An open-source database described as “the computing world’s principal source of time-zone data” and “the key tool used by everyone to tell the right time globally” was shut down last week because of a lawsuit asserting that it was too dependent on a privately published atlas which was (allegedly) improperly relied on for historic entries. It’s been rebooted now, but the database compilers still face possible personal liability. [Stephen Colebourne, update] Programmer Arthur Olson, incidentally, is no relation.
Posts Tagged ‘copyright’
“The nastiest copyright notice ever written”
Terry Teachout thus nominates the verbal barbed wire that surrounds the work of the late poet Louis Zukofsky (see also).
Musical forensics, via Google
“Does the infamous ‘Happy Birthday to You’ copyright hold up to scrutiny?” [Paul Collins, Slate]
Monkey-snapped photos, cont’d
A takedown letter (not, apparently, monkey-typed) is the latest development in the copyright flap that has transfixed the legal blogosphere [David Post, Jim Harper, Lowering the Bar, earlier]
Vintage sound recordings
Many are lost in a copyright maze: “The American rules infuriate scholars, archivists, musicians and the conservationists who preserve fragile recordings. They fret that by the time the recordings become available, many will be beyond salvation.” [The Economist] “A Trove of Historic Jazz Recordings has Found a Home in Harlem, But You Can’t Hear Them” [Steven Seidenberg, ABA Journal]
Pixilated version of famous Miles Davis image
Oh, what an expensive bet on “fair use” that idea for album art turned out to be [Andy Baio, waxy.org via @petewarden]
June 8 roundup
- Law firm settles with employee who said required high heels led to back injury [ABA Journal]
- Stock listings fleeing U.S. for overseas, legal environment a factor [Ribstein, TotM]
- Partial solution to above? Ted Frank places a stock bet on the Wal-Mart case [PoL, more]
- Wider press coverage of hospital drug shortage [AP, Reuters, my March post]
- Trial judge up north supports certifying as class action unusual suit blaming Newfoundland for moose collisions [Canadian Press via Karlsgodt, earlier here and here]
- Academic revolt against copyright overreach [Chron of Higher Ed]
- Sues deceased grandmother over trampoline injury [Madison County Record]
Copycat reality-TV shows
At what point if ever do they rise to the level of legal infringement? [Matthew Belloni, THREsq.]
May 20 roundup
- Interview with brewmaster of “Collaboration Not Litigation Ale” [Abnormal Use]
- New “public trust” theory emerges in climate change litigation [Sean Wajert, Jim Huffman]
- Who did the fact-checking? Questions over award to Harper’s journalist Scott Horton [Stimson, Heritage “Foundry”, my ’08 take]
- “Nightmare scenario for higher education”: copyright case against Georgia State seeks sweeping injunction [Duke University Libraries]
- “Vast wasteland” broadcast regulator: “Glenn Garvin scales and guts Newton Minow” [Miami Herald via @jackshafer]
- Teacher in suburban DC still devastated by false abuse charges [WaPo, Lanny Davis, David Bernstein]
- Sweetness and light: “Rising tide of litigation lifts [law] firms” [WSJ Law Blog]
“How Copyright Law Makes Sample-Based Music Impossibly Expensive… If You Want To Do It Legally”
Kembrew McLeod: “it [licensing] gets way more complicated when you start sampling songs that contain samples, which is increasingly the case today.” [Atlantic Wire via TechDirt]