Tag Archives: Intellectual Poverty

Marxist Publishing House Asserts Copyright Against Free Websites

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“Lawrence & Wishart, a profit-seeking leftist publisher of the collected works of Marx and Engels, is threatening legal action against Marxists.org, a website run by a remnant of the last remaining English-speaking Marxists.  Marxists.org posts English-language translations of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and other bourgeois members of the Inevitable Wave of the Future. These are free. That’s the problem. Lawrence & Wishart find it hard to compete against ‘free.’  So, it’s hard times in Commieland. The realities of free publishing online are these: a copyright-holding, profit-seeking firm is trying to make a few bucks by selling the Word as Revealed.”

http://www.garynorth.com/public/12395.cfm

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The Netherlands Must Police Downloading, EU Court Rules

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“The European Court of Justice has ruled that the Netherlands can no longer permit its citizens to freely download copyrighted movies and music without paying for them. In its judgment the Court rules that the current system of a “piracy levy” to compensate rightsholders is unlawful. Today’s judgment is also likely to affect other European countries with similar systems, such as Switzerland where downloading pirated works for personal use is also permitted.  The Dutch Government confirmed to Tweakers that downloading copyrighted material for personal use is no longer allowed, effective immediately.”

http://torrentfreak.com/the-netherlands-must-outlaw-downloading-eu-court-rules-140410/

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Google and Viacom Settle YouTube Lawsuit After $100 Million Defense

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“Google and Viacom have announced the end of a seven-year copyright violation lawsuit centered around YouTube with an agreement to settle out of court.  Viacom filed a lawsuit in March 2007 that sought $1 billion in damages from Google. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.  The agreement signals the end to a long and often publicly contentious battle. Viacom had alleged that YouTube was guilty of copyright infringement for allowing users to upload clips of its content and deliberately allowing it to remain on the site.  The case dragged on for years. In 2010, Google’s CFO said the company had spent $100 million on the case.”

http://mashable.com/2014/03/18/google-viacom-youtube-settlement/

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MP3tunes and its founder liable for $63 million in EMI copyright suit

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“Michael Robertson is an entrepreneur who is no stranger to drawn-out legal battles. He founded MP3.com, an early music storage service that was ultimately sued out of existence by record labels. And in 2005, he founded MP3tunes, which eventually suffered the same fate. MP3tunes filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after ‘four and a half years of legal torment,’ wrote Robertson.  But the lawsuit against MP3tunes, filed by the EMI record label in 2007, marched onward even after the company’s demise. Yesterday a Manhattan jury handed down a verdict in favor of EMI. It ruled that Robertson should be liable for copyright violations for the creation of MP3tunes.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/jury-mp3tunes-and-its-founder-must-pay-emi-for-copyright-infringement/

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Inventor still battling U.S. over patents from ’70s

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“Gilbert Hyatt said the more he fought and appealed other patents, the longer officials dragged out his applications.  R. Polk Wagner, a patent law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said some patent applications can be slowed during a review of how an invention affects national security.  But he acknowledged that 40 years was an unusually long review period on any case.  ‘In my experience, the Patent and Trademark Office has every incentive to process applications quickly,’ Wagner said. ‘The trick for the PTO is to process them as quickly as they can while being accurate. There is certainly no incentive for this significant kind of delay.'”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/03/23/inventor-battling-us-over-patents-sought-in-1970s/6792451/

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Bill to re-legalize cell phone unlocking passes House, but with caveat

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“Consumers have been permitted to unlock their phones in the past under an exemption created by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, which has the authority to use this exception, decided not to extend it.  That means without legislation, anyone with a phone that was bought on January 27, 2013 or later cannot unlock their phones legally.  Extending this exemption had broad support from Republicans and Democrats. However, GOP leaders made a last-minute change to the bill that says the bill does not permit ‘bulk unlocking,’ which opponents say could make it difficult for companies to go into the business of unlocking phones for consumers.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/votes/199257-cell-phone-freedom-bill-passes-house

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“Happy Birthday” copyright defense: Those “words” and “text” are ours

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“There may be no song more widely sung in America than ‘Happy Birthday,’ but it isn’t free to sing. Warner/Chappell music licensing, which has long claimed copyright to the words, typically dings filmmakers and TV producers a few thousand bucks for a ‘synchronization license’ any time the song is used in video. Warner reported that by the 1990s the ‘Happy Birthday’ licensing enterprise was pulling in upwards of $2 million annually.  In June, a filmmaker who paid $1,500 to use the song in a documentary (called ‘Happy Birthday’) challenged Warner/Chappell in court. The plaintiffs hoped to form a class action and make Warner pay back everyone who’s paid a license fee since.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/happy-birthday-copyright-defense-those-words-and-text-are-ours/

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Patent troll CEO explains why company demands EFF donor names

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“The patent-holding company that wants all podcasters to pay up is just looking for a fair shake.  The CEO and general counsel of Personal Audio LLC got on the phone with Ars Technica to explain why the company is asking for the identities of more than 1,300 donors who have chipped in to help the Electronic Frontier Foundation fight its podcasting patent. The subpoena seeking donor identities and a wide array of other information connected to EFF’s fight against the patent was revealed by EFF.  EFF has moved to quash the subpoena in court, saying that while some donors are very public about their support, they also have a First Amendment right to contribute anonymously.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/podcasting-patent-trolls-ceo-explains-why-it-wants-eff-donor-names/

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How federal agents became the movie industry’s copyright enforcers

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“What brought them to an Ohio shopping mall to jump an unsuspecting local nerd?  In 2008, Congress passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property, or PRO-IP Act. Suddenly, protecting the trademarks and copyrights of American companies became a huge priority for a number of law enforcement agencies, including ICE.  Soon, ICE was enforcing American intellectual property rights all over the globe. In 2009, the agency arrested 266 people in IP investigations, busting people who sell counterfeit movies, stream pirated content on websites, and sell licensed NFL gear. ICE more than doubled that number of arrests over the next two years.”

http://www.dailydot.com/politics/federal-agents-google-glass-mpaa-theater-enforcers/

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Dutch court rules in favor of unblocking Pirate Bay as ban ‘ineffective’

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“People in the Netherlands will soon have access to The Pirate Bay, one of the world’s most censored file-sharing websites, as a court in The Hague ruled that Dutch ISPs need to stop blocking the site after the ban proved ineffective against piracy.  The Court of The Hague released its verdict that two leading ISPs operating in the country – XS4All and Ziggo – no longer have to block access to file sharing website The Pirate Bay.  The court’s verdict was based on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which includes the ‘freedom to conduct a business’ and ‘right to property.’ Entrepreneurial freedom overrides property rights, the court ruled.”

http://rt.com/news/court-unblock-pirate-bay-308/

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