“When it comes to digitizing books, two stories appear to be unfolding: One is about open source, and the other, Google.

“Or so it seemed at a party held by the Internet Archive on Tuesday evening, when the nonprofit foundation and a parade of partners, including the Smithsonian Institution, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and Microsoft’s MSN, rallied around a collective open-source initiative to digitize all the world’s books and make them universally available.

“Google was noticeably absent from the cadre of partners, considering that the search behemoth has a high-profile project of its own to scan library books and add them to its searchable index.”

Stefanie Olsen. An Open-Source Rival to Google’s Book Project. News.com. Oct. 26, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“BlackBerry wireless device maker Research In Motion inked a deal on Thursday to license part of the JPEG file format patent from Forgent Networks, the companies said.

“The one-time perpetual license covers all of Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM’s BlackBerry devices and its BlackBerry Connect messaging service, which allows wireless always-on access to e-mail and corporate data on portable devices. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.”

Michael Singer. RIM Inks Deal for JPEG Patent. News.com. Oct. 27, 2005.

See also:

Robert Lemos. Finding Patent Truth in JPEG Claim. News.com. July 22, 2002.

Updates:

Between the Lines. Is It Time to Boycott the JPEG Graphics File Format? Oct. 28, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.

“The action, which the government says is intended to help catch terrorists and other criminals, has unleashed protests and the threat of lawsuits from universities, which argue that it will cost them at least $7 billion while doing little to apprehend lawbreakers. Because the government would have to win court orders before undertaking surveillance, the universities are not raising civil liberties issues.”

Sam Dillon and Stephen Labaton. Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems. The New York Times. Oct. 23, 2005.

See also:

Federal Communications Commission. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (47 CFR Part 64). Federal Register. Oct. 13, 2005.

Federal Communications Commission. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). Sept. 1, 2005.

Electronic Frontier Foundation. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (FAQ). No date.

(Editor’s Note: The Times allows free access to their stories on the Web for seven days before sending the stories to the paper’s fee-based Archive.)

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Two leading science organizations have denied the Kansas board of education permission to use their copyrighted materials in the state’s proposed new science standards because of the standards’ critical approach to evolution.

“The National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association said the much-disputed new standards ‘will put the students of Kansas at a competitive disadvantage as they take their place in the world.’”

Jodi Wilgoren. 2 Science Groups Say Kansas Can’t Use Their Evolution Papers. The New York Times. Oct. 27, 2005.

Commentary by K. Matthew Dames, executive editor.

What is interesting to me here is not necessarily the denial of permission (to me that’s more politically motivated than tangibly within the realm of a copyright debate), but why the board felt fair use under Section 107 was not available to it as a limitation on the science organizations’ copyright claimed.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to consider an emergency appeal by Research In Motion to review a long-running patent suit that could shut down RIM’s BlackBerry service in the United States.

“U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles last-minute appeals, did not comment on the rejection of RIM’s emergency application. The company asked the high court on Monday to halt a decision by a lower court that could enforce a 2-year old injunction.”

Michael Singer. Supreme Court Won’t Hear RIM Suit. News.com. Oct. 26, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“A panel of experts debated a number of hot legal issues during the Copyrights & Trademarks panel at SES.

“How can web site owners get links to material infringing their copyrighted materials out of search engine results? What recourse do web site owners have if their sites were removed unfairly from search engine results due to an unfair or unfounded accusation of copyright infringement?

“Do web site owners have trademark protection rights and responsibilities in search engine advertisements? This session explored these and many other issues, in particular looking at some recent rulings and existing search engine policies.

Grant Crowell. Copyrights, Trademarks and Search Engines. SearchEngineWatch. Oct. 20, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“What are the stumbling blocks to digitization? Is copyright law a major barrier? Is it easier to negotiate with some types of publishers than with others? To what extent does the age of the material influence permission decisions?

“This report, by Denise Troll Covey, principal librarian for special projects at Carnegie Mellon University, responds to many of these questions. It begins with a brief, cogent overview of U.S. copyright laws, licensing practices, and technological developments in publishing that serve as the backdrop for the current environment. It then recounts in detail three efforts undertaken at Carnegie-Mellon University to secure copyright permission to digitize and provide open access to books with scholarly content.”

Denise T. Covey. Acquiring Copyright Permission to Digitize and Provide Open Access to Books. (.pdf, 6.8 MB) Council on Library and Information Resources. November 2005.

See also:

Denise Troll Covey. Copyright Permission: Turning to Dust or Digital. International Journal of the Book. 2003

(Attribution: This information was bought to our attention by Jill Hurst-Wahl, a digitization expert and the author of Digitization 101.)

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.