Copyright
Extending moral rights
A number of musicians in the UK have sent a letter to The Times objecting to the use of their music by the British National Party (BNP) in order to raise funds. The problem appears to be that the BNP Read more
Copyright
Barbarians of the world, unite and take over
Two years ago, author Mark Helprin published an article advocating for perpetual copyright, which was received with much derision from Cyberspace communities around the world. Lessig even went as far as starting a wiki to allow readers to respond to Read more
Cyber-liberties
Iran blocks Facebook
The BBC reports that Iran has blocked access to Facebook. According to them, this has been done in order to make sure that followers of former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi cannot meet online and gather more support. Does anyone Read more
Creative Commons
Wikipedia chooses Creative Commons
Big news from the Wikimedia Foundation, the governing body of Wikipedia. The Board of Trustees has announced that Wikipedia will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence (BY-SA). This is a huge step for Wikipedia, and follows an unprecedented Read more
Economics
Irrationality and ethics
I’ve just listened to a very interesting interview on Radio 4 with Dan Ariely, author of the book about behavioural economics Predictably / Irrational. The interview was in the context of the scandal about MP expenses here in the UK. Read more
Copyright
Respecting fan use
After yesterday’s rant about journalists, it is fair that we highlight informed commentary. Billy Bragg has written a refreshing article calling on the music industry not to penalise fans with their misguided 3-strikes strategy. He comments that: “Stating that a Read more
New technologies
Luddism 2.0
There are a lot of threats to society as we know it, some more worrisome than others. Were I to draw a list, I would include things like climate change, political apathy, racism, xenophobia, and social disengagement, just to name Read more
Copyright
UK Copyright industry intent on forcing 3-strikes
The UK copyright industry has hardened its position on 3-strikes-and-you’re-out policy, calling for the measure to be included in the government’s final Digital Britain strategy. An alliance of content owners, including the film and music industries, has asked the government Read more
Competition
Has European Commission gone too far against Microsoft?
I am not immune from a healthy dose of Microsoft bashing from time to time, but even I have to cringe at the ongoing competition case against Microsoft. The European Commission brought a case against Microsoft alleging that it violated Read more
Cases
UK IPO approves patent for software as such
The UK Intellectual Property Office has ruled in favour of an application for an invention implemented in software, and therefore complies with section 1(2) of the 1977 Patent Act. The controversy involves patent application GB2407893A by Nokia which protects “a Read more