Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign recently raised the hackles of a number of prominent recording artists for using their music in TV ads and at rallies.1 The all-star lineup of affronted artists included Van Halen (for use of “Right Now;” they also objected to George W. Bush’s use in 2004), Foo Fighters (for use of [...]
Many users are unhappy that e-book readers, such as the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle, restrict the sharing, borrowing and transferring of e-books. While some argue that the “first sale” doctrine should allow users to transfer an e-book in the same manner as a hard-copy book, these contentious restrictions may be valid under current [...]
It’s no secret that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has responded to the growth of online file sharing with a wave of copyright infringement litigation. Often, the individuals targeted by the RIAA fear the overwhelming costs of defending themselves in court, and many have agreed to pay large settlements. A current federal case [...]
Everyone has heard of Amazon and iTunes. Chances are, you have also heard about the controversies surrounding file sharing and MP3s. But another three-letter acronym that is controversial these days is DRM – Digital Rights Management.
With much fanfare, Amazon entered into the online music distribution business on September 25, 2007. Its major selling points? DRM-free [...]
In recent years, file-sharing has spurred a bitter battle between proponents of free media and enforcers of intellectual property rights. After the Napster file-sharing model collapsed under numerous lawsuits, a new file-sharing method known as torrent websites emerged to fill the void. Now these immensely popular torrent websites are facing legal problems of their own.
What’s [...]
Intro
The issue of net neutrality (i.e. internet or network neutrality) is essentially a battle over how much control internet providers should have in deciding whether to give preferences to different sites and online applications. The battle lines are drawn over whether ISPs should have the right to exact direct control over the content and data [...]
We’re all pretty well familiar with the term trademark, and what it represents: a unique “mark” used to identify a product’s source, and to distinguish the product from goods made by others. But before we can get into iPhone vs. iPhone (in part 2), we have to dot our Is and cross our Ts, so [...]
The press and blogosphere have recently been abuzz over programs that remove copyright protections technologies known as Digital Rights Management (DRM) from purchased or rented media files. These DRMs restrict a consumer’s use of the media – morality notwithstanding, they are the only thing preventing you from copying your music or video files onto all [...]
Background: the FCC’s “integration ban”
The FCC’s set-top box “integration ban” requires cable operators to deploy set-top boxes that meet certain criteria standards, separating proprietary encryption from basic decoding functions. More specifically, this regulation effectively forces cable operators to support CableCARD, a technology incorporated into digital TVs and DVRs (e.g., TiVo Series3) that makes such devices [...]