Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and You.

Certainly, the copyrights owned by Michael Jackson were extraordinarily valuable. This article from the New York Times discusses the possibility of MJ's estate selling off the rights to some amazing music.

The NYT has this cool feature on it, where you can buy the rights to an article, and this got me thinking: "Is what I'm doing, right now, a violation of the copyright?" As much as I think about this stuff, I had never even given linking a second thought. In my search for the answer, I found these two articles:

10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained
Copyright Issues Present Ongoing Dilemma: To Link or Not To Link?

I haven't done any legal research on it yet, but I feel it's important to note that the second article is from 2003, and the law may have changed significantly. I'll check back with updates as I find them.

"Why Do Good People Steal Intellectual Property?"

Here's an article about the reasons people steal intellectual property. It examines the subject from a cognitive perspective, and it asserts that the biology of it has legal implications (beyond the obvious ones).

Interesting, indeed.

Two Different Takes on Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas

Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas-Rasset (2009 WL 1664468 (D.Minn.)) is a hugely contested case about a mother who downloaded 24 songs on Kazaa. Jury awarded the plaintiffs over $80,000 per song downloaded. Below are two different takes on it. What's yours?

Rule of Law Prevails in Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas

Jammie Thomas-Rasset gets hammered

French Judiciary-- "Free Access" to Internet a Human Right

"The French judiciary has ridden to the rescue of the country's web users, striking down a controversial new law which would have allowed the state to cut off the internet connections of illegal filesharers for up to a year."

Read on; it's an interesting take on the music piracy situation. The court ruled that "free access" to the internet is a human right.

Elvis.

Last week, to my excitement, I found myself working on a copyright case for my summer job. I came across these short fact sheets that the Copyright Office puts out in order to introduce people to the law. Thought it was a nice introduction.

Take a look:
Basic Copyright
Musical Compositions
Sound Recordings
Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings
Fact sheet on Music

They have them on all different subjects.

Even more interestingly, the following question and answer are directly from the Copyright Office's FAQ page:

"How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?
Copyright law does not protect sightings. However, copyright law will protect your photo (or other depiction) of your sighting of Elvis. File your claim to copyright online by means of the electronic Copyright Office (eCO). Pay the fee online and attach a copy of your photo. Or, go to the Copyright Office website, fill in Form CO, print it, and mail it together with your photo and fee. For more information on registration a copyright, see SL-35. No one can lawfully use your photo of your sighting, although someone else may file his own photo of his sighting. Copyright law protects the original photograph, not the subject of the photograph. "

So glad I cleared that up.

Last Year's Speaker Schedule

Here is last year's schedule. Be sure to email us if you have any suggestions for this year.

Twitter Users Buy More Music

On Music Row: Twitter users buy more music