February 17, 2010
IOC Uses DMCA to Suppress Luge Accident Video
The opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics was marked with tragedy when 21-year-old Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, was involved in a fatal crash during a training run. The horrific event dampened the spirit of the international competition and colored the mood at the opening ceremonies later that night. As anyone would expect, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sprung into action, responding to the accident with a multi-point plan:
November 3, 2009
IP Overview: Copyrights Explained
United States copyright law protects original works of authorship that have been fixed in any tangible medium of expression. Pretty much anything that you can write down or record is automatically protected from direct copying without your permission. Everything from that flier for your company’s last promotion to the business plan that you spent weeks drafting in preparation for that product launch is covered. As long as it’s original, and as long as you took the time to get it down on paper, you’ve got copyright protection.
The “originality” requirement of our copyright statute is a very low hurdle. As long as you created it, and as long as it has the smallest amount of creativity, then a work of authorship qualifies for automatic protection. Only the most basic and unoriginal material is considered ineligible for protection. For example, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that alphabetized lists of names and contact information (e.g., phonebooks) are not original enough to be protected by copyright. Also, anything that can only be expressed in a limited number of ways, e.g., contest rules or contract terms, will not be afforded protection. Anything else is fair game.
Where many people run into trouble is the “fixation” requirement. There is no protection for unexpressed ideas. The statutory language is careful to point out that there is no limitation on what medium must be employed, but unless the expression is fixed in such a way that it can be duplicated, then you cannot stop someone else from getting it down and claiming their own expression.
October 30, 2009
October 23, 2009
DMCA Takedown Notices Must Consider Fair Use
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law by President Clinton in 1998 and is an implementation of two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties. To make it much simpler than it really is, the DMCA is directed to provide protection to copyright owners that find their copyrighted materials improperly posted on the Internet. Again, that is a big oversimplification of the provisions of the DMCA, but it is enough of a background for this story. The full text of the DMCA can be found here.
On its face, the statute provides an important enforcement mechanism for copyright owners who can’t necessarily afford to hire a legal team. As it works now, copyright protection is created without any real effort on the part of the author, and as a result, it is incredibly easy for someone to have enforceable copyrights. With the current state of technology, it is becoming equally easy to infringe on them, so lawmakers wanted to make them just as easy to enforce. However, as with nearly every other well-intentioned legislative initiative, the DMCA’s power to do good has been twisted by the hands of the wicked into a weapon for evil.
