Law… Jury Finds Pharrell and Thicke Infringed 10 Mar 2015 Well, it looks like the question in my earlier post has been answered: The jury found that Thicke and Williams had infringed on the tune, but not rapper T.I. .... The…
Law… When do Homages Turn into Copyright Infringement? 10 Mar 2015 The Robin Thicke song "Blurred Lines" is the subject of some fairly heated copyright litigation that won't go away. If you haven't heard, Marvin Gaye's estate is suing Robin Thicke,…
Law… Innovation Breeds Contempt 17 Nov 2009 Except Viacom might have a little less contempt for you than it might originally be thought. The General Counsel at Viacom (the entertainment behemoth responsible for Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central,…
Law… Municipal Wi-Fi Actually (still) Exists? 13 Nov 2009 I was under the impression that municipal Wi-Fi was a dead idea that municipalities had abandoned a couple of years ago. Apparently, Coshocton, Ohio didn't get the memo, because it's…
Gizmos… No Suit for You! 16 Oct 2009 I mentioned a while ago that ASCAP was suing AT&T over ringtones, saying that royalties were owed every time someone's phone rang. Public performance and all that. Well, in addition…
Law… France’s Copyright Legislation 15 Sep 2009 France can be a strange country. (And in other news, cats can be aloof.) Well, perhaps it isn't so fair to single France out; all countries have their peculiarities. But…
Law… Even More on the Google Books Settlement 11 Sep 2009 Settlement agreements rarely get the amount of scrutiny as the proposed agreement in the Google Books controversy, and now the Register of Copyrights, Marybeth Peters, has testified to Congress about…
Law… Google Books Settlement and Privacy Concerns 7 Sep 2009 Google has always been a problematic company for me. On one hand, its search engine has become the de facto starting point for the vast majority of internet users, so…
Law… Fun with the AP 9 Apr 2009 Following up on yesterday's post about the AP and its "mad as hell" posturing, we are beginning to see some of the lunacy involved with its new approach. TechCrunch, which…
Entertainment… No surprises here…. Studios Don’t Like RealDVD 30 Sep 2008 My last post (three weeks ago, natch) suggested that the studios would find some way to sue RealNetworks for its software, RealDVD, even if Real wasn't hacking the encryption. Looks…
