Copyhype

Lessons from the ‘right to be forgotten’ — “I’m surprised at how many technology lawyers in the U.S. are alarmed at this decision. Many seem to believe that it represents a fundamental break in the EU from American models of free speech. But in fact, we in the U.S. have long had to try to balance privacy and free-speech concerns. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, for example, balances credit-reporting agencies’ right to speak about our pasts with our right to ensure that the report is accurate, and also to keep certain things off the report once a certain amount of time has elapsed. The Spanish case [that led to the European Court of Justice’s decision] involved a credit problem that persisted for over 10 years, which is the cut-off for a bankruptcy report to appear on a U.S. credit report.”

Let’s not turn the clock back on internet video — “Unlike with the physical ownership model, you don’t need to plan in advance, take all the content you might want to watch with you when you travel, or worry about forgetting to bring it. Moreover, if you lose or break physical copies of content you own, you will need to pay to replace them. You can’t lose or break Internet content, and if you lose or break your device, many services will reload the content for free.”

Online pirates thrive on legitimate ad dollars — “Content thieves attract visitors with the promise of free downloads and streams of the latest hit movies, TV shows and songs. Then they profit by pulling in advertising from around the Internet, often concealing their illicit activities so advertising brands remain unaware. Pirate websites run ads that are sometimes covered up by other graphics. They automatically launch legitimate-looking websites as pop-up windows that advertisers don’t realize are associated with piracy. At the end of the day, the pirate website operators still receive a check for serving up a number of views and clicks.”

T Bone Burnett’s plea: The piper must be paid — “Music is uniquely durable and, as a result, has for centuries been the medium through which knowledge and insights are passed from generation to generation. Fans can still hear the work of America’s musical pioneers, thanks to online and mobile services. Through downloads and streams and services such as Pandora and Sirius XM Radio, these giants’ recordings continue to captivate and influence young musicians, singers, songwriters and producers. Yet some of these same companies have made the decision to devalue the music of these artists for their own profit by not paying for it.”

Ginsburg on Fair Use & “Permitted but Paid” Use — The esteemed Jane Ginsburg has a new article proposing a middle ground between the currently binary outcomes of fair use. She suggests distinguishing between new distributions and new works, with the latter subject to the traditional fair use analysis and the former subject to “permitted-but-paid” statutory exceptions.

Negotiating Film and Video Content Distribution Agreements in the Digital Age — CDAS attorney Simon Pulman has a helpful guide for filmmakers seeking distribution deals for their works.

Doonesbury — “Don’t be Google.”