Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law July 12, 2011 The recent agreement between big media companies and big Internet service providers (ISPs) concerning online copyright infringement has the law and technology world abuzz. ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable have agreed to implement a system under which subscribers who repeatedly [...]
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law June 28, 2011 When a work is first made available over the Internet, what is its “country of origin?” In a previous column, “Borderless Publications, the Berne Convention, and U.S. Copyright Formalities,” I addressed this question in connection with the decision in Moberg v. Leygues, 666 [...]
FOR RELEASE: June 27, 2011 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., June 27, 2011 – Patrick Maines, president of The Media Institute, issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association: The Media Institute applauds the Supreme Court's decision today [...]
Prof. Randal C. Picker, The University of Chicago Law School June 20, 2011 This past Wednesday, I attended a terrific conference at George Washington University Law School on “Can the Google Book Settlement be Fixed?” After more than a year of silence, on March 22, 2011, Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed settlement in the [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law June 15, 2011 For the past several weeks, an active debate in the copyright world has focused on the question of whether a tattoo drawn on a person’s face is properly considered eligible for copyright protection. The issue came up in the context of Warner Brothers’ newly released [...]
Prof. Rodney A. Smolla, President, Furman University June 2, 2011 Richard Prince is a well-known “appropriation artist.” As the phrase suggests, Prince “appropriates” the works of others to create his own artistic works. His efforts have been successful; his works have been shown at many museums and galleries, including a solo show at the Guggenheim [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law May 25, 2011 We’ve all seen it. Stick a movie in the DVD player, and up pops a scary message from law enforcement: if you infringe copyright, the feds will come after you. Indeed, this threat is so ubiquitous that it has worked its way into [...]
Prof. Rodney A. Smolla, President, Furman University May 19, 2011 For many years the First Amendment has been understood as protecting an individual’s right to engage in anonymous speech. Anonymity is also a signature characteristic of much of the communication that takes place on the Internet. In copyright infringement cases arising from claims that copyrighted [...]
Prof. Peter S. Menell, University of California at Berkeley School of Law Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology May 13, 2011 A new digital music era has arrived. Amazon’s Cloud Drive web storage application introduced on March 29th, followed last week by the announcement of Google’s Music Beta storage locker system, ushers in a [...]
FOR RELEASE: May 2, 2011 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., May 2, 2011 – The concept that the public owns the airwaves – particularly as it concerns the authority and mission of the FCC – is “a mischievous notion that has been misused as a rationalization for government regulation,” [...]