Subscribe to RSS Feed Some of the Copyright News That’s Fit to Print
Several people here at Ohio State have asked me what’s going on with a few copyright issues and cases that have been in the news recently. Some of you who follow the library press and social media closely may know all about these situations, but others may be not watch for this news as closely. [...]
Accessibility, E-Book Readers, and Copyright Issues for Colleges and Universities
I’ll be at Innovate 2011 on Wednesday, April 27, talking about Accessibility, E-Book Readers, and Copyright Issues for Colleges and Universities with Ken Petri. We’ll be on from 3:00-3:50 p.m. Recent legal disputes over copyright and accessibility for e-books have highlighted the tensions in these two areas of law. At the same time, accessible [...]
Three Pieces of Copyright News
In the past few weeks, there have been three pieces of copyright news that are of interest to those in higher education. The first is that on March 7 the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Golan v. Holder. There are two issues in this case. The first is whether Congress may [...]
Betty Boop and the Carefully Crafted Bargain
One of the ornaments that grace our living room coffee table is a small lamp that features Betty Boop playing the ukulele underneath a palm tree. Because of a case from the Ninth Circuit this week, now I wish I had kept the original box and could tell what company manufactured it. This case (Fleischer [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]