Posted on February 23rd, 2007 by William McGeveran
I reported last week the great news that a major insurer agreed to provide coverage against copyright liability for documentary films that rely on the fair use doctrine in accordance with the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use (as certified by a lawyer’s letter). Now comes even better news: another insurer has [...]
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Filed under: Berkman, Copyright, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Intermediaries, Media, Scholarship, Video
Posted on February 23rd, 2007 by Tim Armstrong
One of the more interesting pieces in the most recent Harvard Journal of Law and Technology is “Wikimmunity,” by recent Harvard Law grad (and friend of Berkman) Ken Myers. Ken’s article explores how Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (also the subject of my recent Doe v. MySpace post) acts, or should act, to [...]
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Filed under: Berkman, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Privacy, Scholarship
Posted on February 20th, 2007 by Derek Bambauer
nbsp;Slate.com runs an article about the contrast between appearances and reality in Tunisia, with a shout-out to the OpenNet Initiative‘s excellent report on Internet filtering in that country. Freedom of expression, or access to information, is a chimera in Tunisia. When ONI released the filtering study at the World Summit on the Information Society, Tunisian [...]
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Filed under: Berkman, Filtering, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society
Posted on February 19th, 2007 by William McGeveran
[Updated and moved to top: application deadline extended.] It’s not a typo — the Summer Doctoral Programme started at the Oxford Internet Institute, and that’s how they spell “program” in the Queen’s English. This year, however, the sessions will be held in conjunction with the Berkman Center (not Centre!) at Harvard. The SDP is a [...]
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Filed under: Berkman, Law School, Scholarship
Posted on February 16th, 2007 by Tim Armstrong
Given all the commentary that greeted the filing of the complaint in Doe v. MySpace, Inc. last year, it’s a little odd how quietly the district court’s dismissal of the case this week has been greeted. (The court’s opinion is available as a scanned PDF here, and my possibly typo-laden transcription is on Wikisource.) Score [...]
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Filed under: Court Decisions, Intermediaries, Internet & Society
Posted on February 13th, 2007 by William McGeveran
One of the most frustrating obstacles to fair use of copyrighted content has been the failure of insurers to recognize the fair use doctrine. Typically, insurers have demanded that every scrap of copyrighted material be “cleared” — that is, licensed — which requires would-be users to (1) exert a lot of logistical effort to locate [...]
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Filed under: Berkman, Copyright, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Intermediaries, Media, Scholarship, Video
Posted on February 13th, 2007 by Tim Armstrong
It seemed like a touch of hyperbole when William Patry recently labeled the Sixth Circuit “the most prolific court of appeals in copyright cases.” But the court’s decision today in Roger Miller Music, Inc. v. Sony/ATV Publishing, LLC provides further supporting evidence. In Roger Miller Music, the court is wrestling with the issue of when [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Court Decisions
Posted on February 12th, 2007 by William McGeveran
Activists and policy wonks who work with environmental issues take it for granted that private corporate activities and markets lie at the center of both the problems and the potential solutions (like this and this) to issues such as water pollution, global warming, and habitat destruction. Organizations like Ceres work with businesses to help them [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, Berkman, Digital Media, Filtering, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Network Neutrality, NSA, Privacy, Security, Spam
Posted on February 7th, 2007 by Derek Bambauer
Wayne State University Law School is hosting a forum to discuss Google’s project to scan books into digital form. We’re fortunate to have three great panelists: Oren Bracha, Hannibal Travis, and Diane Zimmerman. The forum, established in honor of WSU alumnus Eugene Driker, begins at 5:30PM on March 8 with coffee, and the fireworks begin [...]
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Filed under: Copyright, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Education & Copyright, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Law School, Media, Scholarship, Search Engines
Posted on February 5th, 2007 by William McGeveran
The media is reporting a settlement in the long-running trademark dispute between Apple Inc. (of iPod fame) and Apple Corps. (of Beatles fame). The Fab Four’s corporate alter ego had objected to the computer-maker’s increasing move into music, alleging that the two parties’ 1991 settlement of a previous lawsuit reserved that turf for Lennon & [...]
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Filed under: Court Decisions, Digital Media, Internet & Society, Music, Trademarks