http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/01350522652/because-some-students-stanford-go-to-startups-that-somehow-means-stanford-is-no-longer-university.shtml#c361 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:57:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/01350522652/because-some-students-stanford-go-to-startups-that-somehow-means-stanford-is-no-longer-university.shtml#c361 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130314/02073922318/appeals-court-wants-more-copyright-defendants-to-stand-up-their-fair-use-rights.shtml#c328 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:11:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130314/02073922318/appeals-court-wants-more-copyright-defendants-to-stand-up-their-fair-use-rights.shtml#c328 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130321/13345322408/court-finds-meltwaters-news-clipping-service-infringes-ap-copyrights.shtml#c77 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:10:19 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130321/13345322408/court-finds-meltwaters-news-clipping-service-infringes-ap-copyrights.shtml#c77 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130130/07141521824/french-national-library-privatizes-public-domain-materials.shtml#c527 Fri, 1 Feb 2013 11:20:19 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130130/07141521824/french-national-library-privatizes-public-domain-materials.shtml#c527
So then what stops you just from copying the digital copy made by the company? There's no privity/contractual obligation between you and either the BnF or the company, (contracts can't create obligations for persons who aren't parties to them), so you're not in breach of their agreement.

Conceivably, they could have an EULA to access the digitized documents, but even if that were effective for people directly accessing the documents, anyone they provide the copies to would not be subject to its terms.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130130/07141521824/french-national-library-privatizes-public-domain-materials.shtml#c391 Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:50:40 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130130/07141521824/french-national-library-privatizes-public-domain-materials.shtml#c391
That is what I was referring to - the right to exclude other uses of the work. The basis of that kind of right is copyright. So without copyright, how can they transfer the right to exclude? I don't understand how it was a valid transaction.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130130/07141521824/french-national-library-privatizes-public-domain-materials.shtml#c131 Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:07:28 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130130/07141521824/french-national-library-privatizes-public-domain-materials.shtml#c131 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130103/17345921575/camming-group-leader-sentenced-to-5-years-barred-owning-any-device-that-can-infringe-copyrights-after-release.shtml#c367 Fri, 4 Jan 2013 07:58:19 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130103/17345921575/camming-group-leader-sentenced-to-5-years-barred-owning-any-device-that-can-infringe-copyrights-after-release.shtml#c367 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121218/13395521429/intellectual-ventures-claims-its-misunderstood-its-really-just-trying-to-help-everyone-sift-through-find-good-patents.shtml#c442 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:34:55 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121218/13395521429/intellectual-ventures-claims-its-misunderstood-its-really-just-trying-to-help-everyone-sift-through-find-good-patents.shtml#c442
Well, since the abstract states his paper "exposes the near-universal misuse of history by lawyers and scholars today" its pretty much implicit in his argument that he's in the minority.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121218/13395521429/intellectual-ventures-claims-its-misunderstood-its-really-just-trying-to-help-everyone-sift-through-find-good-patents.shtml#c335 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:30:13 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121218/13395521429/intellectual-ventures-claims-its-misunderstood-its-really-just-trying-to-help-everyone-sift-through-find-good-patents.shtml#c335
Second, the moral rights legal doctrine applies to the right to attribution and the right to protect the integrity of the work. Meaning an artist has moral rights in preventing the alteration or defacement of their creation. There is no economic component to moral rights in this sense.

If by moral rights he simply means natural law, well, then to say the founders adherents to natural law/social contract theory is basically restating common knowledge. If you are asserting that patents (and intellectual property) are an inevitable outgrowth of the labor theory of property, since Locke position was that property is created by the mixture of labor and nature (i.e., natural resources), this argument is interesting, but a bit of a stretch. Certainly not something to just throw out as an aside and take as a given]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121207/09304721307/time-warner-cable-doesnt-think-theres-demand-google-fiber.shtml#c112 Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:51:15 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121207/09304721307/time-warner-cable-doesnt-think-theres-demand-google-fiber.shtml#c112
So no, there is probably very little demand for a $2000 a month internet plan. A 1 Gbps plan in a market with actual competition however...]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121211/14354621350/gawker-threatened-publishing-quotes-book-proposal-adds-commentary-response.shtml#c151 Wed, 12 Dec 2012 06:40:34 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121211/14354621350/gawker-threatened-publishing-quotes-book-proposal-adds-commentary-response.shtml#c151
Second, even if she did sue, what are her damages? I doubt it was registered, so no statutory damages are available. Proving actual damages would be fairly difficult since there really aren't any; she's not selling the proposal in bookstores and she's already sold the book]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121205/03474821235/why-copyright-shouldnt-be-considered-property-why-return-to-1790-copyright-may-be-desirable.shtml#c413 Wed, 5 Dec 2012 11:24:31 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121205/03474821235/why-copyright-shouldnt-be-considered-property-why-return-to-1790-copyright-may-be-desirable.shtml#c413 "Take for example open fields and forests in not very densily populated areas. Letting people roam freely on other people's property in such cases give very few problems and lots of advantages"

I'm not sure freely allowing wanderers is non-rivalrous in the same way copyright is. Allowing that kind of use is incompatible with other types of uses, such as farming, whether or not there is actually an attempt to use the land in that manner. By contrast, there is no way to infringe a copyright in a way that reduces or excludes the use of the copyrighted material by others.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121204/02422821219/fixing-copyright-is-copyright-part-free-market-capitalism.shtml#c399 Tue, 4 Dec 2012 11:10:24 PST http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121204/02422821219/fixing-copyright-is-copyright-part-free-market-capitalism.shtml#c399
The willingness to enforce some of these rights doesn't imply anything about other rights. We could theoretically say that your property rights in land allow you to kill and eat trespassers, but we don't. Therefore homebody cannibalism is not a property right because we decide, for moral reasons, that it should not be. Similarly, we decided that people cannot be owned as property for moral reasons. There is no argument based on how we actually treat property rights which weighs for or against deciding that particular rights, like copyright, should be recognized property rights.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20121129/14255421177/peoplebrowsr-gets-temporary-restraining-order-against-twitter-felony-interference-with-business-model.shtml#c29 Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:49:01 PST http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20121129/14255421177/peoplebrowsr-gets-temporary-restraining-order-against-twitter-felony-interference-with-business-model.shtml#c29 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120922/08432720470/when-captain-picard-loses-patience-with-your-cable-service-you-need-to-run-tighter-ship.shtml#c1040 Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:59:29 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120922/08432720470/when-captain-picard-loses-patience-with-your-cable-service-you-need-to-run-tighter-ship.shtml#c1040 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120903/07334520256/forget-death-star-anti-mosquito-lasers-heres-how-nathan-myhrvold-can-help-tackle-malaria-improve-his-image.shtml#c200 Tue, 4 Sep 2012 14:13:32 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120903/07334520256/forget-death-star-anti-mosquito-lasers-heres-how-nathan-myhrvold-can-help-tackle-malaria-improve-his-image.shtml#c200
Actually, if Daybreakers, Blade: Trinity the BBC miniseries Ultraviolet are any clue, the lack of this blood substitute is the only thing standing between us and the vampires who would kill us all if only they didn't need something to eat.

So really maybe we should encourage Myhrvold to do even more patent trolling, if only to distract him from initiating the vampire apocalypse.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120904/01275120261/why-does-copyright-last-70-years-after-death-licenses-expire-death.shtml#c379 Tue, 4 Sep 2012 10:24:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120904/01275120261/why-does-copyright-last-70-years-after-death-licenses-expire-death.shtml#c379
Its not a constitutional issue, its a leverage imbalance issue. Its the same problem you face with "Terms of Service" agreements - you can't negotiate, so your choice is basically to accept this agreement or to not use the service. Suck it Facebook, I'm going to MySpace, which is still...terrible.

I'm glad this issue is getting some traction; its a problem whose scope exceeds copyright. As our day to day activities become more and more dependent on services based on contractual privileges rather than rights, they become far more fragile - aside from the obvious privacy issues, if your email or Facebook account is terminated, what can you really do? Not much. I think the termination would have to be extremely arbitrary for an arbitrator (likely mandated by the TOS of course) to find in your favor.

And good luck emailing everyone on your no longer accessible contact list to tell them your new address! (Especially if you are lazy like me and just search in gmail w/o making a formal contact list.)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120823/16473120140/district-court-675000-non-commercially-sharing-30-songs-is-perfectly-reasonable.shtml#c214 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 07:03:02 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120823/16473120140/district-court-675000-non-commercially-sharing-30-songs-is-perfectly-reasonable.shtml#c214
So true. I remember reading about the strategy they were using and I was appalled. It would have been a perfectly good academic argument (and a good policy to enact). But as a defense at trial, it bordered on frivolous. I think this goes beyond a question of Tenenbaum needing a better lawyer (in the sense of more skilled). Using your client as a vehicle for your own arguments at the expense of his legal defense is a pretty clear breach of your duty as counsel.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120821/06370120111/oxford-professor-says-mankind-is-ethically-obligated-to-create-genetically-engineered-babies.shtml#c175 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:11:31 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120821/06370120111/oxford-professor-says-mankind-is-ethically-obligated-to-create-genetically-engineered-babies.shtml#c175 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120814/06084420017/hachette-tells-authors-tor-to-use-drm-because-it-is-awesome-something.shtml#c324 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:10:59 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120814/06084420017/hachette-tells-authors-tor-to-use-drm-because-it-is-awesome-something.shtml#c324
I'm assuming you are either being sarcastic or are a recent immigrant from another dimension.

Welcome!

Please note that in this dimension, books which are "DRM free" do not have DRM on them. Therefore you can trade without circumventing DRM.

Please also note that in our reality ebooks are not cheaper than normal books. They are cheaper than hardcover but not mass-market paperbacks, the category they are replacing in the market. Abnormal books remain either very cheap or very expensive, depending upon whether they do, in fact, contain genuine incantations for contacting the old gods lurking beyond the edge of reality.

Adjust your purchasing habits accordingly!]]>