Dave Haxton: Patently Copywronged

A Legal Battle of Mythic Proportions

Tue, 23 Dec 2003 16:31:33 GMT

This is bound to be a legal battle of mythic proportions! Opps, I wonder if they can sue me for that?

Mythic sues Microsoft over Mythica. Names too close - unlike Lindows/ Windows... [The Register]

Outstanding

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:18:43 GMT

Outstanding! D.C. Circuit accepts Verizon's statutory interpretation and reverses Here's some of the order:

Because we agree with Verizon’s interpretation of the statute, we reverse the orders of the district court enforcing the subpoenas and do not reach either of Verizon’s constitutional arguments. ... [T]he text of § 512(h) and the overall structure of § 512 clearly establish, as we have seen, that § 512(h) does not authorize the issuance of a subpoena to an ISP acting as a mere conduit for the transmission of information sent by others. ... For the foregoing reasons, we remand this case to the district court to vacate its order enforcing the February 4 subpoena and to grant Verizon’s motion to quash the July 24 subpoena. So ordered.

Silence is Trademarked

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 16:52:57 GMT

Let me get this straight: I can't say I don't use it? Huh? Got Hormones? Not This Dairy. Monsanto hopes to settle its lawsuit against a small Maine dairy that labels its milk as hormone-free. The agricultural giant says the labels hurt its business for Posilac, a hormone that increases milk production. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]

Confused by Copyright

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 14:56:47 GMT

Who wouldn't be befuddled in this morass? Film Fans Befuddled by Copyright. Martial arts movie junkies currently need a black belt in copyright law to determine when and where it is legal to buy foreign versions of U.S.-distributed films. Some movie buffs are fighting back. By Katie Dean. [Wired News]

Another Bullshit Patent

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:48:06 GMT

Just when I noticed that there hadn't been any news on the "bullshit patent" front comes this gem: Roxio first target as CD-R patent owner threatens industry. Optima claims ownership of key burning technique [The Register]

Oh! Canada!

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:42:02 GMT

Oh! Canada! Not sure what to think - this is either a great idea to solve an intractable problem, or a shot in the dark that missed the mark. Time will tell - after the courts get through with it. Canada deems P2P downloading legal. In the same ruling, Canadian copyright regulators also impose a $25 fee on iPod-like MP3 players and say uploading is prohibited. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

More SCO Madness

Fri, 05 Dec 2003 18:43:33 GMT

SCO's McBride sounds off in Linux legal battle. Chief Executive Darl McBride invokes the Founding Fathers in his company's battle over intellectual property rights. Also: SCO postpones its quarterly earnings report. [CNET News.com - Front Door] Well, this story is all over the place today: this letter shows how completely out of touch with reality SCO is in their quest to lock up Unix... but what Linus Torvalds had to say about the whole matter was so funny it deserves to be reproduced here:

If Darl McBride [chairman of SCO] was in charge, he'd probably make marriage unconstitutional too, since clearly it de-emphasizes the commercial nature of normal human interaction, and probably is a major impediment to the commercial growth of prostitution.
[quoted at InfoWorld]

Lawrence Lessig has a great blog entry today on this very topic. Imagine that!

Copywrongs

Fri, 05 Dec 2003 16:00:34 GMT

This is a nice piece on the whole "intellectual property" debate that's currently raging - lots of good background, lots of good points and cogent arguments: Copywrong: Copyright laws are stifling art, but the public domain can save us [from The Independent Weekly]

Disney Shakeups

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 14:15:48 GMT

Nice piece from over at Moore's Lore on the recent shakeups at Disney: What Roy Disney's Resignation Means

Who Owns the Facts?

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 04:55:07 GMT

When you have political groups ranging from the American Library Association to Eagle Forum agreeing that a piece of legislation is a bad idea, you can be pretty sure that it is, in fact, a bad idea. Who Owns The Facts? [Slashdot]

RIAA Wins Another Round

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 02:22:10 GMT

Pretty sad when a change of venue to DC is considered a victory due to the massive presence of industry lobbyists (and money) in our nation's capitol. For once I actually feel sorry for a Baby Bell. RIAA wins round in file-swapping suit. A San Francisco federal judge moves SBC Communications' lawsuit against the recording industry's file-swapping legal strategy, a potentially significant victory for record labels. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

RIAA Loonies

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 03:41:28 GMT

Just what the copyright police need - an exemption from the law that the rest of us mere mortals have to live by.... ye gads, have these people no shame? MPAA, RIAA seek permanent antitrust exemption. Get out of jail free [The Register]

Patented Poetry

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:39:21 GMT

Ray Kurzweil is a respected computer scientist, philosopher and futurist. He should know better:

On Nov. 11, Mr. Kurzweil and John Keklak, an engineer, received patent No. 6,647,395, covering what Mr. Kurzweil calls a cybernetic poet. Essentially, it is software that allows a computer to create poetry by imitating but not plagiarizing the styles and vocabularies of human poets.

Kurzweil should know the debilitating effects of such patents on innovation and software in general - he, of all people, should understand how intricately our future is bound up in the freedom to think. His contributing to the IP madness is nothing short of appalling - I have purchased my last Kurzweil book. It's not like this is anything new, either: there was RACTER, of course, and a specific poetry system called JABBER (not related to the IM software): UBUWEB:: The Language of Poetry [From The New York Times]

iTunes Unlocked

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 03:28:39 GMT

I'm shocked that it took this long .... DVD Jon unlocks iTunes' locked music. Fair use, open source style [The Register]

Morons

Thu, 20 Nov 2003 20:56:13 GMT

You know what would eliminate a lot of this speculative patent madness (aside from just doing away with "business method" or software patents)? Making people who claim a patent actually implement the idea expressed in the patent. All you have to do to get a patent nowadays is come up with the idea - it doesn't even have to work! If your lawyer is clever enough, the language can be so broad as to be inclusive of any implementation of the base idea that actually does work, regardless of whether the patent holder thought of that implementation or not. I spotted this particular patent in 1999 - it was one of the things that convinced me that an idea I was working on at the time would end up going nowhere. Even though my idea was not even vaguely similar (really!) to the material in the patent, the language in the blasted thing was broad enough to allow AT&T to sue - and could I fight AT&T? Can eBay? We'll see, I suppose.... AT&T sues eBay, PayPal over patent. The telecommunications giant files suit against eBay and PayPal, alleging patent infringement--the latest skirmish in the escalating Web patent wars. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

It's not got much SPAM in it

Sun, 16 Nov 2003 14:39:45 GMT

Next stop, Worldcom with an anti-anti-anti-Spam patent .... Analyzing AT&T's Anti-Anti-Spam Patent [Slashdot]

Libraries in Japan

Sat, 15 Nov 2003 17:19:12 GMT

It's happening in Japan ... Libraries told 'Stop Lending' [via Anti-Pixel | Blog]

Opening Salvo

Sat, 15 Nov 2003 16:42:18 GMT

Good news, bad news. The good news is that the idiotic suit was dismissed: the bad news is that the dismissal left the door open to more lunacy. Read it and wonder .... Judge shuts garage opener copyright suit. An Illinois federal court dismisses a garage door opener manufacturer's claim that a rival's replacement product violated copyright law. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

Priorities

Fri, 14 Nov 2003 15:23:39 GMT

You gotta wonder about the priorities we as a society seem to be moving towards: Here's a section from the Indiana Criminal code dealing with child molesting ...

IC 35-42-4-3 Child molesting Sec. 3. (b) A person who, with a child under fourteen (14) years of age, performs or submits to any fondling or touching, of either the child or the older person, with intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desires of either the child or the older person, commits child molesting, a Class C felony. IC 35-50-2-6 Class C felony; Sec. 6. (a) A person who commits a Class C felony shall be imprisoned for a fixed term of four (4) years, with not more than four (4) years added for aggravating circumstances or not more than two (2) years subtracted for mitigating circumstances. In addition, he may be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Here's a link to a story of proposed Federal legislation dealing with entering a theater while carrying a camcorder: Five year's jail for camcorders in cinema. MPAA goes after pirate movies [The Register] What's wrong with this picture?

Good News for Microsoft

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 13:12:30 GMT

More news on the patent front this morning: and this news is good. Apparently the Patent Office has decided to accept the request of the W3C and have another look. Patent office to re-examine Eolas patent. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office agrees to re-examine the Eolas patent for a browser plug-in, a development likely to bring cheer to Microsoft and software patent foes alike. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

Patently Absurd

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 13:07:53 GMT

You wanna know why folks like me (developers) are upset about software and "business method" patents? Here's the abstract from the patent mentioned below:

A networking database containing a plurality of records for different individuals in which individuals are connected to one another in the database by defined relationships. Each individual has the opportunity to define the relationship which may be confirmed or denied. E-mail messaging and interactive communication between individuals and a database service provider provide a method of constructing the database. The method includes having a registered individual identify further individuals and define therewith a relationship. The further individuals then, in turn, establish their own defined relationships with still other individuals. The defined relationships are mutually defined.

This is apparently legelese for "Only members of a forum can invite new members". Absurd doesn't begin to describe this ... Investors snub Friendster in patent grab. Alarmed by a potential expansion by Friendster on their turf, two competitors who are also investors in Friendster team to buy a patent they call key to the social networking market. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

Another UN Power Grab

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 15:03:57 GMT

I think you could subtitle this "In through the back door ..." Treaty casts shadow on Webcast rights A United Nations committee on Wednesday approved the world's first Webcasting treaty, which has drawn criticism that it limits the use of works that are in the public domain. [CNET News]

More patent madness

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 04:35:49 GMT

Even the Register's purple prose fails to adequately excoriate the evil inherent in the system ... Net video and audio to go to trial. More patent madness [The Register]

Diebold and the DMCA

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 06:08:16 GMT

Looks like Derek over at A Copyfighter's Musings has run afoul of the DieBold DMCA Takedown Campaign Hang in there, good sirrah! And I hope somebody get's the bright idea to mirror the offending documents offshore, out of the reach of US law.

Tool EULA

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 05:35:39 GMT

This is an outrage: a EULA on a woodworking tool! What's next? Is Sears gonna want a royalty on every item built with a Craftsman tool? Where does the insanity stop?