Blawg Review #269

Blawg Review’s editor invited me to host today’s Blawg Review #269 because today, June 21 is not only the summer solstice, but also World Music Day and here in New York City, Make Music New York, where New York will host hundreds of live music performances, from street performers to major concerts.
So break out your vuvuzela and make your own kind of music and let’s get down to reviewing some blawgs:
Music related links:
Did you know that vuvuzela isn’t merely the most annoying sound on Earth, but also a trademark? Vuvuzela, the trademark
And if you haven’t had enough vuvuzela watching the World Cup, you can read this blog post with vuvuzela accompaniment.
IP Tango looks at the central, non-vuvuzela related musical issue with the FIFA World Cup: Waka waka chorus – who is the author?
The official theme of the 2010 South African World Cup is under debate. The singer and songwriter, Wilfrido Vargas, accused Shakira of plagiarism for the use of the chorus of his song titled “ el negro no puede’ in the ‘wake waka’ song – the official theme of the 2010 World Cup.”
Ben Sheffner, Copyrights & Campaigns: It’s official: Don Henley wins summary judgment over Chuck DeVore on copyright claims: “It’s been a very bad month for Chuck DeVore. On June 8, the Republican Assemblyman from Orange County finished third in the GOP primary for the right to take on Sen. Barbara Boxer (D). And then, just a few days later, federal Judge James Selna issued his formal ruling on Henley’s copyright and Lanham Act claims regarding DeVore’s videos that used Henley’s songs to mock Boxer and President Obama, soundly rejecting DeVore’s fair use defense.”
Copyright Litigation Blog: Synchronizing Art to a Sound Recording: Do Financial Incentives Demotivate Creativity and Problem Solving?, “Not only is Dan Pink’s video by RSA Animate thought-provoking and relevant to whether or not money stimulates creative activity. It is also relevant to the core purpose of the Copyright Act and arguments raised in defense of draconian copyright: whether or if financial incentives stimulate creativity. Studies by the Federal Reserve and MIT raise the question of whether financial incentives actually decrease creativity.”
At Techdirt, Mike Masnick asks, Are Bad Copyright Laws Killing Jazz And Harming Jazz Musicians? “That’s a clear, concrete (and, as a jazz fan, depressing) example of an area in which copyright is clearly doing the exact opposite of its intended purpose. I’m really curious to hear from defenders of the copyright status quo (or who believe in even stronger copyright protections) to see how they defend this situation.”
North of the border, Michael Geist looks at how American-style astroturfing is coming to the debate of copyright legislation in Canada, The Copyright Lobby’s Astroturf Campaign in Support of C-32 “The copyright lobby, almost certainly led by the Canadian Recording Industry Association, has launched a major astroturf campaign in which it hopes to enlist company employees to register their support for Bill C-32 and to criticize articles or comments that take issue with elements of the proposed legislation. The effort, which even includes paid placement of headlines on Bourque.com, is still shrouded in some secrecy.” Later: Copyright Lobby Astroturf Site Adds Mandatory, Uneditable Letter to MPs
At Law is Cool, Pulat Yunusov looks at the Stakes of Copyright Reform in Canada, “Not many government bills cause so much debate as C-32—the legislation to amend Canada’s Copyright Act—introduced on June 2, 2010. One of C-32’s most contentious innovations is a complete ban on bypassing digital locks on electronic content. James Moore, a federal Minister, said that C-32 offered “a common-sense balance between the interests of consumers and the rights of the creative community.” But his opponents believe Moore’s “common sense” will empower copyright holders and take away traditional rights of consumers.”
Music Row Law’s Barry Neil Shrum looks at a P2P decision from here in New York: The Limewire Ruling: New King of the Hill for Illegal Downloading Decisions “The U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against LimeWire and its parent company, Lime Group, finding them liable for inducement of copyright infringement based on the use of their service by subscribers.”
Public Knowledge is proposing a Copyright Reform Act and discussing their proposals on: Fair Use and Circumvention, with three more parts coming soon.
Ad you know, Justin Bieber is the biggest name in pop music today. Justin Bieber, Esq. Has Name To Make ‘U Smile’ (I assume that’s a reference the more pop-centric blawg readers will get.) “The recent graduate of Widener Law School was just embarking on a marketing campaign to drum up work when Justin Bieber, the Canadian teen heartthrob, became a singing sensation.” Bieber also talked with 92.3 FM.
Is Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan too pro-Hollywood or too anti-copyright? Chris Castle: Why Artists Should Worry About Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court Appointment. Ben Sheffner: Kagan confirms: I represented the RIAA.
Play Me, I’m Yours: New York City 2010 “Touring internationally since 2008, “Play Me, I’m Yours” is an artwork by artist Luke Jerram. From 21st June – 5th July, 60 upright pianos will be distributed across New York City by Sing for Hope. Located in public parks, streets and plazas the pianos will be available for any member of the public to play and engage with.”
Since today was Father’s Day, I spent more of it playing golf with my father than reviewing the web, but fortunately Blawg Review contributors sent me a link to Fatherhood.gov (the National Resposible Fatherhood Clearinghouse) with President Obama’s Father’s Day message. The Library of Congress shares some songs for Father’s Day
So here are the rest of today’s blawg review, as free jazz improv:
Did Perez Hilton violate federal child porn laws? “Child pornography and child exploitation have always raised strong public emotions. Regardless of the necessity for new laws, this
political football is carried by the Left and the Right alike, as nobody can stand up against stronger child exploitation laws and emerge politically unscathed.”
Evan Brown, Internet Cases. Illinois court sets standard for unmasking anonymous commenters “The rules of civil procedure in Illinois permit an aggrieved party to file a petition with the court asking for an order requiring unknown potential defendants to be identified. This is called a Rule 224 petition.”
Felix Salmon, Interchange and free checking “Why do most people hate their bank? Because their relationship is based on the lie of “free checking”, and a relationship based on a lie is always going to be a dysfunctional relationship. Checking is never free, but in recent years banks have been able to conjure the illusion of free through a system of regressive cross-subsidies, where the poor pay massive overdraft fees and thereby allow the rich to pay nothing.”
IP Watchdog No $5.4 Trillion Bounty for False Patent Marking Bounty Hunter “Bounty hunters make their living by capturing fugitives from justice for a monetary reward (bounty). A more recent, modern day version of the bounty hunter is one who pursues patentees for false patent marking under 35 U.S.C. § 292. The recent Federal Circuit case of Forest Group, Inc. v. Bon Tool Co. has made such false patent marking bounty hunting lucrative by saying that each falsely marked item is an “offense” under 35 U.S.C. § 292, and thus subject to a penalty of “up to $500,” with the bounty hunter getting half of the awarded penalty and the federal government the other half. As a result, a rash of such cases (upwards of at least 100 at the moment) have been filed by such modern day bounty hunters as qui tam actions against various patentees alleged to be falsely marking their products.”
Frank Pasquale, at Concurring Opinions, Just What the Oil Industry Needs: More Trade Secrecy, “I have tried to give the Obama Administration the benefit of the doubt during the Gulf/BP oil disaster. There was a “grand ole party” at Interior for at least eight years. Many Republicans in Congress would have tried to block nominees for Interior who were committed to a major overhaul of the department’s environmental priorities. But the more I read about the controversy, the harder it gets to excuse current players for their actions. Consider just one issue: the use of dispersants in response to the spill.”
The public and private sectors are going Hollywood to find solutions to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Last week, Congress heard testimony about Kevin Costner’s Ocean Therapy Solutions.
Illinois court sets standard for unmasking anonymous commenters
Bloomsday
June 16 was Bloomsday (the day of James Joyce’s masterwork Ulysses) Happy Bloomsday. On December 6, 1933, Judge John Woolsey ruled that James Joyce’s Ulysses could be imported into the United States, since it was not, as the United States government maintained, obscene. The Second Circuit affirmed. United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses by James Joyce, 72 F.2d 705, 706 (2d Cir. 1934).
A Fool in the Forest, Bialystock and Bloomsday (Nighttown is the Right Town) Bloomsday is again upon us, honoring that real-yet-fictive day, June 16, 1904, on which Mister Leopold Bloom and Mister Stephen Dedalus made their joint and several legendary peregrinations round and about Dublin, its vicinity and its vicissitudes, all as memorialized by Mister James Joyce in his non-iPad-compliant misterwork, Ulysses.
Simon Fodden, Slaw, Rats, I missed Bloomsday, “an event I like to note here on Slaw. It happened last Wednesday, which was June 16, the same date on which, in 1904, Leopold Bloom wandered through Dublin as Joyce’s Ulysses.”
Sexy banker Debrahlee Lorenzana may be a prototypical Rogue Client It happens to every lawyer at some point: You agree to represent a client and realize later it was a big mistake. The client goes rogue on you. You simply didn’t get the full story during intake.
Kashmir Hill, Confessions Of An Online Stalker “Without ever talking to Noah Brier or anyone who knows him, I could tell you the following: Noah’s family moved into a $353,000 home in the wooded New York suburb of Norwalk, Connecticut, when he was three. The house is now worth over a half million dollars. He was a checkers champion in third grade and fourth grade at Columbus Elementary School (and a runner-up in second grade); it took eleven minutes for his mother to drive him to elementary school.”
Matt McCusker, Deliberations, No Basis For Biases: How Demographics Fool Even The Best Lawyers Let’s face it, we all stereotype. We all make assumptions about others based on visual information alone. These could be conjectures about grey hair, obesity, a tight skirt, or a body piercing; but people continually make visual judgments of others founded only on personal biases and prior experiences.
A Public Defender, Life without possibility of redemption “I sat in a prison cell yesterday. And not your regular bullpen where they cram in 4 people who’re waiting to go to court. The real deal. Where our clients sleep at night (and often during the day). That of the 60 square foot variety.”
David Berkowitz shares the advice he’s learned from speaking in public and giving presentations: Over 100 Lessons from over 100 Events
Mashup of the day: Lord of the Vuvuzela
I’m off to watch the finale to David Simon and Eric Overmeyer’s musically excellent show Treme on HBO, and then read Alan Sepinwall’s review and interview with David Simon…
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