“The law, like the marketplace, applauds innovators. It rewards the trend-setters, the market-makers, the path-finding non-conformists who march to the beat of their own drums. To foster such creativity, statutes and common law rules accord to inspired pioneers various means of recompense and incentives.” 1Louboutin v. Yves Saint Laurent, Decision and Order, No. 11 Civ. 2381 (SDNY Aug. 10, 2011).
Please help UK indie labels harmed in PIAS warehouse fire — One of the many casualties of this week’s riots in London was a warehouse containing inventory for a large number of independent record labels. Many lost large portions of their entire physical inventory. The Create Digital Music blog has additional information on official and third-party efforts to assist the labels and artists affected.
Creative America is seeking stories from those affected by content theft — The new grassroots organization writes: “Don’t forget to share your story about how content theft has affected you or a project you’ve worked on. Email us your story at stories@creativeamerica.org along with your name and studio and/or union affiliation for our upcoming new website and our Facebook and Twitter feeds!”
Authors and press publishers worry about making a living in the digital age — Future of Copyright takes a look at these worries, specifically as explored by Robert Levine in his new book Free Ride
New Website for the National IPR Coordination Center — ICE announces a redesigned website for the Center, which coordinates enforcement efforts, investigations, and training between 17 different federal agencies charged with protecting IP rights.
Zediva ‘suspending’ operations; many legal alternatives remain — The streaming site has officially shut down its operations following a federal court imposing a preliminary injunction against it. The MPAA notes the wealth of services where movie fans can watch films online, from iTunes to Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, and VOD offerings from cable and satellite providers.
The Numbers Behind a CreateSpace Bestseller — CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, provides Print On Demand services for authors. How much can writers sell through it? Author Lee Goldberg reports that he was #4 on the fiction bestseller chart at CreateSpace in July … and he had sold 204 copies.
Waiting for Kirtsaeng: the Still Unresolved Tension Between Sections 602 and 109 of the Copyright Act — Last year’s 4-4 split in Costco v. Omega did little to provide guidance for those involved with grey market goods and parallel imports. Andrew Berger looks at three separate cases pending in the 2nd Circuit that must resolve the issues the Supreme Court punted on.
The Greatest Anti-Plagiarism Video I’ve Seen — Entertaining video aimed at educating college students about the dangers of plagiarism. “A Plagiarism Carol” is in Norwegian, but includes English subtitles.
Why Free is so Misunderstood — Faza looks at the strange subset of pundits who champion the “economics of free” as though it were some sort of religious tenet. The reality is that the ideas of loss leaders, promotional giveaways, and giving away the razors and selling the blades have been around for centuries. Creators shouldn’t ignore these ideas, but they also shouldn’t rush into giving away their work because it’s the latest craze.
Hargreaves IP Review – the Response — The Copyright Alliance presents a guest blog from PPL’s Dominic McGonigal looks at the latest UK IP Review, the Hargreaves Report. He notes that the UK’s efforts to reform copyright law are beginning to seem like Groundhog Day: “Another review of IP. Another Report. Another set of Recommendations.”
References
| ↑1 | Louboutin v. Yves Saint Laurent, Decision and Order, No. 11 Civ. 2381 (SDNY Aug. 10, 2011). |
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This is vaguely relevant to several of the items. In today’s Sunday Times (UK) Culture section I noticed the following:
“Alex Cornish, a singer-songwriter whose latest album, No Shore, was described in these pages as Mercury Prize contender, is struggling. He has watched his music being downloaded thousands of times for nothing. He is brilliant, but not rich. Therefore, he’s in trouble. ‘If just a small percentage of those who are sharing my music online pay for it,’ he writes, ‘I will be able to get to work on my next album’. The problem, as the problem has been for years, is that countless music fans are not used to paying for anything online. They do not see it as theft, they see it as free.” (the full article is behind the Sunday Times paywall).