<blockquote>
A $368.2 million verdict against Apple has been upheld in the Eastern District of Texas, putting patent holding company VirnetX in a position to collect both royalties and damages from Apple if it continues to use its VPN and FaceTime technologies. Judge Leonard Davis ruled late Tuesday on Apple's request for either a reduction in the damages or a new trial, denying both requests and ordering the two companies to work out a licensing deal on VirnetX's patents.
</blockquote>
This is why we can't have nice things.

Jacqui Cheng on Ars Technica

FaceTime Patent Troll

<blockquote>
A company called Personal Audio is claiming that it owns a <a href="https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/us8112504.pdf">patent</a> that covers podcasting technology and has send podcasters letters, demanding that they pay Personal Audio to use the technology. As with many patents, this one is dangerously broad and vague, allegedly covering, well, any and all podcasting. Just take a look at this language:
<blockquote>
Apparatus for disseminating a series of episodes represented by media files via the Internet as said episodes become available…
</blockquote>
Of course, as with most software patents, this one fails to explain how that “apparatus” would actually work, apparently letting its owner make the ridiculous claim that essentially _any_apparatus that disseminates episodes infringes its patent.
</blockquote>
I hate patent trolling so much!

Julie Samuels writing on EFF

Podcasting Patent Troll

<blockquote>
A federal appeals court has decisively rejected a legal theory that would have placed anyone who embeds a third-party video on her website in legal jeopardy. In a Thursday decision, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the “video bookmarking” site myVidster was not liable to the gay porn producer Flava Works if users embedded copies of Flava videos on myVidster.
</blockquote>
Obviously I’m against gay porn. But the decision here regardless of the content is important, and I’m pleased with it.

Timothy B. Lee writing on Ars Technica

Embedding != Infringement

<blockquote>
Several rock legends, including Elton John, Robert Plant and Queen guitarist Brian May, sent a letter to the Telegraph on Tuesday accusing Google (GOOG) of enabling pirates to steal their music.
</blockquote>
Yes, and our highway system enables thieves and robbers, so we should eliminate roads too. Morons.

Google Enables Piracy?

And for some news I’ve been meaning to get to since before WWDC.
<blockquote>
It’s been pretty easy to look at recent Apple design patents and see that they haven’t carried with them the broad patent coverage many might think, but that isn’t the case with Apple’s new US patent — D661,296 — that issued on Tuesday. While a recent patent rumored to be on the Macbook Air design turned out to be a dud, covering only the bottom feet of the device, the ‘D296 patent is much different. This patent is clearly intended to broadly cover the distinctive wedge or teardrop profile of the notebook.
</blockquote>
I don’t particularly blame Apple too much for patenting anything and everything they can, it’s sort of the patent culture we live in and if they don’t someone else will. But this is exactly the sort of thing that bugs me about our current system. They’re patenting a wedge for crying out loud. It’s ridiculous.

The Verge

Apple Patents a Wedge

<blockquote>
As you can see in the video below, when the time came for the Q&#x26;A session with Ari, I got up and asked a question that he didn’t seem to like very much (my question starts at about 16:53, but you should watch the whole thing). The gist of my question was simple: does he think that in order to fight piracy, it’s AT&#x26;T, Verizon, and Google’s responsibility to create a roadblock to that content? Instead of answering or addressing the complication of the issue, he resorted to what amounts to an ad hominem attack.
</blockquote>
I didn’t watch all the video, but I watched about 3 minutes of the beginning and then skipped to the part where Tolopsky asks his question. Emanuel is truly scary because he absolutely either does not understand, or is deliberately obfuscating the issue.
Topolsky’s article is well written and worth the read. I don’t really think I disagreed with anything he said.

Joshua Topolsky writing at The Verge

Ari Emanuel Doesn't Get It


<blockquote>
The music industry wants LimeWire to pay up to $75 trillion in damages after losing a copyright infringement claim. That’s right … $75 trillion. Manhattan federal Judge Kimba Wood has labeled this request “absurd.”
You’re telling me. To put that number into perspective (I bet a lot of you didn’t even know “trillion” was a real number), the U.S. GDP is around 14 trillion – less than one fifth of what the music industry is requesting. Heck, the GDP of the entire world is between 59 and 62 trillion. That’s right, the music industry wants LimeWire to pay more money than exists in the entire world.
</blockquote>
…
<blockquote>
Plaintiffs are suggesting an award that is ‘more money than the entire music recording industry has made since Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1877.’
</blockquote>
Unbelievable! Out of control.

PCWorld

RIAA wants $75 Trillion

This really is sickening:
<blockquote>
A 23-year old student from Sheffield Hallam University in the north of England is bound for America. That wouldn’t be unusual—except that Richard O’Dwyer won’t go voluntarily. The UK Home Secretary has today agreed to extradite O’Dwyer over US copyright infringement charges for running a “linking site” called TVShack.
</blockquote>
Okay, so this guy wasn’t hosting pirated content. He wasn’t doing anything except linking to videos online.
<blockquote>
O’Dwyer’s site was a “linking site” that did not host infringing content itself, and his lawyer compared it to Google, which also links to copyrighted content. TVshack did do things like show lists of the most clicked-on links.
</blockquote>
I mean this really is disgusting that we (the U.S.) are extraditing him to charge him for linking. This is insane. We are now spreading this insanity beyond our borders. Sometimes I am ashamed to live in this country.

Ars Technica

Copyright Extradition

<blockquote>
Tsujihara didn’t have a definitive timeframe or price. However, he implied that there might be a cost for the process, albeit at “reasonable prices.” Objections have already existed over any fee from some owners, many of whom have argued that they would be paying twice when transcoding and ripping apps often do it for free, without having to tie them to a specific service and limited rights.
</blockquote>
“Hey, I have an idea, how can we gouge our customers for content they’ve already paid for?”

Electronista

UltraViolet

<blockquote>
When Wikipedia and Google purport to be neutral sources of information, but then exploit their stature to present information that is not only not neutral but affirmatively incomplete and misleading, they are duping their users into accepting as truth what are merely self-serving political declarations… The conventional wisdom is that the defeat of these bills shows the power of the digital commons. Sure, anybody could click on a link or tweet in outrage - but how many knew what they were supporting or opposing? Would they have cast their clicks if they knew they were supporting foreign criminals selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals to Americans?
</blockquote>
I think it is so self-evident how idiotic this is that I don’t feel the need to comment beyond this…
But I will just post this from the article which came right after that quote.
<blockquote>
Talk about a “self-serving political declaration.” To me, that sounds a lot like Mr. Sherman isn’t a big fan of informing the public. Better to let everyone believe that opposing SOPA is the equivalent of supporting foreign criminals.
</blockquote>
Yep.

Internet Evolution

RIAA CEO Hopes SOPA Protests Were a 'One-Time Thing'


This is a great satirical piece that illustrates just how crazy stupid current copyright laws are.

Adrian Hon

Eternal Copyright

<blockquote>
Under a new deal between the two companies, Netflix users won’t just have to wait 56 days to rent Warner Bros. movies on DVD. They’ll have to wait 28 days to add the movies to their queues.
</blockquote>
More evidence that companies like Warner Bros. hates their customers. History has shown that the best foundation to build a business on is one of hating your customers…

Posts tagged “Copyright Garbage” from the blog