Australia's art resale scheme: can it ever be self-sustaining?

<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> </h3> <div class="post-header" style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> From John R. Walker, one of our Australian readers, comes this fascinating and provocative item:</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> "The Australian government's minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, has just announced an additional $700,000 in public funds to subsidize the operation of the art resale scheme. This brings the total publicly funded commitment to nearly $2.5 million, plus if you add the $1+ million that <b>CAL </b>(appointed collection agency) has allocated, the scheme is rapidly exceeding a cost of $3 million:  so far, it has delivered just $600,000 in payments to artists. The Government <b>statement </b>says:  "As the income from resales increases, it is anticipated the scheme will become self-sustaining." </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq">  The scheme was premised on a market size and turnover that was, even at the height of the boom, wildly overestimated by a factor of at least 2 or more.  Even a fully retrospective and compulsory scheme such as enacted in the UK, would not be self-funding in Australia; the long term market here is simply not large enough. </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq">  This government's policies have had a devastating effect on the art market: the resale scheme  has undermined confidence resulting in reduced demand and, at the same time the ruling on SMSF (Self-managed super funds) will result in a massive over-supply of indigenous art for resale on to a reduced market. In this situation, the very idea that a scheme premised on levying on the value of art resales ever becoming even vaguely self-funding is ludicrous. </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq">  The paradox is that the Australian government has done the resale royalty, at a secondly instrumentation level, as professionally as it could be done and the Act itself reflects the constraints of a constitution that set out very consciously to embody the principles of responsible representative government:  therefore, the Australian scheme is a <i>lawful</i> scheme. However, the messy reality is clear proof that resale royalties, at the level of principle, if done lawfully and properly, are bad policy".</blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Do you agree with John, or do you take a different view? Do let us know!</div>

Australia's art resale scheme: can it ever be self-sustaining?

From John R. Walker, one of our Australian readers, comes this fascinating and provocative item: "The Australian government...

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A case of bad timing for the Beastie Boys

<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></h3> <div class="post-header" style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghW0Asi1_jv8bzQoo6opbuYdgSapddx6JJSgoFPS9-7_QLNGzwtAJ9VxKvX2mshoMPDWCC-ZsynYeYF0bbcWtAVp9beHLfLC2ZLAwN9H4ol7iWxSdaeQsWvDu527U9bC5Mahciygw2WJU/s1600/beastieboys.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghW0Asi1_jv8bzQoo6opbuYdgSapddx6JJSgoFPS9-7_QLNGzwtAJ9VxKvX2mshoMPDWCC-ZsynYeYF0bbcWtAVp9beHLfLC2ZLAwN9H4ol7iWxSdaeQsWvDu527U9bC5Mahciygw2WJU/s1600/beastieboys.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Just as the sad death of the Beastie Boys' Adam 'MCA' Yauch from cancer was announced, aged just 47, Tuf America, Inc announced a new lawsuit against the band and</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> co-defendants Universal Music, Brooklyn Dust Music and Capitol Records. T</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">uf America </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> administers the rights to the recordings of Trouble Funk's catalogue, including the group's 1982 funk classics, "<i>Drop the Bomb"</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and "<i>Say What"</i> and the federal lawsuit </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">relates to two songs on the Beastie Boys' debut album,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">'Licensed To Ill</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">', and two more on the follow-up,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">'Paul's Boutique'</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. The company claims that the group illegally sampled the two Trouble Funk songs. The 20 years delay in pursuing the litigation is partly linked to the fact Tuf America only gained control of the copyrights in Trouble Funk's catalogue in 1999, the additional ten year wait seemingly being down to the fact it's only recently that the label noticed the alleged infringements.</span><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /> </span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The law suit doesn't surprise Kembrew McLeod, associate professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa, and co-author, with economist and researcher Peter DiCola, of the book "</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">" who says  "'Paul’s Boutique' and other albums of that era are like ticking legal time bombs" adding "For instance, in 2005, Run DMC was sued by the Knack for using</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">'My Sharona'</i><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">for its song '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s Tricky.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">' And they were sued 20 years after the fact." This reality is compounded by the fact that each time "Paul's Boutique" is issued in a new format, or repackaged, the statute of limitations on filing an infraction claim starts anew at year zero. In his book McLeod and DiCola analyse the samples in both "</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Paul's Boutique</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">" and Public Enemy's "</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fear of a Black Planet</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">," two classics of hip-hop's sample era, and estimated the cost of legally producing them and licensing the samples: With all samples intact, McLeod explains "Based on the number of sales, both albums would have lost money per unit, and</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">'Paul’s Boutique</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">' would have lost somewhere in the neighbourhood of $20 million -- and we were being extremely conservative with our estimates."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A separate article again asks if the Beastie Boys’ seminal works could ever have been produced under the current sampling and clearance regimes in the USA – and asks whether the law should change?  </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">http://paidcontent.org/2012/05/06/rhyming-stealing-lets-honor-late-beastie-with-better-copyright-laws/</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Beastie Boys were triumphant in one sampling claim when they defeated a challenge from composer and flautist James Newton who claimed that despite a valid licence for the sample of the sound recording of his work, the band had also sampled his composition :<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Newton v Diamond<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b>349 F.3d 591 (9^th<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Cir 2003). </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">More here:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #000066;">allhiphop.com/2012/05/07/beastie-boys-hit-with-lawsuit-over-track-on-pauls-boutique/#wpcom-carousel-120911</span> and http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2012/05/beastie-boys-trouble-funk-lawsuit.html</span></div> </div>

A case of bad timing for the Beastie Boys

Just as the sad death of the Beastie Boys' Adam 'MCA' Yauch from cancer was announced, aged just 47, Tuf America, Inc a...

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Neelie says ACTA is doomed

<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> </h3> <div class="post-header" style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0qZ2hmoeuIhE4jt3masBPu84_IEMESaJC6n7oYp4qGajh0N-ctIa29xUjH3AteZQYf3-8BOHt9D5ecBOI8_SfisU0FAJC83jjYJkkqeO2DzFYQERd6rbgJbzLX75YLU5g0edzuIw5Ao/s1600/acta.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0qZ2hmoeuIhE4jt3masBPu84_IEMESaJC6n7oYp4qGajh0N-ctIa29xUjH3AteZQYf3-8BOHt9D5ecBOI8_SfisU0FAJC83jjYJkkqeO2DzFYQERd6rbgJbzLX75YLU5g0edzuIw5Ao/s1600/acta.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda has said that the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) , signed by almost all EU member states – but not all – is likely to follow the US’s SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) into the dustbin of failed legislation saying “We have recently seen how many thousands of people are willing to protest against rules which they see as constraining the openness and innovation of the internet” adding “there is a strong new political  voice, and as a voice for openness, I welcome it even if I do not always agree with everything it says on every subject … we are now likely to be in a world without SOPA and ACTA”. ACTA is currently awaiting review by the Court of Justice and EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht had urged the EU Parliament to delay any formal ratification of ACTA until that happened, but it now looks like the whole process has stalled as member states (even those who had previously signed up) lose the political will to move the Agreement forward.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /> </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the USA,critics of the U.S. government's antipiracy efforts have new ammunition to support claims that authorities are too eager to do the bidding of copyright owners. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE) seized Dajaz1.com, a music blog, in November 2010 and then held onto it for more than a year before returning the domain to the owners having repeatedly failed to produce evidence that the site had violated copyright laws. Now the EFF has picked up on the story blogging "The whole story is, in a word, appalling …. U.S. taxpayers and their representatives have an object lesson, if one were needed, in why the government should not be granted new IP enforcement powers and why we need to reconsider the inclusion of copyright infringement as a basis for civil seizure and forfeiture."</span></div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /> </span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

Neelie says ACTA is doomed

Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda has said that the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) , signe...

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Troll news

<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> </h3> <div class="post-header" style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBIN_D4H2RLMziMDzzxoOZtKRwt0ipBFB7R1IGTyE75Vmn7pC10saHXEcWUT_EVgaYLZMb1DdDSnUzNQSwOu5koUuq0BfImgwD8fUd5v_9o06sW6iRgk4R67RagITGgvFPLxpNK2bhiE/s1600/COPYRIGHT+TROLL+1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBIN_D4H2RLMziMDzzxoOZtKRwt0ipBFB7R1IGTyE75Vmn7pC10saHXEcWUT_EVgaYLZMb1DdDSnUzNQSwOu5koUuq0BfImgwD8fUd5v_9o06sW6iRgk4R67RagITGgvFPLxpNK2bhiE/s400/COPYRIGHT+TROLL+1.jpg" width="217" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Whilst searching "copyright troll" on Google for my previous post, I came across a wrap up on the <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/righthaven-another-mediacat.html">Righthaven</a> 1709 Blog we posted in November 2011. As suspected, and with apologies for blogging at such a late stage, it all ended up rather badly for the troll, echoing the<a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/media-cat-saga-now-for-obituary.html"> 'Media CAT / ACS:Law'</a> case in the United Kingdom. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Righthaven LLC, the law firm headed up by Steve Gibson, which rather publicly failed in its attempt to make money for <i>The Denver Journal, the Las Vegas Review Journal </i>and itself by suing readers for sharing stories online, was finally dealt a death blow mid-March by a federal judge who ordered the Las Vegas company to forfeit “all of” its intellectual property and other “intangible property” to settle its debts. As commentators say, the order is a somewhat ironic twist to a copyright trolling saga that began in 2010, when Righthaven was formed with the idea of suing blogs and websites that re-posted newspaper articles (or snippets of them) without permission. U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro of Nevada ordered Righthaven to surrender for auction the 278 copyrighted news articles that were the subject of its lawsuits. saying “The copyright registrations to more than 275 works are in Righthaven’s name, can be transferred by this court, and can then be auctioned”. The Righthaven.com domain was auctioned for $3,000 to help satisfy the legal bill Righthaven must pay to one of its defendants that prevailed in a copyright suit brought by Righthaven. The legal costs are more than $60,000 in the case before Judge Pro, and in total Righthaven owes about $188,927 to various defendants.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /> </span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As of the 3rd May there was seemingly no buyer interest in the copyrights up for auction - and a 50% discount was applied by Lara Pearson, the court appointed attorney handling the sales. The Righthaven trade mark was sold for $1,025 on eBay. There is a minimum bid of $50 for copyrights and you have till Saturday (5pm, PDT) to buy your slice of copyright 'history'. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> http://www.pinewswire.net/article/judge-orders-failed-copyright-troll-to-forfeit-all-copyrights/</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/may/03/prices-slashed-righthaven-copyrights-auction/</div>

Troll news

Whilst searching "copyright troll" on Google for my previous post, I came across a wrap up on the Righthaven 1709 Blog ...

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Comparing Vitamix Models 5200 and 1709

<div id="article-content" style="text-align: justify;"> <div> Are you interested in creating fresh smoothies, soups, sorbets, dressings and sauces at lightning speed?</div> <div> Many people today are over-stretched in terms of their time and any time saver is a welcome addition to their overcrowded lives. The Vitamix machine is a wonderful time saver and an opportunity to infuse more healthy foods into your diet.</div> <div> Vitamix is made in the USA and is family owned and operated and has been for several generations. The great-granddaughter of the founder of Vitamix is now the President of Vitamix. When you receive your machine, you will receive a recipe book with a wonderful collection of recipes to start your blending journey. You will also receive access to an online book made up of favorite recipe creations by the employees of the Vitamix Corporation.</div> <div> I see people looking for what the Vita Mix 5200 best price is currently and I want to point out that the CIA Professional Series from Vitamix is another great model to consider.</div> <div> Many people wonder which model of Vitamix is a good one to go with for their needs. I will discuss two of them in this article to help lessen the confusion.</div> <div> The 5200 and the 1709 CIA Professional Series are two popular models. Quite frankly, many of the models are very similar to each other, with slight differences.</div> <div> <b>Vitamix 1709 CIA Professional Series comes with the following features:</b></div> <ul> <li>Made from durable metal-to-metal to help guarantee long lasting high-quality performance</li> <br> <li>Variable speed control allowing you to adjust to the different tasks at hand-this is a HUGE plus and not available in some of the less expensive models</li> <br> <li>2-plus peak horsepower motor that generates blade-tip speeds to 240 mph</li> <br> <li>64 ounce BPA free jar that creates a powerful vortex that pushes ingredients from the blade back down through the center. This process guarantees very thorough blending that you will just not have with a typical blender.</li> <br> <li>A recipe book with 20 recipes developed by the CIA's (Culinary Institute of America) Master Chefs. All of the Vitamixs from the Professional Series includes this book.</li> <br> <li>In addition there are over 300 recipes from top professional chefs from around the country including Joanne Weir, Michael Symon and Hugh Carpenter.</li> <br> <li>A cooking class DVD and owner's manual is included as well</li> <br> <li>Offered in a variety of colors including black, red, brushed stainless and onyx</li> </ul> <div> <b>Vitamix 5200</b></div> <ul> <li>Made from durable metal-to-metal to help guarantee long lasting high-quality performance</li> <br> <li>Variable speed control allowing you to adjust to the different tasks at hand-this is a HUGE plus and not available in some of the less expensive models</li> <br> <li>2-plus peak horsepower motor that generates blade-tip speeds to 240 mph</li> <br> <li>64 ounce BPA free jar that creates a powerful vortex that pushes ingredients from the blade back down through the center. This process guarantees very thorough blending that you will just not have with a typical blender.</li> <br> <li>Getting Started Step by Step Recipe Book</li> <br> <li>Offered in Black</li></ul></div>

Comparing Vitamix Models 5200 and 1709

Are you interested in creating fresh smoothies, soups, sorbets, dressings and sauces at lightning speed? Many people today are over-str...

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Your Home On The Internet - Using Your Blog to Attract New Prospects and Build Your Online Business

<div style="text-align: justify;">Your blog is your home on the Internet, and it can be used to build up almost any type of business. Because it is considered to be your home, you want your blog to welcome visitors much as you would if someone stopped by your house to see what you were doing one day. This means that you will want to put your best foot forward, and make anyone who stops by feel at home. Give visitors to your blog a reason to spend some time, and a way to stay connected with you long after they leave.<br /> <br /> Include your picture on the home page s that visitors will know who you are. The Internet can be extremely one dimensional, so we want to include pictures and even audio to let people feel like they know us a little better. Use the same or a similar picture on all of your sites, including your blog, social media sites, and as your avatar when you leave a comment on other people's blogs.<br /> <br /> Include detailed information on your 'About' page so that someone searching online will have a good reason to work with you. This is all about marketing yourself in such a way as to let visitors know why you are an expert in your niche.<br /> <br /> Make it easy for someone who has never been to your blog to navigate their way around your site. We are all impatient when we are searching online, and it is all too easy for them to find your blog, become frustrated when they can't find what they are looking for right away, and just leave your page for the next site. Instead, make it a comfortable experience by making your navigation bar and sidebar links simple to understand and click.<br /> <br /> Video will also add value to your blog site. You can create a short (under ten minutes) video and upload it to a sharing site such as YouTube, and then add the video directly to your page. It is easy to do this by going into the HTML of your post and pasting in the code generated by YouTube. This serves to make you two dimensional and adds greatly to your online visibility.<br /> <br /> You can see that you can make your blog more inviting to your visitors and prospects by spending some time to make it more welcoming. Over time, this will make a huge difference in how you are perceived by others and how well you are able to increase your bottom line.<br /> <br /> Remember that the reason to start an Internet business is to give you the time and money to live the life you choose. Download a free teleseminar on building your online business and a Special Report on 21 tips to make huge profits from a tiny list by visiting Attract More Prospects to learn how to make huge profits with an online business through relationship marketing.<br /> </div>

Your Home On The Internet - Using Your Blog to Attract New Prospects and Build Your Online Business

Your blog is your home on the Internet, and it can be used to build up almost any type of business. Because it is considered to be your home...

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Driving Targeted Traffic To Your Blog And Other Sites - Making A Plan To Get More Traffic

<div style="text-align: justify;">Driving targeted traffic to your blog and other websites is an ongoing activity that you simply must engage in if you are going to be successful online. You have many choice when it comes to the ways you will accomplish this goal. Think about the type of prospects you want to attract, the follow up you will have with them once they opt in to your list, and the best ways to have traffic to your sites on an ongoing basis.<br /> <br /> You market is only a small segment of the total number of people who are online. If you think everyone is your prospect you will spend forever attempting to get people to your sites who will have very little interest, or none at all, if they do finally find you. Instead, just spend time attracting the people who are definitely prospects for what you have to offer. For example, many people on my lists love dogs, but it does not mean that they will be interested in hearing about training dogs from me. My market is people who want to start an online business from their home computer. I focus on this as I drive traffic to my sites.<br /> <br /> The next issue we must address is what you will do with the traffic - visitors - who arrive at your sites. You may want to sell them something, but do not rush into this on the first visit. Instead, have a free giveaway, such as a video, audio recording, or short report you can give them in exchange for their name and email address. This makes much more sense if you think about it. Someone new arriving at your site will be highly unlikely to make a purchase on their first visit. However, if you ask them to opt in to receive your free giveaway you will be able to sell to them as long as they stay on your list. This gives you time to connect with them and build the trust that is necessary in order to do business on the Internet.<br /> <br /> There are many ways to drive traffic to your sites, but few of them are valuable over time. I find that article marketing, social media, and short reports are the very best ways. Also, each of these is completely free. I write and submit articles to the article directories on a regular basis. The people who read these articles are then familiar with what I have to say by the time they click through to my site after reading. Social media helps me to build relationships with my prospects so they will join my list. Repurposing my articles into short reports gives me content to distribute freely across the Internet, driving targeted traffic to my sites.<br /> <br /> Traffic generation does not have to be difficult or time consuming. Make a plan and then stick to it for the best results with your online business.<br /> <br /> Remember that the reason to start an Internet business is to give you the time and financial freedom to live the life you choose. Download free training on building your online business by visiting Get Started Online to learn how to write articles, blog, become involved in social networking and learn the technology needed to build a profitable online business.<br /> <br /> <br /> </div>

Driving Targeted Traffic To Your Blog And Other Sites - Making A Plan To Get More Traffic

Driving targeted traffic to your blog and other websites is an ongoing activity that you simply must engage in if you are going to be succes...

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Comparing Vitamix Models 5200 and 1709

<div style="text-align: justify;">Are you interested in creating fresh smoothies, soups, sorbets, dressings and sauces at lightning speed?<br /> <br /> Many people today are over-stretched in terms of their time and any time saver is a welcome addition to their overcrowded lives. The Vitamix machine is a wonderful time saver and an opportunity to infuse more healthy foods into your diet.<br /> <br /> Vitamix is made in the USA and is family owned and operated and has been for several generations. The great-granddaughter of the founder of Vitamix is now the President of Vitamix. When you receive your machine, you will receive a recipe book with a wonderful collection of recipes to start your blending journey. You will also receive access to an online book made up of favorite recipe creations by the employees of the Vitamix Corporation.<br /> <br /> I see people looking for what the Vita Mix 5200 best price is currently and I want to point out that the CIA Professional Series from Vitamix is another great model to consider.<br /> <br /> Many people wonder which model of Vitamix is a good one to go with for their needs. I will discuss two of them in this article to help lessen the confusion.<br /> <br /> The 5200 and the 1709 CIA Professional Series are two popular models. Quite frankly, many of the models are very similar to each other, with slight differences.<br /> <br /> Vitamix 1709 CIA Professional Series comes with the following features:<br /> <br />     * Made from durable metal-to-metal to help guarantee long lasting high-quality performance<br /> <br />     * Variable speed control allowing you to adjust to the different tasks at hand-this is a HUGE plus and not available in some of the less expensive models<br /> <br />     * 2-plus peak horsepower motor that generates blade-tip speeds to 240 mph<br /> <br />     * 64 ounce BPA free jar that creates a powerful vortex that pushes ingredients from the blade back down through the center. This process guarantees very thorough blending that you will just not have with a typical blender.<br /> <br />     * A recipe book with 20 recipes developed by the CIA's (Culinary Institute of America) Master Chefs. All of the Vitamixs from the Professional Series includes this book.<br /> <br />     * In addition there are over 300 recipes from top professional chefs from around the country including Joanne Weir, Michael Symon and Hugh Carpenter.<br /> <br />     * A cooking class DVD and owner's manual is included as well<br /> <br />     * Offered in a variety of colors including black, red, brushed stainless and onyx<br /> <br /> Vitamix 5200<br /> <br />     * Made from durable metal-to-metal to help guarantee long lasting high-quality performance<br /> <br />     * Variable speed control allowing you to adjust to the different tasks at hand-this is a HUGE plus and not available in some of the less expensive models<br /> <br />     * 2-plus peak horsepower motor that generates blade-tip speeds to 240 mph<br /> <br />     * 64 ounce BPA free jar that creates a powerful vortex that pushes ingredients from the blade back down through the center. This process guarantees very thorough blending that you will just not have with a typical blender.<br /> <br />     * Getting Started Step by Step Recipe Book<br /> <br />     * Offered in Black<br /> <br /> Both Models offer the 64 ounce or 48 ounce jar. I highly recommend the 64 ounce jar. You will find when you are mixing a smoothie or soup, that you want room for ingredients that will serve four people. The 48 ounce does not seem to have enough room if you will be mixing for more than three people. Even if you do not have a family, your friends will want a serving of whatever you're mixing in your Vitamix. Trust me.<br /> <br /> In a nutshell, the main difference between these two models is the recipe book and the color selection. I hope you found this comparison helpful.<br /> <br /> So, when looking for the Vita Mix 5200 best price on the internet, also check out the 1709 model.<br /> <br /> You can visit my website below to find out more about the Vitamix.<br /> <br /> <br /> </div>

Comparing Vitamix Models 5200 and 1709

Are you interested in creating fresh smoothies, soups, sorbets, dressings and sauces at lightning speed? Many people today are over-stretc...

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Expert Author Showcase: Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis

<div style="text-align: justify;">It sounds like advice you’d hear from a passionate English teacher. You’d be surprised to find out that it actually comes from addiction specialist and Expert Author Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis, who is also the subject of today’s Expert Author Showcase and an advocate of the idea that any good writer should also be an attentive reader.<br /> <br /> Sheryl uses article writing as a way to raise awareness for a variety of topics related to addiction, as well as her published books.<br /> <br /> She has writing credits for three books about addiction. Plus, more recently, she has explored writing fiction in the romance category and has one book of short stories.<br /> <br /> Impact of Addiction<br /> <br /> Sheryl hopes that each article she writes can have a positive impact on peoples’ lives. She says, “Sadly, the drug/addiction pandemic afflicts us all in one way or another. One merely has to go online, turn the TV and radio on or pick up the newspaper, and there is usually always something in the news about this problem.”<br /> <br /> The trouble is that it’s difficult for those suffering from addiction to be open and honest. She says, “Addiction is not something that everyone wants to talk about but so many people clamor to learn more about it. I try to deliver timely and truthful information to help others who are caught in the addiction web.”<br /> <br /> Article writing is one of the primary ways Sheryl’s offers her support. Several online radio shows and local television stations have tapped her to provide her expertise on-air, based on articles she wrote.<br /> <br /> The Power of Reading<br /> <br /> No matter what niche you write in, Sheryl recommends reading as the absolute best way to prepare for your next article. She says, “Read. This is something that my husband and I have championed ever since our own boys were little. You’ll learn so much and then you can pass your knowledge along to others.”<br /> <br /> Because of the vast knowledge she acquires through reading and research, Sheryl rarely ever struggles to come up with content in her articles. So many thoughts pop into her head while she’s writing that she actually sets many of them aside to address in later articles. Usually a few words are enough to hold the thought for later.<br /> <br /> Here are the other highlights from our interview:<br /> <br />     READ, but also WRITE and STUDY – The English language is a living language and constantly changing, so a good writer must keep up with new words, changes to old words and know how to spell and use proper grammar. Bad spelling grammar can cause the reader to lose stock in what you have to say.<br />      <br />     Real Spell Check – Keep a good dictionary or thesaurus on your desk and refer to it often. Or, you can even use an online dictionary. Don’t depend on spell check. Any writer knows that spell check can really trip you up if you depend on it solely. It can help, but it can also steer you wrong.<br />      <br />     Be Comfortable With Your Topic – Don’t start out writing about topics you don’t know anything about. That’ll put you on a fast track to frustration. Instead, draw from experience and focus on the topics that you know well.<br />      <br />     Ask “What Do Others Want?” – If you’re stuck for a topic, just ask yourself a simple question: “What would other people want to know about my particular niche?” The answers will spill forth and then it’ll be a tough decision to pick out the topic from there.<br />      <br />     Review and Revise – Once you get to writing, let it flow and don’t let other things distract you. Then, put the article aside for a while before you review and revise it. Most articles could use a fresh eye before they are submitted.<br /> <br /> Now that you’ve had a chance to meet Sheryl, take a minute to leave a question or comment for her.</div>

Expert Author Showcase: Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis

It sounds like advice you’d hear from a passionate English teacher. You’d be surprised to find out that it actually comes from addiction spe...

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Business Blogging - How to Create a Blog That Will Represent You Well and Build Your Online Business

<div style="text-align: justify;">Blogs have been around for several years now. I started blogging in 2005, but by that time there were already people who had been at it for two or three years. I knew I could learn from them and avoid any mistakes that they would be willing to share with those of us who were just getting started.<br /> <br /> Within a few weeks of starting my first blog I signed up for a free account over at Technorati. This is the largest blog directory in the world, and you do something referred to as claiming your blog in order to tell Technorati and the world that you are the author. It is a simple process to claim your blog. They walk you through the steps and it can all be completed with one day.<br /> <br /> You can also search for other blogs on your topic at this site. I learned early on that connecting with other bloggers who were writing about my niche topic would be a very good idea. It gives you new ideas for what to write about, you can refer your readers to each other's sites, and everyone benefits.<br /> <br /> Because your blog is your home on the internet, spend as much time and effort as possible thinking out how you will represent yourself online. Make a schedule of what you will post, how often you will post, and what topics you will cover. It is a great feeling to know that you are the one in charge of your blogging experience. It is completely worth it to spend time learning how and what you should do in order to make your blog the best one you are capable of creating.<br /> <br /> Download a free teleseminar on building your online business by visiting http://www.EbookWritingandMarketingSecrets.com to learn how to write articles, blog, become involved in social networking and learn the technology needed to build a profitable online business.<br /> <br /> Connie Ragen Green has been online since 2005 and teaches people how to build their own online business in record time, offering free teleseminars weekly, as well as online courses in a workshop environment with webinars.<br /> <br /> <br /> </div>

Business Blogging - How to Create a Blog That Will Represent You Well and Build Your Online Business

Blogs have been around for several years now. I started blogging in 2005, but by that time there were already people who had been at it for ...

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Comparing Vitamix Models 5200 and 1709

<div style="text-align: justify;">Are you interested in creating fresh smoothies, soups, sorbets, dressings and sauces at lightning speed?<br /> <br /> Many people today are over-stretched in terms of their time and any time saver is a welcome addition to their overcrowded lives. The Vitamix machine is a wonderful time saver and an opportunity to infuse more healthy foods into your diet.<br /> <br /> Vitamix is made in the USA and is family owned and operated and has been for several generations. The great-granddaughter of the founder of Vitamix is now the President of Vitamix. When you receive your machine, you will receive a recipe book with a wonderful collection of recipes to start your blending journey. You will also receive access to an online book made up of favorite recipe creations by the employees of the Vitamix Corporation.<br /> <br /> I see people looking for what the Vita Mix 5200 best price is currently and I want to point out that the CIA Professional Series from Vitamix is another great model to consider.<br /> <br /> Many people wonder which model of Vitamix is a good one to go with for their needs. I will discuss two of them in this article to help lessen the confusion.<br /> <br /> The 5200 and the 1709 CIA Professional Series are two popular models. Quite frankly, many of the models are very similar to each other, with slight differences.<br /> <br /> Vitamix 1709 CIA Professional Series comes with the following features:<br /> <br />     Made from durable metal-to-metal to help guarantee long lasting high-quality performance<br /> <br />     Variable speed control allowing you to adjust to the different tasks at hand-this is a HUGE plus and not available in some of the less expensive models<br /> <br />     2-plus peak horsepower motor that generates blade-tip speeds to 240 mph<br /> <br />     64 ounce BPA free jar that creates a powerful vortex that pushes ingredients from the blade back down through the center. This process guarantees very thorough blending that you will just not have with a typical blender.<br /> <br />     A recipe book with 20 recipes developed by the CIA's (Culinary Institute of America) Master Chefs. All of the Vitamixs from the Professional Series includes this book.<br /> <br />     In addition there are over 300 recipes from top professional chefs from around the country including Joanne Weir, Michael Symon and Hugh Carpenter.<br /> <br />     A cooking class DVD and owner's manual is included as well<br /> <br />     Offered in a variety of colors including black, red, brushed stainless and onyx<br /> <br /> Vitamix 5200<br /> <br />     Made from durable metal-to-metal to help guarantee long lasting high-quality performance<br /> <br />     Variable speed control allowing you to adjust to the different tasks at hand-this is a HUGE plus and not available in some of the less expensive models<br /> <br />     2-plus peak horsepower motor that generates blade-tip speeds to 240 mph<br /> <br />     64 ounce BPA free jar that creates a powerful vortex that pushes ingredients from the blade back down through the center. This process guarantees very thorough blending that you will just not have with a typical blender.<br /> <br />     Getting Started Step by Step Recipe Book<br /> <br />     Offered in Black<br /> <br /> Both Models offer the 64 ounce or 48 ounce jar. I highly recommend the 64 ounce jar. You will find when you are mixing a smoothie or soup, that you want room for ingredients that will serve four people. The 48 ounce does not seem to have enough room if you will be mixing for more than three people. Even if you do not have a family, your friends will want a serving of whatever you're mixing in your Vitamix. Trust me.<br /> <br /> In a nutshell, the main difference between these two models is the recipe book and the color selection. I hope you found this comparison helpful.<br /> <br /> So, when looking for the Vita Mix 5200 best price on the internet, also check out the 1709 model.<br /> <br /> You can visit my website below to find out more about the Vitamix.<br /> <br /> <br /> </div>

Comparing Vitamix Models 5200 and 1709

Are you interested in creating fresh smoothies, soups, sorbets, dressings and sauces at lightning speed? Many people today are over-stretc...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/functionality-of-computer-programs.html">Functionality of computer programs, language, unprotected by copyright, says CJEU</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8mgsiioD0vsTAzweQjJ94NdmYTIHCWR84VYqOZQ03R5uXLCU8YFDgZ6VEfXwThNzcYD4UovVXY4Eqz0RdKYKvibVmuFCiWXF9y1ebGHBPY8GQY8Tz8G_yqgSzBfZLbjZPJd5Dn7R3zFg/s1600/sasa.jpg" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="68px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8mgsiioD0vsTAzweQjJ94NdmYTIHCWR84VYqOZQ03R5uXLCU8YFDgZ6VEfXwThNzcYD4UovVXY4Eqz0RdKYKvibVmuFCiWXF9y1ebGHBPY8GQY8Tz8G_yqgSzBfZLbjZPJd5Dn7R3zFg/s200/sasa.jpg" width="200px" /></a></div>Judgment was given this morning by the Court of Justice of the European Union in <strong><a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=122362&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=127566">Case C-406/10</a><em> </em></strong><em>SAS Institute Inc. v World Programming Ltd, </em>a reference from the Chancery Division, England and Wales.  There's a fairly succinct summary of the ruling on the Curia press release page:<br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> "<strong>The functionality of a computer program and the programming language cannot be protected by copyright</strong><br /> <br /> <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <em>The purchaser of a licence for a program is entitled, as a rule, to observe, study or test its functioning so as to determine the ideas and principles which underlie that program</em></div><br /> SAS Institute Inc. has developed the SAS System, an integrated set of programs which enables users to carry out data processing and analysis tasks, in particular statistical analysis. The core component of the SAS System is called Base SAS. It enables users to write and execute application programs (also known as ‘scripts’) written in the SAS programming language for data processing.<br /> <br /> World Programming Ltd (WPL) perceived that there was a market demand for alternative software capable of executing application programs written in the SAS Language. WPL therefore produced the World Programming System (WPS). The latter emulates functionalities of the SAS components to a large extent in that, with a few minor exceptions, WPL attempted to ensure that the same inputs would produce the same outputs. This would enable users of the SAS System to run the scripts which they have developed for use with the SAS System on WPS.<br /> <br /> In order to produce the WPS program, WPL lawfully acquired copies of the Learning Edition of the SAS System, which were supplied under licences limiting the rights of the licensee to non-production purposes. WPL used and studied those programs in order to understand their functioning but there is nothing to suggest that WPL had access to or copied the source code of the SAS components.<br /> <br /> SAS Institute brought an action before the High Court in the UK, accusing WPL of having copied the SAS System manuals and components, thus infringing its copyright and the terms of the Learning Edition licence. In that context, the High Court has put questions to the Court of Justice regarding the scope of the legal protection conferred by EU law on computer programs and, in particular, whether that protection extends to programming functionality and language.<br /> <br /> The Court recalls, first, that the Directive on the legal protection of computer programs1 extends copyright protection to the expression in any form of an intellectual creation of the author of a computer program2. However, ideas and principles which underlie any element of a computer program, including those which underlie its interfaces, are not protected by copyright under that directive.<br /> <br /> Thus, only the expression of those ideas and principles is protected by copyright. The object of the protection conferred by Directive 91/250 is the expression in any form of a computer program, such as the source code and the object code, which permits reproduction in different computer languages.<br /> <br /> On the basis of those considerations, the Court holds that neither the functionality of a computer program nor the programming language and the format of data files used in a computer program in order to exploit certain of its functions constitute a form of expression. Accordingly, they do not enjoy copyright protection. <br /> <br /> To accept that the functionality of a computer program can be protected by copyright would amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas, to the detriment of technological progress and industrial development. <br /> <br /> In that context, the Court states that if a third party were to procure the part of the source code or object code relating to the programming language or to the format of data files used in a computer program, and if that party were to create, with the aid of that code, similar elements in its own computer program, that conduct would be liable to be prohibited by the author of the program. In the present case, it is apparent from the explanations of the national court that WPL did not have access to the source code of SAS Institute’s program and did not carry out any decompilation of the object code of that program. It was only by means of observing, studying and testing the behaviour of SAS Institute’s program that WPL reproduced the functionality of that program by using the same programming language and the same format of data files.<br /> <br /> Second, the Court observes that, according to the Directive, the purchaser of a software licence has the right to observe, study or test the functioning of that software in order to determine the ideas and principles which underlie any element of the program. Any contractual provisions contrary to that right are null and void. Furthermore, the determination of those ideas and principles may be carried out within the framework of the acts permitted by the licence.<br /> <br /> Consequently, the owner of the copyright in a computer program may not prevent, by relying on the licensing agreement, the purchaser of that licence from observing, studying or testing the functioning of that program so as to determine the ideas and principles which underlie all the elements of the program in the case where the purchaser carries out acts covered by that licence and the acts of loading and running necessary for the use of the program on condition that that purchaser does not infringe the exclusive rights of the owner of the copyright in that program.<br /> <br /> In addition, according to the Court, there is no copyright infringement where, as in the present case, the lawful acquirer of the licence did not have access to the source code of the computer program but merely studied, observed and tested that program in order to reproduce its functionality in a second program.<br /> <br /> Lastly, the Court holds that the reproduction, in a computer program or a user manual for that program, of certain elements described in the user manual for another computer program protected by copyright is capable of constituting an infringement of the copyright in the latter manual if that reproduction constitutes the expression of the intellectual creation of the author of the manual.<br /> <br /> In this respect, the Court takes the view that, in the present case, the keywords, syntax, commands and combinations of commands, options, defaults and iterations consist of words, figures or mathematical concepts, considered in isolation, are not, as such, an intellectual creation of the author of that program. It is only through the choice, sequence and combination of those words, figures or mathematical concepts that the author expresses his creativity in an original manner.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"> It is for the national court to ascertain whether the reproduction alleged in the main proceedings constitutes the expression of the intellectual creation of the author of the user manual for the computer program protected by copyright".</blockquote>This all seems fairly unremarkable; now it's up to the referring court to apply it.

Functionality of computer programs, language, unprotected by copyright, says CJEU Judgment was given this morning by the Court of Justi...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/ip-address-is-not-person.html">An IP address is not a person</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibamqmTarlv-49mN8Nintiv7FTl40z9GhvvlL67KAd5Qy36iWiDT_JMbqCcv3Javkp9YqHt52hyphenhyphenuMcMR5S79Pu4yrV5VnJ2SA7QXp0b707_827Dasq2xH9XMNaZslKW8H02b8m8JvRaYA/s1600/I%2527m+spartacus.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibamqmTarlv-49mN8Nintiv7FTl40z9GhvvlL67KAd5Qy36iWiDT_JMbqCcv3Javkp9YqHt52hyphenhyphenuMcMR5S79Pu4yrV5VnJ2SA7QXp0b707_827Dasq2xH9XMNaZslKW8H02b8m8JvRaYA/s400/I%2527m+spartacus.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>In the USA, Judge Magistrate Gary Brown (US District Court, Eastern District of New York) has gone to great lengths to explain why an IP address is not the same as a person and cannot be used to bring claims against alleged copyright infringers.<br /> <br /> In the States, Mass-BitTorrent lawsuits have been “dragging on for more than two years” and involve more than a quarter million potential illegal downloaders. The copyright owners who start these cases generally provide just an IP-address as evidence of the infringement and as the identity of the ‘John Doe’ infringer. The court is then asked to grant a subpoena, allowing the claimant to require an Internet Service Provider for the personal details of the alleged offenders. Judge Brown is of the opinion this is a “waste of judicial resources” and that the argument that IP-addresses can identify the alleged infringers is very weak with Judge Brown saying<br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> “The assumption that the person who pays for Internet access at a given location is the same individual who allegedly downloaded a single sexually explicit film is tenuous, and one that has grown more so over time” </blockquote>adding<br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> “An IP address provides only the location at which one of any number of computer devices may be deployed, much like a telephone number can be used for any number of telephones ….  Thus, it is no more likely that the subscriber to an IP address carried out a particular computer function – here the purported illegal downloading of a single pornographic film – than to say an individual who pays the telephone bill made a specific telephone call”. </blockquote>Judge Brown went to explain that in his opinion having an IP-address as evidence of an infringer is even weaker than a telephone number, as the majority of US homes now have a wireless network - meaning that many people, including complete strangers if one has an open network, can use the same IP-address simultaneously.<br /> <br /> This latter point was tested by the courts in Germany where the German Supreme Court (BGH) indicated that a subscriber who left their wi-fi open without password protection was potentially liable for others' infringing activities but only in as much as the subscriber could be enjoined to an action and forced to take necessary precautions - they would not be liable for damages (financial penalties) for another's infringement.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/judge-an-ip-address-doesnt-identify-a-person-120503/">http://torrentfreak.com/judge-an-ip-address-doesnt-identify-a-person-120503/</a> and <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/92229567/Judge-Gary-Brown-IP-Address-Ruling">http://www.scribd.com/doc/92229567/Judge-Gary-Brown-IP-Address-Ruling</a> and an opinion on copyright ‘trolls’ here <a href="http://slworona.wordpress.com/tag/judge-gary-r-brown/">http://slworona.wordpress.com/tag/judge-gary-r-brown/</a> and for the German position see here <a href="http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/germany-liability-for-unsecured-private.html">http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/germany-liability-for-unsecured-private.html</a>

An IP address is not a person In the USA, Judge Magistrate Gary Brown (US District Court, Eastern District of New York) has gone to gr...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/whilst-searching-copyright-troll-on.html">Troll news</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBIN_D4H2RLMziMDzzxoOZtKRwt0ipBFB7R1IGTyE75Vmn7pC10saHXEcWUT_EVgaYLZMb1DdDSnUzNQSwOu5koUuq0BfImgwD8fUd5v_9o06sW6iRgk4R67RagITGgvFPLxpNK2bhiE/s1600/COPYRIGHT+TROLL+1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBIN_D4H2RLMziMDzzxoOZtKRwt0ipBFB7R1IGTyE75Vmn7pC10saHXEcWUT_EVgaYLZMb1DdDSnUzNQSwOu5koUuq0BfImgwD8fUd5v_9o06sW6iRgk4R67RagITGgvFPLxpNK2bhiE/s400/COPYRIGHT+TROLL+1.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>Whilst searching "copyright troll" on Google for my previous post, I came across a wrap up on the <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/righthaven-another-mediacat.html">Righthaven</a> 1709 Blog we posted in November 2011. As suspected, and with apologies for blogging at such a late stage, it all ended up rather badly for the troll, echoing the<a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/media-cat-saga-now-for-obituary.html"> 'Media CAT / ACS:Law'</a> case in the United Kingdom. <br /> <br /> Righthaven LLC, the law firm headed up by Steve Gibson, which rather publicly failed in its attempt to make money for <i>The Denver Journal, the Las Vegas Review Journal </i>and itself by suing readers for sharing stories online, was finally dealt a death blow mid-March by a federal judge who ordered the Las Vegas company to forfeit “all of” its intellectual property and other “intangible property” to settle its debts. As commentators say, the order is a somewhat ironic twist to a copyright trolling saga that began in 2010, when Righthaven was formed with the idea of suing blogs and websites that re-posted newspaper articles (or snippets of them) without permission. U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro of Nevada ordered Righthaven to surrender for auction the 278 copyrighted news articles that were the subject of its lawsuits. saying “The copyright registrations to more than 275 works are in Righthaven’s name, can be transferred by this court, and can then be auctioned”. The Righthaven.com domain was auctioned for $3,000 to help satisfy the legal bill Righthaven must pay to one of its defendants that prevailed in a copyright suit brought by Righthaven. The legal costs are more than $60,000 in the case before Judge Pro, and in total Righthaven owes about $188,927 to various defendants.<br /> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /> </span></span><br /> As of the 3rd May there was seemingly no buyer interest in the copyrights up for auction - and a 50% discount was applied by Lara Pearson, the court appointed attorney handling the sales. The Righthaven trade mark was sold for $1,025 on eBay. There is a minimum bid of $50 for copyrights and you have till Saturday (5pm, PDT) to buy your slice of copyright 'history'. <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.pinewswire.net/article/judge-orders-failed-copyright-troll-to-forfeit-all-copyrights/">http://www.pinewswire.net/article/judge-orders-failed-copyright-troll-to-forfeit-all-copyrights/</a><br /> <a href="http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/may/03/prices-slashed-righthaven-copyrights-auction/">http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/may/03/prices-slashed-righthaven-copyrights-auction/</a>

Troll news Whilst searching "copyright troll" on Google for my previous post, I came across a wrap up on the Righthaven 170...

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This summary is not available. Please <a href="http://the1709blogs.blogspot.com/2012/05/neelie-says-acta-is-doomed-neelie-kroes.html"> click here </a> to view the post.

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/willis-wins-revision-of-copyrights-in.html">Willis wins reversion of copyrights in YMCA case</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneIH-SGnlQznra0Uhp2jUruosUM6gV5vE1miLC2hb6t6wBhb5Awwa4_Bkmgy14Wy_-tpWEJZaMyRi5kNbKG4mtMbc15nDHDffmX4mQ7jvb1drw7BQPEIj3GkXfX1B3gYuU5VBAA3k8vo/s1600/village+peeps2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneIH-SGnlQznra0Uhp2jUruosUM6gV5vE1miLC2hb6t6wBhb5Awwa4_Bkmgy14Wy_-tpWEJZaMyRi5kNbKG4mtMbc15nDHDffmX4mQ7jvb1drw7BQPEIj3GkXfX1B3gYuU5VBAA3k8vo/s1600/village+peeps2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In a court ruling which has significant implications for the music industry, a Californian judge has dismissed a suit by two song publishing companies aimed at preventing Victor Willis, former lead singer of The Village People, from exercising his right to <span class="apple-converted-space">reclaim ownership of <i>YMCA</i> and a number of other massive Village People hits </span>he wrote and co-wrote in the 1970s. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">The right to reclaim arose when the Copyright Act amendments went into effect in 1978 and it meant that songwriters could terminate copyright grants to publishers and record labels 35 years later. If they were to do so, however, they need to send their termination notices not fewer than two or more than 10 years from the intended termination date. The floodgates have opened! But Willis met with resistance from m</span>usic publishers Scorpio Music and Can’t Stop Productions who countered by arguing (a) that Mr. Willis had no legal standing to reclaim the song’s copyrights because he had “no right, title or interest in the copyright” as the songs had been created under the provisions of a “works for hire” relationship – in effect Willis and his co-writers were employees of the companies that managed the group and (b) also further arguing that Willis could not reclaim his share of the song because a majority of the other copyright holders had not agreed. It was on the latter point that the court made it’s decision.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Chief Judge Barry T. Moskowitz in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles rejected the song publishers’ claim that Mr. Willis was not eligible to reclaim his share of ownership of “<i>YMCA</i>” whose lyrics he wrote, and 32 other songs recorded by the Village People saying “The purpose of the Act was to safeguard authors against unremunerative transfers and address the unequal bargaining position of authors, resulting in part from the impossibility of determining a work’s value until it has been exploited ” adding in his 10-page ruling “under plaintiffs’ interpretation, it would be more difficult to terminate an individual grant than it would be to make it in the first place” and Judge Moskowitz added  </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"It would be contrary to the purpose of the [Copyright] Act to require a majority of all joint authors who had, at various times, transferred their copyright interests in a joint work to terminate the legally permissible separate grant by one joint author of his undivided copyright interest in the work”.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Willis’ attorney, Brian Caplan is quoted as saying “This is the first case that’s interpreting the statute that deals with termination rights .... the significance of the ruling is that one author who gives a grant to a publishing company has the right to recapture the copyright interest he created 35 years ago regardless of what other co-authors do or don’t do, and that the author gets back that which he created regardless of the income stream he agreed to over 35 years ago.”</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Interestingly, the issue of whether the songs were created as ‘works for hire’ remains undecided as the claimants withdrew that claim.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mr. Willis’s has now regained (partial) ownership not just of <i>“YMCA”</i> but also of other hits, including “<i>In the Navy” </i>and “<i>Go West”</i> and said in a written statement “I’m extremely pleased with the court’s determination” adding  “And I look forward to controlling my copyright interests in 2013, as the law provides.”</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Other acts including Bob Dylan, Tim Waits, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Kenny Rogers, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty are said to be similarly asking for the revision of both song writing and recording copyrights.</span>

Willis wins reversion of copyrights in YMCA case In a court ruling which has significant implications for the music industry, a Cali...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/australias-art-resale-scheme-can-it.html">Australia's art resale scheme: can it ever be self-sustaining?</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div>From John R. Walker, one of our Australian readers, comes this fascinating and provocative item:<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><blockquote class="tr_bq"> "The Australian government's minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, has just announced an additional $700,000 in public funds to subsidize the operation of the art resale scheme. This brings the total publicly funded commitment to nearly $2.5 million, plus if you add the $1+ million that <b><a href="http://www.copyright.com.au/">CAL </a></b>(appointed collection agency) has allocated, the scheme is rapidly exceeding a cost of $3 million:  so far, it has delivered just $600,000 in payments to artists. The Government <b><a href="http://www.minister.regional.gov.au/sc/releases/2012/may/sc049_2012.aspx">statement </a></b>says:  "As the income from resales increases, it is anticipated the scheme will become self-sustaining." </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">  The scheme was premised on a market size and turnover that was, even at the height of the boom, wildly overestimated by a factor of at least 2 or more.  Even a fully retrospective and compulsory scheme such as enacted in the UK, would not be self-funding in Australia; the long term market here is simply not large enough. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">  This government's policies have had a devastating effect on the art market: the resale scheme  has undermined confidence resulting in reduced demand and, at the same time the ruling on SMSF (Self-managed super funds) will result in a massive over-supply of indigenous art for resale on to a reduced market. In this situation, the very idea that a scheme premised on levying on the value of art resales ever becoming even vaguely self-funding is ludicrous. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">  The paradox is that the Australian government has done the resale royalty, at a secondly instrumentation level, as professionally as it could be done and the Act itself reflects the constraints of a constitution that set out very consciously to embody the principles of responsible representative government:  therefore, the Australian scheme is a <i>lawful</i> scheme. However, the messy reality is clear proof that resale royalties, at the level of principle, if done lawfully and properly, are bad policy".</blockquote>Do you agree with John, or do you take a different view? Do let us know!

Australia's art resale scheme: can it ever be self-sustaining? From John R. Walker, one of our Australian readers, comes this fascin...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/pirate-bay-now-sailing-to-echr-harbour.html">Pirate Bay now sailing to the ECHR harbour</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4GxRW-3khxpYhJaLUxblotTT0PLtJc6MVHFTDBOGi6GXpiWomJRODYhC2Nui02YT8MdQu68vLE3AzA1wE9568gcpQm7769_OeCpw31YNY7uLdBkYcNvXlGQzHCZqyRBa5BThQZYx8Qo/s1600/pirate+bay.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4GxRW-3khxpYhJaLUxblotTT0PLtJc6MVHFTDBOGi6GXpiWomJRODYhC2Nui02YT8MdQu68vLE3AzA1wE9568gcpQm7769_OeCpw31YNY7uLdBkYcNvXlGQzHCZqyRBa5BThQZYx8Qo/s200/pirate+bay.jpg" width="200" /></a> <div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Pirate Bay saga seems indeed destined to never end. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Earlier this year, Sweden's Supreme Court refused to hear Pirate Bay's final appeal and two of the founders and the funder of the (in)famous website were found guilty of copyright infringement (<i>see<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>Ben's post<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.it/2012/02/pirates-lose-final-appeal.html"><span lang="EN-US">here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">). Parallel actions for copyright infringement brought in The Netherlands and the UK also ended up pretty badly for The Pirate Bay (<i>see<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.it/2012/01/dutch-court-blocks-access-to-pirate-bay.html"><span lang="EN-US">here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.it/2012/04/is-it-red-letter-day-for-pirate-party.html"><span lang="EN-US">here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.it/2012/05/5-uk-isps-ordered-to-block-pirate-bay.html"><span lang="EN-US">here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Those more prone to discouragement might have thought that this series of adverse outcomes put the word "the end" to the business of Pirate Bay. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But, apparently, the last word has not yet been said.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFiiTwQiymKy7RnZcmssFlyH-cpJCOwQ9AvnJRc1Rh4cj8-rgPaZzN766JP4rTUCh_8FUzPxGwEYrQWWZgHUumNqOdey0Tk6sRBF_Ctuq26Mt2x9OW-yy2K5TH8K2BsfrtYyso1QyhT48/s1600/pirate.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFiiTwQiymKy7RnZcmssFlyH-cpJCOwQ9AvnJRc1Rh4cj8-rgPaZzN766JP4rTUCh_8FUzPxGwEYrQWWZgHUumNqOdey0Tk6sRBF_Ctuq26Mt2x9OW-yy2K5TH8K2BsfrtYyso1QyhT48/s200/pirate.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">An enthusiastic Pirate Bay user <br /> portrayed while exerting his <br /> freedom of expression</span></i></td></tr> </tbody></table><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As reported by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-takes-case-to-european-court-120514/"><span lang="EN-US">TorrentFreak</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, today the lawyer of one of the founders of the website,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredrik_Neij"><span lang="EN-US">Fredrik Neij</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, announced that he will now bring Neij’s case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Neij is now the only one whose fate is still unclear, as his fellow defendants in the litigation before Swedish courts have either settled or plead for clemency. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dn.se/debatt/the-pirate-bay-grundare-gar-vidare-till-europadomstolen"><span lang="EN-US">statement</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">released by Neij's lawyer reads as follows (translation provided by TorrentFreak):</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 35.4pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<i>According to Article 10 of the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/D5CC24A7-DC13-4318-B457-5C9014916D7A/0/CONVENTION_ENG_WEB.pdf"><span lang="EN-US">European Convention on Human Rights</span></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, which guarantees citizens of Sweden the freedom to receive and impart information, we believe that Frederick Neij’s right to freedom of expression has been denied him ... According to our complaint to the European Court, The Pirate Bay’s services – to transfer non-proprietary information among users through an automated process on the Internet – is protected under that article of the Convention</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On this reading, The Pirate Bay is said to have never directly transferred or transmitted copyright-protected contents, as this was the sole responsibility of the site’s users. Indeed, the actual function of the website was “<i>to allow the free dissemination of information via non-copyrighted torrent files</i>.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Desperate attempt of a lawyer to save his client -- or food for thought re the future of P2P file-sharing?</span>

Pirate Bay now sailing to the ECHR harbour The Pirate Bay saga seems indeed destined to never end. Earlier this year, Sweden's S...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/api-battle-for-google.html">API battle for Google</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoUcVk-Wx5fmqpgQSItKI32KBXx67y7xviStc6w3ZuhKJRIiah1SEWANT8YUaYtxWMOzaPkvCYnkrR_moyAIK_RNWPkgh2wu0fg0psdcfquHg3KYQPYm_Mfvmp9rQbnisPaiBemWComEA/s1600/api1.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoUcVk-Wx5fmqpgQSItKI32KBXx67y7xviStc6w3ZuhKJRIiah1SEWANT8YUaYtxWMOzaPkvCYnkrR_moyAIK_RNWPkgh2wu0fg0psdcfquHg3KYQPYm_Mfvmp9rQbnisPaiBemWComEA/s200/api1.gif" width="200" /></a>The Electronic Frontiers Foundation have reported on the legal debates surrounding the action brought by Oracle against Google for the use of Oracle's APIs, whether copyright can subsist in those API's and if it did, could Google claim fair use.<br /> <br /> Before we go any further - a brief definition of APIs "An application programming interface (API) is a specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other. An API may include specifications for routines, data, structures, object classes. In 2010, Oracle bought Sun Microsystems, which developed Java. When it implemented the Android OS, Google wrote its own version of Java -but in order to allow developers to write their own programs for Android, Google relied on Java’s APIs."<br /> <br /> This is what the EFF have to say:<br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> "Here’s the problem: Treating APIs as copyrightable would have a profound negative impact on interoperability, and, therefore, innovation. APIs are ubiquitous and fundamental to all kinds of program development. It is safe to say that<i> all</i> software developers use APIs to make their software work with other software. For example, the developers of an application like Firefox use APIs to make their application work with various OSes by asking the OS to do things like make network connections, open files, and display windows on the screen. Allowing a party to assert control over APIs means that a party can determine who can make compatible and interoperable software, an idea that is anathema to those who create the software we rely on everyday. Put clearly, the developer of a platform should not be able to control add-on software development for that platform. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Take, for example, a free and open source project like Samba, which runs the shared folders and network drives in millions of organizations. If Samba could be held to have infringed the Microsoft’s copyright in its SMB protocol and API, with which it inter-operates, it could find itself on the hook for astronomical damages or facing an injunction requiring that it stop providing its API and related services, leaving users to fend for themselves.<br /> <br /> Another example is the AOL instant messaging program, which used a proprietary API. AOL tried to prevent people from making alternative IM programs that could speak to AOL's users. Despite that, others successfully built their own implementations of the API from the client's side. If copyright had given AOL a weapon to prevent interoperability by its competitors, the outcome for the public would have been unfortunate.<br /> <br /> Setting aside the practical consequences, there’s a perfectly good legal reason not to treat APIs as copyrightable material: they are purely functional. The law is already clear that copyright cannot cover programming languages, which are merely mediums for creation (instead, copyright may potentially cover what one creatively writes in that language).  Indeed, the European Court of Justice came to just that <a href="http://www.the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/functionality-of-computer-programs.html">decision</a> last week (Ironically enough, when Sun Microsystems was an independent company, one of its lawyers wrote amicus briefs arguing that interoperability concerns should limit copyright protection for computer programs.) </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Improvidently granting copyright protection to functional APIs would allow companies to dangerously hold up important interoperability functionality that developers and users rely on everyday.  Let’s hope the judge agrees."</blockquote><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/oracle-v-google-and-dangerous-implications-treating-apis-copyrightable">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/oracle-v-google-and-dangerous-implications-treating-apis-copyrightable</a> <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120502/14085818744/eu-court-justice-says-software-functionality-is-not-subject-to-copyright.shtml"><i>SAS Institute Inc.  v World Programming Limited</i></a> : CJEU: "to accept that the functionality of a computer program can be protected by copyright would amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas, to the detriment of technological progress and industrial development".

API battle for Google The Electronic Frontiers Foundation have reported on the legal debates surrounding the action brought by Oracle ...

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<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> <a href="http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-on-dajaz1com-and-is-tppa-next-acta.html">More on Dajaz1.com, and is TPPA the next ACTA?</a> </h3><div class="post-header"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicihgjYthSEHkGvV8NXtLfUAWrGyX16G0CTl05LY_MK8El2zKq0dAOKybt6DJ2xUgA6e2cnyOiSA5Lown9QwHkIh-LYF475JCTH5QU99cIjOPPLT3-7sHiY65aeld3KQRcI73t7zKKY7M/s1600/daj.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicihgjYthSEHkGvV8NXtLfUAWrGyX16G0CTl05LY_MK8El2zKq0dAOKybt6DJ2xUgA6e2cnyOiSA5Lown9QwHkIh-LYF475JCTH5QU99cIjOPPLT3-7sHiY65aeld3KQRcI73t7zKKY7M/s1600/daj.png" /></a></div>Last week we briefly<a href="http://www.the1709blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/neelie-says-acta-is-doomed.html"> reported</a> on the <i>Dajaz1.com</i> case in the USA which critics of the U.S. government's antipiracy efforts said showed that authorities are too eager to do the bidding of copyright owners. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE) seized Dajaz1.com, a music blog, in November 2010 and then held onto it for more than a year, only returning the domain to the owners after repeatedly failing to produce evidence that the site had violated copyright laws. The EFF picked up on the story blogging: <br /> <blockquote> "The whole story is, in a word, appalling …. U.S. taxpayers and their representatives have an object lesson, if one were needed, in why the government should not be granted new IP enforcement powers and why we need to reconsider the inclusion of copyright infringement as a basis for civil seizure and forfeiture."</blockquote>The EFF now has more - saying the popular blog dedicated to hip hop music and culture remained censored "because the government obtained three secret extensions of time by claiming that it was waiting for 'rights holders' and later, the Recording Industry Association of America, to evaluate a "sampling of allegedly infringing content" obtained from the website and respond to other “outstanding questions.” The EFF say “In other words, having goaded the government into an outrageous and very public seizure of the blog, the RIAA members refused to follow up and answer the government’s questions. In turn, the government acted shamefully, not returning the blog or apologizing for its apparent mistake, but instead secretly asking the court to extend the seizure and deny Dajaz1 the right to seek return of its property or otherwise get due process. The government also refused to answer Congressional questions about the case. ICE finally released the domain name in December of 2011, again with no explanation.” <br /> <br /> The next battle front for the EFF appears to be the <b>Trans-Pacific Partnership</b> (TPP) Agreement, a “secret international trade negotiation that includes provisions to regulate intellectual property and the Internet”. In Dallas culture-jamming activist group The Yes Men presented U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk with the fictitious "2012 Corporate Power Tool Award." Over 18,000 Internet users have used the EFF action center to speak out against the TPP. Methinks we may have another ACTA (or indeed SOPA, PIPA, etc) ....... time will tell. <br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/unsealed-court-records-confirm-riaa-delays-were-behind-year-long-seizure-hip-hop"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/unsealed-court-records-confirm-riaa-delays-were-behind-year-long-seizure-hip-hop</span></a> <br /> <br /> <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57428362-93/critics-say-feds-riaa-too-closely-linked-in-music-site-seizure/">http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57428362-93/critics-say-feds-riaa-too-closely-linked-in-music-site-seizure/</a>

More on Dajaz1.com, and is TPPA the next ACTA? Last week we briefly reported on the Dajaz1.com case in the USA which critics of the...

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