Category Archives: IP/fair use

This Note’s for You Or is it? Copyright, Music, and the Internet- Summary

The use of fair use always seems to be in question. Where is the line drawn when it comes to the internet? In recent years there has been an abundance of copyright and fair use lawsuits on material from the internet. As monetary gains is usually the driving force for such lawsuits, how often are fair use advocates winning their cases.  Lisa Macklem’s article on fair use and copyrights on the internet shows how there is an increasing effort enforce copyright and fair use laws on internet obtained material. The article does not only focus on the internet, but discusses the same implications on music and the music industry. If you are worried about fair use and copyright laws check out Macklem’s article and make sure you are not breaking the law.

The Digital Divide Across All Citizens of the World: A New Concept-Summary

Ahh the Great Digital Divide! Have we ever been more separated by technology as a human race than at any point in our history? I would believe the last great technological advancement that separated us as much as internet access was probably when guns were first introduced in combat. One side had a great advantage, while the other fell to their enemies technological achievements. So what is the digital divide and what does it mean for you?  Jeffery James’s article ”The Digital Divide Across All Citizens of the World” explains how internet access and lack thereof divides world for the worse. He explains how lack of internet access effects the growth of poorer countries. With real world examples James is able show how those countries without internet access are substantially farther behind than their richer counter parts. Additionally, the author explores various ways to provide internet access and capabilities to less fortunate countries so we can shorten the gap between richer and poorer countries. As the world progresses through technologies it is indicative for all countries to have access to the internet. Check out Jeffery Jame’s article on the digital divide to learn more.

Creative Commons Licences, the Copyright Regime and the Online Community: Is There a Fatal Disconnect?- Summary

Many questions have been raised about the Creative Commons and open source software.  Copyright laws prevent many of us from accessing useful and creative sources on the internet. This concept begs the question on whether or not one can own property, ideas and then be able to copyright their works. As the internet progresses into the future the debate on the creative commons and copyright laws will continue to expand as well. Susan Corbett explores how the Creative Commons and copyright laws have developed over recent years and where they are heading in the future. Her article addresses the legal issues with the Creative Commons and copyrights laws and states that until the issues are resolved it will be difficult for internet users share ideas and creations on the internet.

How to Protect Your Intellectual Property in the Cloud

How to Protect Your Intellectual Property in the Cloud by Stephanie Overby

The main focus of this article is how to protect user intellectual property online. Cloud users and businesses do not always recognize how much their intellectual property is at risk on the cloud. For businesses, this sometimes requires, at a great expense, moving formulas and files back to in-house data storage. Being online, there is always a risk when intellectual property and sensitive data is released in the cloud, and that risk increases when a third party is involved or when internet based services are brought into the equation. Threats from these two problems make it more difficult to know and follow where data is and who is accessing it. Data on the cloud can bounce from country to country where intellectual property laws are not necessarily consistent. The article then outlines nine steps to follow to protect user intellectual property. The nine steps are as follows:

1)      Pick the right internet provider.

2)      Select the right service.

3)      Read the fine print. Add some fine print of your own.

4)      Expect to pay more.

5)      Consider IP creation.

6)      Secure it yourself.

7)      Prevent a lockout.

8)      Revisit controls on a regular basis.

9)      Be prepared to walk.

The ninth step infers the option that cloud based services may not be appropriate for every user or every business.

 

I chose this article because it gave possible threats and steps to protecting intellectual identity on the cloud. Though Stephanie Overby is a writer, she covers topics in IT Outsourcing for CIO, a technology professional journal.

Cloud Security: Will Your Business Data Be Safe In the Cloud?

Cloud Security: Will Your Business Data Be Safe In the Cloud? By Todd Weiss

This article’s main focus is to reveal how businesses can protect their intellectual property in the cloud. In today’s world, it is almost impossible not to have information online, but businesses such as medical centers, insurance agencies, and financial companies struggle to keep sensitive data private. These poses a large problem for data security, as hackers can gain access to personal information, then turn around and ‘sell’ that information. The article suggests that setting clear policies on access to both user and location is quite possibly the best move that a company can take to protect their information as well as their clients’ information. Although the author and a tech consultant of an IT consultancy, Ara Trembly says, “that inherit risk is not something I advise clients to take if they are in a business that is data dependent.” The article lists a few questions for a company to consider before establishing user access and placing data online.

I chose this article because it gave a perspective of how intellectual property through businesses can be a greater risk without users necessarily knowing. Though Todd Weiss is a writer, he covers topics such as Cloud computing, CRM, and Enterprise applications for CIO, a technology professional journal.

 

Tech Industry Leaders Appeal for Laxer Intellectual Property Laws

Tech Industry Leaders Appeal for Laxer Intellectual Property Laws by Kenneth Corbin

An appeal to the House of Representatives lawmakers from tech industry executives to relax intellectual property laws for the benefit of companies is the main focus of this article. The main problem proposed by these executives is patent rules and restrictions on the innovation of technology. These executives requested to rewrite Intellectual Property laws, such that the rate of innovation can be increased while also taking into account antipiracy struggles. Companies hacking competitors can find files and blue prints and other forms of intellectual property, while patents are becoming a thing of the past. According to Nathan Seidle, CEO of SparkFun Electronics, comments “Innovation moves faster than the shield of intellectual property…time is better spent innovating.”

 

I chose this article because it gave a different perspective to intellectual property as being technology innovations and corporations. Though Kenneth Corbin is a journalist, he often reports on government and regulatory issues for CIO, a technology professional journal.

The Internet, Innovation, and Intellectual Property Policy

The Internet, Innovation, and Intellectual Property Policy dives back into the start of the internet and how it has advanced, as seen in my other post by the internet has came a long way and emerged. This article shows that because of this emergence of the internet, it is transforming information industries, and challenging intellectual property law to develop a competition policy strategy to regulate networked products. Within this article a proposal is made, this proposal is competitive platform model(Weiser Vol. 103.)  This proposal consists of governing intellectual property and internet policy. As I stated previously, the article shows how the internet has emerged, therefore this platform is designed to ”guide intellectual property in the internet age(Weiser Vol. 103.)”  The articles states that this is due to the ”continuing evolution of hardware and software infrastructure that supports internet content gives rise to radically different visions for how intellectual property should regulate the internet software infrastructure(Weiser Vol. 103.).

 

Fair Use, Film, and the Advantages of Internet Distribution

Fair Use, Film, and the Advantages of Internet Distribution discusses websites such as YouTube and Yahoo, who ”breathes air into fair use for filmmakers(Lohmann Vol. 42.)” Within this article they go on to show the controversy dealing with these two sites, the problem is that people who upload videos to these sites can get a global audience in no time, and not even have to satisfy the rights clearance that have been put in place by gatekeepers. These websites go by different rules and regulations. Instead of demanding rights, clearances, errors, and omissions, online video hosting providers rely on a notice and takedown policy to protect them from copyright risks(Lohmann Vol. 42.. This article was pretty cool to read because people upload videos that I know all the time, and never once thought about any of this.

Link found here

Fair Use in Face-to-Face Teaching

Fair Use in Face-to-Face Teaching aims to address and inform about the dilemma of copyright within classrooms. As we know today, getting access and using someone else’s work is so easy to find, and use, as stated in the article ”it is not always clear what can be performed, listened to, and distributed without permission from the copyright owner(Leary & Parker Vol 55.”) Copyright owners hold the right to duplicate, distribute, exhibit, and alter their materials. Instructors on the other hand have to get permission, which is a license agreement which may consist of financial compensation(Leary & Parker Vol. 55.) They may also use open licensed works which are resources that are openly available on the internet(Leary & Parker Vol. 55.). Lastly they have the choice of operating under fair use doctrine, which consiss of three main areas (journalistic, parody, and educational(Leary & Parker Vol. 55.) In order to see where the line is drawn with the dilemma of copyright within face-to-face taught classroom.

Click here for link

Ip/fair use Report: Album Piracy May Help Musicians Sell

So how does this sound? The more a music album is illegally downloaded for free, the more money the artist makes. …yeah, it’s an odd thing to envision. But according to a 2012 study from North Carolina State University, albums that are “leaked” tend to sell slightly more than those actually sold. One would think that prereleased sharing would cause the artist to lose more money than gain, but it has been proving the opposite. A theory as to why this is is because the people pirating are able to listen and figure out if they like the songs before they officially buy them.  In return this provides the artist with more public exposure to their content, kind of like free samples given out at a grocery store before the customer knows if they want to buy the product. It was also found that artists who were well known benefited from the predownloads than lesser-known artists. This is a rare case where piracy may actually be beneficial.

The reason I spotlighted this article is because I knew that with more opportunities to get free content nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to get around piracy. So, I was curious to see if there were any ways that we could benefit from it since people would do it anyway.

This article was taken from a study conducted by Robert G. Hammond, an Assistant Professor of Economics at North Carolina State University, about how the existence of a black market affects outcomes in the formal market”.

KOEBLER, JASON. “Report: Album Piracy May Help Musicians Sell.” U.S. News. (2012): n. page. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/05/29/report-album-piracy-may-help-musicians-sell>.