/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ the politics of IP en-us wex@hovir.com 2013-05-06T21:58:05-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2013/05/06/and_were_back.php The site got knocked offline by a barrage of spam comments. Thanks to Hylton and the Corante staff for cleaning up the mess and getting us moving again. There are two entries now published that were from May 3rd and I'll work on clearing the backlog tomorrow and the rest of this week.... 76392@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2013-05-06T21:58:05-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2013/01/17/see_you_at_or_after_this_weekend.php I'll be offline for Arisia from tomorrow through Monday. Don't burn down the house while I'm gone. There won't be any IP panels at the convention this year; their popularity has always been low. I'll be busy nonetheless. If you're there and see me please stop me and say hi. If I don't already know you please let me know you read the blog; I like to meet readers. If not, I'll be back to writing here next week.... 76147@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2013-01-17T12:34:43-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/12/03/upcoming_book_and_blog_stuff.php I've been super-busy and let a backlog of things build up again. I'll try to work through that without overwhelming readers. But first, a moment of upcoming cool... Just before Thanksgiving, I blogged about an upcoming book on the imbalance in US Copyright law and doctrine. Kate Martin of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University saw the blog post and offered me a sneak peek at the volume, which I happily took. I have to say, you know whose turf you're treading on when the first reference in the introduction is to Ayn Rand, followed shortly by F.A. Hayek.... 76042@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-12-03T13:54:00-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/05/02/may_4_is_coming_again_international_day_against_drm.php A couple of Copyfight readers pointed me to Defective By Design's "Day Against DRM" scheduled for May 4th, a subsidiary of the Free Software Foundation. Last year the event attracted little media attention (see PCWorld's coverage from that day) and, sadly, it appears that little notice will be given again this year. As the site notes, there has been slow progress on the de-DRM-ing fronts of the past. In particular, much more music is available for download unencumbered now than in the past. But the new fronts that have opened up - particularly ebooks and streaming music/video - remain badly... 75608@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-05-02T09:26:52-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/03/23/property_advice_for_international_travelers.php The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) sent me a press release about its latest online guides for international travelers. If you think that traveling with comics (or manga) isn't a big deal then you haven't been following the news these past few years. People have been stopped, denied entry, had their possessions searched and seized, and even been brought to trial over these kinds of materials. The rights you may have in your home country (particularly if you live in the US or Japan) may be very different from the rights you have on entering another country, even a... 75544@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-03-23T14:00:30-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/03/19/fmc_releases_musician_income_case_studies.php Casey Rae-Hunter of the Future of Music Coalition sent me an announcement of the FMC's case study publications. For these studies, the FMC worked in depth with five people in the industry who make their living full-time with music. Using data provided by the professionals, the FMC then graphed and wrote up explanations of how money flowed in, from where, etc. As with any case study the results aren't necessarily broadly interpretable but it's nice to have some detailed data to go with the more general surveys we usually see.... 75532@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-03-19T12:03:34-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/03/14/aereo_launches_today.php Copyfight reader Mike Schroeder sent me the press release for Aereo's official launch today (March 14). You may recall I mentioned the impending lawsuits by broadcasters intended to shut down Aereo before it ever got going. The suits don't seem to have stopped or dampened anything. The live launch includes a "90 days free" enticement, but is limited to web-enabled iOS devices only. They promise Android support "coming soon". 20 channels, 40 hours of DVR storage, and the ability to use the service on up to 5 devices. Contrary to my initial impression the customer doesn't buy an Aereo antenna... 75523@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-03-14T09:37:12-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/03/05/kolko_big_ideas_for_free.php As I've noted in past blog entries, I work in my day job as an interaction designer. One of the respected younger voices in my field is Jon Kolko. He's a designer, a teacher, and someone who believes in the free exchange of ideas. Recently he announced his latest book Wicked Problems Worth Solving, which is available for free as HTML, for pay-what-you-want in digital download format, and for USD 45 in hardcopy through CreateSpace. The entire contents of the book are available in DRM-free format under Creative Commons licensing that permits reuse and adaptation. I've been interested in wicked... 75501@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-03-05T13:01:06-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/02/13/patent_enforcement_entry_updated.php I've done something I rarely do: I've gone back and re-edited the entry from the 10th on "How Should We Enforce Patents?" I realized the version that got posted was poorly edited to the point of near-incoherence. Hopefully this version is clearer. I have not changed the intent or links of the posting, just cleaned up the middle paragraph. I apologize for the crap posting and will try to be better about self-editing.... 75451@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-02-13T10:55:40-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/01/27/petition_the_copyright_office_remix_culture.php Copyfight spent a lot of time in 2010 talking about remix culture. But even though the remix has now thoroughly soaked into the social consciousness it still needs legal reforms and exemptions to support it. Boingboing pointed me to "Rip. Mix. Make" an online petition to the US Copyright Office. The petition is organized by Kirby Ferguson, known for "Everything is a Remix", and the EFF. The petition is approaching 2000 public signatures as I write this, and needs more voices to be heard. The target of the petition is the Copyright Office's existing (but about to expire) exemptions... 75411@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-01-27T13:01:48-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2012/01/19/admin_update.php I have several things I've been holding off blogging. Between being away at Arisia, catching up afterward, and skipping posting yesterday in support of the anti-SOPA/PIPA protests (you did call your Congresscritters, right?). Also, we're getting spam-comment bombed lately, which is dragging on the servers. The auto-filters catch a lot of them, but not all. Apologies in advance - I will clean things up ASAP.... 75387@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2012-01-19T12:31:49-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2011/08/08/those_people_looking_for_me_on_google_will_not_find_me.php As of yesterday my profile on Google+ has been suspended. No warning was given (contrary to their written policy). I was suspended because I was participating in the "I am Spartacus" support effort. If you were one of the readers who followed me there, I'm sorry. This blog and its standard RSS feed should continue to function just as well as before. My suspension and Google's fight against 'nymity are not really Copyfight-relevant so I won't spend any more cycles here on it, but I do recommend you read what danah boyd has to say on this topic. In my... 75120@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2011-08-08T11:23:55-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2011/06/22/exquisite_corpse_seeking_collaborative_artists.php I have no affiliation with Exquisite Corpse, but I've been asked to pass on this announcement which sounds pretty cool, so: Exquisite Corpse is seeking artists interested in collaborative works for a curated show in Chicago this fall. The application deadline is Wednesday, July 20 and you can find both the artist application and instructions over at the artistsonthelam blog. Artists will work collaboratively in groups of 3 or so on pieces for the exhibition.... 75057@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2011-06-22T09:56:34-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2011/04/28/rip_keith_aoki.php Boingboing and The Public Domain blog have remembrances up for Keith Aoki. Copyfight noted the publication of his Bound By Law comic five years ago. We join his friends and colleagues in mourning his passing. May his memory be a blessing.... 74969@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2011-04-28T13:21:52-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2010/10/14/radical_extremists_and_canadian_copyright.php Also available for those who can't get enough reading about copyright (also free to download) is a collection of essays edited by Michael Geist and dealing with the Canadian Bill C-32, the debate over which back in June prompted Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore call opponents 'radical extremists'.... 74712@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Announcements 2010-10-14T10:25:22-05:00