Copyright

Why is Prince Being a Creep About that Radiohead Cover?

May 30, 2008 by Jim Connelly

You’d think that it would be so easy: as a wink and a nod at the audience for whom he’s performing, Prince does a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella, a bunch of cell-phone videos gets put up on YouTube, and everybody marvels — for the eighty zillionth time — at what a versatile mother-fracker Prince is.

And, oh yeah, what a great song “Creep” remains. Sure, it would have been cooler had Prince covered “Karma Police” or “Everything In Its Right Place,” (especially if Prince had changed the opening line to “Yesterday I woke up, you were sucking my lemon”), but, all things considered, “Creep” was good enough, and the whole thing just becomes part of the legend of both artists.

You’d think. But, as it turns out, things are a bit more complicated. Which since it’s Prince and Radiohead, makes a lot of sense, since inherent in the greatness of each artist is more than a touch of madness.

Making Us All That Much More Stupid: Bad Movie Night at The Dark Room

November 9, 2007 by Sherilyn Connelly

Oh, we piss people off.

The schedule for the next few months is posted on flyers outside the theater, and on December 15, we’re doing It’s a Wonderful Life. There was already some internal conflict about it, and some anonymous wag wrote on one of the flyers: “It’s not a bad movie, you S.O.B.s!!!” With three lines under S.O.B.s, so we’ll know they mean business.

Yeah, some people don’t like Bad Movie Night so much.

Me, I do. It’s my baby. I didn’t create the show—that honor goes to Jim Fourniadis and Ty McKenzie—but I was there on the first night: Red Dawn, March 27, 2005. Coincidentally, I broke up with my girlfriend of seven years earlier that afternoon. As a result I almost didn’t go to the show at all, but I was looking forward to it, and the point of the breakup had been (among other things) so I could go do the stuff I wanted, and Bad Movie Night was very much the stuff I wanted to do. I became a frequent co-host, eventually ~~weaseling~~ working my up to de facto curator. It’s still the most fun thing I do on a regular basis.

Warning: Those Copyright Warnings May Not Be Entirely Accurate

August 2, 2007 by Kirk Biglione

Can you really be sued by Major League Baseball for telling a friend about that game you watched on TV last night? If you believe the warning that announcers read during every broadcast, you’re violating MLB’s rights when you talk about a game.

“This copyrighted telecast is presented by authority of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. It may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form, and the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without express written consent.”

Read the warning closely and it’s not clear what is allowed. MLB doesn’t want me uploading video clips to YouTube — fair enough. But what about “accounts and descriptions” of the game? Do I really need the express written consent of Bud Selig in order to legally tell you that Barry Bonds walked on four pitches in the fifth inning?

On one hand, MLB’s warning is so broad and all-inclusive that it’s become something of a cultural joke. On the other hand, similar over-reaching warnings have become standard on most forms of content protected by copyright. Copyright holders may not actually have all of the rights they claim when they issue these warnings, but that doesn’t stop them from trying to scare consumers with unenforceable threats.

The cumulative impact of these warnings has been to confuse consumers about the nature and balance of rights associated with copyright. Copyright law is complicated enough without entertainment companies intentionally misleading the public.

Customer Service Through Litigation: The RIAA Institutionalizes Its Business Model

May 14, 2007 by Kassia Krozser

I admit to being a bit old-fashioned, but in my mind, good customer service rarely involves suing your customers. But, for the past several years, that’s just what the RIAA has done. Nothing creates a warm and fuzzy feeling about an industry faster than threats. Makes you feel wanted.

Illegal downloads are a problem. I maintain — because frankly, the RIAA has offered nothing in the way of hard evidence — that the amount of money being lost is quite a bit less than what the press releases suggest. I believe this simply because every download does not represent a lost sale. In many cases, the songs would have gone unsold, unheard, unnoticed.
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Creator Of Frivolous Lawsuits Files Lawsuit Against Other Frivolous Lawsuit Filers

March 26, 2007 by Jim Connelly

Hollywood, March 26/ MR Newswire

Steve Samwell, the creator of the concept of filing frivolous lawsuits against the producers of hit TV Shows, Films and Records, has today announced that he will file a lawsuit against “everyone in the past 40 years who has filed a lawsuit claiming that their idea was stolen.” Mr. Samwell is asserting that these people have stolen his intellectual property and are profiting from that theft.

Captain Copyright Has Left The Building

February 5, 2007 by Kirk Biglione

Last year we told you about Captain Copyright, the cartoon character who was created to teach the children of Canada about the value of intellectual property and the dangers of piracy. While we support teaching children about the real world, Captain Copyright’s lesson plans seemed more more like propaganda than fair and balanced representations of the complex issues surrounding copyright and intellectual property.

This morning we’ve learned that Captain Copyright has been asked to turn in his tights and cape. The Captain’s creators, a group called Access Copyright, have decided to pull the plug on the program. While today’s announcement came as a surprise, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. In his short time fighting crime Captain Copyright managed to make a lot of enemies.

How To Copyright An Atomic Bomb

February 3, 2007 by Kirk Biglione

If you had any doubt about America’s national priorities, consider this: Yesterday’s bomb scare has become today’s copyright violation.

Earlier this week Boston authorities were busy calling in the Department Homeland Security over some mysterious looking circuit boards. Everyone involved was certain they were bombs that would be detonated as part of some evil plot to prevent the Red Sox from winning another World Series. Just days later someone (we’re still not quite sure who) is apparently claiming that eBay auctions offering those very same circuit boards are a copyright violation. The path from terrorism to piracy is a surprisingly short one.

Given the fact that hundreds of signs were hidden in at least 10 major cities, it should come as no surprise to anyone that they’re starting to turn up on eBay. What is surprising is that anyone would consider their sale a violation of copyright. Copyright protects the right to copy (hence the name). By all accounts, the signs that are being auctioned are authentic.

What Ever Happened To Google Book Search

January 3, 2007 by Kassia Krozser

One of the great, sort-of-under the mainstream media’s radar stories of this past year was/is Google Book Search. If you hang around publishing circles (which, well, I do), it’s been a blip on the screen, but if you’re looking at big media stories, this one just seems to escape the big press.

Maybe it’s just that books aren’t as glamorous as movies, I don’t know. But while the major studios and music labels try — and I use the word very deliberately — to wrap their minds around the concept of digitizing and distributing content, Google (and, to be fair, Microsoft and Amazon) has pushed forward with its plan. As I type, I can access digitized books and make decisions about their usefulness in my current research. As more product gets added to the search engine, I find myself using this feature of Google more and more. I have actually made one purchase based on this feature. Not a bad return on investment, considering I never would have found this book on Amazon. I tried; Amazon’s search functionality denied me, time and again. Google, however, was more than happy to offer the book up right away.
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How Can I Copy DVDs To My iPod?

December 15, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Dear Lopy:

I’ve got one of those so-called video iPods. It’s fine that I can download television shows and movies from iTunes, but I’ve already got a huge DVD collection. I don’t really see the need to re-purchase programs that I already own. It seems like I should be able to transfer my DVD’s to my iPod. iTunes is great about copying my CD collection. How come it can’t do the same thing with my DVD collection?

Signed,
Confused By iTunes

Who Is Hurt By Stealing Music?

November 28, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

So, we received a question this morning, and it’s one that every member of the ‘loper team will probably want to address in different ways: who does piracy really hurt? You know the arguments, how some people believe that stealing music doesn’t hurt anything because, well, those corporations are so big, nobody will notice a few bucks here, a few bucks there.

Let’s be honest here. Piracy hurts every single person and business in the chain. It hurts the artist, it hurts the labels, it hurts the retailers. If you’re talking in terms of physical media, it hurts the people who drive trucks and work in warehouses. It hurts artists who haven’t yet been signed to labels. You might not think there’s an impact, but you’re wrong.
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