“2008 has to be the year we get real or the business as we know it goes away.” –Fred Goldring, entertainment attorney.

Elizabeth Montalbano. Digital Music Industry Challenged to Follow Fans’ Lead. PCWorld.com. Jan. 9, 2008. You’re kidding us, right?

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings, where it was a Quote of the Week selection.)

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Technorati Tags: Copycense

projectb15ck. UCSC Network Woes. Jan. 9, 2008. According to an e-mail within the body of the post, the information technology department at University of California, Santa Cruz is using Cisco’s Clean Access appliance and software to “help speed up the network for legitimate uses and reduce the risk of ‘accidental’ copyright infringement.” In the e-mail, John Rocchio , a UCSC IT administrator, says Clean Access will be configured to block file sharing services such as Gnutella and Bittorrent. The poster notes UCSC is a public university, therefore it is spending public funds to block Internet access. The unnamed writer asks incisively what difference is there between UCSC’s action’s and Comcast’s reported filtering of P2P traffic.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings, and it was an Article of the Week selection.)

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Technorati Tags: Copycense

AdRants. Ford Slaps Brand Enthusiasts, Returns Love With Legal Punch. Jan. 14, 2007. Ford, which desperately needs some love from the public, shoots itself in the foot by threatening legal action over the use of its logo in a calendar sold by a Mustang owners club. Our first reaction was “how dumb can you be?” Upon reconsideration, though, American trademark law may have required Ford to take some level of action because of potential dilution issues. The issue has been resolved now, but one has to think this issue could have been handled in a manner that would not have left Ford looking like a bully. Just because there’s a legal issue doesn’t mean the law needs to be used like a club.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Technorati Tags: Copycense

The Wired Campus (The Chronicle of Higher Education). Librarian: Ohio State Professors Need Copyright Refresher. Jan. 14, 2008. This very brief post provides insight into the distinction between the creator of a copyrighted work and the owner of a copyrighted work. In today’s world, these parties rarely are the same.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Technorati Tags: Copycense

Bits (The New York Times). AT&T and Other I.S.P.’s May Be Getting Ready to Filter. Jan. 8, 2008. Apparently not content with the “safe harbor” provisions that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act affords (it and other ISPs) pursuant to Section 512(c) of the Copyright Act, the former Ma Bell floats a filtering trial balloon at the Consumer Electronics Show. Comcast already faces scrutiny concerning its alleged filtering of Bittorrent traffic, so it will be interesting to see how this issue plays among Washington regulators who have jurisdiction over communications and trade.

(Editor’s Note: Copycense editors originally commented on this article in the Jan. 15, 2008, edition of Copycense Clippings.)

Copycense™: Incisive IP.™

Technorati Tags: Copycense