Intellectual Property

Rights to Digital Media

• You buy a CD.

Rights to Digital Media

• You buy a CD.

• You copy a song to your PC.

Rights to Digital Media

• You buy a CD.

• You copy a song to your PC.

• You copy a song to your account on a P2P network.

Rights to Digital Media

• You buy a CD.

• You copy a song to your PC.

• You copy a song to your account on a P2P network.

• You actually distribute the song to someone else.

Atlantic v. Howell• Jeffrey Howell copied songs to his PC.

• The Washington Post reported (Dec. 30, 2007) that the RIAA sued Howell for making those copies.

Atlantic v. Howell• Jeffrey Howell copied songs to his PC.

• The Washington Post reported (Dec. 30, 2007) that the RIAA sued Howell for making those copies.

• The RIAA did sue Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for posting songs to KaZaA.

Atlantic v. Howell• Jeffrey Howell copied songs to his PC.

• The Washington Post reported (Dec. 30, 2007) that the RIAA sued Howell for making those copies.

• The RIAA did sue Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for posting songs to KaZaA.

• U.S. District Court (Arizona, Aug 20, 2007) granted summary judgement to plaintiffs supporting claim that merely “making available” infringes copyright.

Atlantic v. Howell• Jeffrey Howell copied songs to his PC.

• The Washington Post reported (Dec. 30, 2007) that the RIAA sued Howell for making those copies.

• The RIAA did sue Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for posting songs to KaZaA.

• U.S. District Court (Arizona, Aug 20, 2007) granted summary judgement to plaintiffs supporting claim that merely “making available” infringes copyright.

• Court (Sept. 27, 2007) rescinded earlier order.

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed (Jan. 11, 2008) an amicus curiae brief in support of Howell in his pro se case.

Atlantic v. Howell• Jeffrey Howell copied songs to his PC.

• The Washington Post reported (Dec. 30, 2007) that the RIAA sued Howell for making those copies.

• The RIAA did sue Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for posting songs to KaZaA.

• U.S. District Court (Arizona, Aug 20, 2007) granted summary judgement to plaintiffs supporting claim that merely “making available” infringes copyright.

• Court (Sept. 27, 2007) rescinded earlier order.

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed (Jan. 11, 2008) an amicus curiae brief in support of Howell in his pro se case.

• Howell erased his disks, thus destroying evidence.

Atlantic v. Howell• Jeffrey Howell copied songs to his PC.

• The Washington Post reported (Dec. 30, 2007) that the RIAA sued Howell for making those copies.

• The RIAA did sue Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for posting songs to KaZaA.

• U.S. District Court (Arizona, Aug 20, 2007) granted summary judgement to plaintiffs supporting claim that merely “making available” infringes copyright.

• Court (Sept. 27, 2007) rescinded earlier order.

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed (Jan. 11, 2008) an amicus curiae brief in support of Howell in his pro se case.

• Howell erased his disks, thus destroying evidence.

• Court issued final judgement against Howell and ordered him to pay $40,500 in damages.

The Role of ISPs - RIAA v. Verizon

• RIAA sued Verizon to force them to disclose the name of a subscriber who was alleged to have shared music via KaZaA.

• Basis for suit: a controversial subpoena provision of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

The Role of ISPs - RIAA v. Verizon

• RIAA sued Verizon to force them to disclose the name of a subscriber who was alleged to have shared music via KaZaA.

• Basis for suit: a controversial subpoena provision of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

• January, 2003: DC District Court ordered Verizon to disclose subscriber’s identity.

The Role of ISPs - RIAA v. Verizon

• RIAA sued Verizon to force them to disclose the name of a subscriber who was alleged to have shared music via KaZaA.

• Basis for suit: a controversial subpoena provision of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

• January, 2003: DC District Court ordered Verizon to disclose subscriber’s identity.

• December 2003: D.C. Circuit Court found the subpoenas were not authorized by the DMCA. It granted Verizon's order to quash a second subpoena and vacated the order enforcing the first.

An Accused Fights Back

• December, 2004– Tanya Anderson gets a letter. She’s being sued for illegally downloading gangster rap using Kazaa. She can settle for $4,000 - $5,000.

• October, 2005 - Tanya countersuesthe RIAA for fraud and malicious prosecution.

• June, 2007- Tanya files a motion for summary judgement, requiring RIAA to come to court with evidence. They failed to do so and the RIAA’s case is dismissed with prejudice.

An Accused Fights Back

• August, 2007 – Tanya turns her suit into a class action suit.

• February, 2008 – Judge dismisses Tanya’s complaint saying that she had “not adequately stated claims for relief”. But she was given a month to counterfile.

• July, 2008 – Tanya is awarded legal fees of $107,834.

• The case is still in court.

http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-of-litigation-documents.html#Andersen_v_Atlantic

The Market Fights Back

• GIF is a standard for lossless image compression.

• 1995 – It becomes known that the LZW compression algorithm used in GIF had been patented by Unisys.

• October, 1996 – First release of PNG specification.

• 2004 – PNG ISO standard.