On October 12th and 13th, the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) hosted its Fifth Annual Fall Conference at Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Virginia. The event brought together scholars, industry professionals, and practicing attorneys to discuss recent developments in intellectual property law and to present meaningful policy reform proposals. Read more
Tag: copyright
Stream Ripping Emerges as the New Face of Music Piracy
Cross-posted from the Mister Copyright blog.
As formats change and advances in technology continue to transform the way we listen to music, new methods of pirating content are never far behind. What started with the analog dubbing and bootlegging of cassettes forty years ago evolved with the digital age into CD burning and MP3 sharing, eventually leading to a chaotic illegal downloading landscape at the turn of the century that would force the music industry to develop novel anti-piracy efforts and distribution models. Read more
Mayweather v. McGregor Warrants Preemptive Anti-Piracy Efforts
This Saturday, the world will be treated to one of the most hyped events in the history of sports when “The Notorious “ Conor McGregor and Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. meet in Las Vegas to become (even more) rich while ostensibly also participating in a boxing match. Read more
Judgment Against Sci-Hub is a Win for Authors and Publishers
Last week, the United States Court for the Southern District of New York entered a default judgment against Sci-Hub, the Library Genesis Project (LibGen), and a number of related websites and site operators for the willful infringement of dozens of copyright-protected scholarly articles. Read more
Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) Unites to Fight Online Piracy
As digital piracy shifts away from torrent downloads and towards unauthorized streaming and theft-based extortion, stakeholders from all parts of the creativity community are reassessing their efforts to fight online infringement. This week, a global coalition of creators and leading on-demand entertainment services joined forces to better address the ever-evolving threat that piracy poses not only to artists and copyright owners, but to consumers and end users. Read more
From Star Wars to La La Land: How Intellectual Property Fuels Films
The following post comes from Mandi Hart, a rising third-year law student at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, who worked as a video producer before going to law school.
By Mandi Hart
Movies are a first-love in America and around the world, and their production is made possible by the existence of intellectual property (IP) rights. Read more
In Defense of an Inclusive IP Conversation
In a recent essay responding to a divisive critique of his book, Justifying Intellectual Property, Robert Merges makes clear from the start that he won’t be pulling any punches. He explains that the purpose of his essay, Against Utilitarian Fundamentalism, is to address the misleading and polarizing conclusions of Mark Lemley’s 2015 article, Faith-Based Intellectual Property, recapitulate the arguments he makes in Justifying IP, and show that those who approach intellectual property theory through a nonstrict empirical lens can still make meaningful contributions to the debate. Read more
Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act is First Step Towards a Modern Copyright Office
The House Judiciary Committee today overwhelmingly approved the bipartisan Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act by a vote of 27-1. Introduced last Thursday by Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.—with the support of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, and Senator Patrick Leahy—the Act is the first legislative effort to follow a four-year review of U.S. Read more
Innovate4Health: mPedigree Battles Counterfeit Drugs Through Innovative Verification System
This post is one of a series in the #Innovate4Health policy research initiative.
Counterfeit medicines sold under a product name without proper authorization are a serious threat to global public health. Classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified and counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products, counterfeit drugs are regularly designed to appear identical to genuine products. Read more
Kodi Software Enabling Widespread Copyright Infringement
Awards season always seems to arrive with new stories about how piracy is affecting the film industry and the way we watch movies. Whether it’s a promotional screener that was stolen and uploaded to a torrent site, or the latest software that allows users to download or stream pirated content, the tales are reminders of the enduring problem of online copyright infringement. Read more