Media Life Magazine - Supremes open way for remote DVRs

Media Life Magazine - Supremes open way for remote DVRs 

Supremes open way for remote DVRs High court ruling frees Cablevision to offer service

By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jun 30, 2009

It would seem like a splitting of hairs, but then so much of copyright and trademark law is just that.
Cablevision came up with a system allowing its customers to record TV shows, as they might with a DVR, but store them remotely on a Cablevision server.

TV networks, which are generally opposed to all things DVR, objected and filed a lawsuit, arguing that Cablevision's remote DVR storage system violated their copyright protection of the shows they produce--and in a way that a TiVo device or similar home DVR device does not.
The networks, including CNN, CBS and Fox Networks Group, along with the Motion Picture Association of America, won the first round in federal court but then lost on appeal, when last August the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the lower court's decision.
Yesterday the networks lost again when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
The effect is to enable Cablevision and other cable systems to broaden their offerings to consumers, allowing them to record and store programs without having to buy a home DVR device.
The networks worry that thus enabled, more and more viewers will use the service with the intent of zipping though ads on the recorded shows as they might with a TiVo device. About a third of homes now have some sort of DVR device.
Cablevision halted the rollout of its remote DVR service three years ago but now plans to introduce a version of it this summer, and presumably other cable systems will follow.
The network's beef with the remote system is that in effect it empowers a third party, the cable operator, to become a distributor of content that belongs to the networks. By contrast, the home DVR-recorded show is clearly for personal use and as such is not for distribution.
In any case, as copyright holders, the networks must be diligent in bringing legal challenges whenever they believe their copyright protection is being challenged, lest they open a floodgate of similar incursions.
And it becomes all the more critical as more and more content goes online or is offered on demand.
But they have a practical aim as well. Their long-term intent is to reach terms with cable systems such as Cablevision to restrict the ease with which users are enabled to skip ads.
What effect all this will have on ad-skipping is hard to say.
Numerous studies have been done on DVR usage and ad-skipping, and a number have concluded it occurs far less often than one might expect.
More to the point though, to skip an ad using a DVR device requires watching the ad as it’s speeded through to know when the program resumes. The effect is that the skipped ad gets more attention than if the viewer simply left the room.

Media Life Magazine - Supremes open way for remote DVRs

Has the Pirate Bay given up piracy? – SciTechBlog - CNN.com Blogs

Has the Pirate Bay given up piracy? – SciTechBlog - CNN.com Blogs 

Has the Pirate Bay given up piracy?

 

The Pirate Bay, a Swedish file-sharing Web site used by millions to exchange movies and music, is reportedly being sold to the Swedish company Global Gaming Factory X AB for nearly $8 million.

 

A blog posted on thepiratebay.org Tuesday morning says rumors of the sale are true:

We’ve been working on this project for many years. It’s time to invite more people into the project, in a way that is secure and safe for everybody… The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets.

The Pirate Bay and its founders have been under legal attack from copyright owners for years. While the Web site does not host copyrighted content, it does host millions of torrent files which enable peer-to-peer file-trading. Many of these torrent files point to copyrighted material.

In April four of the Website’s co-founders were convicted of collaborating to violate copyright law and sentenced to one year in jail as well as ordered to pay $3.6 million in damages to several major media companies.

A press release from Global Gaming Factory suggests, following the sale, the Pirate Bay is done with piracy:

Following the completion of the acquisitions, GGF intends to launch new business models that allow compensation to the content providers and copyright owners. The responsibility for, and operation of the site will be taken over by GGF in connection with closing of the transaction, which is scheduled for August 2009.

There are hundreds of competing Websites that offer copyright infringing torrents, but it appears the Pirate Bay, which once claimed a spot on the Web’s top 100, will no longer be among them. The site claims more than 3.5 million registered users.

The news made Pirate Bay one of the top trending topics on Twitter Tuesday morning, with many tweets mourning the sale. “The Pirate Bay walks the plank for new biz model,” said one Twitterer.

Will the sale of the Pirate Bay mean an end to free copyrighted material for all? And can Global Gaming Factory monetize a site that is based on piracy?

Has the Pirate Bay given up piracy? – SciTechBlog - CNN.com Blogs

Music Firm Sues Microsoft, Yahoo, and Real Networks Over Copyright Infringement | paidContent

 Music Firm Sues Microsoft, Yahoo, and Real Networks Over Copyright Infringement | paidContent

Music Firm Sues Microsoft, Yahoo, and Real Networks Over Copyright Infringement

Not your typical targets for a music copyright infringement lawsuit: The big companies that run paid online music subscription services. But MCS Music America, which says it administers almost 45,000 tracks, is suing Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), and RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK), basically saying that they left some seemingly big Ts uncrossed when they obtained the rights to offer some songs to their members. From the lawsuit: “In order to transmit, perform, reproduce and deliver any sound recording of any musical work via ‘on-demand streams’ or ‘limited downloads’ defendants must first obtain not only the rights for the sound recording itself but also the rights for the underlying musical composition which is embodied on said sound recording.”

MCS Music America wants the tracks taken down and is also asking for damages—either “actual damages and profits derived by the defendants” or $150,000 for each act of copyright infringement (That could add up since it takes 90 pages for MCS Music America to simply list all the songs that it says have been misappropriated—and MCS Music America says that a separate act of copyright infringement took place each time one of those songs was downloaded or streamed).

TechDirt, which first reported the lawsuit, says it’s an indication of “just how incredibly confusing and impossible copyright law has become” since the three companies obviously did take the time to obtain some rights to the songs. Representatives from Yahoo, Microsoft and RealNetworks had no comment.

Music Firm Sues Microsoft, Yahoo, and Real Networks Over Copyright Infringement | paidContent

RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case | Digital Media - CNET News

 RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case | Digital Media - CNET News

RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case

by Greg Sandoval

Note: See Usenet.com's reaction at "Usenet.com says RIAA 'whittling down' Betamax case."

The Recording Industry Association of America has prevailed in its copyright fight against Usenet.com, according to court documents.

In a decision that hands the RIAA an overwhelming victory, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the music industry on all its main theories: that Usenet.com is guilty of direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement. In addition, and perhaps most important for future cases, Baer said that Usenet.com can't claim protection under the Sony Betamax decision. That ruling says companies can't be held liable for contributory infringement if the device they create is "capable of significant non-infringing uses."

Baer noted that in citing the Betamax case, Usenet.com failed to see one important difference between it and Sony. Once Sony sold a Betamax, an early videotape recorder, the company's relationship with the buyer ended. Sony held no sway over what the buyer did with the device after that. Usenet.com, however, maintains an ongoing relationship with the customer and does has some say in how the customer uses the service.

Usenet.com's lawyers could not be reached Tuesday evening.

The two-decade-old Usenet network was one of the early ways to distribute conversations and binary files, long before the Web or peer-to-peer networks existed. Usenet.com is a company that enabled users to access the Usenet network.The RIAA filed suit against Usenet.com in October 2007, accusing the company of encouraging customers to pay up to $19 a month by enticing them with copyrighted music.

The case is highly unusual because of Baer's many findings of discovery misconduct by the Usenet.com side. The rules of discovery in a civil case requires both sides to exchange information. The RIAA produced evidence, however, that Usenet.com destroyed evidence or failed to produce witnesses on multiple occasions.

The RIAA accused Usenet.com of intentionally destroying the contents on seven hard drives that contained employee-generated data; providing false information; and attempting to prevent employees from giving depositions by sending them to Europe.

The judge found the evidence credible but denied the RIAA's motion to hand it a victory based solely on the misconduct. Instead, the judge sanctioned Usenet.com "from asserting (the company's) affirmative defense of protection under the DMCA's safe harbor provision."

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor provides refuge to Internet service providers from being held responsible for criminal acts committed by users. Without that and without the Betamax decision, Usenet.com was a sitting duck.

In a brief note posted Tuesday to RIAA.com, the trade group for the music industry said: "We're pleased that the court recognized not just that Usenet.com directly infringed the record companies' copyrights but also took action against the defendants for their egregious litigation misconduct."

RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case | Digital Media - CNET News

The Ridiculous Copyright Situation Faced By Academics Who Want To Promote Their Own Research | Techdirt

The Ridiculous Copyright Situation Faced By Academics Who Want To Promote Their Own Research | Techdirt 

The Ridiculous Copyright Situation Faced By Academics Who Want To Promote Their Own Research

from the don't-ask,-don't-tell dept

Ed Kohler points us to a long, but fascinating blog post, by Stuart Shieber, a CS professor at Harvard, discussing the somewhat ridiculous copyright situation that many academics deal with in trying to promote their own works. I've heard similar stories from other professors I know, but this one is worth reading. Shieber points out the importance of academics getting their research published in journals, but how annoying it is that most journals require those academics to give up all sorts of rights -- including the right to distribute their own research on their websites. However, he notes that most published academics simply ignore this rule, and you end up with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Even though they're legally prevented from putting up a PDF of their work on their website, they do so anyway, and journals just look the other way.
Shieber, however, finds this situation to be a bad thing, and instead adds an amendment that at least grants him the right to publish his own research on his own website. It seems pretty ridiculous that this should even be an issue at all. He notes that most journals haven't had a problem with this -- which is surprising, but good to hear. He did run into one publisher, however, who fought him on it, and after lots of back and forth, his paper was pulled. The reasoning that the journal gave didn't make much sense, and Shieber shows how wrong they are (for example, they claim that if professors published the works on their website, demand for journal subscriptions would go down -- but Shieber did a quick look, and found that about 80% of those who published in the same journal had posted the content anyway, and it hadn't killed off the journal, so arguing against him seemed pointless). Eventually, he was able to convince the journal to change its policies and got his paper published, but it delayed publication for a while.
It's really unfortunate that journals still think that locking up such content makes sense. The idea that researchers shouldn't be allowed to share their own research with the world because some journal needs artificial scarcity for its business model is something that needs to be put to rest.

The Ridiculous Copyright Situation Faced By Academics Who Want To Promote Their Own Research | Techdirt

Kurtz on Measuring Effectiveness in the New Scholarly Communications : Christina's LIS Rant

Kurtz on Measuring Effectiveness in the New Scholarly Communications : Christina's LIS Rant 

Kurtz on Measuring Effectiveness in the New Scholarly Communications

Category: Information Science • information retrieval • open access
Posted on: June 27, 2009 5:43 PM, by Christina Pikas

Michael J. Kurtz of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics came to speak at MPOW at a gathering of librarians from across the larger institution (MPOW is a research lab affiliated with a large private institution).  He's an astronomer but more recently he's been publishing in bibliometrics quite a bit using data from the ADS.  You can review his publications using this search.

As an aside, folks outside of astro and planetary sciences might not be familiar with ADS, but it's an excellent and incredibly powerful research database.  Sometimes librarians turn their nose up at it because it's all about being functional and not at all about being pretty, but it essentially rocks (I'm definitely going to have to do a post on freely available research databases besides PubMed).

Kurtz' talk was basically at the speed of light and broken down into two parts: bibliometrics using usage data as compared to citations in astro with ads data and then more on scholarly communication.

I only have hand-written notes so let me just try to capture some of his points in bullets:

• like Amazon, successful recommender systems use usage data
• not new, Derek J deSolla Price graphed the obsolescence curve for articles (not cited, then get the most citations, then trails off, eventually flat with few citations after some period of time that depends on the subject)
• in an article he mapped the usage vs. age. He showed us graphs of 110 years, a few years (?), and then 90 days. (maybe doi: 10.1002/asi.20096 ). This can be modeled using exponentials with 4 different time scales.
• he showed the different usage - age graphs for traffic coming directly to ADS (presumably mostly professional scientists - this looked just like Price's model and the citation model), for people coming from Google Scholar(they take to be students), and from people coming from google (flat across all years, taken to be random members of the public).
• astronomers read and cite the same things so you can use usage instead of citations to look at individuals, institutions, countries
• the MESUR project - gathering usage data from a pile of places. Problem is the quality of the data available - doesn't follow a user through what looked at, what linked to.
• ADS has a popular items algorithm: put in a search - it matches, people who have read also read, ranks those by # of usages
• should use citedness for tenure decisions - very unstable at about 7-10 years where as usage data is pretty stable
• usage is better at measuring journals than citedness. example: medicine - clinicians read a lot more articles but don't write so much (if at all).
• page rank gets it right, IF gets it wrong (I think this was mapping various things like usage, citation, impact factor... on some big graph...)

So that's the notes I have from the first section - here's the second.

• ADS has semantic links between scholarly papers, the observations they' are based on, and other sources of data for that astronomical object (this is actually wicked cool)
• ADS also links to ArXiv and has openurl linking so you can find a copy your institution subscribes to (I had them list our parent institution, but you have to set up your own preferences to turn it on, they don't register IPs with institutions)
• it's a hodge podge now, but they're working on a virtual observatory that will make this more seamless
• elsewhere - he mentioned provenance (briefly - I saw more at the IEEE eScience conference) and the value of sharing workflows (like myExperiment) - and VisTrails
• he ended with an exhortation to support Open Access (this crowd already does - well at least the STEM folks)

I needed about 5 more minutes with each slide, but it was still a great talk.  I'll have to go back and read/re-read his articles after this comps thing is over.  BTW- if you're reading Michael - I'm waving and thanks for coming!

Kurtz on Measuring Effectiveness in the New Scholarly Communications : Christina's LIS Rant

Open Access: What are the economic benefits? « Jurn blog

 Open Access: What are the economic benefits? « Jurn blog

Open Access: What are the economic benefits?

Yet another new report for your holiday deckchair reading. Open Access: What are the economic benefits? A comparison of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark is by John Houghton of the Australian Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, and is published by the Danish Knowledge Exchange….

“Open access or ‘author-pays’ publishing for journal articles (i.e. ‘Gold OA’) might bring net system savings of around [...] EUR 480 million in the UK (at 2007 prices and levels of publishing activity) [...] a repositories and overlay-services model may well produce similar cost savings to open access publishing.”

Open Access: What are the economic benefits? « Jurn blog