia, que iriam cair no domínio público logo a seguir. Fplus. There has been lots of talk about copyright reform in Washington over the past few months, as evidenced by the announcement from the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee that that panel would undertake a comprehensive review of the copyright law. The first hearing for that review was held back in May. As Mike Masnick from TechDirt noted, the Registrar of Copyrights is supportive of the effort but “still focused on bad ideas.” More recently, the Department of Commerce Task Force on Internet policy issued a “Green Paper” last month that helps us see what is right and what is wrong with the current attention in D.C. on copyright reform.
The Task Force recommended three broad categories of reform: updating the balance of rights and exceptions, better enforcement of rights on the Internet, and improving the Internet as a marketplace for IP through licensing. Let’s start with this report from The Atlantic about research into the effect of copyright protection on the availability of books. Fplus. The problem with permission | Scholarly Communications @ Duke. Mobile. The Company Helping Movie Studios Sue You for Illegal Downloading Has Been Using Images Without Permission. A screencap from Canipre's website As you may already know , Voltage Pictures, the company responsible for the movie The Hurt Locker , (as well as a million movies you've never heard of ) is currently in court, attempting to get an Ontario-based internet service provider to release the names associated with over 1000 IP addresses that they claim belong to people who illegally downloaded their copyrighted material.
These IP addresses were gathered by an extraordinarily douchey company called Canipre, the only antipiracy enforcement firm currently offering services in Canada. Canipre, as a company, offers to track down people who are illegally downloading copyrighted material from record companies and film studios. According to their website, they have issued more than 3,500,000 takedown notices, and their work has led to multimillion dollar damages awards, injunctions, seizure of assets, and even incarceration. But it's not like Canipre is doing this just to get rich. Oh, dear. Holy. Shit. Twitter / MarietjeD66: Perhaps @UNESCO's 'book and ... Copyright wars are damaging the health of the internet. The Fair Use/Fair Dealing Handbook » infojustice.
The Fair Use/Fair Dealing Handbook. [Updated on April 3, 2013, to include Liberia.] More than 40 countries with over one-third of the world’s population have fair use or fair dealing provisions in their copyright laws. These countries are in all regions of the world and at all levels of development. The broad diffusion of fair use and fair dealing indicates that there is no basis for preventing the more widespread adoption of these doctrines, with the benefits their flexibility brings to authors, publishers, consumers, technology companies, libraries, museums, educational institutions, and governments.
Fair dealing was first developed by courts in England in the eighteenth century, and was codified in 1911. Fair dealing became incorporated into the copyright laws of the former British Imperial territories, now referred to as the Commonwealth countries. Over the past century, the fair dealing statutes have evolved in many of the Commonwealth countries, and increasingly resemble the fair use statute in the United States. The EU Commission's Outrageous Attempt to Avoid Copyright Reform. Brussels, 4 February 2013 — Today starts “Licences for Europe”, an initiative by the European Commission to discuss the issues of today's copyright regime. Instead of planning for a broad reform that would break away with full-on repression of cultural practices based on sharing and remixing, the Commission is setting up a parody of a debate. 75% of the participants to the working-group concerning “users” are affiliated with the industry1 and the themes and objectives are defined so as to ensure that the industry has its way and that nothing will change.
Through this initiative, the EU Commission shows its contempt of the many citizens who participated in defeating ACTA and are still mobilized against repressive policies. La Quadrature du Net is registered to participate in a working-group of the new “Licences for Europe” initiative called “User-Generated Content”. The rest of this initiative is similarly biased. 1. Midem Liveblog: Music for Everyone: Michel Barnier, Paul McGuinness, Axel Dauchez and more.
Early risers (i.e. 10am) at Midem today were treated to an appearance by Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for internal market and services, in a session entitled ‘Music for Everyone’, with a keynote from Barnier followed by a panel session. Barnier kicked off by citing the music industry’s importance to Europe – a 6bn-Euro market that has spawned digital startups including Spotify, Deezer, Last.fm and 7digital. But he also talked about the challenges facing the industry. “Europeans are often frustrated at not being able to access online the diversity of content offered in other member states, even though they are prepared to pay for it,” he said. “The availability of some of the most popular online music providers is still very uneven between member states. “Whether consumers, investors or entrepreneurs, it is incomprehensible that Europeans are finding on the Internet obstacles that we have been trying to break down in the physical world for more than 50 years,” said Barnier.
YouTube Flags Democrats' Convention Video on Copyright Grounds | Threat Level. While First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech won rave reviews on Twitter Tuesday night, those who got inspired to try to watch the livestream of the convention on BarackObama.com or YouTube found the video flagged by copyright claims shortly after it finished. YouTube, the official streaming partner of the Democratic National Convention, put a copyright blocking message on the livestream video of the event shortly after it ended, which was embedded prominently at BarackObama.com and DemConvention2012. Would-be internet viewers saw a message claiming the stream had been caught infringing on the copyright of one of many possible content companies: This video contains content from WMG, SME, Associated Press (AP), UMG, Dow Jones, New York Times Digital, The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), Warner Chappell, UMPG Publishing and EMI Music Publishing, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
Sorry about that. Private justice: How Hollywood money put a Brit behind bars. Anton Vickerman, 38-year old owner of the once popular link site surfthechannel.com (STC), was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday by a British judge. But the prosecutors sitting across the courtroom from him didn't work for the Crown—they were lawyers for the movie studio trade group Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).
FACT, not public officials in the UK, was the driving force behind Vickerman's prosecution. Indeed, FACT effectively took on the role of a private law enforcement agency. Private investigators hired by FACT first identified Vickerman as the administrator of STC and built the case against him. His assets were frozen at FACT's request by a government agency—which was itself funded by FACT. And when the UK's public prosecutors decided not to press charges against Vickerman at all, FACT initiated a criminal prosecution on its own dime. This is a new development for anti-piracy efforts.
Vickerman posted a lengthy testimonial to his site after he was convicted. Where David Lowery Goes Wrong: We Don't Care About Producers, Not Even Musicians. Oil Company Sues ISP, Kills Greenpeace Protest Site Against Them. Greenpeace protests an oil company with a parody site. The oil company files a lawsuit against the ISP of Greenpeace, claiming copyright monopoly violation of the company’s look and feel. The ISP shuts down the Greenpeace protest site immediately, complying with the threat from the oil company, without fighting the lawsuit or waiting for the court. Yup: the abuse-friendly copyright monopoly is now abused by oil companies to suppress Greenpeace, too.
Greenpeace had launched nestespoil.com, a protest site against Finnish oil company Neste Oil, highlighting how their practices lead to deforestation and increased carbon emissions. Neste Oil were not amused, and launched a lawsuit. Not a lawsuit against Greenpeace, mind you, but against their Internet Service Provider, Loopia. Screenshot of Greenpeace’s protest site Neste Oil filed the lawsuit in the district court of Västmanland in Sweden, where Loopia is based. Greenpeace are, predictably, furious. 3D printing's forthcoming legal morass. Torrentfreak. Bufos Reais | Movimento Partido Pirata Português.
Governo/Cultura: Associação Fonográfica dá nota positiva ao programa governativo. La SGAE liquidó un día antes del arresto la firma investigada · ELPAÍS.com. JMCE: #PT #copyrightmafia #collu...