KAZAA AND THE LAW

Dec 21, 2002 | audio, file_sharing, law

The recording industry has a lawsuit pending in US District Court in Los Angeles against Kazaa, seeking to grind it away to nothing as it did to Napster. Kazaa is currently the most popular online file-swapping software, downloaded by more than 160 million people. At...

DMCA MADNESS

Nov 21, 2002 | DRM, law

Everybody’s favorite legislation, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, got a workout yesterday. WalMart, Target, Best Buy, and Staples served notices under the DMCA on a bargain hunter web site, FatWallet.com, claiming that their sale prices are copyrighted trade...

WEB SITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Nov 4, 2002 | law

Speaking of Slashdot, somebody over there nominates American Airlines for the longest web site statement of terms and conditions, a behemoth that you have to accept before joining its frequent flyer program. 181 paragraphs, 3,482 words of dense legalese. As Slashdot...

MICROSOFT DECISION LEAKED EARLY

Nov 4, 2002 | business, law, Microsoft

An interesting technical sidelight on Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s approval of the Microsoft-DOJ settlement. The release of her decision was carefully scheduled for 4:30pm US Eastern time, after the markets had closed. The folks running the Court’s web site apparently...

MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT APPROVED

Nov 1, 2002 | law, Microsoft

The coverage of Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s approval of the Microsoft-DOJ settlement in the mainstream press is likely to be a bit short on details and context. Here’s CNET’s collection of articles about the settlement, with links to the full opinion and...

LAWRENCE LESSIG COMMENTS ON ELDRED v. ASHCROFT

Oct 13, 2002 | file_sharing, law

On Wednesday, October 9, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft, a fascinating case that could have important implications for the future of copyright law in this country. In short, Congress has gotten in the habit of extending the term of...