EU Public Affairs Monitor - 18/11/08

Tennessee anti-P2P law to cost colleges over $13 million November 18, 2008
With the RIAA's long-running legal war against file-sharing not having the desired effects, the music industry has turned its sights on legislation aimed at getting others to do the dirty work of copyright enforcement. Last week, they scored a victory when the state of Tennessee passed a law that would require colleges and universities to work to prevent copyright infringement over campus networks. It's great news for the RIAA, but bad news for Tennessee students and taxpayers who will have to foot the $13 million bill.

SB 3974 was introduced this past February into the state legislature. Championed by the RIAA, who pointed to the University of Tennessee's no. 4 position on the list of top music piracy schools, and the MPAA, which noted the school's no. 19 spot on its infringement list, the law will force both public and private schools in the state to implement policies to prevent and prohibit copyright infringement on campus computers and networks." [ArsTechnica]

Antipiracy group pushes 10 years jail time for UK infringers November 19, 2008
"Those guilty of online copyright infringement deserve criminal sentencings that are just as harsh as those who've been busted for commercial physical piracy, according to a UK-based antipiracy group. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) is pushing the UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to adopt modifications to current copyright law that would punish online infringers with 10 years of imprisonment, "to bring parity with commercial dealing in pirated works."

The IPO is currently in the process of considering changes to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 based on the independently-conducted Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. The Gowers report, wrapped up in 2007, concluded that, "the intention and impact of physical and online infringement are the same. Crimes committed on the online and physical world should not be subject to different sentences. Increasing the penalties for online infringement will therefore make the law coherent." As a result, Gowers wrote that punishment for online infringers should be increased to 10 years in jail, suggestion that's now known as Recommendation 36." [ArsTechnica]

What’s wrong with ISP Music Licensing Fall 2008
"The decline of revenues in the music industry has led the industry to take a closer look at the responsibilities of Internet service providers “ISPs” and alternative compensation schemes both in the United States and in Europe. Many schemes have been considered to compensate the creative community for these losses, including the ida that ISPs could charge all or some of their users a small fee on a monthly basis that each ISP would pay to the creative community as compensation in return for the user’s ability to trade content files without fear of litigation or prosecution. It is worth noting that with very few exceptions, ISPs themselves are not leading the charge to undertake this burden, and it is only within the very recent past hat ISPs have entered into industry wide agreements to support anti-piracy efforts on their networks. Anti-piracy efforts are a long way from ISP licensing…." [ChristianCastle]

How Canada Fought Bad Copyright Law: Showing Why Copyright Law Matters
"You may recall, just about a year ago, there was suddenly a bunch of news over the possibility of Canada introducing its own version of the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). To the surprise of both the entertainment industry (who helped craft the law) and the politicians who were pushing it, the opposition to this law was incredibly successful in getting its message out. Starting with calls on various blogs and Facebook groups, kicked off by law professor Michael Geist, the issue became a big one throughout the media. The politicians who promised the entertainment industry that they would pass this law tried to delay the introduction, assuming that the opposition, while loud, was thin and would fade away. They were wrong. The issue continued to get attention, and when the law was finally introduced, the opposition, across the board, was widespread and strong. It wasn't just a fringe issue among "internet activists." It was something that people from all over the economy saw as a fundamental issue worth fighting for." [TechDirt]

China Says: If You Must Infringe On Copyrights, Use Baidu
"Many people have noted over the years that with all of the effort that China has put into its Great Firewall, the country hasn't done much of anything to crack down on unauthorized file sharing. In fact, at times, it's almost seemed to encourage it. So some people were a bit surprised to find out that China's censors tried blocking traffic to various well known BitTorrent sites, such as Mininova, isoHunt and The Pirate Bay. However, what may be most interesting is that rather than blocking them outright, it appears that the system just redirects all that traffic to popular Chinese search engine Baidu.

This would be the same Baidu that first became really popular when China shifted all Google traffic to its site, and also the site that stayed popular because it made it easy to download unauthorized music. This would be the same Baidu that was also recently exposed to be fairly complicit in the music downloads it offers, potentially hosting the content itself through a revolving series of ever-changing domains. So, this hardly seems like an attempt by the Chinese government to crack down on unauthorized file sharing -- but an attempt to drive it all to a local company. It looks like the redirects only lasted for a few days, and are no longer in place -- but if the past is any indication, those redirects may come back at any time." [TechDirt]

US Public Affairs - 30/10/09

Copyright Owners Must Consider the Fair Use Doctrine when Issuing DMCA Takedown Notices

"The plaintiff, Stephanie Lenz, posted a 29-second video clip on YouTube of her children dancing to the Prince song “Let’s Go Crazy.” Universal, the copyright holder of that song, issued a DMCA takedown notice with which YouTube complied. Lenz believed that her otherwise unauthorized use of the song was permissible under the fair use doctrine and issued a counter-notice. YouTube reinstated the video six weeks later. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A)(v), DMCA takedown notices must contain a statement that the issuer has a “good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner … or the law.” Lenz sued Universal and claimed that forming such a good faith belief required a consideration of the fair use doctrine. She argued that because Universal had allegedly not given such consideration, it had misrepresented in its takedown notice that it had, in breach of 17 U.S.C. § 512(f)." [CyberLaw]

Fair Use Protection Limits Common Law Copyright Claims Over Sound Recordings in New York

"This was a case of first impression for fair use as a defense against common law copyright infringement of a sound recording. For the first time, the court defined the doctrine of fair use in New York and applied it to sound recordings. Fair use applied to the sound recording regardless of its publication since the song was subject to ‘de facto publication’ and dissemination. The court then looked to both the history of common law copyright in New York and the current federal statute for guidance about fair use. The court applied the federal fair use factors: the purpose and character of use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantially of use, and the effect on the market." [CyberLaw]

Chinese Copyright Law, Peer Production and the Participatory Media Age: An Old Regime in a New World

"In 2005, a funny flash song, "I Don't Want to Say I'm a Chicken", spread over the Internet (hereafter referred to as the Chicken Song Case). People were sharing it among friends, downloading it and using it as a mobile phone ring tone, and singing the song on KTV. The flash song is the lament of a chicken that was happy to be a source of eggs and meat, but is now facing extermination because of the threat of bird flu. Although the lyrics of the "Chicken Song" are creative and humorous, the melody of the song is lifted entirely from a famous Chinese song, "I Don't Want to Say", written by Li Haiying. As a result Li has sued the wireless content provider Kongzhong.com where the "Chicken Song" first appeared, for copyright infringement. Li believes he is owed an apology, 2 million Yuan in compensation, court costs and 50000 Yuan for mental suffering." [SSRN]

Ezra Pound's Copyright Statute: Perpetual Rights and the Problem of Heirs

"This Article explores the historical and present-day significance of proposals for copyright reform advanced by the controversial American poet, Ezra Pound, in 1918. These proposals have never been discussed by legal scholars and have received but scant attention from literary scholars. Yet, like William Wordsworth and Mark Twain, whose efforts to reform copyright law are much better known, Pound is a major writer whose views shed considerable light on the state of copyright law and the conditions of authorship in his time. Pound's proposed statute-offered as a "cure" for American book piracy-begins by making authors' copyrights exclusive and perpetual, and goes on, surprisingly, to introduce broad compulsory-license provisions that would prevent authors and their heirs from interfering with later efforts to disseminate authors' works, and would require publishers only to pay a fixed royalty on sales. The tension in Pound's proposal between a perpetual, exclusive copyright and expansive compulsory licenses shows him to be an inheritor of two legal and economic traditions: on the one hand, a Lockean and Romantic belief in a strong property rule grounded in an author's natural rights and unique personality, and, on the other, an anti-monopoly, free-trade preference for a liability rule that would encourage wide dissemination of affordable works to serve the public interest. As the author of such a dual-purpose proposal, Pound emerges as remarkably and presciently alert to the dangers currently posed by lengthy copyright terms unaccompanied by limitations that adequately protect the public. Today, the estates of James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, Samuel Beckett, and other modernist authors use extended copyrights to discourage or control use of those authors' works by scholars, critics, and others. Pound's perpetual, royalty-based copyright would, in principle, have removed or reduced such obstacles to the study and enjoyment of modernist authors. Moreover, Pound's draft statute anticipates recent proposals by Richard Posner, Lawrence Lessig, and others for mitigating the conflict between the lengthy copyright monopoly and the needs of the public." [SSRN]

Heron's Eye: 31/07/08

Why is New Labour so worried about elections?

John McDonnell MP writes on the need for increased accountability and more democratic representation within the Labour party. He also highlighted the need for more cabinet members who fancy their chances as becoming PM to explain why and have a go, rather than writing articles, holding press conferences and briefing the media. [Guardian]

David Miliband quits foreign trip to spark new rumours of challenge to Brown

David Miliband has sparked fresh speculation that he is about to leave his job as Foreign Secretary to challenge Gordon Brown after suddenly cancelling a four-day foreign trip, and holding what was interpreted as a 'farewell' meeting with his staff. [Times]

Labour's last Scottish leader?

Steve Richards discusses the possible linkage between Labour leaders’ nationality and their support from the English press and voting public. [NewStatesman]

Ministers accused of retreat on role of attorney general

Gordon Brown's plans for constitutional reforms to make the government more accountable to parliament and the public have been turned into a "ragbag of retreats" by the justice secretary, Jack Straw, according to a dissenting report by a minority on a cross-party group of MPs and peers. [Guardian]

Law lords: fraud office right to end bribery investigation in BAE case

The House of Lords yesterday ruled that the Serious Fraud Office acted lawfully when it halted its investigation into bribery allegations relating to an arms deal between Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems. [Guardian]

We're not fundamentalists - personal information deserves respect

Guy Herbert, the general secretary of NO2ID demystifies some of the criticisms that opponents to ID cards receive. [Guardian]

MPs tell internet firms to police 'dark side' of web

The internet industry must take more responsibility for protecting young people from the "dark side" of digital content relating to abuse, violence and suicide, according to a committee of MPs. [Guardian]

MPs, step away from the internet

Charles Arthur writes on the distance in thinking between MP’s penchant for top down planning and the everyday functioning of the Internet. [Guardian]

China accuses US of trying to sabotage Olympics

The Chinese government accused US politicians of displaying "evil motives" and trying to "sabotage the Olympics" today after the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Beijing's record on human rights. [Guardian]

Why the News of the World should be caned for its scandalous errors

Roy Greenslade intuitively deliberates on the Max Moseley and NOTW trial. [Guardian]

How the unions bailed out Labour with £10million

The scale of Labour's reliance on the trade unions was revealed yesterday as the debt-ridden party published its accounts. [DailyMail]

King of the Hill

With all of the tremendous political weight that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accumulated over the last eight years, he has the rare ability to wreak havoc on financial markets with only one short phrase.

Putin's harsh criticisms on July 24 of the Mechel coal and steel company caused the value of its American Depositary Receipts to fall by 36 percent, or nearly $6 billion, on the New York Stock Exchange. Two days later, when Mechel's management admitted that it had been selling raw materials to overseas customers at half the price it charged on the domestic market -- precisely as Putin had claimed in his public rebuke -- its share price rebounded by 22 percent. [MoscowTimes]

Tory MP Alan Duncan sues Telegraph for libel

Tory MP Alan Duncan is suing Telegraph Media Group for libel over a story published in the Daily Telegraph. Duncan, the shadow secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, is demanding unspecified damages. He claims that a front page story headed: "Cameron tries to steady Tories as EU sleaze scandal spreads", and an inside page story: "Second shadow cabinet member in sleaze inquiry", were defamatory. [PressGazette]

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