Pontifex 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (76)

• On the post: Commerce Secretary, New USPTO Head Suggesting They Want More Patents, Approved Faster

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2009 @ 08:52am

  Instead of getting money by giving people patents, why doesn't the USPTO charge the full fee for any patent application it receives. That way, they still get funded (in fact, they would probably get funded more) and they don't have the financial pressure to approve wasteful patents.

• On the post: Digiprotect Admits It Shares Files Just To Find People To Demand Settlement Money From

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2009 @ 05:46pm

  Re: Re: Re: Entrapement

  The analogy to robbing an open car is inaccurate. An unlocked car is passive, and doesn't interact with its environment. Digiprotect is actively distributing their copyrighted material. Therefore, this would be like a police officer disguised as a bartender giving you a free beer. After you drink it, he arrests you.
  
  And as for the comment about the downloader's knowledge of how a P2P item is "authorized," it doesn't matter. To my knowledge, "attempted infringement" is not a crime. And no matter what the intent, if Digiprotect has a license to distribute, that there is no infringement going on.

• On the post: A&E Goes To Court To Defend Fair Use Of 12 Second Clip Of Music

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2009 @ 11:02am

  Re:

  But then it would no longer be just a clip of the song, it would be the entire song.

• On the post: GGF Shareholders Approve Pirate Bay Buy… But No One Knows Where The Money Is

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2009 @ 01:22pm

  My bet is that The Pirate Bay owners are probably just doing this as a cash grab. Once they get the funds, they'll open up a new torrent tracker, and things will start all over again.

• On the post: Judge In IsoHunt Case Tells MPAA It Needs To Actually Prove Infringement By US Residents

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2009 @ 11:05am

  Re: Re: Re:

  Jamie Thomas used kazaa to share her music, which is an entirely different type of P2P with no relationship to ISOhunt. Tenenbaum used a variety of different methods to acquire his music, none of which are proven to have been over torrents.
  
  Your argument fails.

• On the post: US Gov't Briefing For All Employees: All Music Downloads Are Stolen, Risky

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2009 @ 10:55am

  Re: Re: Re: Legal

  It could also be implied that it's illegal to download any music on a DoD computer, whereas it would only be infringing if the music was uploaded illegally. So no, it's not just playing with semantics.

• On the post: Mininova Told To Remove Infringing Material

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2009 @ 09:21pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Are you familiar with a lot of modern internet jargon? It started out as a way on usenet for avoiding the very censorship system you described. People couldn't post things about hacks, so they posted the about haxx0rs; they couldn't post Software became warez. People eventually got to the point where they had to use numbers to substitute in for letters, (thus 1337 was born). This system has been tried before, and it DOES NOT WORK. You cannot censor the flow of the internet, for information will simply find the path of least resistance around the blockage and resume its former course.

• On the post: UK Gov't Now Supporting 3 Strikes: Lobbyists Win Again

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 12:12pm

  Simple Plan

  If this passes, get some people with registered copyrights to send violation notices to the ISPs of every MP that votes for this bill.

• On the post: Moldover Gives People A Reason To Buy His CD By Turning The Case Into An Instrument

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2009 @ 10:54am

  That looks pretty awesome. I really sort of want it now.

• On the post: France Surrenders To Google?

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2009 @ 02:34pm

  This may be a first; I don't think that France has surrendered to a private company before.

• On the post: Judge Says Blogger Who Called Model A Skank Should Be Unmasked

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2009 @ 10:35pm

  How is this any different that the case of Hustler v. Falwell? A disreputable source (in this case, one without an audience nearly as large as that of Hustlers) makes ridiculous statements about a celebrity. Since Ms. Cohen is a Public Figure, a higher standard must be used for defamation cases against her. An anonymous, not particularly credible, individual posted something untrue about a Public Figure. The chance of showing "actual malice" are fairly slim to none. This judge is wrong, and if the appeals court has even the semblance of justness, it will side with the anonymous coward.

• On the post: $1 Trillion Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Oprah Dismissed

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2009 @ 07:28am

  Re: Re: general question

  That sounds Ex Post Facto to me.

• On the post: Entertainment Industry Decides FileSoup Doesn't Have Enough Publicity; Has Owner Arrested

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2009 @ 06:08am

  Re: What is more worrying...

  Well, that's good. Even a competent lawyer and a half-honest judge would bar that evidence from court. Hell, if anything is found on there, they might be able to get FACT on Tampering charges.

• On the post: Irish Politician: Data Retention Is Good If You Have Nothing To Hide… But Don't Ask For My Data

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2009 @ 11:49am

  Re: Re: a good us vs. them argument

  Exactly. Everyone goes to the bathroom, but how many people would be willing to do so in a glass booth at the center of Times Square?

• On the post: Katy Perry (Singer) Wants To Stop Katie Perry (Designer) From Selling Katie Perry Branded Clothing

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2009 @ 01:21pm

  Since Katy/Katie Perry is a rather common name, trademarking it would not make sense; however, I see no reason that Katie Perry couldn't trademark the design of her signature.

• On the post: Handwritten Lawsuit Accuses Google Having A Name Similar To Accuser's Social Security Number

  

  Pontifex ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2007 @ 03:43pm

  Moron

  Wow, this has to be the stupidest lawsuit I've ever seen. Part of me wants to cry about the stupidity of some people.