In the News

iPhone Jailbreaking and the DMCA

Sinny Thai, University of San Francisco Internet + Intellectual Property Justice Clinic, December 15, 2010
Abstract: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was originally enacted to prohibit “circumvention” of digital rights management and “other technical protection measures” used to protect and control access to copyrighted works. The DMCA has since cast a wide net to protect copyrighted material even when the use of the copyright materials arguably may be permissible under fair use guidelines.
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East Coast Enlightenment - Protect the Innocent

David Abrams, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, May 21, 2010
Abstract: A recent ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, applicable to residents of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, appears to recognize the "innocent infringer" defense for copyright infringement of sound recordings. This runs counter to decisions of two other circuit courts which effectively read this defense out of the law for music infringement. In addition, the decision defines a record album as a single "work" to which only a single statutory penalty applies, rather than holding that each song on the album is a separate work, thus reducing the risk of ruinous penalties for innocent infringement.
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Careful What You Download - What You Don’t Know Can Cost You

David Abrams, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, March 5, 2010
Abstract: A second federal appeals court has now eviscerated the “innocent infringer” defense for copyright infringement, this time for residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The court concluded that, as long as a copyright notice appears on a physical CD somewhere, anyone who illegally downloads that music from the Internet is subject to the higher $750 statutory minimum damages; even if that person believed he or she had permission to download the material. In 2005, a different appeals court made a similar ruling affecting residents of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
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Viacom Tells YouTube: Hands Off

GERALDINE FABRIKANT AND SAUL HANSELL, New York Times, February 3, 2007
Abstract: In a sign of the growing tension between old-line media and the new Internet behemoths, Viacom, the parent company of MTV and Comedy Central, demanded yesterday that YouTube, the video-sharing Web site owned by Google, remove more than 100,000 clips of its programming. Viacom, along with other major media ...
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Copyright Questions Dog YouTube

Verne Kopytoff, San Francisco Chronicle, October 27, 2006
Abstract: The proliferation of pirated video and music uploaded by users -- everything from concert footage of pop band Death Cab for Cutie to clips of "Gone With the Wind" -- has made YouTube a target of the entertainment industry, which fears that the illegal free-for-all will crimp its profits.
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We're Google. So Sue Us.

KATIE HAFNER, New York Times, October 23, 2006
Abstract: Google's growth has brought company increasing number of lawsuits involving copyright violation, trademark infringement and its Web site ranking methods; company has spent millions in legal fees over last few years; legal department has grown from one lawyer in 2001 to almost 100, including some overseas; Google must be aggressive in fighting lawsuits that may reveal too much about its proprietary technology in court.
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Music Companies Grab a Share of the YouTube Sale

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN AND JEFF LEEDS, New York Times, October 19, 2006
Abstract: Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group each quietly negotiated to take small stakes in YouTube as part of video- and music-licensing deals they struck shortly before sale to Google; music companies collectively stand to receive as much as $50 million from these arrangements; Web site had been considered litigation land mine because of significant portion of videos posted to YouTube contain copyrighted songs or video material; Universal ahs filed suits against Bolt and Grouper, smaller video-sharing sites, for allowing users to post hundreds of pirated music videos of its artists; deals that music companies struck for stakes in YouTube should help shield Google from copyright-infringement lawsuits, issue that concerned some Google investors when YouTube deal was first announced; other copyright holders, including Hollywood and television studios, could pursue legal action if their content appears on YouTube.
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Now the Music Industry Wants Guitarists to Stop Sharing

New York Times, August 21, 2006
Abstract: The Internet put the music industry and many of its listeners at odds thanks to the popularity of services like Napster and Grokster. Now the industry is squaring off against a surprising new opponent: musicians.
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A Perfect 10 Storm for Google

Stephen Dang, Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic, February 27, 2006
Abstract: Storm clouds gather as a court found Google’s image search, which generates thumbnail-sized image reproductions from websites, to infringe Perfect 10’s copyrighted photos. The holding potentially weakens Google’s ongoing litigation over its Book Search Program, where the Association of American Publishers (AAP) claims Program search results providing short “snippets” of copyrighted books infringes the copyright holder’s rights. Google raises a fair use defense, arguing that the snippets are transformative and do not harm the copyright holder’s commercial interests.
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U of Fla.'s copy shops under fire for packet, Elaine Helm, The Daily Northwestern, November 14, 2002
Abstract: Although a copy shop that publishes course packets for the University of Florida recently was sued for copyright violations, shops that reproduce materials for Northwestern classes say they are in no such danger of legal action.

Copyright as Cudgel, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 2, 2002
Abstract: Let's pretend that a journal has just published your harshly negative review of a book in your field. In this review, you quote short passages from the book, confident that the long-accepted concept of "fair use" enables you to make even unwelcome use of copyrighted material for purposes of criticism. But a week or so after the electronic version of the review appears on the publication's Web site, the editors inform you that it violates the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and that they are removing it. You are welcome to respond. You are free to argue that the use of the copyrighted quotes falls under fair use. But the publication is under no obligation to accept your defense. So you publish the review on your own Web page. But you soon discover that all of the major Web search engines have removed your site from their indexes.

Google Yanks Anti-Church Sites, Declan McCullagh, Wired News, March 21, 2002
Abstract: Google used to include sites critical of the Church of Scientology. Now it doesn't, because Scientology is claiming copyright violations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Declan McCullagh reports from Washington.

Copy Controls: Fair Use or Foul Play?, Tom Spring, PCWorld.com, March 15, 2002
Abstract: Hollywood, techies, and Congress wrangle to control what digital video you can store, swap, and see.

WTO Attempts to Shut Down Parody Website Gatt.org, DC Indymedia, November 13, 2001
Abstract: Last week, the WTO issued a cease and desist order against the company which is hosting the gatt.org website, a parody of the WTO’s own website. The WTO claims that the parody site violates copyrights owned by the WTO, and they have asked for the site to be shut down.

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