Category Archives: Copyright
Awarding of Attorneys Fees for Copyright Cases Not Automatic
In addition to their costs, the prevailing party in a copyright case may also seek recovery of their attorneys fees, provided that the requirements of the Act are otherwise met. See 17 U.S.C. Section 505, which provides as follows: ยง 505. Remedies for infringement: Costs and attorney’s fees In any civil action under this title, [...]
Also posted in Cases 3 Comments
Why I’m thankful for Section 230
It’s recent events like the Italian trial of the Google employees which makes me quite thankful that in the United States we have an established principle like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Still, even that may not protect the employees from criminal liability like what occurred in the Google matter. Briefly, Section 230(c)(1) [...]
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Slides from DMCA presentation – and Thanks!
I’ve been meaning to put these up for a while, here are the slides from the presentation I gave to the Chicago Bar Association’s seminar on website operator liability on May 15, 2009. My presentation focused on the DMCA and discussed four recent cases. thompson-presentation-2009-05-15-10-years-of-the-dmca I’d also like to thank those who submitted pictures for [...]
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Fan Generated Content on the Internet
Here are the slides from my presentation to the Chicago Bar Association’s Cyber Law and Data Privacy committee on February 17, 2009 entitled “Fan Generated Content on the Internet.” I talked about the Harry Potter Lexicon case, including the changes to the book which were made in order for it to be publishable. Then, we [...]
Also posted in Fair Use, Speaking Leave a comment
Professor Lessig on copyright reform
Here’s a link to a great article by Professor Lessig on the need for copyright reform. Despite the article’s title, he’s really not defending piracy per se, but merely noting that the law criminalizes certain behaviors that he believes should instead be encouraged. It’s well worth a read. Posting here on the blog has been [...]
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Guest on Lawyer 2 Lawyer Podcast: “Privacy and Piracy: Viacom v. YouTube”
I was honored to be asked to participate on the excellent Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast on the topic of the recent stipulation entered into between Viacom and YouTube (Google) over user data that the Judge in that case ordered to be turned over to Viacom. My fellow guest was Lauren Gelman, the Executive Director of [...]
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YouTomb: A Study of Copyright Infringement on YouTube
Be sure to check out YouTomb, a research project of MIT Free Culture. It monitors YouTube for videos that are taken down pursuant to DMCA takedown notices. The site shows a screenshot of the video and information about the takedown. You can sort by the entity providing the notice, for example you can see all [...]
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The future of DRM
Over lunch today, I had a nice chat with a fellow lawyer about digital rights management (DRM), among other topics. Then, later on, I came across this nice article from The Guardian entitled “How Apple is Changing DRM.” DRM is a way for copyright owners to get around the rights the purchaser of a copy [...]
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Slides from Copyright presentation
Here are my slides from the presentation I gave on April 1, 2008 at the Chicago Bar Association as part of the Internet Intellectual Property Issues for Small Businesses seminar. My presentation is entitled “Copyright Issues for Small Businesses.” Also presenting were Gina Durham and Paul McGrady.
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Is Copyright law not working for the RIAA?