http://cyberlaw.info/ CyberLaw.Info (tm) en-us http://cyberlaw.info/images/logo.gif http://cyberlaw.info/ legal@cyberlaw.info http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=106 On Dec. 26, 2008, United States District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel in San Jose, CA, issued a default judgment of $33.2M for Verizon Communications in its suit based on claims of trademark infringement, illegal cybersquatting, and registering knockoff names which intentionally confused users as to the source of its products and services, against an Icann accredited registrar known as OnlineNic. In addition to the monetary award, Judge Fogel froze OnlineNic's assets and ordered the transfer to Verizon of all identical or conmfusingly similar domains, including, myverizonwireless.com, iphoneverizonplans.com and verizon-cellular.com. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=105 Hailed as the largest civil penalty ever to be paid in a violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Sony) agreed to pay the US $1 million to settle the Federal Trade Commision's charges that it improperly collected and disclosed personal information on thousands of chilften under 13 without parental consent. The settlement also requires Sony to delete all personal information collected and maintained in violation of the law. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=104 On Dec. 10, 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a civil action on behalf of the United States against Sony BMG (which is in process of changing its name to Sony Music Entertainment) at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan for violating The Child Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506, P.L. No. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681-728, and the Federal Trade Commission's COPPA Regulation, 64 Fed. Reg. 212. The complaint alleged Sony was in violation because it improperly accepted registrations at its music websites from users who were under 13, without first obtaining consent from their parents. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=103 Is the First Amendment a shield for anonymous defamatory remarks? That's the issue the Maryland Supreme Court faced on December 10, 2008 in the case of Independent Newspapers v. Brodie. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=102 On Dec. 2, 2008, J.P. Weichel, a Colorado man who allegedly posted comments suggesting his former lover traded sexual acts for legal services from her attorney on the rants and raves section at www.CraigsList.com, was charged with two counts of criminal libel under Colorado law. Statements "tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead" or that "impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation or expose the natural defects of one who is alive" violate Colorado's criminal libel law, which has been on the books since 1963. Critics warn that this may have a chilling effect on free speech and that civil laws against libel are enough. Proponents argue that there is no other way to deal with the power of the Internet. Criminal libel laws are on the books in at least 16 states, but are rarely used and may be unconstitutional. Florida Statutes 836.01-836.11 also contain laws making DEFAMATION; LIBEL; THREATENING LETTERS AND SIMILAR OFFENSES criminal. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=101 The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation ("DBPR") has received several inquiries regarding whether out-of-state talent agencies who represent out-of-state talent must be licensed to sell talent to Florida buyers. The DBPR's position is set forth in this short article. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=100 Los Angeles, 11.26.8. Lori Drew was convicted by a federal jury of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud for her involvement in creating a fake MySpace account to taunt a teenager, who later committed suicide as a result thereof. The jury deadlocked on a 4th count of conspiracy, and federal judge George H. Wu, declared a mistrial on that charge. Read more at NyTimes.com by clicking here. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=99 Facebook, in a suit against a Canadian purported spammer and his alleged company (Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital) for sending over 4 million bogus emails to its members, scored a default judgment in the amount of $873 Million Dollars. Read the complaint by clicking here. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=98 The Lord is my drummer, I shall not rush, He maketh me to layout in tasteful places, He leadeth me beside cool meter changes, He restoreth my "one." Yeah, man, though I read through the trickiest of charts, I will fear no train wrecks, For you are with it. Your ride and your snare they comfort me, You setteth up a solo for me In the presence of mine guitarists, You anointeth my lines with drive, My groove overfloweth. Surely good feel and swing will follow me through all the tunes of each set, And I will dwell in the pocket the whole gig long. Amen http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=97 Union Square is usually a merry place before the holidays. Not so this year. Savitri Durkee, an activist concerned with preserving the character of Union Square and Union Square Park, in an effort to speak out against Union Square Partnership (USP), a group backing extensive redevelopment of the area, created a website parodying the official website of USP. In response, USP flexed its muscles and sent Durkee's Internet service provider a notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act asserting that her parody site infringed USP's copyright, leading to the shutdown of the site. USP then filed a copyright lawsuit against Durkee and later filed a claim with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seeking to take control of the parody site's domain name. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=96 Click here to view the proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by authors and publishers claiming Google has violated their copyrights and those of other Rightsholders of Books and Inserts, by scanning their Books, creating an electronic database and displaying short excerpts without the permission of the copyright holders. Google denies the claims. The lawsuit is entitled The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google Inc., Case No. 05 CV 8136 (S.D.N.Y.). http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=95 On October 13, 2008, President Bush signed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (the "PRO-IP Act"). The PRO-IP Act does three things, generally: 1) it increases the penalties for infringement by expanding what is considered a 'work;' 2) it broadens the ability of the government to permanently seize goods; and 3) it creates an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, a new cabinet position whose sole job is to increase intellectual property enforcement. You can view the text by clicking here. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=94 RealDVD was launched by RealNetworks just last month, providing a way for users to backup any DVDs they own to their own hard disk. The software includes DRM to limit users from copying the files to yet another computer. At that time, I published an article asking "Is RealDVD Legit?" at CyberLaw.Info because I did not understand how a DVD could be copied to a computer without violating the non-circumvention provisions of the DMCA or RealNetworks' agreement with the DVD Copy Control Association (DVDCCA), the group responsible for protecting DVDs against piracy. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=93 On October 2, 2008, the three member Copyright Royalty Board froze the digital download royalty rate due music publishers for donwloaded music for the next five years at 9.1 cents a song. The board also set the same rate for CDs and established a 24-cent rate for ringtones. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=92 EFF reports that District of Minnesota Chief Judge Michael Davis concluded that simply making a music file available in a shared folder does not violate copyright law and ordered a new trial vacating the $222,000 verdict against the defendant in Capitol Records v. Jamie Thomas. Read the article and order here. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=91 In Washington on Tuesday, September 23, 2008, an agreement was reached between the Digital Media Assn., the National Music Publishers' Assn., the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the Nashville Songwriters Assn. International and the Songwriters Guild of America with respect to mechanical royalties for interactive streaming music and limited music downloads. However, the agreement did not address the controversial performance royalty for Internet radio. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=90 Virginia, 9.12.8. In an appeal of a 2004 criminal conviction by Jeremy Jaynes, a North Carolina man accused of sending millions of spam emails, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled the VA law was overbroad because it prohibited the anonymous sending of emails concerning politics, religion or other subjects protected under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech, not just commercial spam. The case did not involve the CAN SPAM Act of 2003, which was passed after the defendant's acts were committed. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=89 RealDVD, released this week by RealNetworks, Inc. ("Real"), allows users to copy DVDs to their computers for replay without needing the initial DVD. Real claims this is legit pursuant to a recent federal district court ruling in California. DVD Copy Control Association v. Kaleidescape, Case No. 1-04-CV031829 in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara, was filed by the DVD Copy Control Association (“DVD CCA”), an arm of the Hollywood studios, on December 7, 2004. The DVD CCA alleged that by providing consumers with its innovative, yet secure product, Kaleidescape was in breach of its license from the DVD CCA for the Content Scramble System (“CSS”), a method used to encrypt video and audio data on DVDs. The license agreement however, contained no prohibition against the Kaleidescape System. The Kaleidescape System allows consumers to copy and organize their DVDs and CDs on a secure hard drive, and to play back their movies and songs throughout the home with ease and convenience. On June 1st, 2005, Kaleidescape filed its answer and cross-complaint against the DVD CCA. Kaleidescape’s cross-complaint stated that the DVD CCA breached the CSS license by not allowing the ombudsman process mandated by its own bylaws to be completed, and that the DVD CCA breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by making its unreasonable and unsupported allegations against Kaleidescape and not participating in the ombudsman process in good faith. Kaleidescape’s cross-complaint also sought a declaration from the Court that the CSS license did not include terms that the DVD CCA claims have been breached by Kaleidescape. Kaleidescape, was found "in full compliance" with the DVD Copy Control Association's (DVD CCA) license to the Content Scramble System (CSS) by Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Leslie C. Nichols, who issued the ruling in this three-year-old lawsuit after a seven-day trial on March 29, 2007. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=88 On August 20, 2008, in Lenz v. Universal et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. C 07-3783 JF, entered an order denying defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiff's second amended complaint. Read the order here.On February 7, 2007, Plaintiff Stephanie Lenz (“Lenz”) videotaped her young children dancing in her family’s kitchen. The song “Let’s Go Crazy” by the artist professionally known as Prince (“Prince”) played in the background. The video is twenty-nine seconds in length, and “Let’s Go Crazy” can be heard for approximately twenty seconds, albeit with difficulty given the poor sound quality of the video. On February 8, 2007, Lenz titled the video “Let’s Go Crazy #1” and uploaded it to YouTube.com ("YouTube”), a popular Internet video hosting site, for the alleged purpose of sharing her son’s dancing with friends and family. Universal owns the copyright to “Let’s Go Crazy.” http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=87 Elliot Zimmerman discusses IP issues facing content creators, owners, and publishers. Reprinted with permission from the original article at StreamingMedia.com by Geoff Daily. The questions surrounding intellectual property are too numerous and varied to be boiled down to a checklist the way we’ve done with other “Ten Questions” articles in this issue. Instead, we sat down with Elliot Zimmerman—a Florida-based entertainment attorney who has represented clients including Aretha Franklin and jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal and others in cases involving copyright and trademarks, and who now specializes in “cyberlaw” legal issues related to the internet—to learn a little bit more about IP issues facing content creators, owners, and publishers. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=86 by Elliot Zimmerman Board Certified Intellectual Property Lawyer www.CyberLaw.Info 954.565.6996 On August 13, 2008, in Jacobsen v. Katzer, Case Number 2008-1001, ("Jacobsen"), the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a cause of action exists for copyright infringement when the "conditions" of the "Artistic License," an "open source" or "public" license under which the copyrighted work was licensed, are breached. Read the full opinion by clicking here. Appellant Robert Jacobsen appealed from an order denying a motion for preliminary injunction. Jacobsen v. Katzer, No. 06-CV-01905 JSW, 2007 WL 2358628 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 17, 2007). Jacobsen holds a copyright to computer programming code. He makes that code available for public download from a website without a financial fee pursuant to the "Artistic License," an "open source" or public license. Appellees Matthew Katzer and Kamind Associates, Inc. (collectively "Katzer/Kamind") develop commercial software products for the model train industry and hobbyists. Jacobsen accused Katzer/Kamind of copying certain materials from Jacobsen's website and incorporating them into one of Katzer/Kamind's commercial software packages without following the terms of the Artistic License. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=85 On April 28, 2008, in Atlantic Recording Corp. et al. v. Howell (U.S. District Court, Arizona, Case No. CV-06-02076-PHX-NVW), Judge Neil V. Wake entered an order denying the RIAA�s motion for summary judgment because �merely making copies available does not constitute distribution.� Specifically, the court held that the mere act of saving copies of works to the shared folder of a file sharing application, thus making them available for download by anyone, did not constitute distribution in violation of the copyright act. Actual download by a third party is necessary. Read the order here. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=84 By Kathleen Fitzgerald, SPLC staff writer � 2008 Student Press Law Center February 4, 2008 Legislators in several states this year have proposed or reintroduced bills to protect students from cyber-bullying, giving school administrators a role in combating what they see as a new wave of electronic harassment. While some feel this will protect students, First Amendment advocates worry the policies will infringe on students' rights. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=83 Paramount Pictures Corp. and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., makers of the animated film "Bee Movie,'' were sued by a honey-products company over claims they copied the firm's "Give Bees A Chance'' slogan. Click here to view the story. http://cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=82 When company data is stolen or maliciously destroyed, the modern cause of action is the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. 1030, a criminal statute that expressly provides for a civil action for damages and injunctive relief for anyone "who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of" the statute. 18 U.S.C. 1030(g).