AMIA Newsbriefs

Supreme Court to Reconsider Software Patents

"On November 9, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Bilski v. Kappos, a case that could have a big impact on the future of online video.

In 1997, Investors Bernard L. Bilski and Rand A. Warsaw attempted to patent a business method they had invented—specifically, a method of hedging risks. When brought to court, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the patent. In its ruling, the appeals court stressed a test for patentability known as the “machine-or-transformation test.” This test establishes that a process is patentable in two instances: one, if it’s tied to a machine, or two, if it transforms something from one state to another. The appeals court left the decision’s effects on software ambiguous. Immediately after the initial Bilski ruling, the patent office rejected four applications from IBM, citing that a machine wasn’t necessary for their processes. "

Read the story here: http://openvideoalliance.org/2009/10/supreme-court-to-reconsider-software-patents/

Google at their word

At a Computer History Museum event last week in Silicon Valley, Google's Dan Clancy suggested that the best way to address the orphan books issue is for Congress to pass legislation, and that Google is not only supportive of this effort, but pushing for it.

Well, we’d like to take Google at their word and hope that they live up to that commitment. And we hope that they do it in a way that is honest and forthright, not self-serving and diversionary. At the Internet Archive, we believe that the right way to gain access to orphan books is to not break the law while you are doing it, and to work through Congress to ensure that the people’s voice in copyright is articulated the way the system was designed to work, not through a private, secret deal that we’re being assured is in our best interests by Google.

Read story here

Were we smarter 100 years ago..?

I have been rereading the legislative history of the 1909 Copyright Act.  I have come to the conclusion that 100 years ago we were smarter about copyright,  about disruptive technologies, about intellectual property, monopolies and network effects  than we are today. At least, the legislative hearings were much smarter. By James Boyle, Professor of Law at Duke University.

Read story here

Copyfraud: Poisoning the public domain

The public domain is the greatest resource in human history: eventually all knowledge will become part of it. Its riches serve all mankind, but it faces a new threat. Vast libraries of public domain works are being plundered by claims of "copyright". It's called copyfraud - and we'll discover how large corporations like Google, Yahoo, and Amazon have structured their businesses to assist it and profit from it.

Read story here

Why More Russian Archives are Likely to Close

A quirk in Russian law allows President Dmitry Medvedev to have a decisive voice in determining whether the archives of the former Communist Party will be opened — an arrangement that one rights activist says could mean the archives needed to fight falsification may become less accessible. In an article in the current issue of Moscow’s “New Times,” Nikita Petrov, the deputy head of history society and activist organization the Memorial Center, wrote that this is one manifestation of what he describes as the “serious illness” Russia’s archives now suffer from, “the unconstitutional prohibition on access to information.”

Read story here

Kartemquin Films and USC Property and Technology Law Clinic in Washington on Fair Use

Kartemquin Films Creative Director Gordon Quinn and his longtime colleague, Jim Morrissette, will appear at the Library of Congress in Washington as part of a coalition of filmmakers and film organizations to testify in hearings conducted by the United States Copyright Office in support of a proposed exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  The hearings will take place over the course of several days and their discussion will be held May 7 at 10:00am EST.

Read story here: http://www.namac.org/node/7128

Libraries Ask Judge to Monitor Google Books Settlement

Three groups representing libraries, including the American Library Association, the largest such group in the United States, have asked a federal judge to exercise “vigorous oversight” over a class-action settlement between Google, authors and publishers.

Read story here: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/libraries-ask-judge-to-monitor-google-books-settlement/

Oh no you didn't: Warner hits Lessig vid with DMCA takedown

Lawrence Lessig, the well-known legal scholar and copyright reform advocate who founded Creative Commons, was surprised to discover that Warner Music issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice against one of his presentations on YouTube.

Read story here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/lessig-presentation-on-youtube-hit-with-dmca-takedown-notice.ars

Digital Rights Groups Urge Obama To Diversify Appointees

A coalition including prominent digital rights advocates wrote to President Barack Obama Thursday to express concern about the appointment of former entertainment industry lawyers to key Department of Justice positions.The 18 signatories include the American Library Association, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge.

Read story here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=103401

EU Rejects Copyright Extension... For Now

The Council of the European Union rejected another attempt to extend the copyright on sound recordings from 50 to 95 years. However, it doesn't sound like this is (by any means) the end of such proposals.

Read story here: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090328/1446094291.shtml