Copyrights

Dave Davis writes: As the many and well-deserved accolades for Stan Lee pour in on the occasion of his death after a career in content creation —mostly in writing— that spanned six decades, I thought now might be a suitable moment to add an additional perspective. I’m focusing on his ... Read More

Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda has been touting a dubious online petition against article 13.  Despite claims to be acting on behalf of internet “users” the petition seems to be a fundraising effort by a “charity” group operating the website SaveTheInternet.Info. SaveTheInternet.info gofund me page claims the group is a ... Read More

(https://www.blacklocks.ca/ )Blacklock’s will be back in the Federal Court tomorrow on December 12, 2018 at 90 Sparks St. in Ottawa at 9:30 AM with a “mega” motion record of almost 3,000 pages. Blacklock’s is certainly very determined.It badly lost a Federal Court case alleging copyright infringement in 2016, which it ... Read More

In November 2017, John Lewis, a UK retailer, released a holiday ad featuring Moz the Monster, a monster that hid under the bed of a child. However, though the child initially wanted to be rid of him, the two forged a friendship that many found extremely touching. The original ... Read More

In 1925, New Mexico, which gained statehood in the United States in 1912, adopted a design for its flag featuring a sun symbol belonging to the Zia peoples. And according to the tribe, the symbol was secret and stolen from the Zia, who lost both ownership and control over it, ... Read More

With the Industry committee’s copyright review winding down, I appeared yesterday before the committee to discuss the state of Canadian copyright. The wide ranging two hour discussion focused on everything from fair dealing to crown copyright to concerns that publishers don’t fairly compensate authors for their digital licensing revenues. My ... Read More

The ways to protect traditional knowledge and folklore against misuse and misappropriation are under discussion this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Member states are trying to find consensus on draft articles of a potential treaty, with a focus on core subjects, such as the scope of protection, and ... Read More

As stated in our earlier posts, copyright registration is not mandatory, as copyright comes into existence the moment a work is expressed in a tangible form. However, writers are generally advised to get copyright registration for the work to make sure that the ownership of the work is duly established ... Read More

Echoing the United States' Special 301 Report on alleged inadequacy of trading partners’ protection of US intellectual property rights, the European Commission has released its first ever Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, which exposes rogue cyberlockers, stream-ripping sites as well as peer-to-peer and BitTorrent indexing sites among the threats to ... Read More

MusicTechPolicy is reporting that the Google astroturf group “Fight For the Future” is deploying robo call tools against US. Senators. Google is again trying to hack our democracy.  Fortunately Scottish anti-astroturf superhero Boaty McBoatFace the is on the case.   We’ve said for years that Google shills use a variety ... Read More

Story here.  Background here.  Kapoor declares victory.  On the other side, the N.R.A. says the suit was "baseless" but that "it agreed to remove the image 'to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation.' It also said that the settlement does not require the group to pay Mr. Kapoor any ... Read More

First Publication Date: 5th October 2010 Open source has today become a necessity for most businesses. It is estimated that 99 percent of all companies using software use atleast one open source component. The business value added by open source products makes them inevitable for every company. In addition to ... Read More

South Africa’s National Assembly this week approved redrafted versions of the Performers' Protection Amendment Bill and the Copyright Amendment Bill that includes stronger protections for copyright holders but also a fair use provision preserving some exceptions. But there is still an additional hurdle to go before it reaches the President ... Read More

U.S. Instrument of Accession to the Berne Convention – An Untold Story — In one sense, the U.S. joins a treaty when the President signs it and the Senate concurs. But in a strictly formal sense, joining a treaty requires depositing the accession instrument with the treaty body—in the case ... Read More

Some strong words in a letter from Lord Michael Grade on YouTube's position on Article 13 and EU copyright law reform in the Financial Times, with a touch of Brexit to spice it all up. Noting that creativity is something Britain does particularly well at, "and, with the uncertainties of Brexit ... Read More

Ilaiyaraja Threatens Legal Action for Non-Payment of Royalties, Fan’s Facebook Account Reactivated After BCCI Copyright Row, Another PIL Filed Against Kedarnath for Hurting ‘Hindu Sentiments’, Qatar Requests WTO Proceedings Against Saudi Arabia’s IP Violations, Gayle Awarded AUD 300,000 In Defamation Claim Against Fairfax Media, Russian IP Courts Set to Use ... Read More

Core copyright industries have contributed more than $1.3 trillion to US gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, and accounted for 6.85% of the US economy. They employed nearly 5.7 million workers in 2017, accounting for 3.85% of the entire US workforce, or 4.54% of total private employment in the United ... Read More

This is very rough.  I feel an urgency to get this all out to the public. Why? Currently there are at least three major and coordinated efforts by Silicon Valley (well mostly Google) to undermine regulations and authority of national governments.  The EU copyright Directive, The Canadian Copyright Consultation and ... Read More

Just a few weeks ago, Ailey O’Toole seemed like a poet ready to become a breakout star. Her publisher had nominated her poem Gun Metal for a Pushcart Prize and her first collection had been successfully Kickstarted with 73 backers kicking in $1,628 to get Grief and What Comes After into ... Read More

Big platform providers and small hosters alike shall be obliged to censor, according to a draft regulation presented by the European Commission in mid-September and accepted by EU member states at their Council meeting today. ... Read More

Twelve years after the first proposal on the topic, it’s time to speed up the discussion about the global copyright limitations and exceptions regime, advocates and officials said alongside negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization last week. And a key focus will be on regional meetings being planned by ... Read More

The Canadian Bar Association appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology earlier this week as part of the nearly-concluded copyright review. The CBA submitted an odd brief that focused on a mix of issues, including anti-counterfeiting, notice-and-notice, and artists’ resale rights. The notice-and-notice comments captured the attention ... Read More

European creators are alleging a scaremongering campaign by YouTube, and more than 30 entities representing creators in France say Google and YouTube are leading a massive fake information campaign against the European copyright directive currently under discussion in order to protect their commercial interests. ... Read More

Eugénie CocheOn 13 November 2018, the CJEU clarified the scope of EU copyright law by excluding works of taste from copyright protection. This marks the end of a three-year long dispute, which arose in 2015 between two cheese producers and was based on the idea that the taste of a ... Read More

When students ask me about plagiarism and citation issues, two questions inevitably come up: “How do I have to change to not be accused of plagiarism?” (A question I addressed here) “Do I have to cite X?”Since failure to cite information is not seen as serious as failure to ... Read More

I’m adding to MusicTechPolicy’s excellent article on how YouTube appears to be directly appealing to teens and pre-teens via YouTube to oppose Article 13.  Since MTP published this story we found this slideshow.  It provides YouTubers and YouTube channels with false facts and instructs them on how to spread misinformation ... Read More

Sean Flynn, Peter Jaszi, Mike Carroll write: On Wednesday the South African National Assembly vote on the Copyright Amendment Bill, which includes a new “fair use” right. The publishing industry is marking the occasion by circulating an alarmist petition that the legislation will have a “direct and detrimental impact on ... Read More

Eve Gray and Desmond Oriakhogba write: The publishing industry is making a mad dash to defeat South Africa’s adoption of a fair use rights in Parliament on Wednesday. Their latest effort includes an alarmist petition being circulated among authors. It is interesting to note that, while one of the most ... Read More

NEW YORK -- United States intellectual property stakeholders from academic, business and legal backgrounds gathered recently to discuss how to increase public support to strengthen the intellectual property rights system in the US, in light of China’s steady rise in numbers of patent and trademark filings. US IP stakeholders argued ... Read More

First Publication Date: 20th September 2010 The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit clarified the legal confusion that was existing on the application of the first sale doctrine or doctrine of patent exhaustion with respect to software licenses. The Court clarified that the exclusive distribution right is ... Read More