Category Archives: Law: Copyright and DMCA

YouTube Has Regional Controls

Someone I met recently recommended I listen to the Scissor Sisters so I went to YouTube to get some sense of what their music was like.

I was very surprised to find that I could not play the video for a song called Laura. All I got was a message saying

The uploader has not made this video available in your country.
Sorry about that.

Try playing it yourself, and you you get content, please let me know where you are, what platform you are using, and how the song is.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-0d3cjgfLg

YouTube/Google is not only within its rights to do this, it may even be a legal requirement in some cases, but I see it as a further harbinger of the socially costly fragmentation of the Internet.

Posted in Kultcha, Law: Copyright and DMCA | 3 Comments

Pacemaker Recipient Wants Source Code to Know What’s in Her Body

Interesting issue:

Lawyer Karen Sandler’s heart condition means she needs a pacemaker-defibrillator to avoid sudden death, so she has one simple question: what software does it run?

Yet it turns out that it’s impossible for her to see and understand the technology that’s being installed into her own body and upon which her life depends. Regulatory authorities don’t see or review the software either.

Despite the Australian provenance of the “Cyborg lawyer demands software source” story, this is the same Karen Sandler who is executive director of the GNOME Foundation, lives in New York, and has http://punkrocklawyer.com/.

Spotted via Slashdot.

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA, Sufficiently Advanced Technology | Comments Off on Pacemaker Recipient Wants Source Code to Know What’s in Her Body

Microsoft Women and Minority Law Student IP Summit to be Held at UM

The 8th annual Microsoft Women and Minority Law Student IP Summit will be held at the Newman Alumni Center here at UM, on Friday, November 11 from 1:30 – 8:00 p.m.

The IP Diversity Summit is an opportunity for law students from diverse backgrounds to learn about different career paths in intellectual property law, while networking with attorneys from leading companies and law firms. Microsoft has hosted prior summits in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin. This year is our turn.

Registration begins at 1:30 with students and faculty invited to attend some or all sessions. The event includes an overview of the principal areas covered by IP law, a career discussion with lawyers representing a broad range of paths to IP, as well as a panel specifically focused on what firms and companies are doing to support IP law career opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds. The panels will be followed by a networking reception, with hors d’oeuvres and a hosted bar for law students, law firms and participating companies and organizations. The IP Diversity Summit is open to all law students, and the organizers “strongly encourage participation by women, minorities, LGBT and students with disabilities in particular”. Admission for students us free, but space is limited so students should register on-line in advance.

Agenda:

1:30 – 2:00 pm Registration: University of Miami Newman Alumni Center, Gumenick Family Lobby (must be pre-registered online)
2:00 – 3:00 pm IP Law 101
3:15 – 4:45 pm Panel Discussion “Careers in IP”
5:00 – 6:15 pm Panel Discussion “Diversity in the Legal Profession”
6:15 – 8:00 pm Networking Reception – Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson Living Room

Posted in Law School, Law: Copyright and DMCA | Comments Off on Microsoft Women and Minority Law Student IP Summit to be Held at UM

Oral Argument in Golan Case

The Supreme Court has posted the transcript of today’s (!) oral argument in Golan v. Holder, the case about the constitutionality of taking works out of the public domain and extending copyright protection to them.

It’s an unusually good argument on all three sides (2 advocates and the court), but I think that Anthony T. Falzone’s effort for the Petitioners was especially impressive.

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA, Law: The Supremes | 2 Comments

Dramatic Reading of EULA

This is just awesome: Richard Dreyfuss reads the iTunes EULA.

I especially like Please read. Shakespeare for our times?

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA | 1 Comment

3D Printing of Settlers of Catan is Probably Not Illegal

A useful and cool discussion of the issues in Public Knowledge, 3D Printing Settlers of Catan is Probably Not Illegal: Is This a Problem?.  (Note that a key move is that the pictures on the tiles are not being copied.)

Spotted via boingboing’s Is it legal to print Settlers of Catan tiles on a 3D printer?.

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA | Comments Off on 3D Printing of Settlers of Catan is Probably Not Illegal