“From history’s vantage point, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s notes, papers and books are priceless. But the King family and the auction house Sotheby’s estimate they’re worth at least $15 million and possibly twice that. And they’re about to go on the block.

“Museums and libraries, groups and individuals are busy raising funds to acquire the collection, while Atlanta natives are concerned that a cornerstone of the city’s culture is about to be chipped away.

“The collection goes on public display at Sotheby’s New York galleries starting June 21. It will be auctioned off on June 30.”

Joshua Levs. Sotheby’s to Auction Martin Luther King’s Papers. National Public Radio. June 21, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

This story has been updated. Original CopyCense coverage: June 8, 2006.

“FairPlay has been one of Apple’s best friends since the company came up with the DRM format prior to launching the iTunes Music Store. It ties songs purchased at the iTMS to Apple hardware and software, meaning that if a customer wants to listen to a purchased track, she’ll have to do it on an iPod.

“Lately, Apple’s dominance of the digital music download scene has come under the scrutiny of some European governments. Earlier this week, the Norwegian government ruled that the FairPlay DRM used in the iTMS was unreasonable. It also found that iTMS pricing was discriminatory and that Apple’s terms and conditions are too restrictive.

“As a result of the decision, Apple will have to alter its terms and conditions for its Norwegian iTMS storefront by June 21. This may prove to be the first domino to be toppled in what could become a long string, as the governments of Denmark and Sweden are also investigating similar complaints against the iPod maker.”

Ars Technica. Apple Could Find Trouble in Norway. June 7, 2006.

Updates:

• Stan Beer. Will Europe be Apple’s Waterloo? ITWire. June 19, 2006.
• Boston Globe Editorial Board. Let iTunes be iTunes. June 19, 2006.
• Natali T. Del Conte and Mark Hachman. Can Europe Force Apple To Rework iTunes? PCMag.com. June 16, 2006.
• Ars Technica. Europe Taking A Careful Approach to iTunes. June 16, 2006.
• Darcy Richardson. What’s Wrong with iTunes? Is It the iPod…Or What? Apple Matters. June 16, 2006.
• The Gripe Line Weblog. Culture Clash Over Sneakwrap and iTunes. June 15, 2006.
• Reuters. Scandinavian Agencies Extend Apple Reply Deadline. Yahoo! Finance. June 14, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“As the bootlegging of first-run movies increases, with the availability of inexpensive digital cameras, there should be a way to thwart them, says Gregory Abowd, associate professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. To do this, he and his team have developed a device that can detect the presence of a digital camera or camcorder — and keep it from capturing usable images.

“Researchers have been trying to develop effective ways to jam a camera for years, says Edward Delp, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University. A number of companies, including Philips, Thomson, and Apogen Technologies, as well as a handful of universities, have been working on projects and prototypes. The Georgia Tech approach, which combines methods of detecting a camera and the means to automatically prevent it from taking pictures is “a nice technology,” says Delp, that achieves these two goals in one device, while also using infrared light to spot cameras, in contrast to some other combination systems.”

Kate Greene. Lights, Camera — Jamming. Technology Review. June 22, 2006.

Related Stories & Documents:

• Georgia Tech Research News. No Pictures Please: Researchers Develop System to Thwart Unwanted Video and Still Photography. (Press release.) June 17, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“An appeals court in The Netherlands ruled on Friday that a Web site posting links to copyrighted MP3 files was breaking the law by promoting copyright infringement. The site, zoekmp3.nl, was taken offline Monday after the court said it would face daily fines of 10,000 euros.

“Although zoekmp3.nl did not directly host the MP3 files, the court ruled that facilitating the downloads was also in violation of Dutch law. Similar Web sites have been ruled illegal in Australia and China, and the United States has cracked down on BitTorrent sites, which facilitate distribution by hosting torrent files.”

Nate Mook. Dutch Court Rules MP3 Linking Illegal. BetaNews. June 19, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.