Sending threatening letters is a storied tactic for companies trying to get money from alleged pirates, by this stage. But spying on people and trying to subpoena their neighbours? Not so kosher, at least according to one federal judge.
In 2007, a home video of a baby dancing to Prince’s 1984 masterpiece Let’s Go Crazy was uploaded onto YouTube. Eight years and a few dozen lawyers later, a federal appeals court has ruled that uploading the video was an OK thing to do — a judgement that is of surprising importance to the rest of the internet.
In the United States, the ability to incorporate the works of others in your research is protected by fair use. In other countries, you have to ask permission. A new study indicates that the restrictive laws of many European countries means they risk falling behind in data mining research.
The English language is a voracious eater, consuming words and digesting them into whole new things. Sometimes words that used to be trademarked by companies pass into generic use—like escalator, thermos, and aspirin. And sometimes words live in limbo: still trademarked, but used all the time as generic terms. Here…
Copyright law is complicated, but one thing is clear: The Digital Millennium Copyright Law was not designed to enable censorship. Unfortunately, the owners of Ashley Madison are using—and abusing—DMCA takedown notices to do just that in order to keep its hacked data off the web.
The video “Pantone Pixels,” published in 2011, was an independent art project that used a swath of colors to illustrate a picture of the creator’s parents. Last week, Vimeo took it down. Turns out it was too similar to “Pixels,” a 2015 movie starring Adam Sandler.
Here in the United States, we’re excited because James Bond has another big movie coming up. But in Canada, James Bond just entered the public domain. Or at least, Ian Fleming’s books did. To celebrate, ChiZine Publications is putting out a book of “unauthorized” James Bond stories.
An Israeli company called Flash Network is fighting dirty against people who called it out for sneaky javascript injections. It’s a prime example how companies use copyright laws to threaten and intimidate anyone who criticizes them.
The Cabin in the Woods was one of the most original takes on the "kids encounter scary things in the woods" story that we've seen in ages, but one man is claiming that it's not original at all. Author Peter Gallagher is suing the filmmakers, claiming that the film is infringing on his 2006 novel The Little White Trip:…
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act is the most fundamental piece of US legislation underpinning digital rights. It’s also woefully broken, with its wide-reaching language being used to strong-arm researchers and make tinkering with your own smartphone illegal. The latest trick? Screwing over anyone who wants to…
Copyright law is a bitch. Just ask Rand Paul’s newly launched presidential campaign whose video “Stand With Rand: Kentucky” just got pulled from YouTube on copyright grounds. YouTube’s Content ID system flagged a song in the video by country singer John Rich. “Sorry about that,” says the YouTube page now.
You may recall reading that James Bond, as envisioned by Sir Ian Fleming, had entered public domain in Canada. Canada, and a few other countries, differ on the length of copyright protection – 50 years from the death of the creator, compared to 70 in the US and elsewhere.
DRM, or digital rights management, is a digital lock placed on media content and devices. Supporters say DRM protects businesses and artists from piracy and theft. Sounds good, right? Opponents say it kills innovation, doesn't stop piracy, and helps malware distributors. This month, a group led by the Electronic…
It sounds almost too good to be true: Instead of going through all the paperwork and hassle of registering a copyright, all you have to do is send your work to yourself by mail to be protected. It's called "poor man's copyright" and there's only one problem with the process. It doesn't exist.
How well do you understand copyright and trademark law? When you travel about the Internet or make art, do you know what you are and aren't allowed to do, or do you have intellectual property myths stuck in your brain. We take a few claims we've seen time and again, and compare them to the law.
On January 1st, 2015, the works of Ian Fleming entered the public domain in a number of countries. That means that the character of James Bond is no longer copyrighted in those countries, just like Sherlock Holmes has been for a while. But it doesn't mean that it's suddenly open season on that character.
Copyright holders were not shy about asking Google to remove pirated content in 2014. Last year, there were over 345 million requests to take down infringing content, according to a Torrent Freak summary of Google's weekly transparency reports. That's a 75 percent increase from 2013. Google honored most of the…
Current US law extends copyright for 70 years after the date of the author's death, and corporate "works-for-hire" are copyrighted for 95 years after publication. But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years—an initial term of 28 years, renewable for…
Every year, legal representatives from seven of the biggest movie studios in the country gather in Sherman Oaks, California to talk about all things anti-piracy. Which isn't surprising; it's their livelihood, after all. But what does leaves a sour taste in your mouth is their plan to spread the DMCA-dispensing…
Telling users how to strip the DRM from their legally purchased ebooks is not contributory copyright infringement, according to a ruling last month by a federal judge in New York.
