Issue no. 399 - 7 June 2009

• CA - Research institute report on copyright recalled (CBC)
  The Conference Board of Canada (a not-for-profit research organization) has recalled three reports advocating tighter copyright rules, stating that the reports didn't follow research standards. The board said it was recalling Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Economy; National Innovation Performance and Intellectual Property Rights: A Comparative Analysis; and Intellectual Property Rights-Creating Value and Stimulating Investment. It said an internal review showed the reports "did not follow the high-quality research standards of the Conference Board of Canada." University of Ottawa law Prof. Michael Geist, who writes frequently about internet copyright issues, attacked the form and content of the reports, calling one of them "deceptive and plagiarized."

• EU - Commission welcomes Parliament vote on copyright term (Rapid)
  The Commission welcomes the European Parliament's endorsement of a proposal to extend term of copyright protection for performers and record producers from 50 to 70 years. The Commission is also pleased that the Parliament's text has further strengthened the position of performers by introducing a new claim for session players amounting to 20% of record labels' offline and online sales revenue. According to the proposal, performers can also recover their copyright after 50 years, should the producer fail to market the sound recording. Finally, a newly introduced 'clean slate' would prevent record producers from making deductions to the royalties they pay to featured performers.

• The Economist: copyright and wrongs (Communia)
  The Economist has launched a new online debate on copyright and wrongs. In support of the initial motion ("existing copyright laws do more harm than good") we have Professor William Fisher (Harvard Law School), while Professor Justin Hughes (Cardozo Law School, New York) argues against it. Users can publish comment all along and even vote on that motion.

• UK - Call to 'disconnect file-sharers' (BBC)
  Persistent illegal file-sharers should be cut off from the net, an alliance of UK creative industries will tell the government later. The alliance wants the government to force internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect users who ignore repeated warnings about sharing illegal content. John Woodward, head of the UK Film Council, said illegal file-sharing was hurting film-making and risking jobs. The coalition says more than 50% of net traffic in the UK is illegal content.

Issue no. 398 - 13 April 2009

• SE - Biggest-ever Internet piracy bust claimed in Sweden (CNET)
  Swedish police reported making a major Internet piracy bust. Authorities seized computer equipment belonging to a Stockholm-area man whom they suspected of violating local copyright law. The seized server contained 65 terabytes of digital data, consisting of films, TV series, computer programs, and the music equivalent of 16,000 movies, according to the Antipiracy Agency, an organization based in Sweden that's supported by a consortium of film and game organizations to fight Internet piracy.

• SE - Piracy law cuts internet traffic (BBC)
  Internet traffic in Sweden fell by 33% as the country's new anti-piracy law came into effect. Sweden's new policy - the Local IPRED law - allows copyright holders to force internet service providers (ISP) to reveal details of users sharing files. According to figures released by the government statistics agency - Statistics Sweden - 8% of the entire population use peer-to-peer sharing. Popular BitTorrent sharing site, The Pirate Bay, is also based in Sweden.

• UK - Government outlines digital rights agency proposal (Guardian)
  The government has fleshed out the digital rights agency proposed in Lord Carter's Digital Britain report and called for comment from the industry and consumers. The agency would establish a co-regulatory approach for navigating online copyright issues for film and music content, including illegal file sharing. The paper published by the Intellectual Property Office was described as a "straw man" - meaning it is designed to provoke debate rather than represent policy. The government called on creators, commercial rights holders and consumer groups to submit responses.

• UK - YouTube stands by video block (BBC)
  YouTube will not reverse its decision to block music videos to UK users despite a plea from the Performing Rights Society to change its mind. It is removing all premium music videos to UK users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the PRS. Patrick Walker, YouTube's director of video partnerships said it remained committed to agreeing terms. But such agreement needed to be done "at a rate which is sustainable to all", he told the BBC. Thousands of videos were made unavailable to YouTube users from late on 9 March.

Issue no. 397 - 8 March 2009

• FR - Halte au piratage à grande échelle via Internet ! (Le Monde)
  par Luc Besson. Il est un délit maintenant reconnu de tous : celui de visionner des films gratuitement sur son ordinateur via Internet. On appelle ça le "piratage". Le piratage est tout simplement "un vol caractérisé". Il y a 500 000 vols de films par jour en France : 500 000 connexions illégales. Les internautes français détiennent ce triste record du monde. Voilà une bien mauvaise image pour le pays des droits de l'homme. Ces sites ne pourraient exister sans la complicité objective de bon nombre d'acteurs économiques français qui ont un intérêt financier à faire perdurer le système. L'économie du piratage sur Internet est une longue chaîne d'acteurs qui, pour la plupart, n'apparaissent pas au grand jour mais tirent profit de cette activité illégale. Pour que les sites de téléchargement et de streaming soient accessibles aux internautes, il faut tout d'abord trouver un hébergeur. Il arrive que ces hébergeurs soient de nationalité française. Cette prestation, pour un site de streaming tel que BeeMotion.fr, de nationalité canadienne, est assurée par une grande entreprise française de télécommunication, Iliad, par l'intermédiaire de sa marque Free. Voir aussi Luc Besson attaque, beeMotion ferme (Les Numériques)

• SE - Biggest-ever Internet piracy bust claimed in Sweden (CNET)
  Swedish police reported making a major Internet piracy bust. Authorities seized computer equipment belonging to a Stockholm-area man whom they suspected of violating local copyright law. The seized server contained 65 terabytes of digital data, consisting of films, TV series, computer programs, and the music equivalent of 16,000 movies, according to the Antipiracy Agency, an organization based in Sweden that's supported by a consortium of film and game organizations to fight Internet piracy.

• SE - How piracy paved the way in Sweden (CNET)
  The trial against The Pirate Bay site has begun in Sweden. And while Sweden is depicted by copyright-enforcement groups as piracy's promised land, it is also a nation that experiments with legal music-service alternatives. For years, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the Motion Picture Association of America have depicted Sweden as rife with digital piracy. During the time leading up to the trial, though, at least three innovative, legal alternatives for listening to digital music have been launched in Sweden: Spotify, Tunerec, and Chilirec. Spotify has forged agreements with organizations such as Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI Music, Warner Music Group, Merlin, The Orchard, and CD Baby, and now offers millions of songs streamed online. See also Pirate Bay: we don't know nothin' about org charts, contracts (Ars Technica) and Pirate Bay Crew Chums Up to Foes Over Lunch (Wired).

• UK - Government seeks international strategy on illegal downloading (Guardian)
  The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, is aiming to have the framework of an international strategy to combat illegal internet downloads agreed with the US and European partners by the autumn. Burnham's ambitious plan, part of a five-pronged strategy to bolster the ailing music industry, was outlined by the government minister at a parliamentary reception involving groups including the BPI, which represents UK record companies. The ultimate aim of the plan would be to develop a consensus with other governments that would make the UK's own initiatives to combat internet piracy more likely to succeed. Burnham said the government is seeking a 70% to 80% reduction in illegal downloads with its plans in the UK.

• US - Dell applies to have the term 'netbook' released from Psion ownership (OUT-LAW News)
  Dell is trying to have a trade mark owned by rival Psion cancelled because it believes the term 'netbook' is now a generic name for small, cheap computers. Psion applied to register the term as a trade mark in 1996. Dell has filed for cancellation with the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO), arguing that the trade mark has been abandoned, that Psion has made false claims in declarations about the trade mark and that the term has now become generic. Psion has recently been asserting its rights to control the term 'netbook' as small, cheap computers become a fast-selling item.

Issue no. 395 - 27 December 2008

• Project Playlist: some major labels block while Sony BMG strike deal (TechCrunch)
  MySpace is getting back into the business of blocking third party widgets - they've banned embedded music widgets from the fast growing Project Playlist under threat of litigation from the major labels. MySpace they confirmed the ban, noting that they have received infringement notices from "major music companies". But see Good news for Project Playlist: Sony BMG strikes deal (CNET News). Project Playlist has struck a deal with Sony BMG to bring the label's catalog to its streaming-music service. It's the first major-label deal for Project Playlist.

• Talks break down; Warner Music pulls videos from YouTube (CNET)
  Negotiations between Warner Music Group and YouTube over renewing the licensing agreement for the record label's music videos broke down and Warner, the third largest record label, removed videos from the Google-owned video site. The impasse comes at a time when all four major labels, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and EMI, are renegotiating their licensing deals with YouTube.

• US - RIAA drops lawsuits; ISPs to battle file sharing (CNET)
  The Recording Industry Association of America said that it no longer plans to wage a legal assault against people who it suspects of pirating digital music files. The music industry has a new form of protection: Internet service providers. The RIAA will alert an ISP that a customer appears to be file sharing. The ISP will then notify the person that he or she appears to be file sharing. If the behavior by the customer doesn't change, then more e-mails will be sent. If the customer ignores these e-mails, then the ISP may choose to suspend the person's service. If all else fails, they can choose to discontinue service. see also Hollywood wants in on ISP "graduated responses," too (Ars Technica).

Issue no. 394 - 7 December 2008

• FR - Piratage : Alabanel envisage une charte de non agression (Journal du Net)
  La ministre de la Culture, Christine Albanel a commandé le 2 novembre dernier une nouvelle étude relative aux "différentes solutions possibles à la question de la prévention de la lutte contre le piratage" au juriste Pierre Sirinelli, membre du Conseil supérieur de la propriété littéraire et artistique (CSPLA, placé sous la tutelle du ministère de la Culture). La ministre souhaite notamment que ce rapport étudie la piste d'une charte signée à la fois par les ayants-droit et les acteurs du Web 2.0, dans laquelle chacune des parties reconnaîtrait la bonne volonté et les engagements de l'autre en matière de lutte contre le piratage.

Issue no. 393 - 9 November 2008

• DE - Google to appeal thumbnail copyright defeats in Germany (OUT-LAW News)
  Google has lost two German court cases over copyright in images displayed as thumbnails in search results. German courts ruled in both cases that Google's display of miniature versions of pictures without permission infringed copyright in the originals. The search giant will lodge one appeal covering both cases.

• EU - Database right prevents more than just cut 'n' paste copying, rules ECJ (OUT-LAW News)
  A judgment by Europe?s highest court has strengthened the rights of database creators to protect their work from being used by third parties without permission. The database right protects against more than just copying and pasting, it ruled. The decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) means that the transfer of material from a protected database to another database may be prevented, even if there is no technical process of copying. The ECJ affirmed the right of the University of Freiburg to protect the content of a database of poem titles from commercial exploitation by an unrelated company. Directmedia Publishing GmbH v Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.

• EU - Sarkozy snubbed by Barroso in the three strikes approach (EDRI-gram)
  The President of the European Commission has refused French President Sarkozy's request to withdraw Amendment 138 included in the Telecoms Package recently voted by the European Parliament. Amendment 138 which basically reinstates the legal issue of the freedom to communicate of Internet users, reaffirming that only threats to public security can justify the restriction to the free circulation of information on the Internet without a court decision, was voted with a large majority by the MEPs, fact which largely displeased EU French presidency who has continuously pushed and pressed for the application of the three strike approach introduced by its "Création et Internet" draft bill. see also Commission position on Amendment 138 adopted by the European Parliament and EU - Risposte graduée : Reding a la moutarde qui lui monte au nez (Libération)

Issue no. 392 - 5 October 2008

• EU - Cost of EU-wide trade marks set to plummet (OUT-LAW News)
  The cost of registering community trade marks (CTMs) across Europe will fall from ?1,650 to ?1,000, according to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), the body reponsible for the marks. The plan is the result of a meeting of the body's administrative board and budget committee.

• Internet - creative content and "graduated responses" (ISOC-ECC)
  The purpose of this Aide Memoire is to express the comments of European Chapters of the Internet Society with regard to proposed restrictions on access to and use of the Internet, in the name of protection of intellectual property rights. Recognising the importance of copyright, some proposed measures go beyond that which would be necessary or effective. In short, the signatories, consider that the proposed French law in particular is a disproportionate response to the stated objectives of the EU Commission's Communication and that the proposed measures and sanctions reflect a lack of understanding as to the nature of the Internet with unfavourable consequences for the use of the Internet for many economic and social purposes. See also version française.

• US - RIAA, MPAA resume lobbying push to expand copyright law (CNET News)
  The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America are lobbying for a pair of bills to rewrite and expand digital copyright law, designed to give the federal government more power to police copyright violations.

• US - Tech activist takes on governments over 'copyrighted' laws (CNET News)
  Carl Malamud has devoted his life to liberating laws, regulations, court cases, and the other myriad detritus that governments produce daily, but often lock up in proprietary databases or allow for-profit companies to sell for princely sums.

Issue no. 391 - 31 August 2008

• EU - European Commission is misleading EU on copyright extension, says academic (OUT-LAW News)
  The European Commission "wilfully ignored" studies that it paid for whose conclusions disagreed with its policy and the Commission is misleading the European Union Council, Parliament and citizens over copyright extension, a leading academic has warned. Professor Bernt Hugenholtz is the director of the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Information Law (IViR) and has written an open letter to Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso that is starkly critical of its controversial policies on copyright extension.

• EU Piratage sur internet: les fournisseurs doivent informer leurs clients (AFP)
  Commission européenne et Etats membres sont tombés d'accord, lors de la réunion informelle des ministres européens de la Culture et de l'Audiovisuel à Versailles, sur la nécessité d'une "obligation d'information" sur les conséquences du piratage sur internet pour les fournisseurs d'accès.

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