The news this week has been dominated by discussions of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, that had congressional hearings this week. I really liked the following discussions of SOPA: Why I Oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/E-PARASITES Act Eric Goldman has a great summary of the bill and its problems. Well recommended [...]
Category Archives: Copyright
SOPA and other @Cyberlaw Links
Also posted in Cases, DMCA, First Sale Doctrine, Internet Governance, Musings, SOPA Leave a comment
TWiL 136 and @cyberlaw Links
I was pleased to be asked back on This Week in Law, Episode 136. Denise Howell, Jay Monahan of Zynga.com, and Matt Macari of The Verge were the other panelists. It was a lot of fun! Thanks again, Denise, for having me back. Also, for those who may be interested, here is the link [...]
Also posted in DMCA, First Sale Doctrine, Musings, Speaking, Video Leave a comment
Copyright Basics webinar and @cyberlaw Links
For those of you who are interested, I’ll be presenting as part of my firm’s IP Webinar series on October 5, 2011 at 12 CDT on Copyright Basics. It will be a lot of fun, and hopefully a good learning experience for all. Since it’s a webinar, be prepared to ask your general copyright questions [...]
Also posted in Domain Names, Internet Governance, Musings, Privacy, Trademarks, Twitter 1 Comment
This Week’s @cyberlaw Links
As a new feature on the blog, I will try to regularly look at articles I tweeted the links for on Twitter (@cyberlaw), and discuss them briefly. Here are some I found interesting this week: HP Touchpad’s Fate Jonathan Ezor’s review of the HP Touchpad I linked to last week became more timely after HP’s [...]
Also posted in Internet Governance, Musings, Security, Trademarks Leave a comment
Securing Your Wireless Network
As I’ve discussed previously on the blog, there are many cases currently pending involving the filesharing of copyright-protected videos involving BitTorrent. Many of the potential defendants in these cases first receive notice of the lawsuit when they receive a letter from their ISP that their identity will be disclosed to the Plaintiff by a certain [...]
Court awards $214 Million for DMCA Circumvention
The recent decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in the Echostar Satellite LLC v. Viewtech case, Civil Case No. 07cv1273 BEN (WVG), 2011 WL 1522409 (S.D.Cal.), is interesting mainly for the amount of statutory damages awarded. The defendants had been manufacturing receivers that circumvented the copy protection in [...]
Also posted in Cases, DMCA 2 Comments
Reactions to Lessig’s Keynote Speech at ABA Techshow 2011
I was pleased to be in the room (alright, the second row) when Professor Larry Lessig gave the keynote speech for ABA Techshow 2011. In the speech, entitled “Code is Law: Does Anyone Get This Yet?“, Lessig discusses some of the problems with copyright law’s application to regulate the digital world. I can’t adequately summarize [...]
Also posted in Internet Governance, Techshow 1 Comment
“John Doe” Filesharing Lawsuits
As I wrote in a post on our firm blog back in December, I have been answering lots of questions from those receiving notices from their ISP relating to lawsuits over the filesharing of copyrighted material with the BitTorrent protocol. For those seeking more information, the EFF has a great page of subpoena defense resources [...]
Also posted in Cases 3 Comments
Is Copyright law not working for the RIAA?
In the talk I gave on Monday for IICLE on the Viacom v. Google case, one question I posed was how hypothetically to counsel clients in light of the decision and before the appeal is briefed. I posed two hypotheticals: one being a service provider like YouTube, and the other being a content provider. For [...]
Also posted in DMCA Leave a comment
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: § 505. Remedies for infringement: Costs and attorney’s fees In any civil action under this title, [...]
Also posted in Cases 3 Comments