CDT has consistently cautioned against the introduction of ancillary rights in copyright laws in Europe because of the negative effects of such rights on smaller publishers, citizen journalism and, more importantly, freedom of information. CDT restated our objection to this idea in our submission to the European Commission’s public consultation on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain…

Dear Congress, By now, maybe you’ve read the “Dear Congress” letter that many music companies and individual artists have signed asking you to “fix” the Digital Millennium Copyright Act—a law Congress negotiated in 1998 in response to widespread fears that the Internet was going to kill the music industry because of digital redistribution. As a lawyer who has been working…

Yesterday, a group of copyright holders and musicians joined the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other music industry entities in a letter to Congress, asking it to upend one of the legal cornerstones of the Internet. That cornerstone, Section 512 of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is something that DisCo has covered frequently over the years ([1],…

RSVP Today! Re:Create To Host Copyright Event On June 20. The Re:Create Coalition will host “How It Works: Understanding Copyright Law in the New Creative Economy” on June 20 at the Capitol Visitor Center. The internet powers the local and national economy, enabling more than $8 trillion in e-commerce each year. At a time when online creativity is flourishing, Re:Create…

As predicted here two weeks ago when the jury found that Google’s use of Java declaring code in the Android operating system was a fair use, the presiding judge has rejected Oracle’s motion for a judgment as a matter of law. Oracle argued that no reasonable jury could find against it, but the judge ruled that based on the law of fair…

On May 26, 2016, a jury ruled in favor of Google’s use of Java’s API in its Android system, finding that the inclusion of the code was fair use.  Oracle filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law, arguing that no reasonable jury could have found against Oracle.  Last week, the district court judge denied Oracle’s motion. Jonathan…

Re:Create To Host Copyright Event On June 20. The Re:Create Coalition will host “How It Works: Understanding Copyright Law in the New Creative Economy” on June 20 at the Capitol Visitor Center. The internet powers the local and national economy, enabling more than $8 trillion in e-commerce each year. At a time when online creativity is flourishing, Re:Create is convening…

How Copyright Law Could Affect Comic-Con And Cosplay. The ongoing Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands copyright lawsuit over cheerleader uniforms may have implications for cosplayers at Comic-Con, notes JD Supra in the blog post Comic-Con, Costumes and Copyright Concerns. The Copyright Office has previously upheld that clothes and even costumes are not copyrightable due to their utilitarian nature, but…

  Today, a jury verdict in the Oracle v. Google case found that Google’s use of elements of the Java programming language was fair use. The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge: “The jury’s finding of fair use in the Oracle v. Google case is great news for software developers and users. Software…

The jury in the ongoing copyright infringement litigation between Oracle and Google returned a verdict today in favor of Google. This welcome verdict renders moot my earlier post about Google’s equitable estoppel defense, which would have come into play had the jury ruled against Google. Because the decision was rendered by a jury, rather than a judge, there is no…