Fast Company – The suit would erode the public’s last great venue for information free from corporate or government surveillance: “…Today, libraries generally are blocked from purchasing and owning digital books—and readers are in a similar boat. Instead, publishers offer only high-cost licenses for which libraries rely on emergency funds and may only be able… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Copyright
You Can’t Stop Pirate Libraries
Reason – “Where there’s demand for books, the internet will supply them. Shadow libraries exist in the space where intellectual property rights collide with the free-flowing exchange of knowledge and ideas. In some cases, these repositories of pirated books and journal articles serve as a blow against censorship, allowing those under repressive regimes to access… Continue Reading
The fight between authors and librarians tearing book lovers apart
Washington Post: “At the start of the pandemic, teachers and librarians pleaded with a prominent nonprofit to make it easier for kids at home to check out books from its digital library. The organization, called the Internet Archive, agreed. While it traditionally loaned out its more than a million digital books one at a time… Continue Reading
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
CRS Report – Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), July 20, 2022 [24 pages]: “Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have become popular as unique and non-interchangeable units of data that signify ownership of associated digital items, such as images, music, or videos. Token “ownership” is recorded and tracked on a blockchain (a digital database that records data on a decentralized… Continue Reading
Music Copyright Infringement: Global Perspectives
Sponsored by The George Washington University Law School & Columbia Law School – “Overview: This resource provides information about music copyright infringement cases from the mid-nineteenth century forward in the U.S. and, to an increasing extent, in foreign jurisdictions.” Continue Reading
A copyright lawsuit threatens to kill free access to Internet Archive’s library of books
Popular Science: “Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library and a massive repository of online artifacts, has been collecting mementos of the ever-expanding World Wide Web for over two decades, allowing users to revisit sites that have since been changed or deleted. But like the web, it too has evolved since its genesis, and in the… Continue Reading
The Pirate Library Mirror wants to preserve all human knowledge – illegally
The Next Web – A project to preserve over 7TB of books, articles, and journals: “A new project has just launched with the goal of preserving all human knowledge. The problem? It’s illegal. The Pirate Library Mirror is what it says on the tin: a mirror of existing libraries of pirated content. The project focuses… Continue Reading
Copyright Protections for Press Publishers
USPTO: “The Copyright Office has concluded a public study evaluating the effectiveness of current copyright protections for publishers in the United States, with a focus on press publishers. The Office’s report—Copyright Protections for Press Publishers—is linked on the right side of this page. In their letter requesting this study, six members of Congress pointed to… Continue Reading
Westlaw Must Face Antitrust Claims in a Case That Could Boost Competitive Compatibility
EFF: “Westlaw, the world’s largest legal research service, is very likely to face antitrust liability. A federal court has ruled that ROSS Intelligence, a tiny rival offering new research tools (which Westlaw forced out of business with a copyright infringement suit) could proceed with claims that Westlaw uses exclusionary and anticompetitive practices to maintain its… Continue Reading
What Litigators Should Know Now about Non-Fungible Tokens
ABA Litigation: Jurisdictional and other legal considerations in the booming NFT market. ” Many purists think decentralization is the most important promise of cryptocurrency, but to grow in popularity, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) need to guarantee rights to artists. NFTs are non-interchangeable units of data, stored on a blockchain, that can be sold and traded. NFTs… Continue Reading
8 Best Free Online Music Streaming Services With No Limitations
MakeUseOf: “Finding a completely unlimited music listening experience can be a real challenge. Most music streaming services offer free and paid tiers, but place restrictions on the features available in the free plan. Spotify’s free package, for example, doesn’t offer the highest quality audio and only lets you listen on shuffle when using mobile. If… Continue Reading
The Seizure of Jewish Intellectual Property Ahead of World War II
Library of Congress – Copyright Creativity at Work: “The following is a guest post by Marilyn Creswell, information resources assistant at the University of Michigan Law School. She served as Librarian-in-Residence at the U.S. Copyright Office from July 2020 to April 2021. [h/t Mary Whisner] As the United States enters the Days of Remembrance of… Continue Reading
