March 27, 2007
Model Letter for Lawyers Representing Defendants in RIAA Cases
Dated: March 27, 2007
The following is a letter sent early this morning (1AM in California) by an attorney representing a defendant of an RIAA copyright infringement action, to Plaintiff's counsel. After receiving this stern, angry letter, the RIAA dropped their case. -ed.
Dear Mr. Kerr,
Thank you for your letter of March 23, 2007 received in my office today. I did not receive a copy of the letter by PDF although that method of delivery was shown on the letter.
Incorrect Venue and Emotional Distress
The lawsuit filed by your office and your letter arrive at a particularly inappropriate time in Barry and Cathy Merchant's life. Mrs. Merchant left my office after our first meeting to attend to ill father in Colorado. She and Barry Merchant left my office today to attend his funeral. You should advise your clients that they are facing a "thin skull plaintiff" either on a Rule 11 sanctions motion or (upon favorable termination) in a malicious prosecution action. The emotional distress inflicted by your clients' litigation -- filed in Sacramento rather than the Fresno Branch of the Eastern District Court where my clients' live in violation of the Rules of Court -- has been extreme.
Your client should carefully consider whether it has probable cause to proceed at this point. Mr. Merchant's hard drive is available for immediate, carefully supervised inspection by your client; a carbon copy of the drive has been made by technicians to insure that the evidence is well backed-up.
At the time of inspection, we will expect your clients to be prepared to dismiss all claims with prejudice. The pleadings may be e-filed from my office the same day. Although dismissal will not avoid your clients' exposure to attorneys' fees under the Copyright Act, it will certainly mitigate damages to Mr. and Mrs. Merchant and the possibility of escalating the issues by counter-claim on federal grounds that have been successfully pleaded in other states as well as on pendant California claims that have, thus far, tempered your clients' California zeal for litigating in this state.
Continue reading "Model Letter for Lawyers Representing Defendants in RIAA Cases"
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:57 PM | Comments (0)
German patent court finds in DSS' favor
By Mike Dickinson
Dated: March 27, 2007
SOURCE: Rochester Business Journal
The German Federal Patent Court on Tuesday ruled a Perinton firm’s patent is valid in Germany, Document Security Systems Inc. said. The company contends the patent ruling affects all euro notes in circulation.
The judgment was the outcome of a one-day hearing held Tuesday. It comes a day after the company lost a similar case in England.
The patent was infringed, DSS alleges, by the European Central Bank during the cash changeover to the euro in January 2002. On this basis, DSS contends all euro notes in circulation infringe on its patent and with its lawsuit seeks royalties for past infringements.
DSS needed to win in only one national court for its patent to be considered valid, which could affect the movement and use of euro bank notes, company officials report.
DSS stock (AMEX: DMC) soared, climbing more than 28 percent to $11 a share at midday.
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2006
IPod Copy Protection Cracked
Dated: October 25, 2006
SOURCE: Wired News
A hacker who as a teen cracked the encryption on DVDs has found a way to unlock the code that prevents iPod users from playing songs from download music stores other than Apple's iTunes, his company said on Tuesday.
Jon Lech Johansen, a 22-year-old Norwegian who lives in San Francisco, cracked Apple's FairPlay copy-protection technology, said Monique Farantzos, managing director at DoubleTwist, the company that plans to license the code to businesses.
"What he did was basically reverse-engineer FairPlay," she said. "This allows other companies to offer content for the iPod."
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:11 PM | Comments (1)
October 24, 2006
World of Warcraft Expansion Delayed Until January 2007
Dated: October 24, 2006
SOURCE: videogamesblogger.com
Blizzard Entertainment today announced that the release date for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the first expansion for World of Warcraft, is delayed until January 2007. By adding a few extra weeks to the development cycle beyond its original target date, Blizzard will be able to extend the closed beta test and further refine the new content that will ship with the game.
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2006
Google Snaps Up YouTube for $1.65B
by Michael Liedtke
Dated: October 9, 2006
SOURCE: AP
Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution.
The all-stock deal announced Monday unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars. It came just a few hours after YouTube unveiled three separate agreements with media companies to counter the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits.
The price makes YouTube Inc., a still-unprofitable startup, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history. Last year, Google spent $130.5 million buying a total of 15 small companies.
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:01 PM
August 14, 2006
RIAA to grieving family: We depose your children in 60 days
Dated: July 12, 2006
SOURCE: Boing Boing
The RIAA brought a file-sharing lawsuit against a guy who died; they offered the departed's family a 60-day grieving period before they began to depose his children for the suit against his estate.
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:58 AM
May 19, 2006
U.S. Patent Office re-examines Amazon's 'One Click' patent
Dated: May 18, 2006
SOURCE: Seattle Post (reprinted from AP)
SEATTLE -- At the request of a New Zealand actor upset about a slow book delivery, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is re-examining Amazon.com's patent for "1-Click" online shopping, which allows pre-registered users to buy items with a single click of the mouse.
Actor Peter Calveley sought the reconsideration in documents filed in February, pointing out that a patent for similar technology was issued in March 1998, about 18 months before Amazon's. The Patent Office agreed last week that Calveley had raised a substantial question about the appropriateness of Amazon's patent, documents posted on its Web site show.
Calveley wrote on his blog that his crusade is revenge for an "annoyingly slow" book delivery from Amazon. He used the blog to raise the $2,520 reexamination fee.
Amazon's patent was highly controversial during the tech boom of the late 1990s, when several other online businesses claimed it was overly broad and that the technology wasn't very original. In 1999, Amazon obtained an injunction that forced rival bookseller barnesandnoble.com to go to two clicks - first on the item, then a separate click that confirmed the customer wanted to buy it. That case was eventually settled out of court.
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:21 PM
April 05, 2006
Netflix Suing Blockbuster For Patent Infringement
by Andrew A. Anissi
Dated: April 5, 2006
BACKGROUND:
For those readers stuck in the 20th century, Netflix started up and operated a dvd rental service whereby customers pay a monthly fee (standard service is about $19/month) and then select films online, which are then mailed to them to view and mail back. With the standard service, the customer can only have three films out at once, so it's beneficial to return each film quickly in order to have the next film sent out.
Since this cheap, convenient, unlimited rental business was turning out to be very successful, several other companies such as Blockbuster and Walmart copied the business plan and offered their own such services. The pro to using these other companies seems to be that they're a bit cheaper, and the cons are that Netflix has a better selection, Blockbuster is non-innovative, and Walmart is pure evil.
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW:
Basically, Netflix has two business method patents on its online dvd rental service, and since Blockbuster is obviously using the exact same method, they're being sued for infringement. My guess is, Blockbuster will assert invalidity of the patents based on 35 U.S.C. Sec. 103 obviousness, and 35 U.S.C. Sec. 102 prior art references. Blockbuster's defense will be pretty good, and Netflix will either settle for a small amount of cash or lose its patents. I'd guess settlement would be the result, since Netflix doesn't want to risk losing its patents and Blockbuster doesn't want to risk being locked out of the online/mail rental business. Settlement would also be good for Blockbuster, because it would allow Netflix to sue Blockbuster's other competitors.
Click here for the Slashdot article.
Posted by andrewanissi at 11:28 AM
February 20, 2006
Cultural Environmentalism
by James Boyle
Dated: February 20, 2006
SOURCE: The Financial Times
Ten years ago, I tried to get an article about intellectual property published in a major US newspaper. It was a hard sell. I mentioned the words “internet” and “free speech” and “access to information.” “Ah,” said the editor, “so you want to write about porn and censorship.”
Not exactly. I wanted to write about software patents and the rules of digital copyright, about proposals that would have made internet service providers strictly liable for whatever their customers did online, about persistent retrospective extensions of copyright term that locked up most of 20th century culture, even if it was commercially unavailable, just at the moment when we could dream of making it digitally available to the world.
“But where is the free speech issue?” the editor asked. “Are these rules part of some covert effort to regulate indecency?” Free speech, it seemed, meant unfettered access to breasts – or at least digital images of them. Intellectual property was dry stuff of interest only to industry hacks. We were writing the ground rules of the information age, rules that had dramatic effects on speech, innovation, science and culture, and no one – except the affected industries – was paying attention.
For the full article, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 06:20 PM
February 06, 2006
The End of the Internet?
by Jeff Chester
Dated: February 1, 2006
SOURCE: The Nation
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.
Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.
Under the plans they are considering, all of us--from content providers to individual users--would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 07:49 PM
February 03, 2006
France to Legalize P2P
Inquiry set for French file-sharing plan
Published: February 3, 2006
SOURCE: C-Net News
The French government is moving ahead with plans for a controversial law that would legalize file-sharing of music and films, a move that could undo years of antipiracy work by the entertainment industry.
France's Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres is set to be questioned about the draft on Wednesday by the parliamentary commission for cultural affairs and the commission for economic affairs.
The project has worried the music, film and television industries because it would make France the first country to allow unlimited peer-to-peer downloading for a flat fee of several euros a month.
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:26 PM
February 02, 2006
NYU Law School Grad Fired Over Copyright Beliefs
By Jake Dobkin
February 1, 2006
SOURCE: The Gothamist
Oh, to be young and naive! The president of the Free Culture chapter at NYU got fired from her clerk job at a Manhattan intellectual property law firm. Her crime? Holding beliefs that were incompatible with the work of the firm: namely, that draconian copyright protection is bad for consumers, bad for the economy, and bad in general. Read Inga's whole story at the NYU Free Culture blog:
First, my taking a job in an IP firm was neither a subversive attempt to wreak havoc “from the inside”, nor a hypocritical denial of my Free Culture values. I was, and still am, a student interested in the scope of copyright law, and determined to pursue a career in the field. I wanted to gain an understanding both of the theory of copyright, which my work with FC provided, and its practice. The firm exposed me to the day to day operations of an IP lawyer, and I was nothing if not receptive to these lessons. I was baffled that someone saw fit to fire me over an expression of dissenting views. Doesn’t the field become richer when the wider spectrum of legal thought is explored and encouraged? Certainly, it is wrong to eject someone from their field of interest simply for exercising her first amendment rights and speaking out against the current.
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 02:37 PM
January 29, 2006
Create an e-annoyance, go to jail
By Declan McCullagh
SOURCE: New.com (C-NET)
Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.
| It's illegal to annoy
A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here's the relevant language. "Whoever...utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet... without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person...who receives the communications...shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." | It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess. This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison. "The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else." Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy." |
For the full article, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 02:18 PM
December 26, 2005
The Battle Over Books
The Nov. 17th Panel on Google Book Search
At the New York Public Library
See the official webpage, HERE.
My initial reaction to this panel is that Google is doomed if it continues to rely upon David Drummond to represent its legal interests. Larry Lessig carried Google's side of the debate, and I couldn't quite tell how well Mr. Drummond understood copyright law (clearly not on the level of a Stanford Law Professor). Google should hire Mr. Lessig as its attorney for this matter, and I'm sure that Larry Lessig would agree (though he clearly wants this case to go to litigation, and wouldn't be interested in a settlement).
Posted by andrewanissi at 05:41 PM
December 23, 2005
Google Book Search
In case you're interested in the copyright issues in the cases against Google for its Book Search, check back here. I am diving into a great deal of research on the subject, and will update this site accordingly. I should warn you, though, that I support Google's position on this, so if you want a completely unbiased view, go ask a robot.
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:03 PM
November 18, 2005
Sony's DRM woes expand to include copyright infringement
by Simon Aughton
from PC Pro: News
If Sony BMG was hoping that the controversy surrounding its copy-protected CDs was going to die away, it was reckoning without infamous hacker Jon Lech Johansen, better known as DVD Jon.
It seems that the XCP software from UK company First4Internet that Sony had been using to prevent unauthorised copying of its music CDs, until it agreed to recall some 4.7 million discs, contains code 'infringing the copyright of several open source projects', Johansen notes in his blog. This includes code that he himself wrote for VLC, a free cross-platform media player.
The code was uncovered by Finnish software developer Matti Nikki, who also discovered other copyright violations.
Continue reading "Sony's DRM woes expand to include copyright infringement"
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:12 AM
October 16, 2005
England's Royal Society Releases Adelphi Charter to Redefine the Future of Intellectual Property
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce - commonly known as the RSA - was founded in 1754 to encourage the development of a principled and prosperous society.
The Adelphi Charter was prepared by an International Commission of experts from the arts, creative industries, human rights, law, economics, science, R&D, technology, the public sector and education. The International Commission has determined that current intellectual property law no longer serves the public interest, because it leans much too heavily in favor of private enrichment.
Click HERE for more information.
Download the Adelphi Charter HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:37 PM
October 09, 2005
Record Labels Unveil Greed 2.05
Posted by Zonk on Sunday October 09, @03:42PM on Slashdot
theodp writes "Unsatisfied with $2.49 ringtones and as much as 70 cents of each 99 cent iTunes download, Newsweek reports that record labels want a bigger cut of digital music profits. One example: If you type in 'Madonna' - a Warner act - at the Google Video site, and the results are accompanied by ads, Warner wants a share of those ad dollars." Even more ridiculous demands than those put forth in previous stories.
For more information, click HERE.
Posted by andrewanissi at 07:45 PM
October 06, 2005
Highest Court of Australia Rules Against Sony in Playstation Mod Chip Case
The High Court of Australia today allowed an appeal against a finding that Mr Stevens’s modifications to Sony PlayStation consoles to allow unauthorised copies of games to be played were illegal.
With effect from 4 March 2001, the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act introduced provisions relating to “circumvention devices” into the Copyright Act. The appeal concerned the meaning of that term.
Continue reading "Highest Court of Australia Rules Against Sony in Playstation Mod Chip Case"
Posted by andrewanissi at 11:54 PM
June 27, 2005
MGM v. Grokster - Supreme Court Decision
Click here for the full text of the Supreme Court decision for MGM v. Grokster. This is a case about company's distributing software that is intended for use to establish peer-to-peer networks, which have been utilized by end users for the purpose of trading copyright protected materials.
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:25 PM
June 07, 2005
Supreme Court denies Lexmark's hearing request
Jimmy Askew brought this to my attention.
As you may or may not know, Lexmark sued Static Control Components ("SCC") under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"), in a case that would have allowed the use of the DMCA to establish long-term technology monopolies. By creating a lock-and-key mechanism, a copyright owner can protect access to or copying of copyrighted material, with circumvention of such devices protected by federal law.
Lexmark attempted to use the DMCA to keep competitors from creating toner cartridges that would be compatible with its printers, but the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the defendant, SCC. The United States Supreme Court has now rejected certiorari of the 6th Circuit decision, leaving the case closed.
For more information, click here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 01:08 PM
May 22, 2005
IP Justice League Super Fantastic Adventure Fan Site!
 |
Celebrating the only comic book of international super-star
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY super heroes!
Larry Lessig! IP Justice is GO! Can the IP Justice League save Wil Wheaton from super-villain Jack Valenti? Will they defeat his evil army of psycho culture pirates!? Whose side is Avril Lavigne REALLY on?? STAY TUNED!!! |
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:50 PM
May 19, 2005
On the Logic of Suing One's Customers and the Dilemma of Infringement-Based Business Models
By Professor Justin Hughes, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
EXCERPT
"Peer to peer technology blindsided the recording industry in 1999 and, until recently, the recording industry has been fighting this battle alone. The battle has been fought mainly in the courts, not in legislative and administrative agencies. And the battle has attracted much more attention from press and pundits - indeed, a regular stream of front-page stories and television news reports. Yet the choices facing the music indusry have still been the same: (a) surrender, (b) seek to enforce copyright norms against the technology and its business models, and/or (c) seek to enforce copyright norms against individual consumers - the individual P2P users offering and downloading music files."
Download the entire paper here.
Posted by andrewanissi at 02:38 AM
May 08, 2005
Stop haXXing our trailer or we will tell the mods on you!
Andrew A. Anissi
A gamer recently downloaded the new Star Wars trailer (from the Sith movie), added subtitles it, and posted it online. The subtitles were a l33t/gamer-speak translation of everything that was said on screen, which apparently involved a lot of Lucas' typically awful dialogue (e.g. "Around the Jedi a perimeter create!" - Yoda in the Clones movie). The Business Affairs lawyer over at Lucasfilms was not amused (or maybe he was amused but decided to f* over the gamer dude anyway), and in response sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to the gamer. So the gamer translated the cease-and-desist letter into l33t/gamer-speak and posted it on his webpage. Continue reading for the original cease-and-desist letter side by side with the translation.
Continue reading "Stop haXXing our trailer or we will tell the mods on you!"
Posted by andrewanissi at 01:06 PM
May 04, 2005
Boy Scouts Indoctrinated Into Hollywood Plot With New Merit Badge
Andrew A. Anissi
Hollywood has created a new Boy Scout Merit Badge on intellectual property violations (i.e. downloading movies, recording a copy of The O.C. on a DVD, etc.), in the hopes of encouraging children to report their families' downloading activities to the local Gestappo, and to create a generation willing to do away with Fair Use in copyright. This is to ensure that Hollywood can continue making enough money to go on producing really awful movies.
Yes, I realize this is overly critical, and I further realize that there are plenty of great works of art that are made within the Los Angeles city limits, but sometimes, when every preview I see is for an adaptation or a remake or a sequel to an original movie that should never have been made, I get a bit frustrated. I mean, whatever happened to the value of originality?
As for the merit badges, read the story at: http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-5693563.html
Posted by andrewanissi at 11:24 AM