Over 70 groups ask Congress to stop and rethink approach to #copyright enforcement in wake of #sopa debacle.

Pig-headedness, not Piracy, Killed Recorded Music - & I've got graphs to prove it #copyright #digital #cds

Why Oracle's Java Copyrights Might Matter - interesting analysis #oracle #java #copyright

"If you pay any attention to the endless debates over intellectual property policy in the United States, you'll hear two numbers invoked over and over again, like the stuttering chorus of some Philip Glass opera: 750,000 and $200 to $250 billion. The first is the number of U.S. jobs supposedly lost to intellectual property theft; the second is the annual dollar cost of IP infringement to the U.S. economy. These statistics are brandished like a talisman each time Congress is asked to step up enforcement to protect the ever-beleaguered U.S. content industry. And both, as far as an extended investigation by Ars Technica has been able to determine, are utterly bogus." - sadly, i couldn't be less surprised

"I agreed that was a big issue, but said I had more immediate and mundane concerns, such as the fact that Warner wouldn't even report my band's iTunes sales to me."

"The infringer has effectively already admitted owing at least $50 million and the full claim could exceed $60 billion. If the dollars don't shock, the target of the lawsuit undoubtedly will: The defendants in the case are Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada, the four primary members of the Canadian Recording Industry Association....After years of claiming Canadian consumers disrespect copyright, the irony of having the recording industry face a massive lawsuit will not be lost on anyone, least of all the artists still waiting to be paid. Indeed, they are also seeking punitive damages, arguing "the conduct of the defendant record companies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to the enforcement of their copyright interests against consumers.""

think the RIAA is "less evil" now that they have "stopped" suing people? remember this.

fighting the good fight

"Q: I found a bug, I have a patch! A: That's awesome. You rule! Due to legal requirements, we can only accept patches verbatim into our release if you file a copyright assignment to Evenflow, Inc. Alternatively, you can release your patch into the public domain, that allows us to sidestep all legal issues. Don't worry we'll still credit you in our CONTRIBUTORS file :) This is similar to the way GNU does things."

"But more, I’m perplexed. Both of these sites are absolutely brilliant for discovering and enjoying music — shouldn’t the labels and artists be embracing them? Figuring out how to make it work, rather than shutting taking them down?" - you'd think so, but this would make too much sense. the essential problem is that the RIAA is trying to legislate their continued relevance at their present size, which is absurd. the record industry is still needed, just not as they once were. and this frightens and enrages them. on a separate note, i'd love to see the patronage model come back, and can think of a dozen or two artists i'd chip in for.

interesting interview with Novell's Michael Meeks; notable for the comments on Sun, copyright assignment, Go oo, and so on

"Copyright law has abandoned its reason for being: to encourage learning and the creation of new works. Instead, its principal functions now are to preserve existing failed business models, to suppress new business models and technologies." - depressing

yup. but according to the RIAA, DRM isn't dead, it's just resting.

"As rumors continue to swirl that EMI will pull its funding from music trade groups like the RIAA and IFPI, an IFPI spokesman tells Ars that the group is in the middle of a major internal review of its operations." - an ephiphany, or a budget crisis?

a complex issue that i can see both sides of, though i do wonder at the implications with respect to fair use. i tend to believe that content that is freely available is content that will be used w/o your permission, but i understand her objections.

AKA - the folks desperately trying to throttle useful innovation so that they are not compelled to adapt in any way, shape or form

sanity and common sense from someone in a position to do something about it: outstanding. Jeremy's right, this is a ballsy presentation. the one point i'd emphasize to music execs: this isn't about "preserving" control, b/c you never had it anyway

"The reason these relationships are rocky is that the executives running these companies are stubborn fools who are only willing to consider ways to keep things the way they were, and who hold their own customers in utter contempt."

"License says ‘you can use it without restrictions…but the patent license says…as long as you get it from Novell.‘ If you...can live with that sort of uncertainty, go for it and use Moonlight; if you can’t, well, don’t say you weren’t warned

"I have decided to shift my academic work, and soon, my activism, away from the issues that have consumed me for the last 10 years, towards a new set of issues" - a loss, but like Luis, i wish Lessig nothing but luck

tons of folks have already pointed to this, but it's worth another link; how many times do we need to explain why software patents don't work?

Lessig's response to Helprin

i'm a Helprin fan, but his contention here is misguided - at best

couple of folks pointed me to this, and they're right - it's a very useful, and very rational, take on patents and other mechanisms like copyright, trade secrets and so forth

good to see some creative thinking re: trademarks, as they are increasingly the bane of existence for many a project

i'm no fan of Valenti, nor his actions, but Lessig's eulogy gives me new perspective and respect for someone i only knew through hyperbolean quotes - not to mention respect for Lessig

unusually aggressive pre-litigation commentary from a Google lawyer; while i do not agree with his stance via the DMCA (i think its an awful piece of legislation), i like that Google is fighting against onerous copyright provisions here

very interesting discussion of the Hype Machine and Elbo.ws from the perspective of a (now defunct) music blog

"As reported yesterday, there was an ad in the FT listing 4,000 musicians who supported retrospective term extension. If you read the list, you’ll see that at least some of these artists are apparently dead." - and of the rest, how many know what it mea

Havoc's not happy w/ the Microsoft/Novell deal

Novell addresses additional post-acquisition questions; they needed to, questions are ripping around the various communities affected

this is why a lot of projects require JCA's

IceWeasel? really seems like this should be unnecessary

serves him right

great post from my colleague on DRM: where are my rights indeed?

they did what?

here's hoping this proves to be true, but i'm not holding my breath

amen - closed != not universally equal better business

wow, something Mossberg and i actually agree on - and it's DRM, no less

remember when i mentioned that Switchfoot is telling people how to defeat their CRM? here's an article on the trend

forget what i said about DRM, just listen to Cory

Mambo assigns its copyright over to a foundation

interesting thread on the implications of copyright assignment (via Jim)

wide ranging and fascinating interview with Eric Raymond; this is sure to piss a lot of people off, but is very rational in its views

couldn't disagree more; this is a terrible idea, IMO, that just furthers notions of MS as anti-sharing, open, etc

thank god for digital cameras and photo printers

some commentary from the FSF on the various licenses

for once, Scoble and i are in perfect agreement

Gladwell on copyright and plagiarism. this guy is almost absurdly intelligent (via Tiemann)

will this be the open-source Solaris license? (via Shankland/News.com)

MSN Spaces gets panned by BoingBoing

good paul graham essay

scathing indictment of Ashcroft's lack of attention to public policy issues

patent suits giveth, and patent suits taketh away (via /.)

just what it says (via useful tag)