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[Thad]

I like to think that the increasing number, and increasing absurdity, of cases like this is finally going to start convincing people that we need patent reform.  Guess we'll see.

[Mongrel]

I guess?  If Apple wasn't "that bunch of assholes with a crack team of lawyers" things wouldn't have gotten to this point.

If the gods were really kind that excerpt would have ended with Koh stealing Lee and Jacob's faces

Why must you rob me of my tiny tiny victories? 

_{So tiny. Look at them they're so... they're so tiny! You can't even see them!}

[Kayma]

If the gods were really kind that excerpt would have ended with Koh stealing Lee and Jacob's faces

Annnnnd this is why we need karma.

[Thad]

Rocket News 24: mangaka Shuho Sato to stop enforcing copyright on Say Hello to Black Jack -- so fan translations, adaptations, whatever kind of secondary use is allowed.

He's stopping short of releasing it into the public domain, and the article refers to this as an "indefinite" period for choosing not to enforce his copyrights.

Should be interesting to see what happens.

[Cait]

Hugo Awards live stream taken down by automated copyright sensors for showing clips of nominees.

[Thad]

Hm.  If only this affected someone with deep pockets who had a history of engaging in copyright suits not because he needed the money but simply because it would set precedent and protect other creators who didn't have his resources.

[Thad]

So okay.

The Mars landing, the Hugos, aaaaaand Michelle Obama's speech.

On a totally unrelated note, her husband has recently reaffirmed his support for vigorous copyright enforcement.

[Brentai]

Barack Obama will be remembered as the third-worst President we had this century.

[Thad]

Anti-gay group Public Advocate decides it's okay to just grab a gay couple's engagement photo off the Internet and use it in an attack ad against a political candidate who supports civil unions.  (And a Republican at that!)

The couple and the photographer are suing, because no fucking shit.

[Thad]

ContentID gets a little less odious:

In a Wednesday blog post, the Google-owned video site announced that copyright holders that wish to keep a video offline after the uploader disputes a ContentID claim will (in most cases) be required to file a formal takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That matters because there are legal penalties (albeit relatively modest ones) for filing bogus DMCA takedown requests.

It's a start, anyway.

[Thad]

A series of monumentally sloppy, automatically generated takedown notices sent by Microsoft to Google accused the US federal government, Wikipedia, the BBC, HuffPo, TechCrunch, and even Microsoft Bing of infringing on Microsoft's copyrights. Microsoft also accused Spotify (a music streaming site) of hosting material that infringed its copyrights. The takedown was aimed at early Windows 8 Beta leaks, and seemed to target its accusations based on the presence of the number 45 in the URLs.

You know, I think I'm finally starting to understand how the execs at the RIAA and MPAA feel.  They read stories, day in and day out, about people flagrantly, shamelessly violating copyright law, and are shocked and enraged that nobody's doing anything to stop it.

You know what, guys?  That IS a pretty crappy feeling.

[sei]

It's so crappy that the only thing that can make you feel better is whittling away at the rights of people to resell anything at all.

[NexAdruin]

Maybe they should just turn off the fucking news before the negativity of it all kills their empire.

None of this would even be an issue if the MPAA and RIAA hadn't from the outset made themselves the enemy of everyone, including the music artists.

[Thad]

I'd just like to see them have to pay $7000 per fraudulent takedown notice.

[NexAdruin]

Well that's exactly the point I was trying to make. They've alienated all their customers on both ends of the spectrum and now everyone hates them. There can still be a place for middlemen even in the modern world - namely people who can facilitate growth and take care of advertising. But the RIAA/MPAA don't come out as people that want to facilitate growth and help artists advertise their work. They come out as jerks who want money and will take yours if you don't hold onto it firmly enough.

Convincing the public that people calling themselves pirates (the scary motherfuckers who pillaged ports and kidnapped women) are the bad guys should be the easiest thing in the world, but the RIAA and MPAA by suing children and grandmothers have turned themselves into the bad guys, while the "pirates" are freely distributing things to the masses on their own dime.

[Thad]

BTW for those of you who like watching me argue about copyright...

Maine GOP Attacks Democratic Candidate Over Her Record... In 'World Of Warcraft'

The comments section is now largely made up of me trying to explain to a couple of clueless partisans why it would not be okay for Blizzard to sue the Maine GOP for using a single image of Colleen Lachowicz's WoW avatar in a campaign flyer that is specifically about Colleen Lachowicz's WoW avatar.

It's got all the stuff you'd expect -- a guy referring to infringement as "theft of property", and then explaining that what "fair use" actually means is some bullshit he just made up.

[sei]

There can still be a place for middlemen even in the modern world - namely people who can facilitate growth and take care of advertising.

Beatport. Serving as a discovery, preview, and convenient purchasing service. The platform adds value.

I guess the same could be said for iTunes and app stores, though closed gardens skeeve me the fuck out.

Convincing the public that people calling themselves pirates (the scary motherfuckers who pillaged ports and kidnapped women) are the bad guys should be the easiest thing in the world, but the RIAA and MPAA by suing children and grandmothers have turned themselves into the bad guys, while the "pirates" are freely distributing things to the masses on their own dime.

Look out, peasants! It's that scary motherfucker: Robin Hood!

[Thad]

So if anyone cites the asinine statistic that America has lost 41% of its musicians due to piracy, give this handy Ars piece a read.

It's best to read the whole thing and not reduce it to a tweet.  But here are the highlights:

• Yes, the number of people identifying as professional musicians HAS declined;
• We don't actually know precisely how much;
• but it's sure as fuck less than 41%;
• and there's not actually any real evidence that piracy has a goddamn thing to do with it;
• because did you notice how the economy sucks right now?  Maybe THAT has something to do with why people are having trouble making a living as musicians!
• As the economy gets better, the music industry will expand again;
• but as always musicians with lowest-common-denominator appeal will rebound a lot more quickly than ones with limited audiences.

[Brentai]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that number exactly reflected the number of professional musicians who decided they no longer wanted to be affiliated with any facet of the American music industry.

[Thad]

Weeeeell, it's not just people who've stopped working in "the industry" (read: touring, selling CD's, generally being affiliated with the RIAA), it's people who've stopped identifying as professional musicians entirely.  That's certain to include people who simply can't find work (which is a problem in EVERY industry right now, but people looking for paying music gigs are probably at more of a disadvantage in this economy than most professions).  There's also some confusion about nomenclature in the survey itself; maybe people who previously checked "Musician" check some other related box now.