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NewsMP3tunes Founder is off the Hook, but the Battle for the Cloud Continues

Posted 10/12/08 at 01:10:50 PM by Justin Kerr

It’s hard to read a music industry headline these days without finding the words “lawyer” and “lawsuit” somewhere in the body. This time however, the legal cannon of EMI was pointed not just at MP3tunes.com but also its founder Michael Robertson who is likely sleeping much easier this week. A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit against Robertson, but is still allowing the case against his company to continue. Suing the CEO of a company is considered a fairly dirty tactic within the industry but is often an effective means to help intimidate leaders into a settlement. The lawsuit continuing through the courts goes right to the root of MP3tunes current business model which allows customers to upload their music to “digital lockers”. Customers are then able to access their collection on nearly any web enabled device. According to Robertson the case against MP3tunes is unique. Specifically, “it will determine if it is permissible for consumers to store their music in online commercial services for everywhere access, directly analogous to the way they currently store documents, photos, and other personal data in cloud services." The verdict on this case could set an interesting precedent when it comes to storing your copyrighted data in the cloud. Fair use is an evolving definition which is too important to be left to stakeholders to decide. The question here is will the legal system allow common sense and the greater public good to prevail?

Click the jump and let us know what you think.

Comments: 1
TAGS: drm, lawsuit, legal, dmca, Judge, mp3tunes

ColumnsAbsolutely Scrabulous!

Posted 09/24/08 at 02:00:00 PM by Thomas McDonald

Thomas McDonald There’s a game that’s become part of my daily regime. It’s one of the first things I do after firing up the laptop over my morning coffee and the last thing I do before shutting down the laptop with an evening gin. It never takes more than a few minutes, and I do it throughout the day, like answering email. In fact, it is answering email, except with little lettered tiles.

Yes, I am completely addicted to Scrabulous (www.scrabulous.com). Email games are certainly nothing new, but good, well-supported, free email games that a wide variety of people can play without any initial purchase are pretty rare.

Scrab on, after the jump!

Comments: 2
TAGS: Thomas McDonald, copyright, facebook, game theory, scrabulous, scrabble, dmca, columns

ColumnsIP Rights Fairy Tale

Posted 08/27/08 at 03:00:00 PM by Quinn Norton

Not very long ago, in a land not at all far away, there was a little company called Blueport. It held the copyright on a piece of software that the US Air Force liked using for logistics. Blueport protected its software with a time bomb—a bit of code that made the software self-destruct when the license expired. That date was approaching, and Blueport wanted to negotiate a new license with the USAF—and you know, get paid.

Instead, it got a bit of the ol’ shock and awe. The Air Force not only didn’t pay up, it paid big contractor SAIC ($2.5 million in lobbying in 2007) to reverse engineer Blueport’s program and disable the time bomb. The Air Force also paid SAIC to rewrite the program, and by rewrite I mean simply cut and paste any of the original code that seemed useful.

More egregious IP shenanigans after the jump!

Comments: 6
TAGS: Software, dmca, columns, byte rights, intellectual property, quin norton, ip rights, fairy tales

ColumnsGetting Away (from DMCA)

Posted 07/21/08 at 01:32:48 PM by Quinn Norton

Quinn Norton Who doesn’t love a Caribbean island? Imagine yourself on a beach in Antigua with a drink that comes in a hollow coconut. Beautiful women walk by. The sun begins to set, and you’ve just finished importing your DVD collection to a hard drive. It's good to be free from the DMCA.

Hit the jump for more fair-use vacation ideas!

Comments: 1
TAGS: copyright, dmca, columns, quinn norton, byte rights, copyfight, ip, intellectual property

NewsRIAA's Wish List for the ACTA

Posted 06/30/08 at 02:13:24 PM by Chris Moody

Ars Technica points out that the RIAA’s wish list for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been posted online. This is handy because the ACTA has been drafted in secret, and we aren’t allowed to see the work being done on it, but this gives us a good idea about what is going into it.

There are some pretty broad ideas being floated in there, and like floaters, they really need to be flushed. Items like mandatory ISP filtering or ISPs being required to restrict or terminate access for repeat offenders. Liability for “deeplinks” is also mentioned, which should make the search engines very happy too. The RIAA also has a wish for establishing liability against internet service providers who don’t remove or block content quickly enough. ars technica points our that “the RIAA's points, taken in together, seem aimed at gutting the best part of the DMCA” (if there was such a thing) which gave ISPs immunity from materials passing through their networks.

Online activities aren’t the RIAA’s only target. CDs are in its sights too, with the RIAA suggesting that countries "with high rates of production of pirated optical discs", “provide for a system of licensing”, and "maintain complete and accurate records". Imagine codes stamped onto CDs to allow for their tracking.

There is little doubt that right holders are entitled to profit from their work, but it is very concerning that the RIAA seems to have the policy maker’s ear, but that others are not going to be be heard. This is going to result in some very RIAA slanted rules with little rights left for consumers.