The blogger who we know affectionately as “Canada’s Million Dollar Man” holds forth on the subject of copyright in Canada in an FAQ that one must reasonably believe he thought important on the subject of “Copyright Reform”. Given the recent activity in Europe, it is well to focus for a moment on who means what […]
In a demonstration of true bipartisanship, the Obama Administration today elevated Canada to the “Priority Watch List” on the U.S. Trade Representative’s “Special 301 Report”. A country is placed on the Priority Watch List if the country’s intellectual policy practices “…have the most onerous or egregious acts, policies, or practices and whose acts, policies, or […]
This just in: According to FT, “The US Department of Justice has begun informal enquiries into at least one aspect of Google’s sweeping settlement of lawsuits from book publishers and authors, according to two people familiar with the discussions.” Oopsie.
173 years ago almost to the day a bunch of crazy Tennesseans and Texans in what is now Central Texas went down swinging together against impossible odds at a little adobe church that nobody had ever heard of. But they know it now. I think if you walked into almost any bar anywhere on the […]
I’ve been saying for years what everyone involved with p2p already knew–after Napster it was never about music introduction, it was all about getting away with stealing copies of something the user already knew about. It’s the rough equivalent of going to your local record store (or more commonly to iTunes) and finding out everything […]
It is possible for an interested party to actually intervene in the Google Books case, meaning actually become a party to the case, a litigant. The usual argument for being allowed to participate as an intervener is something like, “I’m not a party to the case, but I ought to be, so judge, please let […]
There are typically two justifications for punishment: retributive and utilitarian. Legal philosopher John Rawls succinctly summarizes the retributive view: Wrongdoing merits punishment. Society benefits when a person who does wrong suffers punishment in proportion to the depravity of her act irrespective of any of the consequences of punishing her. Failing to punish is a corrosive […]
In news from Sweden–“Ung Pirat” or “Pirate Youth” apparently is an arm of the Swedish Pirate Party for young people—unfortunate choice of name given the company is reportedly financed by a neo-Nazi. The Pirate Party is to the Pirate Bay sort of what Sinn Fein is to the IRA, aside from the fact they have […]
If you haven’t seen it, Maureen Dowd has a truly historic op-ed about Google’s impact on the news business. She got to interview creepy Eric Schmidt (“…[he] doesn’t look like a Dick Cheney World Domination sort…”) and got the typical condescending Google-tone, the “you and I both know that I’m smarter than you and you’re […]
In case you thought that it was crazy to think that Google was on the culture grab of all time, this news may cause you to think again. It’s taking too long to scan in the world’s books because of that nasty book binding problem that requires a little more human contact that a parasite […]
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