Creative America — Creative America is a new grassroots organization “uniting the entertainment community and others against content theft.” Along with their website, you can find the group on Facebook and Twitter. Chris Dodd of the MPAA remarks:
Most of the over 2 million Americans whose jobs are supported by the motion picture industry aren’t marquee stars or studio executives. They’re the people whose names you see in the closing credits, with titles like makeup artist, set dresser, prop maker, sound effects editor, visual effects artist, rigging electrician, costumer, and driver. They’re the teenagers working their first job taking tickets at the local movie theatre or theme park. And they’re the people who work for local retailers, caterers, dry cleaners, florists, hardware and lumber suppliers, transportation companies, and thousands of other small businesses that support our industry.
When someone steals a movie and profits from that theft, these are the people they’re robbing from. These are the people who will have less to feed their families, to care for their parents, to save for retirement, to put their kids through school. And now, these are the people whose voices you’re about to hear.
Creative America, a new and unprecedented partnership among studios, networks, unions, and guilds, will give the men and women of our community a new way to speak out in the fight against content theft. This grassroots campaign will help everyone across this country understand that content theft isn’t a victimless crime – it hurts all of us.
Major ISPs agree to “six strikes” copyright enforcement plan — Ars Technica reports on the voluntary agreement announced this week signed by major ISPs. The RIAA released a statement in support of the new Copyright Alert System, quoting statements of support from many other trade associations. Also in support: the White House. James Gannon offers his take, noting that recent studies show this type of system is the most effective way of addressing online infringement to date.
Blindsided! Will U.S. Supreme Court Patent Ruling on Willful Blindness Determine Standard for Red-Flag Knowledge Under DMCA? — Naomi Jane Gray reports on a breaking development in the Viacom v. YouTube appeal currently awaiting oral argument in the Second Circuit. Great analysis of the issues, but as Gray concludes, it’s anyone’s guess how the Second Circuit will ultimately respond to Viacom’s argument.
Fighting the Good Fight — Leslie Burns reminds artists, creators, and those who recognize the importance of copyright in society not to stoop to the level of opponents, who often hide behind anonymity, resort to name-calling, and engage in even more deplorable tactics when facts, reason, and good policy don’t support their position.
Cherish the Book Publishers – You’ll Miss Them When They’re Gone (H/T Lee Goldberg) — Eric Felten reports on the e-book gold rush currently underway. The lack of gatekeepers for self-publishing writers seems attractive, but what is the public losing out on?
A friend, years ago, worked at a major New York publishing house tending the slush pile. It was her job to peruse the unsolicited manuscripts for anything that might be a hidden gem, and to send the dreaded form letters to the rest. She took no pleasure in sending rejections and was eager to find something, anything, worthy in the pile. She dreamed of discovering the great undiscovered talent—oh, what a story (and a career) it would make! Alas, in two years of sifting she found only one marginally plausible submission she could recommend to her bosses.
The e-book era promises us all the pleasure of wading through the slush pile ourselves, even as the pile grows exponentially.
Extradition For Pirates? Seized Domain Admins Call It Quits — TorrentFreak reports on pirate site operators voluntarily shutting down in the wake of ICE’s Operation in Our Sites. “The risks outweigh the pros of running a site like Re1ease now, then when we heard about TVShack, we thought enough is enough, ” said one.
On full content RSS (not excerpt only), spam blogs and content thieves — Bloggers, do you offer full posts or excerpts in your RSS feed? Hillary DePiano would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.
How to Fix Horror (H/T Alex Epstein) — If you’re a fan of horror movies like I am, you might be interested in author Jason Zinoman’s ongoing series of provocative essays on the subject at Slate. Up so far: “Stop trying to be so respectable”, “Kill the back story”, and “Embrace the remake”.
Finally, the distinction between copyright and plagiarism has recently been a (somewhat) hot topic online. Here’s a couple of stories from the past week on the subject:
The Unoriginal Sin: Differences Between Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement — Attorney and writer Mark Fowler takes a comprehensive look at both the legal and descriptive differences between the two, touching also on newer developments likeMurphy v. Millennium Radio Group.
The Role of Copyright in Fighting Plagiarism — PlagiarismToday’s Jonathan Bailey takes a different approach to this issue: he looks at the overlap between copyright infringement and plagiarism rather than the differences and discusses how the legal tools of copyright are used to police the largely ethical issue of plagiarism.