Pats trademark what they can’t accomplish

We have seen some pretty silly stuff in the way of copyright issues recently. This takes the cake though. The New England Patriots went 18-1, loosing to my NY Football Giants in the Superbowl last season. They were close enough to taste the sweetness of a perfect 19-0 season and apparently that taste wasn’t enough.
As [...]

More things you can’t do with your music

We already know the long list of things the RIAA doesn’t think you’re allowed to do with music you purchased. They are even telling consumers that they can’t even throw away or sell that demo CD they purchased. The latest absurd claim is that you don’t have the right to make a safe backup of [...]

Forget fair use! That’s our news and you can’t have any!

by: Mischa G. April 16, 2008 Comments: None.
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We seem to be in the midst of a full blown frenzy of copyright related posts here at Impatient Sufferance. Since we’re having such fun, why stop?
Today we have word that ABC is tape delaying the broadcast of tonight’s debates and claiming that no news network may rebroadcast more than 30 seconds of the debate. [...]

Obey (my misreading of copyright law)

by: Mischa G. April 15, 2008 Comments: None.
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Many of you have seen the work of Shepard Fairey. His Andre the Giant images are iconic in underground art. He seems to be a better artist than copyright lawyer though. He recently sent a cease and desist letter to an artist who has taken to parodying his style. This is exceptionally ironic as Fairey [...]

Copyright does not last forever

by: Joseph P. April 14, 2008 Comments: None.
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This story from Techdirt really hit a sore spot. Apparently, a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art wouldn’t allow a guest — an intellectual property lawyer at that — to photograph a Nicholas Poussin painting. Normally, photography is allowed in the Met, so long as there’s no flash. The reason for the guard’s denial [...]

And you thought you owned that CD

One of the issues that we Impatient Sufferers are particularly interested in is media rights. As we move away from physical distribution of music, movies and books towards some sort of digital distribution system, we find ourselves in the middle of a debate about who owns that media and what consumers can do with the [...]