Usually, when we talk about copyright or patents, we focus on the utilitarian aspects of the law. We generally discuss the merits of specific arguments in a case or the need of the author or inventor to earn a living from her work relative to the social and economic value of that work to the market. But an ongoing debate ...
Photo by stefanocarocci H.R. 1695, The Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act, passed in the House of Representatives last week with a vote of 378-48. As the bill moves to the Senate, many of the usual suspects in anti-copyright circles have vowed to fight its full passage into law. By “fight,” I assume these groups will repeat a bit louder ...
Chameleon photos by leisuretime70 Imagine Elizabeth Proctor runs a corner café in a small town and that Abby Williams has held a grudge against Elizabeth ever since the former beat her out for cheerleader captain back in high school. So, feeling especially vindictive one afternoon, Abby writes a nasty review of Lizzy’s café on Yelp, complete with invented details about bugs ...
Photo by jeancol1503 Well, here we go. The network of copyright critics seems to be working out their main talking points for hating on H.R. 1695, which proposes to make the Register of Copyrights a presidential appointee (with Senate approval) rather than an employee of the Librarian of Congress. Mike Masnick, founder/editor of Techdirt, has written a piece for The Verge ...
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in a copyright case that addresses the principle of “separability.” This is one of those areas of IP that a colleague of mine would call the “metaphysics of law,” and that’s not a criticism. In fact, I happen to think the more subtle aspects of copyright—the ones that challenge judges to weigh esoteric ideas ...
