copyright - Page number 7

It's Spring 2003.  I'm the Red Hat general counsel.  Total Red Hat revenues the prior year were less than $100 million.  Red Hat's loss on continuing operations was $17 million.  Only the year before did Red Hat launch its Advanced Server offering, the predecessor to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.  SCO Group is offering both its proprietary UNIX operating system and open source Linux operating system.  SCO's total revenues in their prior fiscal year were over $60 million, and their loss on operations was $24 million.  One could argue that based purely on their » Read more

If you use open source, you have no respect for intellectual property. Or at least, that’s what the International Intellectual Property Alliance seems to think. According to this article, the lobbying group is asking the US Trade Representative to put Indonesia on its "Special 301 Priority Watch List,” in part because of its policy encouraging the adoption of open source software by government agencies. » Read more

Cory Doctorow says "information wants to be free" slogan is "lazy, stupid shorthand."

(See discussions at Shareable.net and Utne Reader)

When celebrated science fiction writer, blogger, and copyright activist Cory Doctorow tweets, 40,000 followers glance at their phones. » Read more

We've posted here before about the Kickstarter process. So we thought we'd talk with one of its artists about going from traditional publishing to ransoming. » Read more

The mashup and the meme aren't new, but there is an interesting video on YouTube about "stage 2" video mixes and their creative and social implications.  The narrator describes  how a group of friends in Brooklyn spent an afternoon creating a video tribute to a "stage 1" remix of 80's Brat Pack movies, which itself was an homage to those works.  A second group in San Francisco then made another video that was a recreation of the Brooklyn video. » Read more

January 1 of each year is Public Domain Day, the day we should celebrate works entering the public domain. Unfortunately, in the US there will be nothing to celebrate until 2019. So instead, let's talk about how that happened.

Think of what you know about copyright--how you get one, how long it lasts, what that means. Now think about how it originally worked in the US: » Read more

"CBS uncovers rare Jack Benny treasures, puts them back and tosses out the key."  We need an Orphan Works Act before we lose more of our social and cultural heritage to time and memory.

When I came to Red Hat, I had to make about a 180-degree shift in my approach to my work. My practice is in trademarks, copyrights and patents, fields that are traditionally all about excluding others. Counseling clients was about how to keep anyone else from using what was yours. » Read more

The secret ingredient

It's a Sunday afternoon and I've got no idea what's for dinner.  The supplies from the week's earlier grocery trip have dwindled.  What's left?  A bit of mashed potato.  A head of cauliflower. A couple of pieces of breakfast sausage.  Some wilting spinach. What to do?
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Bradley Kuhn at the Software Freedom Law Center has posted some advice on reporting GPL violations - "Assume the violation is an oversight or an accident by the violator until you have clear evidence that tells you differently." » Read more