Tattoo Copyright — The lawsuit involving the tattoo in the Hangover 2 has generated considerable attention. Though the players involved and the medium of fixation amount for a good deal of the interest, I seem to think the actual legal issues involved are fairly mundane. Marisa Kakoulas, lawyer and self-proclaimed ‘tattoo nerd’, has one of the best write-ups I’ve seen on the various copyright issues involved at the Needles and Sins Tattoo Blog.
Why plagiarism is not flattery — Jonathan Bailey pens another excellent article at PlagiarismToday. Often, victims of plagiarism (or copyright infringement in general) are told not to worry about it, since “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” But most misappropriation isn’t done out of respect for the quality of the original work.
Conversation with Richard Masur and the Screen Actors Guild — Brett Caraway has posted a transcript of an interview with the former SAG president at Copygrounds. Masur talks about the past, present, and future of the guild, why it has turned its focus on IP issues, and advice for aspiring actors and directors. Very in-depth and highly recommended reading.
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Anti-piracy Bill — The unanimous vote brought praise from the creative community: “As the unions and guilds representing more than 400,000 entertainment industry workers including craftspeople, actors, technicians, directors, musicians, recording artists and others whose creativity is at the heart of the American entertainment industry, we believe the Protect IP Act is critical to efforts to aggressively combat the proliferation of foreign ‘rogue websites’ that steal U.S.-produced content and profit from it by illegally selling it to the American public
Floyd Abrams on the Protect IP Act — As he did with COICA, the noted First Amendment lawyer looks at the pending legislation from a constitutional standpoint and believes it is well within the bounds of what Congress can do to address online piracy. He examines it with an eye toward both the First Amendment and due process. “The procedural protections under the Protect IP Act are so strong, uniform and constitutionally rooted that it is no exaggeration to observe that any complaints in this area are not really with the bill, but with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure itself, which governs all litigants in U.S. federal courts.”
The MTP Interview: Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering — Chris Castle interviews legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig about the loudness wars, making music sound good in an ear-bud world, and other topics.
Auto-Tune for Guitars? — Nooo! Actually, it’s not so bad. Antares, the makers of the (in)famous pitch-correcting software for vocals, is developing a system for guitars that looks like it can have lots of exciting applications beyond making mediocre players sound better.
Facebook Post may Poke Holes in Northumberland County Lawsuit — Not copyright related, but it happened in my neck of the woods, and I haven’t seen it discussed much online. A court has ordered a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit to provide defendant with access to the personal areas of his social networking profiles for discovery. (One of the reasons defendants think it will help their case: plaintiff is claiming, among other things, that the injury left him with scarring on his leg making him embarrassed to wear shorts. But photos on his public profiles show him, yep, having fun while wearing shorts with his scar clearly visible.) Only a handful of courts have addressed the discoverability of private social networking profiles, and the court order here is thorough and well-reasoned, so it could become a “go-to” case for other courts faced with the issue in the future. The court opinion is available here.
Thanks for the link! Glad you liked the article. I always look forward to these Friday lists.
“The logic falls apart there because we realize that criminals choose their victim based on risk vs. reward and the quality of goods is only part of the reward. Convenience, quick turn around and other elements are also factors. However, plagiarists choose their victims in much the same way and they often do so with much less skill than the common mugger chooses theirs.”
I find it very funny that plagiarists have to stalk their victim as if it’s really that much of a big deal. Really? Plagiarism is a criminal act that has to be punished by five hundred lashings and 2 years in prison? Wow…
Then he gives absolutely no suggestion in how to “deal with the situation”. Just a suggestion to “keep it classy”.
Obviously, there’s better ways to deal with plagiarism, or copying of an article, than give a domain host a hard time by demanding your rights. Wow, he uses articles on another part of the site and it’s eating you alive because someone can Ctr+C everything! Then you just google search everything and find other sites that can do the same thing! I’m absolutely amazed, in this day and age, that someone would take so much time to deal with that issue and complain than do something constructive.
“It’s a rather ironic twist but, because of him, I haven’t suffered since.”
It seems the internet is Serious Business.