AP – “Google Inc. faces a new controversy in China after a Web site run by the Communist Party’s main newspaper accused the U.S. search giant of trying to keep Internet users away following its reports on a copyright dispute.”
Guardian – “Plans to force internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect suspected illegal downloaders have been roundly rejected in a new YouGov poll, the first time public opinion has been tested on the issue.”
EFF – “As we reported in June, ASCAP believes that when your cell phone’s musical ringtone sounds in a public place, you’re infringing copyright. A federal court yesterday firmly rejected that argument, ruling that “when a ringtone plays on a cellular telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from copyright liability, and [the cellular carrier] is not liable either secondarily or directly.”
Publishers Weekly – “In what Fair Use advocates this week hailed as a vindication for the rights of scholars to use copyrighted materials for critical works, the literary estate of James Joyce has agreed to pay $240,000 in legal fees to settle a copyright lawsuit sparked by what attorneys called “threats and intimidation” by Stephen James Joyce, in his efforts to deter author Carol Shloss from quoting Joyce family documents or works in her book and in a subsequent Web-based supplement.
More on the Scribd Copyright lawsuit.
NYTimes.com – “Until the judge makes her final ruling, Mr. Salinger’s fans will be spared the prospect of encountering Holden Caulfield, the ultimate alienated teenager, as a lonely old codger who escapes from a retirement home and his beloved younger sister, Phoebe, as a drug addict sinking into dementia.”
Law Blog – WSJ – “According to the AP, a lawyer for California argued that the book should be allowed to be published because it provided meaningful criticism of Salinger and the book’s main character, Holden Caulfield. Batts, who said she has read both books, said the issue was not that she was having trouble determining whether the criticism in the book was effective. “Let me be clear,†she said. “I am having difficulty seeing that it exists†at all.”
Courthouse News Service – “Reclusive author J.D. Salinger claims a man writing under the name of J.D. California is about to publish an unauthorized sequel of “The Catcher in the Rye,” violating Salinger's copyright in the novel and its main character, Holden Caulfield. Salinger also sued London-based Windupbird Publishing, Sweden-based Nicotext, and SCB Distributors, of Gardena, Calif. Salinger calls the new book “a rip-off pure and simple.”
WSJ – “Barbara A. Ringer, a scrivener in an odd niche of the federal bureaucracy who died April 9 at age 83, negotiated and drafted the Copyright Act of 1976, the first major revision in seven decades of a basic law governing intellectual property.”
School Library Journal – “Do you often question whether it’s OK to include portions of a book, film, or song in your classroom lesson? What about whether YouTube can be used as a teaching tool? Hopefully, librarians will have a clearer understanding of copyright law with the new guide The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.”
I’ve been meaning to write a post about the importance of librarians understanding and not breaching copyright. This includes not downloading music (or anything for that matter) illegally via Livewire or BitTorrent.
Sure, copyright law can be annoying, but it’s the law and librarians should NOT be breaking the law. Especially copyright laws.
Does your iPod have illegal music on it?
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