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[Commentary] Intellectual property law must strike a difficult balance.
There is public benefit from the widest possible access to and use of creative output. There is also a public interest in ensuring that artists and their publishers have incentives to produce new work. There are few certainties in judging the effects of such policies, but there are some. John Lennon will never sing another song. James Joyce will never publish another novel, and Picasso will never pick up his brush again. No financial incentives can now affect the quality or quantity of their work.
Yet the US Congress and the European Commission have been much exercised in increasing the rights of the dead, or those whose creative years are long behind them. The Sonny Bono Copyright Act of 1998 extended the term of American copyright in written material and was quickly followed in Europe. Thanks to the efforts of Mr Bono and my doctors, copyright in my prize essay for excellence in Scottish literature will probably endure into the 22nd century. More recent pressure to extend copyright terms has focused on sound recordings. While this plan has been rejected several times, pressure from interest groups is relentless.
The difficult balance of intellectual property
Judge Kevin Carey, a federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware, is indicating that he will allow Tribune Company's creditors to pursue fraud claims in state courts against shareholders who benefited from the media company’s 2007 leveraged buyout. Attorneys for some creditors told Judge Carey that they should be cleared to go after money that the company itself didn't try to get before a deadline expired in bankruptcy court. The court has been overseeing Tribune Co.’s operations since it filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2008.
Tribune bankruptcy judge indicates he will allow state lawsuits alleging fraud in 2007 buyout
Groupon Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon is leaving his job at the Chicago-based daily deal site.
Solomon, 44, a former executive with Yahoo Inc., held the titles for about a year. As Groupon has hurtled toward an expected IPO, Solomon's role had him racing to build the management structures and marketing strategies needed to harness its growth. Solomon decided to step down following consultation with Groupon's chief executive and founder, Andrew Mason. "I agree with Andrew that we really need a much different type of operator to take it to the next level," he said. "What we did in that one year is equivalent to what happens in five years at the best Internet companies." Mr. Solomon said that Groupon had yet to find a replacement for him, but that the company was "talking to lots of world-class COO types."
Groupon President and COO Solomon leaving company Groupon President Stepping Down (WSJ) Groupon Operating Chief Rob Solomon Leaves as Coupon Site Prepares For IPO (Bloomberg)
US Circuit Judge Denny Chin has rejected a deal between Google and lawyers for authors and publishers to let the gigantic search engine make money presiding over the world's largest digital library, saying the creation of a universal library would benefit many but would "simply go too far" by "grant[ing] Google significant rights to exploit entire books, without permission of the copyright owners." Judge Chin said the deal gives Goggle "a significant advantage over competitors." He said the deal would be "rewarding [Google] for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case."
Google issued a statement: "This is clearly disappointing, but we'll review the Court’s decision and consider our options. Like many others, we believe this agreement has the potential to open-up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the US today. Regardless of the outcome, we'll continue to work to make more of the world’s books discoverable online through Google Books and Google eBooks."
Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said: "We are pleased that Judge Chin has rejected this settlement, even though we agree with him that there are benefits to Google’s book project. We were also pleased that the judge agreed with us in the specific issue of orphan works, as he ruled: ‘Google’s ability to deny competitors the ability to search orphan books would further entrench Google’s market power in the online search market.’ We look forward to continued discussion to work out a settlement agreeable to all along the lines Judge Chin recommended.”
Here's additional coverage:
Judge Rejects Google’s Deal to Digitize Books (NYTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/technology/23google.html?ref=todayspaper
Judge Rejects Google Books Settlement (WSJ)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870446130457621692356203334...
Judge throws out Google book deal (FT)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f7ee4948-54bf-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html
Judge rejects settlement in Google plan to digitize books (SJ Merc)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_17673453
Google plan for out-of-print archive ruled unfair (SF Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/23/BUG71IH6BB.D...
Judge Rejects Google books Settlement Judge Rules Against Google Books Deal (paidContent.org) Statement (Public Knowledge)
The Chinese government denied Google's claims that it has disrupted service and blocked features of Gmail in China. "This is an unacceptable accusation," said Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
China says Google's accusations about Gmail tampering are 'unacceptable'
The broadcast industry called on the lawmakers to tighten performance standards for mobile phones before reallocating spectrum to wireless firms in the latest exchange over the Obama Administration's planned incentive auctions.
"Stone-throwing receiver manufacturers need to look in their own spectrum-inefficient glass houses," tweeted National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton followed by a link to the letter from NAB president Gordon Smith addressed to the leadership of the Senate and House Commerce Committees. Broadcasters have resisted any attempted transfer of spectrum that isn't completely voluntary, while pointing to the millions of Americans who lack cable or broadband and rely on over-the-air television. The letter argues handset makers don't consume spectrum efficiently and cited published comments by former Federal Communications Commission officials.
NAB tells handset makers to 'look in their own spectrum-inefficient glass houses' NAB (read the letter)
The Federal Communications Commission took steps to block advertisers and agencies from discriminating on the basis of race or ethnicity when signing contracts with broadcast stations.
The advisory is aimed at advertising contracts that contain "no urban/no Spanish" clauses, which stipulate the ads can't be placed with urban or Latino stations. Stations must now certify that their agreements contain no such clause or risk the commission revoking their broadcast license. “It should be clear from today’s advisory that the commission will vigorously enforce its rules against discrimination in advertising sales contracts," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "As the Commission stated in its order adopting the rule, discrimination simply has no place in broadcasting.” The advisory also designates an individual in the FCC's Enforcement Bureau as the specific contact on the issue. Bureau Chief Michelle Ellison said the agency's leadership wants a renewed focus on issues of discrimination.
FCC takes steps to end discrimination in broadcast ad contracts FCC (Enforcement Advisory) FCC (Press release)
AT&T says it wants to buy T-Mobile USA to acquire more airwaves to support the growing use of data-hungry devices such as the iPhone. But if that's the case, the T-Mobile deal isn't much of a solution.
Having the right to use airwaves, or wireless spectrum, is essential to phone companies. More spectrum means more phone calls and more data can be carried in the same area. But AT&T Inc. already has an ample supply of unused wireless spectrum that it plans to use to expand its network over the next several years. And much of T-Mobile's spectrum is already in use, so the deal won't result in fresh airwaves becoming available. "The notion that there's a spectrum crisis has been greatly exaggerated for (the) political purposes of a few select companies like AT&T," said Derek Turner, research director at public-interest group Free Press. In fact, AT&T has made great strides in addressing network congestion in such cities as New York and San Francisco not by tapping its unused spectrum, but by upgrading its cell-tower equipment. AT&T has enough airwaves that it agreed to transfer some of its spectrum holdings to T-Mobile USA, along with a $3 billion breakup fee, if the deal is blocked by regulators.
Despite Claims, AT&T Has Lots of Spectrum
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking nominations for a board member position on the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company to represent state telecommunications regulators. All nominations must be filed with the Office of the Secretary by April 5, 2011.
FCC Seeks Nominees for USAC Board
It helps neither voters nor democracy when special interests are allowed to keep under wraps their financial sponsorship of political advertisements in our media.
In the most recent election cycle last year, way over $2 billion was funneled into political ads, a record high for a midterm campaign. We, the People have a right to know who is bank-rolling these ads. This is not a partisan issue, but rather it is a transparency issue with a substantial impact on the health of our civic discourse. The law of the land issued in the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allows corporations and unions to buy political advertisements, but it does not mean that citizens should be left in the dark as to who is making an argument to voters. In fact, Section 317 of the Communication Act dictates that 'listeners are entitled to know by whom they are being persuaded.' If some group called 'Citizens for Spacious Skies and Amber Waves of Grain' is actually under-written by a chemical company that doesn't want to clean up a toxic dump, viewers, listeners and voters should know this.
I welcome the petition received today from Media Access Project urging the Commission to exercise the authority I believe it already possesses to require full and complete disclosure of political ad sponsorship. We can work out the details promptly if we get this moving right away. I urge the Commission to begin working on this important issue today. Anonymous ads sidetrack our civic dialogue. I think it's better to put faces on them and let informed voters decide their merit.
FCC's Copps Responds to Call for Political Ad Disclosure