Free for a Fee

Vegas, Baby! Ruling a Possible Boon to ‘Copyright-Troll’ Suits

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:11:18 +0000

In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about this outfit called Righthaven, a sort of online copyright enforcer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The enterprise won a key ruling in a Nevada federal court on Thursday.

The content in this post was found at http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/09/03/vegas-baby-ruling-a-possible-boon-to-copyright-troll-suits/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Flaw%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Law+Blog%29 and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

Ping & Apple Work Out Trademark Agreement

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:01:39 +0000

Apple introduced its own music-related social networking service called Ping on Wednesday, but as any golf fan or player knows, the PING name already belongs to a golf equipment company (Karsten Manufacturing Corporation) that has been around since 1959. PING has filed for all sorts of PING trademarks; however, none of them are registered as of today.

The content in this post was found at http://bkgg.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/ping-apple-work-out-trademark-agreement/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

Runescape Publisher Denied Preliminary Injunction Against Maker of Auto-Player Software — Jagex Ltd. v. Impulse Software

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:55:11 +0000

[Post by Venkat]

Jagex Ltd. v. Impulse Software, et al., Case No. 10-10216-NMG (D. Mass.) (Aug. 16, 2010)

Jagex operates “Runescape,” a popular and free online role-playing game. The game has over 130 million accounts, and users spend a significant amount of time “rising through the levels of the game”:

as of October, 2009, the three highest-ranking players had each spent an average of approximately 20,000 hours [!] involved in a game, e.g., 50 hours per week for almost eight years.

Impulse (along with the individual defendants) operate websites offering “cheat” tools - i.e., software that allows users to advance their characters without actually playing the game. Defendants’ software downloads a copy of Runescape and “uses a process called ‘reflection’ to examine the game’s internal operation which is normally hidden from users.” The software then “plays the game for its owner while she is away from her computer.”

The content in this post was found at http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2010/09/runescape_publi_1.htmand was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

How Edison Nearly Destroyed the Movie Industry

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:22:02 +0000

Ars Technica: Thomas Edison’s plot to hijack the movie industry

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/thomas-edisons-plot-to-destroy-the-movies.arsand was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:55:00 +0000

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke went to Nashville yesterday to address a symposium on intellectual property enforcement, and he threw down the gauntlet: the Obama administration will find, board, and scuttle digital pirate ships, and the SS Copyright is going to get a new coat of armored plating.

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/obama-administration-piracy-is-flat-unadulterated-theft.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

Microsoft cofounder drops patent bomb on Apple, Google, Facebook

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Paul Allen, entrepreneur and cofounder of Microsoft, has filed a lawsuit against 11 companies for infringements on his Web search patents. Announced on Friday afternoon, the suit names Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, and Microsoft partner Yahoo as defendants for violating four Interval Licensing LLC patents

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/08/microsoft-cofounder-drops-patent-bomb-on-apple-google-facebook.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rssf and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

Studios sue ad shop for pirate sites

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:59:39 +0000

Movie studios are extending their efforts to take down sites that offer pirated material, with a new lawsuit targeting an advertising company that provides services to such sites. Warner Bros. and Disney have teamed up to sue Triton Media, accusing the company of both contributory and induced copyright infringement because Triton helps to keep the sites alive by providing them with advertising and referral income.

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/studios-sue-ad-shop-for-pirate-sites.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rssand was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

The Counter Spy Act

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:13:02 +0000

The internet has changed the way the world works, and the law is being forced to keep up with it. Changing definitions of intellectual property and privacy in the online world are inspiring new laws at all levels of government. Three such bills are making their way though the US Congress; however, it is what one of these bills would make legal that will be our concern in this article.

Three bills

The three bills referenced are the Internet Spyware Prevention Act of 2007 (I-SPY), the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act (SPYACT) and the Counter Spy Act of 2007.

The content in this post was found at http://learnowit.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/the-counter-spy-act/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

MPEG LA counters Google WebM with permanent royalty moratorium

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:44:00 +0000

The MPEG Licensing Association—the group responsible for handling the necessary patent licensing for use of MPEG video codec standards—has announced that it will not charge royalties for AVC/H.264 encoded video that is made available to view via the Internet for free. The group earlier this year had extended its limited moratorium on licensing fees for free Internet video until the end of 2015.

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/08/mpeg-la-counters-google-webm-with-permanent-royalty-moratorium.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rssand was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.

California moves to outlaw online "e-personation"

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:48:14 +0000

Hoping to administer a powerful sockdolager to online fraudsters, the California legislature passed a bill earlier this month that makes it illegal to impersonate someone else online.

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/california-moves-to-outlaw-online-e-personation.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.