Andres 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (28) comment rss

  • On the post: Estate Of 'Tintin' Comic Creator Loses On Fair Use Grounds To Artist Putting Tintin Alongside Women

    Andres ( profile ), 13 May, 2021 @ 01:49am

    Just a quick correction to the title, there's no fair use in European copyright law, it's either called fair dealing, or just parody exception.

  • On the post: Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life

    Andres ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2017 @ 12:38pm

    Keep fighting the good fight!

  • On the post: The Selfie-Taking Monkey Who Has No Idea He Has Lawyers Has Appealed His Copyright Lawsuit

    Andres ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2016 @ 09:49am

    That joke is not funny any more

    I thoroughly agree Mike, this feels like a waste of money, I see very little here other than the preposterous public domain argument.

    I think defendants will pretty much argue the same (monkey has no standing), but I'm thinking that they should also try to kill the case on jurisdiction grounds. I have argued elsewhere that the case should not be heard in California.

  • On the post: Monkey See, Monkey Do, But Judge Says Monkey Gets No Copyright

    Andres ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2016 @ 09:00am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Other animals...

    I was aware that he had registered in the US in 2012, but I'm curious about the claim about 2014 in the UK, as we don't have a copyright registry here (we operate on the no-registration system under Berne). Would you happen to have a reference for that?

  • On the post: Monkey See, Monkey Do, But Judge Says Monkey Gets No Copyright

    Andres ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2016 @ 05:38am

    Re: Re: Other animals...

    Slater was not turned down by the Copyright Office, he's British, we don't require registration for copyright over here.

  • On the post: Monkey See, Monkey Do, But Judge Says Monkey Gets No Copyright

    Andres ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2016 @ 05:40am

    Still not a closed case

    We can't forget that Slater won the case, and it was won on a very narrow point, namely that the monkey cannot sue for copyright. I still think that we haven't heard the last of this.

  • On the post: The Selfie Monkey Strikes Back: Lawyers Claim Of Course Monkeys Can Sue For Copyright

    Andres ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2015 @ 09:35am

    Re: Re: European copyright law applies

    Do you have any legal argument for that assertion? My claim is that in Europe whoever presses the button is irrelevant for copyright purposes.

    The CJEU has ruled in several cases that the arrangement and selection is what matter when it comes to originality (Infopaq, Football Association v Murphy), and in pictures in particular what matters is that the photo encapsulates a 'personal touch' reflecting the personality of the photographer (Painer v Standard Verlags).

    If pressing the button was what matters, then we could not have copyright over automated triggers and delayed photography.

  • On the post: The Selfie Monkey Strikes Back: Lawyers Claim Of Course Monkeys Can Sue For Copyright

    Andres ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2015 @ 12:53am

    Re: Re:

    He did setup the camera so that the monkey could take pictures, but most importantly, he selected the pictures afterwards, the monkey took 300 or so.

    This is important because in European copyright law selection is enough to warrant originality as per Infopaq case in the CJEU. Slater is a UK national.

  • On the post: The Selfie Monkey Strikes Back: Lawyers Claim Of Course Monkeys Can Sue For Copyright

    Andres ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2015 @ 12:49am

    European copyright law applies

    I've said this several times, American copyright law doesn't apply to the subsistence of copyright in this instance. The picture was taken in Indonesia, and the photographer is a UK national, so this case should fall mostly because of the jurisdiction issue. The Copyright Office's statement is not valid whatsoever.

    There's a good legal argument to be made that the photographer owns the copyright of the selfie, as in European copyright law the person who pressed the button is irrelevant, what matters is that an author expresses his/her personality through selection and arrangement of the photograph.

  • On the post: What Did The UK Accomplish In Revoking The Right To Rip CDs After Just One Year… Other Than Greater Disrespect For Copyright?

    Andres ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2015 @ 07:08am

    OutLaw

    Completely agree, these people have the foresight of a deaf bat.

    One minor comment, while the July decision quashed private copying regulations, the new batch of articles has two origins. First, the OutLaw blog managed to get a spokesperson from the IP Office on record to admit that they were going to let the law die (they could have appealed, or re-drafted a new regulation). Secondly, the 1709 blog accurately contrasts this with the Reprobel case.

  • On the post: Yet Another Study Shows US Satire Programs Do A Better Job Informing Viewers Than Actual News Outlets

    Andres ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2014 @ 09:01am

    Correlation

    It's important to point out that correlation does not mean causation. It is possible that well-informed people watch the satirical shows, and not that these help to keep people informed.

    Having said that, John Oliver has been making some very good pieces of journalism.

  • On the post: EasyJet Tries To Stop Guy From Boarding Because He Tweeted Something Critical

    Andres ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2013 @ 04:45am

    Re: Re: Re: Ummm, WHO understands what happened?

    "They are. Specifically, they're monitoring anything specifically flagged for their attention be people using the @easyjet, just as every twitter user has their mentions highlighted. That's the entire point of them having a Twitter account in the first place - so that customers can contact them via an alternative means. Not a conspiracy."

    Agreed, I've had them contact me a couple of times when I mentioned that my flight was delayed, their social media team was courteous and helpful.

    The key in this case, at least for me, is the sequence of events. What upset some people seems to be the implication that Mark sent a tweet, and this was somehow picked up by some social media person, who then contacted the Glasgow easyJet staff.

    What appears to have happened is that he complained about the delay, then sent the soldier tweet, then went to the staff and complained again, this time showing them the tweet. At this point the manager intervenes, and the actual events become blurred.

    Mleiser has gone awfully quiet on Twitter though, is there a CCTV of the event I wonder?

  • On the post: EasyJet Tries To Stop Guy From Boarding Because He Tweeted Something Critical

    Andres ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2013 @ 01:44am

    Re: Ummm, WHO understands what happened?

    He has tweeted to explain what happened:

    https://twitter.com/mleiser/status/382919214933106688

    "@timanderson @easyJet Relatively simple. I told girl I was speaking 2 I was going 2 tweet 2 see if we could help get the guy to Portsmouth."

    This makes it clear that he borught the tweet to their attention, easyjet are not monitoring any feeds.

  • On the post: EasyJet Tries To Stop Guy From Boarding Because He Tweeted Something Critical

    Andres ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2013 @ 01:41am

    Re: Re: Re: Easyjet T&Cs allow them to ban him for tweeting

    Moreover, the 1st Amendment doesn't apply in Scotland. You know, it's a different country and all that.

  • On the post: Alyssa Milano Claiming Trademark And Copyright On 'Hacktivist'

    Andres ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2013 @ 06:21am

    Re: Trademark is correct

    Creative Commons is based on copyright law, you may want to do some research.

  • On the post: Alyssa Milano Claiming Trademark And Copyright On 'Hacktivist'

    Andres ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2013 @ 02:41pm

    Re: Limited trademark

    Just to add to the above, titles can be denied trademark protection if they're inherently generic, but there are tons of comic book titles protected under trade mark. Check out The Avenger's TM information:

    http://trademark.markify.com/trademarks/uspto/the+avengers/72278015

  • On the post: Alyssa Milano Claiming Trademark And Copyright On 'Hacktivist'

    Andres ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2013 @ 02:34pm

    Re: @A/C and @David

    Actually, titles are commonly protected by trademark. This doesn't mean that nobody else in the world can use the word, it simply means that the word cannot be used by another title describing a similar thing.

    However, very generic names might not be protected if they are "inherently generic".

    BTW, Apple and Windows are trademarked:
    http://bit.ly/170m2Tz
    http://bit.ly/170m7qg

  • On the post: Alyssa Milano Claiming Trademark And Copyright On 'Hacktivist'

    Andres ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2013 @ 02:20pm

    Limited trademark

    This is standard practice with titles, and it doesn't mean that the author owns all uses of the word Hacktivist, just the particular use as a comic book title (and possibly to be used in other media, such as TV or film).

    Think of any movie with a generic title, such as Unforgiven, The Dictator, The Patriot, The Shining... the authors don't own all uses of those words, just their use in a specific medium.

  • On the post: ICE Declares 'Mission Accomplished' On Domain Seizures

    Andres ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2011 @ 10:55am

    By Jove, it's true! It's impossible to download movies online. The ICE has really destroyed piracy as we know it!

  • On the post: Who Owns The Copyright On A Tattoo?

    Andres ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2011 @ 01:30pm

    There is an excellent article from Jordan Hatcher dealing with this very issue:

    http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=815116

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