DMCA & The Safe Harbor - Web Video

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IO Group, Inc. v. Veoh Networks, Inc., (N.D.Cal. Aug. 27, 2008), granting defendant's motion for summary judgment in a copyright case based on user-generated web-video content.

Though not a music case, the EFF describes the decision as "required reading". 

AP to Bloggers - Fair Use?

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Saul Hansell, The Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Using Its Articles in Blogs, 6/16/08 New York Times - Business/Media:

The Associated Press, one of the nation’s largest news organizations, said that it will, for the first time, attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.


...which raises the question: can The AP define what infringes its copyright? Standards may provide guidelines to bloggers, but isn't it the Copyright Act (and the federal courts' interpretation thereof) that defines the standards as to what and what is not "fair use"?

More info here from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Is the Shelf-Life of the DOE-Cases About to Expire?

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Another cookie-cutter complaint, application and memorandum of law identical to dozens of DOE cases filed in the past month was filed this week in the District of D.C. (...yawn...).

[Capitol Records, Inc. et al. v. Does 1-9; filed 2/06/08 in D.D.C.; case no. 1:08-cv-00210-RMU]

However, with the RIAA receiving pressure from DOES, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation being granted leave to file an amicus brief in other cases, how much future does these form pleadings & motions have?

Similarly damaging to the RIAA's DOE cases is that they appear to be using an unlicensed private investigator, MediaSentry, to investigate unauthorized file-sharing and determine P2P user's ISPs. The legality of MediaSentry's actions, and the admissibility of any evidence obtained by them, is questionable, as recently recognized by the Hon. Judge Castel in the SDNY. (See e.g., N.Y. Gen. Business Law secs. 70, 71, and 83.)

Electronic Frontier Weighs in on Ex Parte Discovery of Does

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief in the Arista v. Does 1-21 case against Boston University Students, attacking the RIAA's ex parte discovery application, both on evidentiary and legal grounds. Read it here.

***UPDATE: the RIAA's opposition to the EFF's motion for leave to file an amicus is available here.