Sorry to stick that “round and round, round and round” tune into your head, but it seems appropriate for the activity of the last several days by a small but vocal cadre of technorati who are amping up the drama and fear factor related to enforcement of copyright laws online. First, a “new” group called [...]

The Washington Post today weighed in favorably on the Protect IP Act, legislation that would give law enforcement more tools to pursue offshore websites trafficking in pirated and counterfeited products. The Post rightly points out that these sites can leave consumers “saddled with shoddy goods and little or no recourse to get their money back”, [...]

An online activist has been indicted in Boston on charges that he used the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s computer networks to steal more than four million documents from JSTOR, a non-profit that provides online access to academic journals for a subscriber or individual user fee, with the intention of distributing the documents to one or [...]

A Different View on PROTECT-IP and the Internet Opponents of legislation to protect American small businesses, artists, authors and entrepreneurs from digital theft have waged a scare campaign about the supposed effect of the bill on the functionality of the Internet. Various individuals have rebutted these claims, including the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. A [...]

Numerous news outlets this morning reported that the MPAA, RIAA and internet service providers are nearing agreement on a long discussed proposal to better educate internet users on legal options for receiving entertainment content online, and to inform consumers who repeatedly engage in infringement online that their actions are inappropriate. We have not seen the [...]

The domino effect of piracy on downstream jobs like advertising, accounting, and others is one we discuss regularly at the Copyright Alliance. Sometimes these effects are self-evident, like make-up artists who might get fewer jobs with movie productions or photo sessions if work is scaled back. Other examples are less obvious. Case in point: the [...]

There was a good post on Copyhype this week in support of the PROTECT IP Act and S.978 that argued that as the Internet continues to evolve, the laws regulating it should similarly evolve and adapt. The author notes there are many who think that the only people who need to adapt are content creators, [...]

In the wake of unanimous Senate Judiciary Committee passage of the PROTECT IP Act, Public Knowledge offered this week the same litany of excuses for taking no action against digital theft of American intellectual property online, and appears content to see American workers harmed as a result. In matters of policy debate, it is unfortunate [...]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative today released its annual “Special 301” report, identifying countries that fall short in intellectual property rights enforcement and market access for American IP products. The report summarizes some good news from the past year – finalizing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, passage of four pieces of intellectual property rights [...]

Doug TenNapel is a graphic novelist and illustrator, whose stories have been sold to Fox, Universal and Paramount. His animated series, “Catscratch”, airs on Nicktoons by Nickelodeon. He is the creator of Earthworm Jim, a character that has been adapted to video games, cartoons and toys. He has a pretty cool career. One to be [...]