This article is kind of making fun on copyrights. It is talking about how now even the cease-and-desist letters that are sent to websites to inform them to stop violating copyrights now have copyrights of their own. It is showing how involved the world has become with ownership and protecting our work. This ordeal is in response to case back in October where a lawyer tried to claim that his cease-and-desist letter was under copyright and now one could legally reprint it without his permission. The Public Citizen advocacy group thought this was a violation to the First Amendment and moved to stop it. The judge found in favor of the lawyer though and now the illegal publication of a letter can now result in up to $150,000 fine per occurrence. The article seems to think that this is not the end of this case though and more appeals dealing with free speech will soon come. This article is dealing with the copyright laws we are studying in class and is showing how people are using the legal system to their advantage. It also shows how laws are continuously being revised to accommodate for new problems brought to the government's attention.
Don't Undermine PatentsThis article deals with the so-called Patent Reform Act of 2007. It is not lie that something needed to be revised, but if this were made a law it will undermine the core of the patent system of the U.S. as of right now. It would mean less protection for small inventors, university researchers, and entrepreneurs. The battle seems to boil down a fight between the high-tech giants like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, and Dell who support the proposed reforms and the small high-tech companies who reject them. There are many problems with this proposed bill including weakening the protection patents, which will devalue and lower the economic value of patents, future and past. It will also create way for endless post-grant oppositions that would make all issued patents uncertain. It would also change the "first to invent" American system to a European, "first to file" system. It would make rights harder to enforce, will make pirated oversees ideas harder to control when brought to the US, it will cause a loss of jobs, and the competitive nature of the American Economy would be diminished. There is no question that we need a reform of the patent law, but to really improve we need to reform the U.S. Patent Office itself.
Stanford's Lessig Tackling Even Bigger BattleThis article is on Lawrence Lessig, the guy who is famous for battling Mickey Mouse on the Supreme Court and losing. Even though he lost, what he did have a profound effect on Internet law and copyrights rules in the digital age. Lessig thought that that corporations should loosen their hold on pop culture and he spent many years advocating a "Free Culture" to the world. This article is on how he is moving from his copyright fight to politics. It goes on to explain how Lessig is best know for founding of Creative Commons which is a site that many of us use a lot in our field of study. It has reached over 40 countries and is his push for a more open approach to copyright material. Basically it allows for people to publish they work under licenses that have different rights and contexts of use. Lessig said that he now feels better about loosening his fight on copyright because of the big players that are now in it like YouTube and Google. Lessig doesnŐt promote piracy, but does want there to be a balance. He thinks that the law is hindering creativity when they have such a fine line, but is prepared to stop fighting on this topic for a while so as to move on to something else he believe in just as much. This article really goes along with our study on court battles over the acts and amendments of copyright laws and lets us know a little be more about the plaintiffs in these situations.