30
04
2010
By Eric Goldman
Milo v. Martin, 2010 WL 1708895 (Tex. App. Ct. April 29, 2010)
This case involves allegedly defamatory “guestbook” messages posted by unknown users to a website entitled “The Watchdog.” Framed like that, the precedent says the website should get an easy and uncontroversial 47 USC 230 dismissal (and IMO Rule 11 sanctionable).
The plaintiffs try to get around 230 by citing The Watchdog’s first page, which contained the following statements:
* 47 USC 230 and Consumer Protection Talk Notes
* 47 USC 230 Talk at Fordham
* Ninth Circuit Mucks Up 47 USC 230 Jurisprudence….AGAIN!?–Barnes v. Yahoo
more
The content in this post was found at http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2010/04/website_gets_23.htmand was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Communications Decency Act, Defamation, Digital IP Torts
29
04
2010
The German Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Google Image Search, saying that the service’s thumbnails don’t infringe on anyone’s copyrights. With Germany’s highest court on its side, Google is understandably happy about the decision. In addition to the victory in Germany, Google also won a case in the US, with the judge saying that AdWords did not infringe on Rosetta Stone’s trademark.
The content in this post was found at http://feeds.arstechnica.com/arstechnica/BAaf and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Copyright, International IP Law
29
04
2010
By Eric Goldman
Novins v. Cannon, 3:09-cv-05354-AET -DEA (D. N.J. April 27, 2010). The CMLP page on Novins’ initial demand letter. The CMLP page on the lawsuit. An aborted lawsuit blog putatively by Novins.
This is a defamation action over a USENET post. Doing research for this blog post required me to go back into USENET, a place I haven’t been in years, and I was instantly reminded why I don’t go there any more. Putting aside the signal-to-noise ratio, I simply could not intellectually comprehend most of the posts I saw. It’s like the posts were written for people who live in a parallel English-speaking universe with a very different grammar and logic than mine. Who is still reading and writing this stuff??? And who in the world takes anything in an unmoderated USENET group seriously???
Charles Novins is an attorney. On Feb. 13, 2008, a person using the name Kevin Cannon posted to several USENET groups (apparently, none topical, e.g., alt.culture.alaska) a not-nice-if-untrue post entitled “Law Offices of Charles Novins hires drug addicts to fill your legal needs.”
more
The content in this post was found at http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2010/04/online_defamati.htm and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Uncategorized
29
04
2010
Controversy broke out this week when Nialler9, an influential Irish music blogger, publicised IMRO’s demand that music bloggers pay for a Online Exploitation Licence.
Like many blogs, most Irish music blogs are run at no, or very little, profit. Comments on the main posts about the issue generally share a sense of outrage and a belief that IMRO’s demands will damage new Irish music.
more
The content in this post was found at http://aclatterofthelaw.com/2010/04/29/imro-vs-the-blogs-collective-licensing-of-music/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Copyright, International IP Law
28
04
2010
One study after another purports to chronicle how much intellectual property piracy hurts the economy, and contributes to every societal ill from terrorism to child porn and slavery. A new study unveiled Tuesday sets out to examine intellectual property in a different light: How fair use — which doesn’t require permission from the copyright holder — actually benefits the economy. The trade group, Computer & Communications Industry Association, in a follow-up to its 2007 report, asks: “What contribution is made to our economy by industries that depend on the limitations to copyright protection when engaged in commerce?” For the year 2007, the fair-use economy accounted for USD 4.7 trillion in revenue (.pdf) and USD 2.2 trillion in value added, roughly one-sixth the total gross domestic product of the United States, according to the study. The fair-use economy also employed more than 17 million people with a USD 1.2 trillion payroll. Fair-use-dependent industries include educational institutions, search engines, web hosting providers, software developers and device manufacturers, among others. The association’s membership includes Microsoft, Google, eBay, AMD, Yahoo, Oracle and others
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/04/fairuse-economy/
The content in this post was found at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/04/fairuse-economy/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Fair Use
