Category Archives: Intellectual Property

Copyright the Eiffel Tower?

Contraband Image!Over at BoingBoing, David Pescowitz noted that taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night is now illegal, as the gents who installed the new stylish lighting system copyrighted the design, and will charge a license fee for any image of it taken after dark.

I think to myself, “that can’t be true”, but sure enough, if you go to The Eiffel Tower FAQ, you are treated to this explanation:

Q : Is the publishing of a photo of the Eiffel Tower permitted?

A : There are no restrictions on publishing a picture of the Tower by day. Photos taken at night when the lights are aglow are subjected to copyright laws, and fees for the right to publish must be paid to the SNTE.

Wow. Amazing. And contrary to what I know of copyright law. Consulting my usual tome that guides me in such situations (Fishman’s The Public Domain), it asserts that copyrights do not protect any building constructed before Dec. 1, 1990. This means that unless a building is trademarked (a separate issue entirely), anyone is allowed to draw or photograph the building, and indeed, construct a replica from such photographs.

But the plot thickens: this applies only to buildings, which is loosely described as “structures that are habitable by humans and intended to be both permanent or stationary”. In particular, things not destined for human occupation aren’t covered. These are covered as “works of sculpture”, and different rules apply to them. Different, and more difficult to parse rules.

Screw ’em, I say. Come sue me.

Don’t get IP law advice from a security guard…

Those clever people at BoingBoing give a link to a story about a little girl who was asked to stop sketching famous paintings hanging in an art museum because the paintings were copyrighted. Sigh.

The story had a happier ending though:

Actually, the museum guard was mistaken. There was no copyright issue, and the museum apologizes and is telling artists to sketch away as long as they do not interrupt the flow of traffic in the always crowded gallery.

Nice that it was resolved. It was a pity that an eleven year old was kept from sketching in her notebook because of the incorrect actions of a security guard. These impromptu attempts at law enforcement (or percieved law enforcement) seem to be increasing to irritating levels.

Software makers lobby for copyright changes – Jan 7, 2005

CNN is reporting that BSA is lobbying for copyright changes. They wish to require that ISPs be required to reveal the identities of individuals who may be distributing copyrighted software on the net using P2P technologies.

The courts have so far resisted this interpretation of existing laws, instead requiring that lawsuits need to be filed separately to obtain those records from ISPs.

Here’s your thought of the day: why should law require an industry to be deputized into a law enforcement capacity and to reveal the private information regarding someone’s use of the internet before there is any evidence whatsoever that a crime has even been committed?

Black Sunday For BitTorrent

Slashdot is reporting that TorrentBits.org and SuprNova.org have gone dark. There seems to be little really solid news as to the reason, but widespread speculation is some kind of crackdown on illegal copying.

When more details are available, I will likely have more to say about it, but for now I merely point out that BitTorrent relies on centralization, and as such is easily targetted both by the legal system as well as computer forensics. If you choose to illegally trade files on BitTorrent, you are on thin ice in both regards.

If you are a P2P developer, you should probably read Fred von Lohman’s piece so as to educate and arm yourself.

Digital Libraries Considered Bad

Sometimes, you just have to shake your head at the stupidity of people. Today’s installment comes from the editorial pages of the New York Times, where we find the following (registration required):

To the Editor:

Re “Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database” (front page, Dec. 14):

While having online access to some great libraries promises to facilitate research in democratizing access to books, it is worth keeping some things in mind.

A digital version of a book – especially a rare one, printed centuries ago – is not a replacement for the hard copy.

Not only has printed paper proved a durable technology, but there is also much to be gained by visiting the libraries, examining the actual books and entering into discussions with librarians and other researchers.

Gaining access to a digital reproduction of an older text makes it easier to take a first step, but little good research will be done simply sitting alone in front of a computer screen.

Lisa Shapiro
Vancouver, British Columbia
Dec. 14, 2004
The writer is an assistant professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University.

It’s hard to imagine a more stupid response to the news that Google will open up access to potentially millions of books via the Internet. Honestly Professor Shapiro, just what are you thinking?

It is clear (and obvious) that digital copies are not the same as having the real book. But consider this: I have never seen a real Gutenberg Bible. But I know what one looks like. I haven’t seen copies of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelescium, or Galileo’s Siderius Noncius, but I can buy them. Are you saying that my ability to do research is somehow inhibited by the relatively easy ability of inexpensive digital copies of these works?

And for pity sakes, when you say that you are deprived of conversations with librarians and researchers, just what do you think the Internet is for? That screen in front of you? It allows you to communicate with millions and soon to be billions of other people.

And those librarians and researchers? They publish books too. Books that will be made available through digitization efforts like the one Google proposed. I don’t need to be in the same room to them to be influenced by their ideas.

Consider going over to Project Gutenberg’s CD Project website. You can download 600 eBooks onto a CD. You can download 9400 books onto a DVD. If Professor Shapiro thinks that nothing will come of making these works available at literally no cost to anyone within range of the Internet, I can’t help but shake my head at the ivory tower that these academics live in.

TinyP2P

Ed Felton of freedom-to-tinker has released a tiny 15 line Python program called TinyP2P which allows you to create a simple (if not secure or scaleable) file sharing network. Get the code here. It’s cute, and might not be bad for tiny bits of file sharing.

Addendum: Actually trying to run it, I got 

localhost - - [15/Dec/2004 15:53:33] "POST /RPC2 HTTP/1.0" 200 -
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "../tinyp2p.py", line 14, in ?
    for url in pxy(ar[3]).f(pw(ar[3]),0,[]):
  File "/u0/markv/my-python/lib/python2.3/xmlrpclib.py", line 1029, in __call__
    return self.__send(self.__name, args)
  File "/u0/markv/my-python/lib/python2.3/xmlrpclib.py", line 1316, in __request    verbose=self.__verbose
  File "/u0/markv/my-python/lib/python2.3/xmlrpclib.py", line 1080, in request
    return self._parse_response(h.getfile(), sock)
  File "/u0/markv/my-python/lib/python2.3/xmlrpclib.py", line 1219, in _parse_response
    return u.close()
  File "/u0/markv/my-python/lib/python2.3/xmlrpclib.py", line 742, in close
    raise Fault(**self._stack[0])
xmlrpclib.Fault:

Et tu, Marvel?

Fred von Lohmann of the EFF writes an interesting piece about Marvel’s complaint filed against NCSoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios, makers of the enormously popular City of Heros online role playing game.

What’s got Marvel’s panties in a bunch is the fact that using the in-game editors, you can easily recreate characters which are properties of Marvel Comics, such as Spiderman, the Hulk or Wolverine.

The complaint lists claims of copyright and trademark infringement, as well as intentional interference with actual and prospective economic advantage and unfair competition.

I suppose the makers of a good old Ticonderoga #2 are up next, as they were obviously contributing for the ability of millions of kids to sketch unauthorized and damaging representations of Marvel properties on school notebooks.

Boing Boing: Piracy vs. Stealing: Teacher Fails

Boing Boing reports that sixteen year old student Steve Geluso was given an F on his exit exam for trying to draw a distinction between theft and piracy. You can read scans of his essay here. While young Steve’s essay could use some work and I would argue that elements of it are naive or incorrect, on the whole he is trying to make a point which is absolutely true, and which is clearly reflected in the legal system.

If you steal a CD, you are guilty of petty theft. If you send an mp3 file to one of your friends, you are guilty of copyright infringement or piracy. Guess which one carries the insanely stiff penalty?

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse

Doc Searle had a link to the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, an excellent site dealing with many issues related to the chilling effects that laws and practices have on freedom of Speech. I found their treatment of issues surrounding fan fiction to be particularly interesting, but they are also trying to document Cease and Desist letters which are received by ISP and others for distributing content which in some way offends someone who thinks they have some claim to being offended. Good stuff.