January 31st 2008
Do hard cases make bad laws? The law continues to grapple with the tragedy of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide after allegedly being harassed on MySpace by the parent of a friend posing as a teenage boy. Some localities have passed constitutionally questionable ordinances to make online conduct by an adult that […]
January 29th 2008
There’s a lot to be happy about in recent moves by the recording industry to experimentally make music available on an ad-supported “free” basis. Here are three examples of emerging models meeting with dramatically different levels of success.
January 28th 2008
Antigua and Barbuda are best known for their pristine beaches and tourism. However, their second-largest industry is online gambling, and it is the subject of perhaps the most bizarre trade ruling in years. In a rare ruling, the World Trade Organization (WTO) awarded the nations the right to violate U.S. copyright protections of software, films, and […]
January 23rd 2008
Are you ready for the online equivalent of vigilantes? It seems that AT&T and other ISPs want to filter net traffic to “stop the transfer of copyrighted material.” That’s what the New York Times’s Bits blog says an AT&T vice president suggested during a panel discussion about digital piracy at the recent Consumer Electronics Show […]
January 18th 2008
Sometimes someone says something in conversation that ripples out to more discussions. Catherine Douglas did that this fall, at a forum with around 80 trademark professionals. She reflected on her work for Rogers Communications and, before that, for Kelloggs, which has allowed her to see the factors that have changed IP law practice, as well as the […]
January 15th 2008
In a court brief filed by RIAA counsel Ira Schwartz in a case involving Jeffrey Howell of Scottsdale, AZ, the RIAA claims that any copying of CDs is “unauthorized.” According to an article in the Washington Post: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection […]
January 14th 2008
I’m excited to be speaking at Marketing Sherpa’s Email Summit, where I’ll discuss the benefits of personalizing B2B email marketing with photos. Do photos change behavior? I have results that suggest they do, sometimes dramatically. In fact, the difference between “with photo” and “without photo” versions persists, even as other improvements are made to campaigns. […]
January 13th 2008
Japan’s communications ministry is suggesting that the government prevent libelous flaming and the use of pornography by the young, through the introducing broad-based regulation of the Internet by 2010. Of note is the recommendation that all web content be “watermarked” to identify its coyright holder — and that it would be illegal to post public […]
January 5th 2008
The Chinese government operates the Golden Shield Project, a massive firewall and content monitoring initiative. The project reportedly employs 30,000 staff with a funding in excess of 800 million dollars. A broad range of sites are censored, and this provides a platform for surveillance of network traffic in China. So, how can you find out […]
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