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Author Topic: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law  (Read 54525 times)

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Brentai

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #120 on: December 15, 2008, 08:34:26 PM »

P.S. Assuming for a moment that his seed ratio wasn't over ninety thousaaaaaaand, here's the SCOTUS position on what the RIAA should reasonably expect to wring from him in punitive damages:

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punitive_damages
Most recently, in Philip Morris USA v. Williams (2007), the Court ruled that punitive damage awards cannot be imposed for the direct harm that the misconduct caused others, but may consider harm to others as a function of determining how reprehensible it was.

In other words: not responsible for any of the RIAA's problems.  Only responsible for compensating for the social perception of his crime.

He was filesharing.

Seven.

Songs.

Which isn't even illegal, in itself.
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JDigital

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #121 on: December 16, 2008, 06:07:01 AM »

As for reprehensible, he maybe potentially cost a multi-billion dollar business less than seven dollars, of which perhaps seventy cents would have gone to musicians who probably earn more than that from the kid in the form of free word-of-mouth advertising.

I have a feeling that I'm preaching to the choir here, though.
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Thad

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #122 on: December 19, 2008, 11:26:09 PM »

WaPo: good news and bad news.  The good news is the RIAA's going to quit suing people for filesharing.  The bad news is that they're going to try and get their Internet access cut off via their ISP's instead.

The problems here should be obvious.

Quote
Effectively, RIAA has turned itself into the sheriff, and your ISP into its deputy. Based on the same data gathering and user identification methods that have come under fire from the start, RIAA will now be able to get your Internet access limited or discontinued on its own if it for some reason flags you as an illegal filesharer. And I'm not the only one left feeling a little wary about that.

"This means more music fans are going to be harassed by the music industry," saysFred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"The problem is the lack of due process for those accused," von Lohmann continues. "In a world where hundreds of thousands, or millions, of copyright infringement allegations are automatically generated and delivered to ISPs, mistakes are going to be made. ... Anyone who has ever had to fight to correct an error on their credit reports will be able to imagine the trouble we're in for."

Not all RIAA takedown notices are valid.  And telecoms aren't exactly known for their commitment to customer privacy and due process.
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Saturn

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #123 on: December 19, 2008, 11:31:38 PM »

well, ISPs tend to be incredibly lazy too.
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Thad

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #124 on: December 20, 2008, 10:40:50 PM »

Yes, and which requires more effort: investigating whether a claim has merit, or just switching somebody's service off?
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Arc

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #125 on: December 21, 2008, 09:37:39 AM »

Service Providers tossing away their subscriptions for the RIAA? Unless they're being paid compensation, service providers are likely to be highly selective.

:painful: Just like how the lawsuits were highly selective.
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Mongrel

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #126 on: December 21, 2008, 10:07:19 AM »

Well, there have been many cases of ISPs balking at outside orders against their subscribers, since that interferes with the control of their own business.

Tangent: So, if the kid Harvard professor wins the case and the lawsuits are deemed abusive, does anyone think there is a chance of a backlash (civil or even regulatory action) against the RIAA on behalf of anyone who already settled? I mean, I'm thinking it's unlikely, but it's not impossible.
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Brentai

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #127 on: December 21, 2008, 12:28:04 PM »

Net neutrality.

I don't think ISPs are going to need a lot of coaxing to start bumping off people accused of filesharing large quantities of data.
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Arc

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #128 on: December 21, 2008, 12:34:17 PM »

Service Providers are making profits off large broadband packages, and have been known to look the other way about what their users are doing with such data transfers. In essence, bittorrent has been a blessing for justifying their larger and larger transfer rates.
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Brentai

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #129 on: December 21, 2008, 12:58:59 PM »

So basically the implicit ultimatum for casual pirates is going to be "Buy a more expensive package or get arrested"?
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Mongrel

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #130 on: December 21, 2008, 02:57:44 PM »

Net neutrality.

Actually, that's a valid point. Any instance of an ISP agreeing to kick users for that would be as about as flagrant a violation of Net Neutrality as you could get. Which may or may not lead to a challenge.

By no means it it the only variable in such a challenge (or even a key one), but it feels better than ever now to see that Our Friend Ted is gone.
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Arc

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #131 on: December 21, 2008, 03:25:15 PM »

So basically the implicit ultimatum for casual pirates is going to be "Buy a more expensive package or get arrested"?

My service provider upgraded my line, without my authorization or knowledge. After the higher bill came in, I quickly rectified the error. Now I'm having second thoughts, thinking that I'm not paying enough protection money.
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Thad

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #132 on: December 21, 2008, 07:41:25 PM »

That, and it seems it would be effing trivial to make you pay a small fine to get your service back, and most people would do that rather than go to court.
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Disposable Ninja

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #133 on: January 02, 2009, 10:14:08 AM »

Some company called Worlds.com is suing NCSoft.

I would usually never say something like this, but there really ought to be a law against this sort of thing if there isn't already.
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Brentai

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #134 on: January 02, 2009, 10:28:38 AM »

IANAL but I think there's no case if you haven't made a reasonable effort to enforce intellectual property in the past (see: why McDonalds sues every fucker on the planet... because legally they HAVE to.)  Filing for a patent, sitting on the approval process for eight years while companies infringe on it unchecked, and then turning around blitzing an entire multibillion dollar industry does not work.

Nevermind.  Apparently it works flawlessly!
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Cthulhu-chan

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #135 on: January 02, 2009, 11:00:00 AM »

Yeah, unfortunately you're thinking of trademarks, I believe.
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TA

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #136 on: January 02, 2009, 02:17:31 PM »

Some company called Worlds.com is suing NCSoft.

I would usually never say something like this, but there really ought to be a law against this sort of thing if there isn't already.

Their patent is ridiculous and indefensible.  They're claiming to patent a problem, not a solution, and thus extend that patent to all solutions to that problem.  As well, with these sorts of patents you have to demonstrate that at the time the patent was filed, what you're patenting would have required innovation, rather than being plainly obvious to anyone who tried to solve it.  Which this isn't.
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Catloaf

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #137 on: January 02, 2009, 03:34:55 PM »

As well, with these sorts of patents you have to demonstrate that at the time the patent was filed, what you're patenting would have required innovation, rather than being plainly obvious to anyone who tried to solve it.  Which this isn't.

Really?  So.... In their argument, they would have to present a simpler, brute force method of doing the task at hand?

Also, can patents really be that goddamn vague?  What they have currently applies to virtually every single online game currently on the market as well as many socializing programs.  Hell, if it didn't include the 3d environment part, it would include any IM program where people have pictures assigned to names!
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Mongrel

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #138 on: January 02, 2009, 03:40:50 PM »

I don't know, if this stuff gets bad enough we may finally begin to see a real debate regarding IP abuse and the disincentive to innovation. Granted, things will have to get much worse before any useful action is taken, but sometimes the only way out is a race to the bottom.
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Brentai

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Re: Another thread on copyright/patent/trademark law
« Reply #139 on: January 02, 2009, 04:40:50 PM »

You'll notice that it's actually an approved patent though.

...in case you weren't aware, the entire patent system in the U.S. is a pile of shit.
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