Feb
7
Easy copyright registrations?
Posted by Dirk Avery at 2:40 pm under Copyright.
On Jan. 24, I applied to become a beta tester for the new electronic Copyright Office (eCO) system. Will eCO be a fun, easy way to register copyrights? We will soon know. Today I was inducted into the exclusive ranks of testers. I can now file online and electronically deposit copies […]
Feb
7
Dudnikov: copyright, jurisdiction and eBay
Posted by Dirk Avery at 1:39 pm under Copyright, Internet, Litigation.
On Jan. 28, the 10th Circuit filed an interesting personal jurisdiction decision. Dudnikovs are eBay “power sellers” that sell fabrics out of their home. A copyright owner (who is British) thought some of the fabrics infringed its copyright in images by Erté. The owner sent eBay a notice of claimed infringement […]
Feb
2
Trademarking “19-0″
Posted by Irene Soto at 7:24 pm under Copyright, Events, Internet.
Is this a joke?
And apparently someone can tell the future.
Since I was at Amazon.com, I picked up a gift:
Happy Groundhog Day, Patriots!
Jan
31
Internet Post as Copyright Publication
Posted by Dirk Avery at 2:28 pm under Copyright, Internet.
Suppose you take a picture of your dog. You’re a decent amateur photographer and the photo turns out great. Since it’s so good, you post it to your publicly-available website. Five months later People magazine sees the picture, loves it, and uses it on the cover of an issue. Do you have any recourse […]
Jan
29
Qtrax update
Posted by Dirk Avery at 10:07 am under Copyright, Internet.
Qtrax launched yesterday and already scandal is in the air. Qtrax claimed to have deals with the major music labels. The labels have a different view.
But by Monday, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner had publicly denied that they had agreed to back the new Qtrax service.
A source close to Universal Music, […]
Jan
28
Internet money-saving
Posted by Dirk Avery at 12:04 pm under Copyright, Internet.
Yay, for the Internet! 25 million free songs from music-industry-backed, ad-revenue supported website Qtrax (hopefully the ads won’t make the service completely useless). And, University of Maryland statisticians found that buyers on eBay saved $7 billion in 2003. (The portion of that resulting from progressive auctions is uncertain.) Were the person-hours spent […]
Jan
25
Horse and buggy sales down 11%
Posted by Dirk Avery at 3:19 pm under Copyright, Internet.
1902 - Horse breeders and buggy manufacturers reported that sales fell 11% over the last year. Over the same period horseless-carriage (automobile) sales rose 40 percent to $2.9 billion. The rise in auto sales failed to cover losses from collapse of the international buggy sales.
The International Federation of Buggy Makers said that governments […]
Jan
25
IP’s purpose: economic incentive or progress?
Posted by Dirk Avery at 6:17 am under Copyright, Incentive, Patent.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution, often referred to as the Intellectual Property Clause, states: “[Congress shall have the power] To promote the Progress of Science [knowledge] and useful Arts [technology], by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Patent and […]
Jan
24
Haute Diggity Dog
Posted by Irene Soto at 6:13 pm under Copyright, Trademark.
In November of last year, the 4th Circuit ruled on a case between Louis Vuitton and Haute Diggity Dog (the maker of “Chewy Vuiton” dog toys). On the trademark claim, the court said the toys were a permissible parody of the LV trademark. On the copyright claim, the court said: “LVM argues that the district […]
Jan
23
MPAA’s bad math
Posted by Dirk Avery at 12:20 pm under Copyright, Internet.
In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry’s domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus….But now the MPAA…has told education groups a “human error” in that survey caused it to get […]