Favorite After almost two decades of litigation, you’d think the contours of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbors would be settled. But the cases just keep coming, and while the overall trend is pretty favorable, the latest ruling takes an unfortunate turn (PDF). The case involves LiveJournal, a social media platform that allows…
All posts tagged Fair Use and Intellectual Property: Defending the Balance
Another Loss For Broadcast TV Streaming, And A Dangerous Shift Of Decision-Making Power
Favorite Another court has ruled that streaming local broadcast TV channels to mobile devices is something that only traditional pay-TV companies can do—startups need not apply. The Ninth Circuit appeals court has ruled that FilmOn, an Internet video service, cannot use the license created by Congress for “secondary transmissions” of over-the-air TV broadcasts. That likely…
Patents Are A Big Part Of Why We Can’t Own Nice Things: the Supreme Court Should Fix That
Favorite Today, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could allow companies to keep a dead hand of control over their products, even after you buy them. The case, Impression Products v. Lexmark International, is on appeal from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, who last year affirmed its own precedent…
Brazil Proposes New Digital Copyright Rules for the WTO
Favorite Copyright rules don’t belong in trade agreements—so where do they belong? For the most part, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is probably the right place; it’s a fully multilateral body that devotes its entire attention to copyright, patent, and other so-called intellectual property (IP) rules, rather than including them as an afterthought in agreements…
One Step Closer to Reclaiming University Innovation From Trolls
Favorite Last year, EFF, along with our partner organizations, launched Reclaim Invention, a campaign to encourage universities across the country to commit to adopting patent policies that advance the public good. Reclaim Invention asks universities to focus on by bringing their inventions to the public, rather than selling or licensing them to patent assertion entities…
Leaked Report Slams European Link Tax and Upload Filtering Plans
Favorite Earlier this week we explained how the tide is turning against the European Commission’s proposal for Internet platforms to adopt new compulsory copyright filters as part of its upcoming Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. As we explained, users and even the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection…
EU Internet Advocates Launch Campaign to Stop Dangerous Copyright Filtering Proposal
Favorite In the wake of the European Commission’s dangerous proposal to require user-generated content platforms to filter user uploads for copyright infringement, European digital rights advocates are calling on Internet users throughout Europe to stand up for freedom of expression online by urging their MEP (Member of European Parliament) to stop the #CensorshipMachine and “save…
FOIA Uncovers Part of U.K. Shadow Regulation on Search Engines and Copyright
Favorite Last month we wrote about the adoption of a new secret agreement between copyright holders and the major search engines, brokered by the U.K. Intellectual Property Office, aimed at making websites associated with copyright infringement less visible in search results. Since the agreement wasn’t publicly available, we simultaneously issued a request under the U.K.’s Freedom…
What’s up at the W3C: further reading for Reply All listeners
Favorite The latest episode of the technology podcast Reply All features an excellent summary of some of the issues with the World Wide Web Consortium’s current project to create a standard for restricting the use of videos on the web; we’ve created this post for people who’ve just listened to the episode and want to…
Fair Use as Consumer Protection
Favorite Talking about fair use often means talking about your right to re-use existing copyrighted works in the process of making something new – to make remixes and documentaries, parodies, or even to build novel Internet search tools. But now that copyright-protected software is in almost everything (including our cars, our toasters, our pacemakers and…