Copyright

When Companies Copy Gadgets, Is It Inspiration or Stealing? The Experts Speak

When a company comes out with an innovative, landmark product, many other companies will end up incorporating those design features into their own products over time. But at what point does drawing inspiration from a rival's innovations become simple bootlegging? We asked three experts. More »

4:00 PM on Mon Jun 16 2008
By Elaine Chow
15,009 views, 42 comments

Latest by stupidjerk: @rubicon_65: are you kidding me? [madvertisingblog.files.wordpress.com] more »

question of the day

Question of the Day: What Percentage of Your Music is Illegal?

With the news from a new survey that says 48% of music owned by teens is illegal, I got to thinking. My iTunes library is stuffed with tracks bought from the Music Store, along with ripped CDs I actually own, and there's a huge stack of CDs I've yet to rip to MP3... which I think makes me pretty law-abiding indeed. But I wonder, in this tricky copyright age, how shiny is your MP3 halo, dear Giz reader? Do you laugh at 48%, with your libraries stuffed with torrented tracks, or are you all goody-two-shoes? Take our survey and tell us. More »

3:59 PM on Mon Jun 16 2008
By Kit Eaton
26,219 views, 224 comments

Latest by bosskev: @Guizzy: I was more or less with you right up until you said this: "Quite simply; if you are in the minority, you are wrong." Now whose shorthand "math" is screwy? Consider the very examples you yourself gave. Prior to the women's more »

youtube

MIT's YouTomb Keeps Track of Videos Pulled Down by YouTube

YouTube takes down lots of videos for copyright holders at their request; we've all tried to watch an embedded video now and then that's no longer available. But just what videos were removed, and who requested their removal? A new site by the eggheads at MIT tells you just that. Dubbed YouTomb, the site scans YouTube for the metadata that goes up when a clip is pulled. It then organizes them with a screengrab, telling you how long the clip was up before being pulled, who requested it to be removed, and what category it was in. It's an interesting little tool to see just who freaks out the most about their precious content being on YouTube. [YouTomb via News.com and Google Operating System]

4:40 PM on Tue May 20 2008
By Adam Frucci
7,102 views, 6 comments

Latest by n/a: @otaking241: That's because it's not even Dattebayo posting them on youtube. Dattebayo has made it VERY clear on their website that they don't have a Youtube account and are STRONGLY against any of their subs being posted on Youtube. Dattebayo more »

riaa

RIAA Tech Chief: DRM Not Dead, Will Become More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine

As CNET points out, when Sony BMG became the last major label to sell DRM-free tracks, we pretty much declared DRM deader than HD DVD or Tony Stark if he got in a fight with Batman (at least for the music industry; movies are another story). But RIAA tech chief David Hughes told a panel yesterday that DRM is tech's Obi-Wan Kenobi: It's coming back and will be powerful than we can possibly imagine, but it won't be giving sage advice to budding Jedi. More »

7:00 PM on Thu May 8 2008
By matt buchanan
6,293 views, 42 comments

Latest by VENAT0R: a pirates life for me! more »

riaa

Judge Rules Making Files 'Available' Doesn't Constitute Copyright Violation

A Boston judge has just followed up on the previous NY judge ruling that just making files available isn't enough to constitute copyright infringement. According to the EFF, it's the most "extensive analysis yet of the recording industry's 'making available' argument", but doesn't actually make things better for people who are being sued by the RIAA. The same judge ruled that even though the "offer to distribute" won't be enough to decide a case, it is enough to permit a lawsuit to move forward. On the other hand, another NY judge has ruled in the opposite manner, that making an "offer to distribute" could violate copyright, even if nobody downloaded whatever you put up. [EFF via Boing Boing]

2:00 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Jason Chen
2,170 views, 19 comments

Latest by tehronin: @chillywilly: torrents FTW more »

mobitv

MobiTV Tries to Shutter Howard Forums Over Posted URL

MobiTV is the mobile TV provider for Sprint, which costs $20 a month. They'd keep content they charged you for protected, so freeloaders couldn't swoop in and pick up the same streams, right? Wrong. By punching in qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd, anyone with the right phone can access the streams. That info was posted on Howard Forums, and now MobiTV is claiming that posting that information violates their intellectual property rights. So they're trying to shutdown Howard Forums entirely. Clarification: Sprint tells us that they had "nothing to do with this situation." More »

8:00 PM on Fri Mar 7 2008
By matt buchanan
9,057 views, 37 comments

Latest by allstarecho: Umm, what part of "they don't work anymore" wasn't understandable? more »

design

Intellectual Property Donor Sticker Proves Your Unrealistic Arrogance After You're Dead

What happens to your intellectual property if you die in some kind of nasty accident? Worried, perhaps, that your life's work would be stifled by 70 years of copyright protection, meant to benefit only your ungrateful dependents? Why not donate it all to the public domain? Affix this (legally binding?) sticker on your driver's license, in the place generally reserved for organ donor information, and you're good to go. After all, who needs your kidney when the world could freely enjoy your crappy poetry instead? [ni9e via Make]

5:20 PM on Wed Feb 27 2008
By Wilson Rothman
3,663 views, 34 comments

Latest by WMyers: If your intellectual property were worth having, you could have afforded a will. more »

music industry

Universal's Legal Tangles With YouTube Kill Official Nine Inch Nails Fan Remix Site

If you picked up Nine Inch Nails'Year Zero remix album, 1337-ly titled Y34RZ3r0r3m1x3d, you probably noticed the second disc "halo 25 data," containing the multitrack master files for every song from Year Zero. Some of them had already been posted online not long after its initial release, and that experiment's success led to the full-blown version. It's obviously meant to spur fan remixes, with the last piece in the puzzle being an official site to organize and distribute them all. ~~Thanks to Universal's legal wrangling with YouTube, it's not going to happen.~~ Update: Trent's hosting the remix site himself. From nin.com, "Sometimes you just have to say... 'fuck it.' The remix site is UP! Have fun." More »

8:00 PM on Mon Nov 26 2007
By Matt Buchanan
3,258 views, 15 comments

Latest by conglomerate: i've never been into nin, but i too enjoy trent's doings. also, the remix album is pretty good. trent reznor is good people. more »

in russia, songs play you

Allofmp3.com Owner Facing Jail Time Over Laws That Didn't Exist

The former head of the popular-yet-shady MP3 site Allofmp3.com is looking at some jail time and some hefty fines in his home country of Russia now that his site has been shut down. The authorities say he owes the RIAA a bunch of money and was violating all sorts of copyright laws. The only problem is, well, that he didn't actually break any Russian laws by running the site. More »

3:20 PM on Wed Jul 25 2007
By Adam Frucci
7,748 views, 29 comments

the riaa is grinning

Proposed Legislation Would Put "Attempted" Pirates in Brig for 1-10 Years

On the same day it announced the 50th conviction stemming from its massive piracy sweep, Operation Fastlink—of a member of the Apocalypse Crew (best known for dropping albums pre-street date)—the Department of Justice proposed new legislation—dubbed the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007—that would punish copyright infringement more harshly than ever, with no distinction between "attempts" and acts. Repeat offenders will suffer "stronger penalties" still. More »

3:14 PM on Tue May 15 2007
By Matt Buchanan
2,905 views, 24 comments

riaa boycott

RIAA Tires of Suing Babies and Elderly; Moves on to Paralyzed Stroke Victims

John Paladuk, a retired railroad employee whose left side was completely paralyzed by a stroke last year and uses the resulting disability check as his sole means of income, is being sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement. Also, he lived in Florida during the time period the RIAA is accusing him of engaging in nefarious acts of piracy. In Michigan. More »

12:26 PM on Wed Mar 14 2007
By Matt Buchanan
7,253 views, 32 comments

home entertainment

Viacom to Google: You Owe Us $1 Billion

Viacom is getting pissed off at YouTube, and has decided to shakedown its parent company Google Inc. for $1 billion in damages for stealing its programming. Viacom says there are more than 160,000 clips of its programming on YouTube, including segments from VH1, Nickelodeon and especially Comedy Central. More »

1:05 PM on Tue Mar 13 2007
By Charlie White
4,182 views, 27 comments

drm

Microsoft: Google Poops on Copyright

In a speech made yesterday to the American Association of Publishers, associate general counsel for Microsoft, Tom Rubin, called out Google (and its Book Search) for not respecting copyright. Alleging that "Google's track record of protecting copyrights in other parts of its business is weak at best," he asserted Microsoft's Live Search (Books) does protect copyrights. More »

3:00 PM on Wed Mar 7 2007
By Matt Buchanan
1,973 views, 9 comments

gadgets

iPhone: Ironic Cisco Fiasco

In creating their iPhone, apparently Cisco modified software owned by the public, but didn't publish their modifications as required by GPL licensing standards. This from the GPL Violations Project:

"...the timing is just perfect...For someone talking about Apple using Cisco's property, actually they're infringing on copyright themselves. So it's just a double standard."

Sure, Cisco owns "iPhone" fair and square, but this move was just tacky...and a little stupid. –Mark Wilson More »

1:55 PM on Sun Jan 21 2007
By Mark Wilson
275 views, 14 comments

software

The Pirate Bay to Get a Bay (kind of), Wants to Buy Nation of Sealand

To stop the international copyright laws that have been plaguing The Pirate Bay, they are looking to purchase the micronation of Sealand. This nation is really just a British naval platform in the North Sea. Donating to the cause will guarantee you citizenship at Sealand.

The "island" of Sealand, seven miles off the coast of southern England, was settled in 1967 by an English major, Paddy Roy Bates. Bates proclaimed Sealand a state, issuing passports and gold and silver Sealand dollars and declaring himself Prince Roy.

Spanish appraisers valued the estate at £504 million which is nearly $1 billion. Prince Michael (son of Roy) told the London Times that it is hard to actually gauge how much this island will cost. If TPB cannot raise enough money for Sealand they plan to continue their search to buy another small island and declare it a nation. All I have to say: Awesome! I'll donate. –Travis Hudson More »

10:50 PM on Sat Jan 13 2007
By Travis Hudson
2,547 views, 51 comments

Latest by Skeptical_Geezer: Plasmafire ALMOST has it right. As shown by his administration's approved use of torture and other violations of International Law, King Dubya follows only the dictates of his heart (or his handlers'). THe US navy can, and will, attack anything more »