Search Results for: Intellectual Property

Rep. Mary Bono, who is forming a new congressional caucus on music piracy and copyrights, sought Monday to defuse speculation over whether she wants to run the music industry’s lobbying organization in Washington, saying she isn’t actively seeking the job. Bono, R-Calif., said she hasn’t considered whether she would accept a prospective offer to replace the departing chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America but stopped short of denying she was interested. Her spokeswoman, Cindy Hartley, earlier had described the position as Bono’s “ideal job” but said her boss wasn’t actively pursuing the position and plans to run… Read more »

Russia is fast rising to the top of world music piracy charts with a counterfeit boom that could hit foreign investment and damage Moscow’s efforts to join the World Trade Organization, a leading watchdog said on Thursday. The issue of intellectual property rights, an increasingly important component of U.S. trade policy, is a major obstacle to WTO accession for both Russia and neighboring Ukraine, where bootleg computer programs, music CDs and movie DVDs are rife. In Russia alone the local pirated music market grew to $311 million last year, well above a legal music market of $257 million. “Russia is… Read more »

The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has ruled in favor of the Goo Goo Dolls after the act launched proceedings against a pornographic Web site with a “confusingly similar” domain name. The Goo Goo Dolls filed a complaint March 4 against John Zuccarini of the Bahamas, who had registered a site at googoodols.com, a practice known as “typo-squatting.” His site automatically linked to another with sexually explicit content and advertisements. WIPO declared that the domain name was registered in bad faith. Zuccarini – who has been involved in similar cases in the past, according to WIPO – was ordered… Read more »

Two companies behind services for sharing music and movies over the Internet are not to blame for any illegal copying conducted by the services’ users, a federal judge ruled Friday. The 34-page ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson was a major blow to recording companies and movie studios, which have been aggressively filing lawsuits and pushing new laws to stem the illegal copying and distribution of their copyright works. The decision, if it survives appeal, essentially absolves Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. of liability. Grokster distributes file-sharing software by that name, and StreamCast distributes Morpheus. “It’s a… Read more »

Technology companies and advocacy groups announced a new lobbying organization Thursday to counter Hollywood in the battle over access to digital music, movies and books. Founding members of the Washington-based Alliance for Digital Progress ? which one Hollywood executive demeaned as “a bit strange” ? include Microsoft Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Motorola Inc. and the Information Technology Association of America. The group wants to fight Hollywood efforts to require anti-copying technology in digital entertainment devices. Technology advocates say embedding such technology in computers and software would crimp product innovation ? and trample consumers’ rights. “Hollywood leaders… would have organized the… Read more »

About 100 student computers were seized Thursday by the U.S. Naval Academy on suspicion that they housed unauthorized music and movie files. The computers, which are given to students upon admission, were confiscated while class was in session, according to an academy spokesperson. Illegal possession of copyrighted material is against academy policy and has been a problem since the days of Napster’s widespread popularity a few years ago, said the spokesperson, who added that the offense could carry a punishment as severe as a court-marshal. The U.S. Naval Academy was one of more than 2,300 colleges and universities that were… Read more »

Record labels and artists were out in force Thursday to reiterate their blunt assessment of digital piracy’s effects on their financial well-being at a state government hearing in Sacramento. “I would like to begin with a simple proposition,” said Recording Industry Assn. of America president Cary Sherman. “The one-two punch of physical and digital piracy is threatening the livelihood of the music industry.” The hearing, convened by the California State Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media, was the second piracy gripefest in as many weeks for the industry, which is increasingly turning to the government for… Read more »

Michael Jackson’s surprise attack on Sony Music as racist has grabbed headlines, but many in the music industry have turned a deaf ear – suspecting the pop star has been motivated by self-interest rather than a concern for civil rights. Jackson, under contract with Sony until 2004 and among the highest-paid pop stars of all time, appears to be trying to pressure Sony into breaking the deal so he can exit with his valuable trove of master recordings, industry sources said. They say Jackson’s assault was prompted mostly by anger at Sony for the poor showing of his latest album,… Read more »

The people who tried to take away your VCR are at it again. Hollywood has always dreamed of a “well-mannered marketplace” where the only technologies that you can buy are those that do not disrupt its business. Acting through legislators who dance to Hollywood’s tune, the movie studios are racing to lock away the flexible, general-purpose technology that has given us a century of unparalelled prosperity and innovation. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed the “Content Protection Status Report” with the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, laying out its plan to remake the technology world to suit its… Read more »

Penton Media’s Streaming Media, Inc. today announced that Streaming Media West 2002, to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from April 23-26 (http://www.streamingmedia.com/west), will have several sessions lead by online music experts to address net radio and the recent royalty decision by the U.S. Copyright Office. Recent articles in The New York Times, CNET and Business Week have highlighted the issues faced by Webcasters such as the royalty debate and the potential repercussions on net radio. If approved by the U.S. Copyright Office on May 21st, the new music licensing rates would force thousands of Webcasters to pay… Read more »