I’ve written previously on the stages of “ToS Outrage” syndrome. Now we’ll see how my theory plays out with Facebook, which is reportedly making overbroad claims to user-generated conteny. Even if my theory holds, that’s not to say they’re not thieving bastids. Taking a quick look at the ToS, I note that FB is granted a license, not an assignment. However as far as I can tell, FB would seem to be able to make derivative works and sell them. Hmmm.
The Knockoff Report
IPCybercrime.com: The Knockoff Report
Rob Holmes is Founder & CEO of IPCybercrime.com. Raised in New Jersey in a family of private investigators, Rob worked his first trademark infringement case at the age of twelve. While aspiring as a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles in the early 90s, he found employment at a premiere intellectual property investigative firm. Here, he soon found himself assigned to investigate a new breed of faceless perpetrators: Cybercriminals. Rob conducted some of the world’s first IP-related Internet investigations, and pioneered the study of the “virtual crime scene”.
How Dare You Invigorate Book-Reading!!
WSJ: New Kindle Audio Feature Causes a Stir
Kindle 2 is smaller than the first version of the product.The new device also features a five-way navigation element, faster wireless service for downloading books and the ability to wirelessly sync between Kindles and cellphones.
Some publishers and agents expressed concern over a new, experimental feature that reads text aloud with a computer-generated voice.
“They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.”
Try Not To Infringe The President’s Rights On Labels The Government Has To Approve
That would appear to be the moral of this story in which a Brooklyn brewery sold OBAMA Ale and the BATF rejected its label.
Blackwater To Rename Itself XE
. . . which is pronounced like the letter Z according to this news report.
Relationships Born Of Adversity
I just received a Facebook friend request from someone I brought a UDRP against five years ago.
Morality In The Age of Social Media – Overheard on Twitter This Morning
1st user: [To 2nd user] if you have an ftp somewhere my buddy just laid 981 MB of sweet My Morning Jacket on me – including some Bonnarro awesomeness.
2nd user: very tempting but I like em so much I’m going to pay em!
There’s No Problem
I’ve just been really busy with this law thang.
Your Tax Dollars At Work
CitiGoup sues Brooklyn pawn shop which was using ALL CITI PAWN and has apparently changed its name to ALL CITY PAWN (see the pawn shop website).
Complaint All Citi Pawn
Something I Read About Edgar Allan Poe Today
One of my kids is studying Edgar Allan Poe. This is from the Wikipedia entry on Edgar Allan Poe:
After his brother’s death, Poe began more earnest attempts to start his career as a writer. He chose a difficult time in American publishing to do so. He was the first well-known American to try to live by writing alone and was hampered by the lack of an international copyright law. Publishers often pirated copies of British works rather than paying for new work by Americans. The industry was also particularly hurt by the Panic of 1837. Despite a booming growth in American periodicals around this time period, fueled in part by new technology, many did not last beyond a few issues and publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised. Poe, throughout his attempts at pursuing a successful literary career, would be forced to constantly make humiliating pleas for money and other assistance for the rest of his life.