The charge of the light brigade was caused when bad leadership sent British cavalry on a disastrous, suicidal charge against superior Russian forces during the Crimean War (1854) (Wikipedia). The American Society of Composers, Authors and Pubishers (ASCAP) is a typical collecting society. From its about page: ASCAP is a membership association of more than [...]

Copyright is a never ending area of fascinating discussion. Just when you think that you have read enough another interesting work sails across the screen. The collection of essays Privilege and Property. Essays on the History of Copyright recently came to my attention. The web blurb begins with: What can and can’t be copied is [...]

Techdirt reports that a newspaper publisher is suing 22 websites for copyright violation. Nothing really new here except the action that these bad sites have carried out is quoting text (with links back to the original articles). Apparently they even used the “you wouldn’t steal a car, so why are you stealing my content” analogy: [...]

Picking the strongest internet meme is impossible – but if there was such a list the Hitler bunker scene remix must be one of the most recurring. Check out this short list of examples from YouTube. Unfortunately TechCrunch reports that Constantin Film, the German film company, who made the movie has begun removing the parodies. [...]

ACTA the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, has leaked. There is a torrent on The Pirate Bay where you download the text of the treaty. Also check out Michael Geist’s blog – he has been reflecting and analyzing ACTA information for some time.

Way back in 2008 I wrote about a copyright case that was decided at the Swedish Court of Appeal (Svea Hovrätt). The case (2008-07-01, FT 685-08) concerned the question whether a screendump of one web page (containing pictures) being displayed on another web page constitued a violation of copyright of the pictures. The court found [...]

It’s always amusing (and a bit worrying) to read the reactions to claims that fictional characters may be gay. In the beginning of last year articles like Of course Tintin’s gay. Ask Snowy caused an uproar. And now the pressure is on Sherlock Holmes. He has always been a bit suspicious. His relationship to Dr [...]

Moa Bergsten has written her final thesis for the completion of Masters in Law on the topic of collecting societies and Creative Commons licensing. But the essay is more than a theoretical standpoint it is an analysis of the situation in Sweden where the main copyright collecting  society has begun to allow member to use [...]

(via BoingBoing) Just in time for Christmas the pope decided to give himself a gift (large enough to suit is ego?) He decided to make his brand exclusive and in a weird mix of trademark and copyright law declared (Catholic News Agency) “it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors [...]

The Star Wars Stormtrooper case is over. I wrote about the origins of the case in April last year. The conflict was between George Lucas (the man behind the Star Wars films) and Andrew Ainsworth the costume designer behind the white stormtrooper uniforms. The British prop designer who created their famous white helmets and body [...]

(via Cybernormer) Måns Svensson & Stefan Larsson have released a report Social Norms & Intellectual Property – Online norms and the European legal development here is some information about what it’s about: Research report in Sociology of Law (Nov 2009): Social Norms and Intellectual Property – Online norms and the European legal development. By Måns [...]