The recent decision presented by the honorable Judge Chin on the matter of copyright infringement in the case The Authors Guild v. Google Inc. raised numerous issues in the arena of Intellectual Property. In addition to opposing the “opt-out” stipulation written into the settlement, Judge Chin also contested the way Google Inc. approached and viewed [...]
Under Rule 23(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a settlement of a class action requires approval of the court. Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e). The court may approve a settlement that is binding on the class only if it determines that the settlement is "fair, adequate, and reasonable, and not a product of [...]
A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators... and the people this reverse Robin Hooding benefits are rich service providers, whose swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business. -Bono (New York Times, January 2010) March 11, 2011. The passage of the [...]
By Barry Neil Shrum, Esquire and Nathan Drake The classical libertarian, Frédéric Bastiat, is quoted as saying: In the full sense of the word, man is born a proprietor. . . . Faculties are only an extension of the person; and property is nothing but an extension of the faculties. To separate a man from [...]
The search engine giant Google, known for its colorful name and creative endeavors, has been convicted in French Court of infringing the copyrights of four artistic works and now faces fines upwards of $600,000, not including legal costs and attorneys fees. The plaintiffs in the case was made up of four entities who owned the [...]
Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business will honor the International Entertainment Buyers Association and one of its founders Harry “Hap” Peebles with the 2011 Robert E. Mulloy Award of Excellence. Established in memory of program founder Bob Mulloy,the annual Award of Excellence recognizes an individual or organization that has achieved a [...]
CRS 2011 Research Study Finds State of Country Music Healthy, New Media Engagement Growing Country Radio still king for consumers, new music discovery The results of the CRB Country radio research study presented recently at Country Radio Seminar 2011 in Nashville. The comprehensive study was sponsored through a partnership between Country Radio Broadcasters, [...]
By Barry Neil Shrum & Nathan Drake In November 2010, the Federal Immigration and Counterfeit Enforcement agency ("ICE") recently seized 82 websites and shut them down on the grounds that they were committing criminal copyright infringement. One of these websites has recently become the spotlight of attention:. Brain McCarthy, the owner and operator of channelsurfing.net, [...]
Mark Twain had a lot to say about statistics, ranking them as the highest of all lies: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Twain is also attributed with the more insinuated saying that “statistics are like ladies of the evening, once you get them down, you do anything with them!” [...]
NBC Universal recently hired a company called Envisional to study counterfeiting activity over the Internet. The results of this study – despite the fact that it is industry funded – are literally astonishing: 24% of all global Internet traffic involves digital theft! Stated another way, one in every four people surfing the Internet are stealing [...]
