Sarkozy doesn't care about pissing people off. The entire country's shut down right now with people striking and rioting about a law which will increase the retirement age. Rather than back down, he's pushing the bill through faster!
From what I've heard on NPR, the French see him as another rich jerk. I don't know how he was elected, but then, I don't know how Dub-Yah was elected, and I have no clue how Dub-Yah was re-elected.
Does anyone under 30 know who the Andrew Sisters are? Abbot and Costello? Cary Grant? Claudette Colbert? No? How about W.C. Fields? Jimmy Durante? Still no?
They were all huge in the 70's, thanks to local station reruns. Now you can't get their work, thanks to copyrights. Using their likeness and catch phrases in commercials would almost certainly generate interest in a new generation of consumers, but their estates are far too short-sighted for that.
This is what bothers me the most. Not freedom of speech (which is offensive), but the erosion of our culture.
The lawmakers are Congress. This is an executive order. No lawmakers involved, only those who are supposed to be upholding laws.
Disgustingly cheesy on all sides.
While the letter of the law says that you own the copyright when you create a work, there's a pretty big question when you sell or give the original work to someone else. One of the big reasons to buy a master's artwork was the ability to reproduce it, and I don't recall copyright contracts being signed.
I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that when you are given a letter, especially one written for you, the ability to reproduce it would be implied.
I worked at an investment firm for 5 years, which has since been aquired by a firm which was aquired by a firm. In my first year, I noticed that none of the printer configuration webservers (almost all business printers can be configured via browser) were secured in any way. I could take any printer off line, or set it to an IP which would conflict with a production server, anytime I wished. I informed the security and IT staff, and left it for them to handle.
When I left the firm 4 years later I checked, and sure enough, no passwords or alternate ports on the webserver. Printers were under their radar.
Did I mention that this was a paranoid investment firm?
Now give someone the ability to automatically have PDF's sent to them when certain keywords (SSN, CC#) are present, and put it in the same environment. Unless these things have a hardware switch to turn this feature off, they are creating a Microsoft-style security hole which is guaranteed to allow massive breaches in corporate security.
In the above article, "Content Creators" should really be changed to, "Rights Owners." I would guess that few creators were involved in lobbying congress to extend copyrights beyond their own lifetime, and certainly not to the extent of the corporations.
All we have to do is wait until several members of Congress recieve letters. THEN it will be important.
You people who recieve letters right now? You don't matter.
This type of "licensing" is fundamentally ridiculous, and only slightly less so than the "DVD regions" that President Obama famously ran afoul of, on CLASSIC movies, not new releases! How can a copyright holder have any say on a product after said product has been legally copied? "Oh, you can consume our product in Germany, but not in Brazil." Once you have sold your product, you no longer have control. End of story. Licensing is the most bogus excuse for commerce yet created.
If IBM had patented it's PC architecture, there wouldn't have been the proliferation of inexpensive clones, Microsoft wouldn't be anywhere near the size it is now, and most PC manufacturers wouldn't exist.
To prove my point, IBM immediately tried to correct it's mistake by releasing the PS/2, a machine superior to the XT in nearly every way. It was patented. It was also more expensive and incompatable with XT expansion cards (it used microchannel).
The result? 90+% of the market today is a machine that evolved from that unpatented architecture.
Now, which of these has generated more jobs and more revenue for everyone? These morons should be ashamed.
Yes, exactly. This is why the government is concerned with the press. The press is supposed to give transparancy and expose corruption. The only problem is, no one in the press will do anything negative anymore, because they fear losing access. Negative articles will result in certain reporters being locked out of meetings and interviews. So the value of modern journalism is questionable at best.
By the way, please don't throw around the term, "Democracy." Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for lunch. We're a Republic for a reason.
You need to read up on history. Google "Standard Oil", and you will see how much damage can be caused, and in how short a time. Then come back and comment.
I'm late in realizing this, but there was a toy in 1977 called the Micronaught Battlecruiser which employed a magnetic break-away cord, so that children could not pull out the cord and break it. And it looks like you can buy one for about $20 today.
Just another entry in the prior art category.
No, Coke does not own the design of their bottles. It expired 14 years after it was granted, in 1929. And if they claimed they did own it, they'd owe me $500!
I have no idea where your Kosher comment came from. The voices in your head?
Looks like a business process patent, with a computer thrown in to make it legit. Sick.
If there was ever a poster-boy for killing software patents, this would be it.
How dare they create a show about a product that already exists! Don't they know they have to wait until AFTER it has aired to create products based on the characters? Dora, Sponge Bob, Star Wars... Wait! Master's of the Universe had a product line before the series, and so did My Little Pony and Care Bears... so what gives?
On the post: Hadopi Already Up To Sending Out 25,000 'First Strike' Notices Per Day
Re: France, the country full of outlaws?
From what I've heard on NPR, the French see him as another rich jerk. I don't know how he was elected, but then, I don't know how Dub-Yah was elected, and I have no clue how Dub-Yah was re-elected.
On the post: Why Would Attorney General Eric Holder Cite Debunked Stats About 'Piracy'?
Re: Huh?
On the post: The Rise Of A New Intellectual Property Category, Ripe For Trolling: Publicity Rights
Adrew Sisters?
They were all huge in the 70's, thanks to local station reruns. Now you can't get their work, thanks to copyrights. Using their likeness and catch phrases in commercials would almost certainly generate interest in a new generation of consumers, but their estates are far too short-sighted for that.
This is what bothers me the most. Not freedom of speech (which is offensive), but the erosion of our culture.
On the post: Would US Officials Really Decide Not To Sign ACTA?
Re:
Disgustingly cheesy on all sides.
On the post: Yankees Claiming Copyright To Block Memoir Involving 60 Year Old Letters From A Young George Steinbrenner
gray area
I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that when you are given a letter, especially one written for you, the ability to reproduce it would be implied.
On the post: Canon Creates Keyword-Based DRM For Copy Machines?
Re: Another Challange for the Innovative Hacker
When I left the firm 4 years later I checked, and sure enough, no passwords or alternate ports on the webserver. Printers were under their radar.
Did I mention that this was a paranoid investment firm?
Now give someone the ability to automatically have PDF's sent to them when certain keywords (SSN, CC#) are present, and put it in the same environment. Unless these things have a hardware switch to turn this feature off, they are creating a Microsoft-style security hole which is guaranteed to allow massive breaches in corporate security.
On the post: Denying The Public Domain Has A Very Real Cost
Content Creators?
On the post: The Rise Of Mass Copyright Infringement Filing Shakedown Factories In The US
A matter of time
You people who recieve letters right now? You don't matter.
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Don't know what you guys are complaining about...
On the post: ASCAP Tells Artists It's Cutting Their Payments As It Brags To The Press How Much More Money It's Collecting
Short people...
On the post: Is It Legal For A UK Pub To Access A Greek Satellite System To Get Cheaper Football Games On TV?
Why is this a question?
On the post: Why Must Patent Supporters Rewrite History In Attempt To Have The Feds Subsidize Patents
Microcomputer???
To prove my point, IBM immediately tried to correct it's mistake by releasing the PS/2, a machine superior to the XT in nearly every way. It was patented. It was also more expensive and incompatable with XT expansion cards (it used microchannel).
The result? 90+% of the market today is a machine that evolved from that unpatented architecture.
Now, which of these has generated more jobs and more revenue for everyone? These morons should be ashamed.
On the post: FTC Not Interested In Giving Newspapers Antitrust Exemption
Re:
By the way, please don't throw around the term, "Democracy." Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for lunch. We're a Republic for a reason.
On the post: FTC Not Interested In Giving Newspapers Antitrust Exemption
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Is It Patent Infringement To Reuse Recycled Apple Magsafe Connectors?
Re: No patent exists here...
Just another entry in the prior art category.
On the post: Marketplace's Misleading Report On Fashion Copyright
Re: Coke bottle design
I have no idea where your Kosher comment came from. The voices in your head?
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Wow...
If there was ever a poster-boy for killing software patents, this would be it.
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Re: Better Loaded Question
On the post: FCC Asked To Block New Cartoon Series... For The Children
Absolutely!
On the post: Consumer Group Points Out That IP Laws Are Often Anti-Consumer And Need To Be Fixed
Re: Re:
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