http://www.cyberlaw.info/ CyberLaw.Info (tm) en-us http://www.cyberlaw.info/images/logo.gif http://www.cyberlaw.info/ legal@cyberlaw.info http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=88 On August 20, 2008, in Lenz v. Universal et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. C 07-3783 JF, entered an order denying defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiff's second amended complaint. Read the order here.On February 7, 2007, Plaintiff Stephanie Lenz (“Lenz”) videotaped her young children dancing in her family’s kitchen. The song “Let’s Go Crazy” by the artist professionally known as Prince (“Prince”) played in the background. The video is twenty-nine seconds in length, and “Let’s Go Crazy” can be heard for approximately twenty seconds, albeit with difficulty given the poor sound quality of the video. On February 8, 2007, Lenz titled the video “Let’s Go Crazy #1” and uploaded it to YouTube.com ("YouTube”), a popular Internet video hosting site, for the alleged purpose of sharing her son’s dancing with friends and family. Universal owns the copyright to “Let’s Go Crazy.” http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=87 Elliot Zimmerman discusses IP issues facing content creators, owners, and publishers. Reprinted with permission from the original article at StreamingMedia.com by Geoff Daily. The questions surrounding intellectual property are too numerous and varied to be boiled down to a checklist the way we’ve done with other “Ten Questions” articles in this issue. Instead, we sat down with Elliot Zimmerman—a Florida-based entertainment attorney who has represented clients including Aretha Franklin and jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal and others in cases involving copyright and trademarks, and who now specializes in “cyberlaw” legal issues related to the internet—to learn a little bit more about IP issues facing content creators, owners, and publishers. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=86 by Elliot Zimmerman Board Certified Intellectual Property Lawyer www.CyberLaw.Info 954.565.6996 On August 13, 2008, in Jacobsen v. Katzer, Case Number 2008-1001, ("Jacobsen"), the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a cause of action exists for copyright infringement when the "conditions" of the "Artistic License," an "open source" or "public" license under which the copyrighted work was licensed, are breached. Read the full opinion by clicking here. Appellant Robert Jacobsen appealed from an order denying a motion for preliminary injunction. Jacobsen v. Katzer, No. 06-CV-01905 JSW, 2007 WL 2358628 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 17, 2007). Jacobsen holds a copyright to computer programming code. He makes that code available for public download from a website without a financial fee pursuant to the "Artistic License," an "open source" or public license. Appellees Matthew Katzer and Kamind Associates, Inc. (collectively "Katzer/Kamind") develop commercial software products for the model train industry and hobbyists. Jacobsen accused Katzer/Kamind of copying certain materials from Jacobsen's website and incorporating them into one of Katzer/Kamind's commercial software packages without following the terms of the Artistic License. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=85 On April 28, 2008, in Atlantic Recording Corp. et al. v. Howell (U.S. District Court, Arizona, Case No. CV-06-02076-PHX-NVW), Judge Neil V. Wake entered an order denying the RIAA’s motion for summary judgment because “merely making copies available does not constitute distribution.” Specifically, the court held that the mere act of saving copies of works to the shared folder of a file sharing application, thus making them available for download by anyone, did not constitute distribution in violation of the copyright act. Actual download by a third party is necessary. Read the order here. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=84 By Kathleen Fitzgerald, SPLC staff writer © 2008 Student Press Law Center February 4, 2008 Legislators in several states this year have proposed or reintroduced bills to protect students from cyber-bullying, giving school administrators a role in combating what they see as a new wave of electronic harassment. While some feel this will protect students, First Amendment advocates worry the policies will infringe on students' rights. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=83 Paramount Pictures Corp. and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., makers of the animated film "Bee Movie,'' were sued by a honey-products company over claims they copied the firm's "Give Bees A Chance'' slogan. Click here to view the story. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=82 When company data is stolen or maliciously destroyed, the modern cause of action is the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. 1030, a criminal statute that expressly provides for a civil action for damages and injunctive relief for anyone "who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of" the statute. 18 U.S.C. 1030(g). http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=81 On June 18, 2007, Florida joined 16 other states in passing a truth in music advertising law. See F.S. 817.4115, False, deceptive, or misleading advertisement of live musical performances. The law was created to protect artists from identity theft and consumers from being deceived by acts that are not comprised of the legendary artists that initially made the original songs famous. The states that have thus far joined the bandwagon and have passed laws regulating this practice are Pennsylvania, Conneticut, Illinois, Michigan, Massachutes, Maine, South Carolina, North Dakota, Virgina, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Nevada and New York. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=80 Federal law provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider, 47 U.S.C. §230(c)(1), and that no cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section, §230(e)(3). Note, the statute contains important exceptions. See, e.g., 47 U.S.C. § 230(e)(1) (excepting federal criminal liability); and § 230(e)(2) (scope of intellectual property laws remain unchanged). http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=79 On June 27, 2007 in a copyright infringement lawsuit, Columbia Pictures Industries v. Bunnell, No. 06-01093 FMC, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled that TorrentSpy, a popular search engine that indexes materials made publicly available via the Bit Torrent file sharing protocol, must activate logging and turn the logged data over to the studios, despite its privacy policy. The magistrate judge reasoned that because the info including IP addresses exists in RAM of TorrentSpy's webservers, it is "electronically stored information" that must be collected and turned over to the studios under the rules of federal discovery. Read EFF's amicus brief by clicking here. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=78 The "Son of Sam" Law in Florida is codified at F.S. 944.512. In Rolling v. State ex rel. Butterworth, 741 So. 2d 627 (1999, FL 1st DCA), Appellee State, pursuant to Fla. Stat. ch. 944.512, sought imposition of a lien against property in an action against appellant, convicted criminal, especially seeking proceeds from sale of a book containing accounts of the crimes for which appellant was convicted. Appellants argued that Fla. Stat. ch. 960.291(7) violated U.S. Const. amend. I and was, therefore, unconstitutional both on its face and as applied to each of them. Under the plain language of the statute the lien encompassed appellant's art, autographs, and proceeds from them, as well as proceeds from his book. Appellant publisher was receiving benefits on appellant offender's behalf and thus the lien attached to the proceeds she garnered from sale of property. Appellant offender could not transfer his property to appellant publisher to avoid the lien. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=77 EMI will be offering, at a greater price, higher quality digital music downloads without digital rights management ("DRM") through Apple's ITunes Store in addition to its lower quality restricted catalog. We'll have to gaze into our crystal balls to determine whether distributing unprotected MP3s will help expand the market and what effect this will have on music piracy. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=76 Click here to read the decision of the National Arbitration Forum in Homer TLC, Inc. v. GreenPeople, Claim Number: FA0508000550345, dated 10/25/05, wherein the panel found that respondent's use of the domain name "homedepotsucks.com" did not violate the Home Depot marks of the complainant. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=75 DAXING, China - Sun Jiting spends his days locked behind metal bars in this military-run installation, put there by his parents. The 17-year-old high school student is not allowed to communicate with friends back home, and his only companions are psychologists, nurses and other patients. Each morning at 6:30, he is jolted awake by a soldier in fatigues shouting, "This is for your own good!" Sun's offense: Internet addiction. Click here to read the Washington Post article by Ariana Eunjung Cha. Also, click here to see Massively Addictive, an article about videogame addiction at Yahoo Games! http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=74 In the summer of 2006, FL Gov. Jeb Bush (R) signed legislation that replaced the Sunshine State's 60-year-old ticket scalping law, which forbade selling tickets for more than $1 above the face value, with an open-market system that allows ticket owners and Internet brokers to sell tickets at whatever price they can get. The law went into effect Oct. 1 (MIAMI HERALD). http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=73 Click here for a pdf file containing Florida’s new Registration and Protection of Trademarks Act (2006). http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=72 London. Apple Computer won its courtroom battle against the Beatles on May 8, 2006 when Mr. Jusitce Mann found no breach of a 1991 out-of-court settlement agreement between Apple Computer and Apple Corps, which included a $26 million payment by Apple Computer and set out areas in which each party would have exclusive use of their respective logos. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=71 On January 5, 2006, President Bush signed into law: H.R. 3402, the "Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005," which reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act for for years 2007-2011, makes amendments to criminal and immigration law, consolidates major law enforcement grant programs and authorizes appropriations for the Department of Justice for for years 2006-2009. According to "TITLE I--ENHANCING JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT TOOLS TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, Section 113. Preventing Cyberstalking ... Whoever ... utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet ... without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person ... who receives the communications ... shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=70 Today the Supreme Court, in MGM v. Grokster, unanimously overturned a ruling that prevented the music industry and others from suing internet services used by consumers to swap songs and movies for free. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=69 Governor Jeb Bush has signed HB1129 into law. This new law changes the term "television series" to "television programming" for purposes of defining the term "entertainment industry" and revises the program under which certain persons producing, or providing services for production of filmed entertainment are eligible for state financial incentives for activities in or relocated to this state, inter alia. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=68 On April 19, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005. The legislation is expected to be signed into law by President Bush. Read S.167 here. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=67 Warner Brothers' portrayal of the swordboat captain "Billy" Tyne in the movie, The Perfect Storm, did not violate the rights of his heirs under F.S. 540.08, Florida's statute regarding unauthorized pulbication of name or likeness. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=66 Jon Johansen aka DVD-Jon, who was acquitted in 2003 for developing and distributing DVD copy protection code in 1999, has done it again. This time he has developed a Windows interface for purchasing and decrypting songs from iTunes. Apple is in the process of preparing its response. Read the full article at CNET here. Read a realted article at CNET here. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=65 Agence France Presse filed suit against Google in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, March 17, 2005, alleging that Google includes its photos, news headlines and stories at Google.com without permission. Read the story at Reuters.com by cliccking here. http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=64 This week an open-source programmer, Harald Welte, told Motorola and 12 other companies at the CeBit trade show in Hannover, Germany, that he believes they're using Linux in violation of the general public license that governs the software. Read the CNET article here. Welte has gone to bat for this issue before and stated he's settled more than 25 cases so far. Additionally, he's won two rounds in a court case against one company, Sitecom, in Munich, Germany. Read about this case at CNET here.