Subscribe to RSS Feed YouTube Changes Its Copyright Policy
YouTube has changed its copyright policy. It has kept its “three strikes and you’re out” rule for copyright violations, but they may soften the policy when the infringer has a subsequent history of good behavior, has completed a quiz on copyright, and has watched YouTube’s copyright education video. The video is troubling, particularly because the [...]
In Time for the Super Bowl: Copyright and Two Kinds of Football
This week copyright issues that pertain to football have been in the news. Both of these sports stories also illustrate the complexities of copyright when creators of content, consumers of that same content, and potential infringers live all over the world. The first comes from the U.S. where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland [...]
First Sale Doctrine: Costco, Hawthorns, and the Big Fuzzy Line
The first sale doctrine has been on my mind recently. It all began with the Supreme Court ruling in Costco v. Omega and ended with a paperback novel I’ve been reading. The first sale doctrine is codified in 17 U.S. C. §109. It is also called the doctrine of exhaustion, because under this rule, the [...]
What is a DMCA Exemption? Can It Be Appealed?
The exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that the Register of Copyrights announced last month have garnered much publicity, especially the one that dealt with jailbreaking iPhones. In the university community, the exemption that deals with educational video has also gotten some press. But what is a DMCA exemption anyway? And, as one [...]
Copyright and Football
Now there’s a combination most people don’t think about together. Recently the NFL sent cease-and-desist letters to a number of New Orleans t-shirt manufacturers, claiming that the shirts, which depicted the New Orleans Saints “Who Dat” slogan and the team’s fleur-de-lis emblem, violated the league’s copyright and trademarks. Irate fans and merchants protested. Louisiana politicians [...]