Taking Pirated Copies Offline Can Benefit Book Sales, Research Finds — “In an effort to reduce online book piracy, publishers send millions of takedown notices every week. These enforcement efforts impact the availability of pirated content, but do they increase legitimate sales as well? According to academic field research, takedowns can increase sales of printed books with the right approach.” This result is consistent with previous studies on the impact of piracy enforcement on legal consumption.
Understanding subscription licenses, fair dealing and legal protection for TPMs in Canada: A critical commentary of the Blacklock’s Reporter Parks Canada decision — Canadian attorney Barry Sookman takes a detailed and critical look at a recent Canada Federal Court decision that held “Parks Canada did not infringe copyright or breach the Copyright Act’s legal protection of technological protection measures by circulating copies of articles and passwords to locked articles published by BR.”
Piracy and Copyright: A Court Upholds a DMCA Provision — Publishing Perspective’s Porter Anderson reports on last week’s DC Circuit Court decision in Green v. DOJ, which rejected a legal challenge to the DMCA’s anticircumvention and antitrafficking provisions.
The Server Test Suffers A Major Blow — “One of the major shifts in copyright over the past 20 years has been that courts have taken less interest in how something works and are looking at whether the outcome is infringing. The Aereo ruling is the poster child for that shift. However, the server test remained even as the Aereo ruling pushed courts away from focusing on technological distinctions. Even as judges in other circuits rebuked the server test wholesale, in the Ninth, it remained unquestioned. Now, it’s being strongly questioned in another circuit. While it may not be the final death knell for the server test, it is another crack in the armor.”
DC graffiti mural meant to promote ‘humanity’ now at the center of legal fight — “Earlier this year, a group of artists — including some involved in the original 1992 mural, and some reportedly involved in helping Gastman paint the 2001 mural — came together and painted something brand new. But, Gastman has now filed a suit against D.C. artist Cory Stowers over the new mural, with a list of names expected to be added to the lawsuit in the future, claiming copyright violation.” (A VARA violation, to be more specific).