Copyhype

Obama’s intellectual property chief steps down — A sincere thank you and best wishes to Victoria Espinel, who, it was announced this week, is stepping down from her post as Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. Espinel was the first IPEC, appointed late 2009. Her office released a Joint Strategic Plan in June, detailing its work and goals over the next three years.

The ‘Breaking Bad’ example for why illegal downloading must stop — One of the many ways copyright benefits the public: “Since production began in 2007, “Breaking Bad” has spent an estimated $60 million to $70 million on goods, services and wages for crew members in New Mexico — not counting wages paid to actors, writers and directors.” The same holds true for any other television show or film being made. (And no Breaking Bad spoilers please, I’m still catching up on Netfilx!)

“Open Source” Doesn’t Mean There’s Not a License — Open source and other copyleft licenses are often thought of as alternatives to copyright, but they rely upon copyright to exist. Particularly, the noneconomic control that copyright provides to creators; it’s just that in the case of open source, the control is targeted at such things as limiting commercial use or requiring downstream modifications to be released to the public under similar license terms.

Tun-Jen Chiang: Rehabilitating the Property Theory of Copyright’s First Amendment Exemption — “A continuing controversy in copyright law is the exemption of copyright from First Amendment scrutiny. The Supreme Court has justified the exemption based on history and the intentions of the Framers, but this explanation is unpersuasive on the historical facts. There is an alternative explanation: copyright is property, and private property is generally exempt from scrutiny under standard First Amendment doctrine.”

The Night Eric Schmidt Joked About Killing Newspapers — “I said to him, ‘It’s going to be on your tombstone: “I killed newspapers.”‘ And he said, ‘No, I love newspapers.’ And I said, ‘But you’re taking all of our money!’ And he said, like a good CEO, ‘It’s our money now.’”