"Google Inc., the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers have settled a class-action lawsuit over Google's book-scanning project. The company and the book groups said Tuesday that Google will pay $125 million to resolve claims by authors and publishers and to pay legal fees." [AP]

Lebanon plans to charge Israel with violating a food copyright by marketing provisions such as hummus and falafel as Israeli, Fadi Abboud, the president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association announced Monday. Abboud contends that these foods are historically Lebanese, and that Israel's appropriation of them has cost the Levantine country profits "estimated at tens of millions of dollars annually."
-Foreign Policy

"A copyright lawsuit brought against a Web site launched earlier this year allowing users to share digital copies of hundreds of magazines has been settled. Lawyers representing a large swath of consumer and b-to-b publishers—including Time Inc., Hearst, Hachette, McGraw-Hill, American Media Inc., Reed Business Information, Bonnier, Ziff Davis and Forbes, among others—settled their case against the proprietors of Mygazines.com on September 8, according to court documents obtained by FOLIO:. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. [...] But according to a source with knowledge of the terms, confirmed later by additional court documents, Mygazines has agreed to remove all of the publishers’ copyrighted content, review and screen uploads for any content not authorized by the publishers and open a channel to allow Mygazines to be notified when copyrighted content appears." [Folio, earlier]

Downloading TV shows and movies from iTunes is legal because you pay for content that its producers agreed to license. Watching them on on Hulu is also legal, because ads generate dollars against the content. Then there are sites like Joox.net, where downloading movies is illegal because, you know, you didn't pay for them, the studios didn't authorize it, and you're completely aware of this fact. And then there are software programs like the one RealNetworks is unleashing, which will let you rip DVDs.

In theory, that's legal, because you're allowed to make personal copies of copyrighted content you own. But RealNetworks is adding its own layer of digital rights management — DRM, or that crap that's embedded into files to determine whether you own the video or whether it'll self-destruct after 24 hours — on to the ripped DVDs, and the Motion Picture Association of America says this is illegal.

Yes, the MPAA, responsible for labeling movies PG-13 and NC-17, wants only its version of DRM to accompany the copies of DVDs that you own. So they're suing RealNetworks in the umpteenth copyright infringement related lawsuit. And while the MPAA definitely wants a court to issue an injunction, and perhaps make RealNetworks pay damages, what they're really after is the free publicity these lawsuits bring, that make America scared of doing things that are within their rights. So the MPAA held a conference call with the press, where its lawyers argued RealNetworks was trying to circumvent "technology designed to prevent copying" and that "consumers will think this is a legal product…when in fact it is totally illegal." And then the lawyers asked that their names not be mentioned. 'Scuzy?

CONTINUED »

"Kathy Griffin has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against a company that owns KathyGriffin.com, claiming they are making money off her name and image. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Sept. 16, the comedian, who just won another Emmy for her reality show, "My Life on the D-List," was contacted in July by the owners offering the site for sale for $3,500." [THR]

Sure, blockquoting an article is an easy means to queue up some blog content, but posting clips from last night's The Daily Show, The O'Reilly Factor, or this morning's Today is the real currency of this medium that refuses to die. So when RedLasso arrived — offering free, embeddable bite-size clips of all comment-worthy content — a blogger's wet dream was realized. Then networks like NBC and Fox had to sue the service out of house and home on charges of copyright infringement, leaving underpaid web writers forced to scour TV network websites one at a time to see if there were any gaffes worth highlighting. Now, an alternative.

CONTINUED »

'Film credits from the 1920s revealed imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney's long-held copyright, though a Disney lawyer dismissed that idea as "frivolous." Although studio executives are not yet hurling themselves from the parapets of Sleeping Beauty's castle, the unexpected discovery raises an intriguing question: Is it possible that Mickey Mouse now belongs to the world — and that his likeness is usable by anybody for anything?" [LAT]

Feed the Animals, the pay-what-you-will second album from mash-up musician Girl Talk, samples over 300 different songs. This is quite wild, because hip-hop artists get the bajeezus sued out of them for for sampling even one song without clearance. (See: 2 Live Crew, Wyclef, Kanye, Ludacris, and, this week, Mary J. Blige)

But Girl Talk, aka Greg Gillis, has never been threatened with legal action.

Curious.

CONTINUED »

Great news for lazy television viewers and soap opera addicts: Recording shows on your DVR is not a violation of copyright law! The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York even said so, dismissing claims from evil networks like Turner Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC, which, back in 2006 when DVRs were just an ugly acronym, considered the technology an affront on their God-given right to make you watch terrible ads for local car dealerships and LavaLife.com. The television networks now have the option of appealing to the Supreme Court, instead of accepting the challenge of DVRs and producing better programming. [Photo: Chris Madden]

Just as we suspected, Mygazines.com — the print version of RedLasso that lets users upload full scans of entire magazines — is on the verge of getting sued by publishers unhappy about its content being given away for free. Says the Magazine Publishers of America: "We believe [this] is a blatant copyright infringement of our members’ titles. We are aggressively pursuing the matter in conjunction with our members’ attorneys and expect that legal action will commence shortly." New York magazine agrees: "This is a blatant infringement on all magazines’ copyrights that we’re taking very seriously."

What's with everybody and trying to protect their copyrights? On the heels of RedLasso caving to NBC and Fox's infringement lawsuit comes word two other major cases are making their way to the courts. The first involves the MPAA, a literally a four-letter word for movie pirates, which wants the websites FOMDB.com and MovieRumor.com shut down for persistently posting information on how to download movies illegally. The second involves litigation magnet YouTube, which is being sued by Italy's prime minister.

CONTINUED »

Responsible for wasting millions (total guess) of employer hours every year, Facebook game Scrabulous has been taken offline. But just for U.S. and Canadian users! The move wasn't entirely unexpected, given corporate gaming behemoth Hasbro's disapproving stance on the hijacking of its trademarked game by scores of Internet types who think everything should be free. Likely, Hasbro will introduce an "official" version of Scrabble for Facebook, and it'll suck only 5X worse. [ABC]

The Dark Knight continues its box office marathon, eclipsing the receipts of Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in only 10 days. It's the most important movie ever made! And it stars a dead guy who's posthumously winning over the critics in his last role! So it makes sense that everyone wants to capitalize on the enormous publicity machine. Including those responsible for illegally pirating the film.

CONTINUED »

Like BitTorrent, but for magazines, Mygazines.com is a dumping ground for your favorite printed materials. Full issues of popular titles all scanned for your digital perusing — and just like TiVo, you can skip the ads! (Just click "next page.") On our end, the site has given us a chance to revisit magazines that don't arrive in our mailbox gratis, and whose cover price would better be spent on a round of iced lattes at the corner Starbucks that hasn't closed, like Spin, Esquire, and something called Empire.

And yes indeed, your favorite tabloids are all available too: Us Weekly, Star, and People are fully scanned, meaning you don't have to flip through them at the checkout aisle while pretending to rifle through your lip balm options.

But while clicking through the site, we can only imagine this little operation going the way of RedLasso: Started as a means to democratize the media and allow anyone (read: bloggers) to comment on copyrighted content (there are handy tools to leave notes for other readers) — and then promptly shut down when content owners began to sue.

Well, it's been a good ride. After months and months of being bombarded with reasons to feel embarrassed for Sherri Shepherd, Today and Good Morning America concert performances, and an endless loop of Anderson Cooper, TV video clipping service RedLasso says it's shutting down. It just might have something to do with the little lawsuit that NBC and Fox just filed against it for copyright infringement. So there will be more more daily embed links to the most recent stink filling up our airwaves … unless you're a paying customer: business clients will still get their clips. (Doesn't that put RedLasso at more risk of claims that it's profiting from others copyrighted works?) And all the videos that have been posted thus far? They should soon be made unavailable. Which might come as a surprise to those working at RedLasso, who, not four hours ago, wanted to let us know about Feist performing on GMA.

CONTINUED »

Following up May's cease and desist letter, NBC Universal, Fox News, and the Fox Television Stations today will jointly file suit against Redlasso, the defiant clipping service all of them refuse to credit with making tons of their programming more popular than they ever could. (NB: CBS, originally involved in the case, doesn't seem to be attached to the lawsuit.) [NYO]

Robert Burck will not be in Times Square today. The Naked Cowboy must be in court.

With his trademark infringement trial against Mars Inc. moving forward since being filed in February, Burck — who's accused the M&M's company of ripping off his look with a Times Square billboard and in-store display showing his likeness in candy form — is out to prove he's entitled to $4 million in total damages.

But the company behind the candy bowl favorite has quite a defense planned:

CONTINUED »

Media fingerprint technology isn't exactly new. Movie studios use it when they send out screeners to track down who's leaking copies of Hancock on BitTorrent. Record companies do the same with advanced albums. And now … the Associated Press? Using a technology from Attributor, the AP plugs its copyrighted content into the software, which then crawls the web to match strings of that content against material published elsewhere. If a match is made, the AP (or other clients) are alerted, and "the software can be programmed to automatically send out 'takedown notices' that require sites to remove contested content, and the data it generates could end up being used to build a case against alleged copyright infringers."

That's how the AP originally found all that material on The Drudge Retort, and started a flame war with bloggers.

One big problem: The software will likely have a hard time, or no ability at all, to determine actual fair use (like a video clip snippet for a movie review) and genuine infringement, which means there's room for plenty of false positives. And if the software automatically fires off a DMCA takedown notice, folks like the AP could find themselves in trouble of their own: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act bars copyright owners from issuing this types of requests for instances when there is no actual infringement (i.e. sending the notices as a bullying tactic), and can hold those owners liable for the defense's damages, including legal fees.

But this type of software, it turns out, can be used for good! And surprise of all surprises, none other than Conde Nast sees the light.

CONTINUED »

Copyright is a tricky thing. On the one hand, big guys like the Associated Press has absolutely no concept of it. On the other, little guys like the Naked Cowboy have totally learned how to use it to their advantage. Having sued Mars Inc. over a M&M's billboard in Times Square that showed a blue M&M dressed in his trademark boots and briefs, a federal judge just ruled that the case can move forward, leaving the city's most famous underwear strummer, real name Robert Burck, thinking, "I've got $4 million coming my way." And he could very well be right. But throughout this whole ordeal we can't help but thinking Burck, who has auditioned for everything from American Idol to Star Search, has based his entire business model on this very opportunity: Get so quirky famous that a brand would pay him for an endorsement deal (actually, he's appeared in Chevrolet and Guinness ads), or they'd try to rip him off so bad he could sue. Brava.

So much for that whole "Associated Press v. The Bloggers" scandal. After launching an attack on liberal site The Drudge Retort for its supposed, ahem, liberal use of headline and article excerpts, and then getting hosed by anyone with a Blogger account and a basic understanding of Fair Use, the AP says the issue has been resolved. "The resolution of this matter illustrates that the interests of bloggers can be served while still respecting the intellectual property rights of news providers." Not that anything was actually resolved, like whether the wire service actually think people are going to pay to quote five or more words. [PC]