We missed this story when it appeared last month, so we are commenting on it now.

A woman who was arrested on allegations she sold illegal music compact discs was jailed last month and left by law enforcement authorities in solitary confinement for more than four days. The woman, Adriana Torres-Flores, 38, of Springdale, Arkansas, was left without food, toilet facilities, or sleeping facilities. Torres-Flores said she drank her own urine to for fluids.

Torres-Flores had been arrested in December 2007 on criminal charges she was selling bootlegged compact discs at a Springdale, Arkansas flea market. Torres-Flores faces deportation proceedings because she is not a U.S. citizen.

We discovered news of Ms. Torres-Flores’ situation after we read a The New York Times last week about the bootlegged entertainment that no longer is available on Canal Street, long known as one of New York City’s major distribution points for discount goods, many of which are counterfeit. The story details an initiative Mayor Michael Bloomberg began in December 2003 with the aim of reducing the amount of counterfeit goods in the city that never sleeps.

A separate December 2003 from the Times details the results of an afternoon raid against counterfeit goods.

In both Times stories, the newspaper quotes financial estimates from trade associations — the Motion Picture Association of America in last week’s story; the International Chamber of Commerce in the 2003 story — that purport to detail the amount of money the associations’ member lose to counterfeit or bootlegged goods.

Ms. Torres-Flores’ situation is egregious because of the unusual circumstances surrounding her detention. In many other ways, however, her situation is consistent with an effort by multinational copyright industries to use municipal police to enforce and uphold the protection of their narrow interests. We wrote about this situation last year when editorializing about the Fulton County Sherriff’s involvement (with blue-jacketed representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America) in a raid of DJ Drama’s Atlanta studio.

DJ Drama and several of his colleagues were arrested in January 2007 for making mixtapes allegedly in violation of the Copyright Act of 1976.

See also:

Eric A. Taub. Off New York Streets, Film Piracy Is Online. The New York Times. April 14, 2008.

Mark Minton. Woman Forgotten 4 Days In Tiny Cell. Arkansas Democrat Gazette. March 11, 2008.

Copycense. Mix Tapes Compared to Cocaine? February 7, 2007.

Michael Wilson. 2 Chinatown Stores Raided In Counterfeit-Goods Sweep. The New York Times. Dec. 3, 2003.

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

The news cycle has been abuzz about digital music and iTunes‘ ascendance to a position as the country’s leading music retailer. Likewise, the mainstream press has continued to feed its desire for an iTunes-Amazon.com octagon-style retail death match, and steadily has been promoting Amazon.com’s mp3 download service as a worthy challenger to the iTunes hegemony.

(The music labels, long irritated with Steve Jobs‘ control of the legal download market, silently would approve of such a challenge.)

We don’t see what the big deal is. There are several problems with music downloads, and none of them have anything to do with three-letter acronyms that purport to “protect” the underlying content. The primary problem with downloaded music is that it sucks.

(more…)

Wayne Frost, known in the hip hop world as Frosty Freeze, died April 3 in New York City. He was 44 years years old.

For decades, Frost had been a member of the seminal break dance troupe Rock Steady Crew, which formed in the Bronx in 1977. People unfamiliar with hip hop instead may remember him as one of the break dancers whose routine became part of the penultimate performance for Jennifer Beals’ character in the 1983 film Flashdance.

More details about Frost’s life and performances are available in a New York Times obituary.

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Right before the Man of Steel celebrates its 70th birthday, a federal court judge has ruled (.pdf) that the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel could claim an ownership share of the character’s domestic copyright. The ruling vests in Siegel’s heirs ownership in the first Superman comic, Detective Comics’ Action Comics No. 1.

Wikipedia has informative biographies for Siegel and his partner, Joseph Shuster, while William Patry (whose work the opinion cites 14 times) provides additional analysis and insight. The case centered on whether Siegel’s estate successfully had terminated the copyright pursuant to Section 304(c).

Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to the comic 70 years ago for $130 (or $14814.32 in today’s money). In comparison, Warner Bros. collected more than $200 million in domestic box office for the 2006 film Superman Returns. This total excludes ancillary (and lucrative) licensing income from all manner of tchotchkes from T-shirts to lunch boxes.

What immediately struck us was the diligence of Siegel’s estate in pursuing this issue. We compare this to the untidy, legally chaotic, and “deplorable” condition of the James Brown estate, which owes $400,000 in taxes and needs to sell memorabilia to preserve its assets.

Michael Cieply. Ruling Gives Heirs a Share of Superman Copyright. The New York Times. March 29, 2008.

See also:
Joy Howe. James Brown’s Estate To Be Sold. WJBF-TV (Augusta, Ga.) Feb. 29, 2008.

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Due to an unusually heavy past few weeks, we have been unable to post in the manner to which you (and we) have become accustomed. We promise to return to regular coverage as soon as possible.

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Educause. A Blueprint for Big Broadband. (.pdf) January 2008. America’s standing in global broadband access and speed continues to plummet, and American consumers continue to pay more per capita for slower and less available broadband. (See data from the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development for more information.) Educause blames America’s position on this country’s lack of a national broadband policy. (Foreign Affairs magazine addressed this issue in late spring 2005.)

Educause commissioned a white paper paper that proposes creating a Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) that will provide “open, big broadband networks of at least 100 Mbps … to every home and business by 2012.” Educause estimates the cost for this effort will approach $100 billion, but the organization proposes a public‐private partnership approach followed in Canada.

Why is this important? Simply, without widely available broadband in the States, all measure of technological innovation gets hampered. Hampered technological development means a slower economy; a slower economy means fewer jobs; fewer jobs means more unemployment; more unemployment means … well, you get the idea.

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

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Primer on Copyright Liability and Fair Use. A quick and dirty guide on copyright provided by the Citizen Media Law Project. Categories: Bundle of Rights; Fair Use & Other Exceptions.

Music Download Warning List. The Center for Democracy & Technology publishes a list of Web sites that promise lots of music, but deliver much less because the sites don’t have the proper licenses to offer the music to the public. Categories: Licensing & Permissions; Music; Web & Online

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

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