As debate over renegotiating NAFTA heats up, the copyright interests will be duking it out with the internet industry over the inclusion, or not, of “safe harbor” provisions akin to Section 512 of the DMCA and Section 230 of the CDA.  In a letter dated August 31 to USTR Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the Internet Association sang its standard refrain on ...

An important and instructive decision was handed down this week by New York District Court in the KinderGuides case. KinderGuides is a series of children’s books that include adaptations of classic works with some commentary about the authors and the stories.  Publisher Moppet Books has released illustrated, young-reader versions of works from the public domain like The Odyssey and Jane ...

In July, two new lawsuits were filed against the streaming service Spotify, alleging willful copyright infringement on a “staggering scale.”  Publisher Bluewater Music Services and songwriter, musician, and producer Robert Gaudio (formerly of The Four Seasons) both accuse the streaming service of infringing the reproduction and distribution rights of songwriters by failing to obtain mechanical licenses for several thousand songs ...

Photo by porpeller Empirical evidence tells us that all human existence is a sand castle. At best, if no other cataclysm comes first (and one probably will), the inexorable expansion of our sun will wash away the Earth and any evidence that we were ever here. One possible exception may be the two records affixed to the Voyager spacecraft, still traveling ...

(Image source by kentoh) Remember Clippy?  He was the animated paper-clip assistant, who lived several years ago amid the code of Microsoft Office. He would pop up rather suddenly on your desktop and interrupt your work to offer unsolicited advice as to how the work might be improved.  He was so annoying that Bill Gates reportedly sent an email memo to ...

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