One reason why copyright has become so important in the digital age is that it applies to the software that many of us use routinely on our smartphones, tablets and computers. In order to run those programs, you must have a license of some kind (unless the software is in the public domain, which rarely Read more about Does Copyright Give Companies The Right To Search Your Home And Computer?[…]
A 34-year-old resident of Tokyo’s Shibuya has been arrested on suspicion of violating Japanese copyright law after selling unlicensed Demon Slayer cakes. According to Kyodo News, the women sold the cakes through Instagram, with customers submitting their desired images to be turned into frosting, cream, and sugar. The suspect is said to have charged between Read more about Woman Allegedly Made $57,000 From Unofficial Demon Slayer Cakes[…]
As players continue to criticize the recently released GTA Trilogy remastered collection, Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive has decided this is the perfect time to use DMCA takedown notices to remove some more GTA mods and fan projects. On November 11, according to the folks over at the GTA modding site LibertyCity, Take-Two contacted Read more about Take Two and Rockstar Use DMCA Claims To Remove More GTA Mods[…]
[…] The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) said it discovered a wealth of information about Tesla’s Autopilot, along with data around speed, accelerator pedal positions, steering wheel angle and more. The findings will allow the government to “request more targeted data” to help determine the cause of accidents, the investigators said. The researchers already knew that Read more about NFI decrypts Tesla’s hidden driving data[…]
In a project that could unlock the world’s research papers for easier computerized analysis, an American technologist has released online a gigantic index of the words and short phrases contained in more than 100 million journal articles — including many paywalled papers. The catalogue, which was released on 7 October and is free to use, Read more about Giant, free index to world’s research papers released online[…]
There are two classes of merchant on Amazon.com: those who get special protection from counterfeiters and those who don’t. From a report: The first category includes sellers of some big-name brands, such as Adidas, Apple and even Amazon itself. They benefit from digital fortifications that prevent unauthorized sellers from listing certain products — an iPhone, Read more about At Amazon, Some Brands Get More Protection From Fakes Than Others[…]
Google called on European Union judges to cut or cancel a “staggering” 4.3 billion euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine because the search giant never intended to harm rivals. The company “could not have known its conduct was an abuse” when it struck contracts with Android mobile phone makers that required them to take its search Read more about Google (G00G) Urges EU Judges to Slash ‘Staggering’ $5 Billion Fine[…]
The families of iconic Marvel comic book writers and artists Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Gene Colan, and Don Rico have filed termination of copyright notices on the superheroes they helped create. Marvel—which Disney has owned since 2009—unsurprisingly, disagrees and has filed lawsuits against all five to keep the characters in the Marvel stable Read more about Marvel Files Lawsuit to Keep Iron Man, Spider-Man Rights From Creators[…]
Add the United Kingdom to the list of countries that says an artificial intelligence can’t be legally credited as an inventor. Per the BBC, the UK Court of Appeal recently ruled against Dr. Stephen Thaler in a case involving the country’s Intellectual Property Office. In 2018, Thaler filed two patent applications in which he didn’t Read more about UK appeals court rules AI cannot be listed as a patent inventor[…]
YouTube, the Ig Nobel Prizes, and the Year 1914 YouTube’s notorious takedown algorithms are blocking the video of the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. We have so far been unable to find a human at YouTube who can fix that. We recommend that you watch the identical recording on Vimeo. The Fatal Song This is Read more about Ig Nobel Prizes blocked by YouTube takedown over 1914 song snippet – can’t find human to fix the error[…]
After months of Take-Two Interactive attacking and fighting GTA modders, the folks behind the long-in-development San Andreas mod, GTA Underground, have killed the project and removed it from the web over “increasing hostility” from Take-Two and fears of further legal problems. Over the last few months, Take-Two Interactive — the parent company of GTA devs Read more about Huge GTA San Andreas Mod Because Of Take-Two Harassment[…]
U.S. federal judge Leonie Brikema ruled this week that an AI can’t be listed as an inventor on a U.S. patent under current law. The case was brought forward by Stephen Thaler, who is part of the Artificial Inventor Project, an international initiative that argues that an AI should be allowed to be listed as Read more about Judge Says an AI Can’t Be Listed as an Inventor on a Patent because they are not people[…]
Hand-Drawn Game Guides creator Philip Summers knew it was a legal risk to launch his gorgeous, story book-style Nintendo game guides on Kickstarter, but it was a risk he was willing to take. When you pour through all the gorgeous artwork of his unofficial Metroid, Contra, Ninja Gaiden and Legend of Zelda guides, you can Read more about Gorgeous Hand-Drawn Game Guides Kickstarter Cancelled By Nintendo – copyright is seriously broken[…]
Receiving a publishing deal from an indie publisher can be a turning point for an independent developer. But when one-man team Jakefriend was approached with an offer to invest half a million Canadian dollars into his hand-drawn action-adventure game Scrabdackle, he discovered the contract’s terms could see him signing himself into a lifetime of debt, Read more about Game Dev Turns Down $500k Exploitative Contract, explains why – looks like music industry contracts[…]
[…]Rockstar Games has previously had its own run-in with its modding community, banning modders who attempted to shift GTA5’s online gameplay to dedicated servers that would allow mods to be used, since Rockstar’s servers don’t allow mods. What it’s now doing in issuing copyright notices on modders who have been forklifting older Rockstar assets into Read more about Rockstar Begins A War On Modders For ‘GTA’ Games For Totally Unclear Reasons[…]
The Open App Markets Act, which is being spearheaded by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, and Marsha Blackburn, is designed to crack down on some of the scummiest tactics tech players use to rule their respective app ecosystems, while giving users the power to download the apps they want, from the app stores they want, without retaliation. Read more about Apple App Store, Google Play Store Targeted by Open App Markets Act[…]
Amazon.com Inc. withdrew a set of staff guidelines that claimed ownership rights to video games made by employees after work hours and dictated how they could distribute them, according to a company email reviewed by Bloomberg. […] The old policies mandated that employees of the games division who were moonlighting on projects would need to Read more about Amazon Drops Policy claiming ownership of Games made by employees After Work Hours[…]
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) sets the term of protection for works protected copyright. For artistic works, the term of protection is life of the author plus 70 years. For more information on the term of copyright, see our Copyright Notice: Duration of copyright (term) on this subject. Section 52 CDPA previously Read more about Post-implementation review of the repeal of section 52 of the CDPA 1988 and associated amendments – Call for views – GOV.UK[…]
The Blackstone-owned genealogy giant Ancestry.com raised a ton of red flags earlier this month with an update to its terms and conditions that give the company a bit more power over your family photos. From here on out, the August 3 update reads, Ancestry can use these pics for any reason, at any time, forever. Read more about Ancestry.com Gave Itself the Rights to Your Family Photos[…]
[…] UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will expand on existing rules covering all research papers produced from its £8 billion in annual funding. About three-quarters of papers recently published from U.K. universities are open access, and UKRI’s current policy gives scholars two routes to comply: Pay journals for “gold” open access, which makes a paper Read more about Major U.K. science funder to require grantees to make papers immediately free to all[…]
In what can only be considered a triumph for all robot-kind, this week, a federal court has ruled that an artificially intelligent machine can, in fact, be an inventor—a decision that came after a year’s worth of legal battles across the globe. The ruling came on the heels of a years-long quest by University of Read more about Australian Court Rules That AI Can Be an Inventor, as does South Africa[…]
Bungie and Ubisoft have filed a lawsuit against five individuals said to be behind Ring-1, the claimed creator and distributor of cheat software targeting Destiny and Rainbox Six Seige. Among other offenses the gaming companies allege copyright infringement and trafficking in circumvention devices, estimating damages in the millions of dollars. […] Filed in a California Read more about Bungie & Ubisoft Sue Destiny 2 Cheatmakers Ring-1 For Copyright Infringement[…]
EU countries may be taken to court for their tardiness in enacting landmark EU copyright rules into national law, the European Commission said on Monday as it asked the group to explain the delays. The copyright rules, adopted two years ago, aim to ensure a level playing field between the European Union’s trillion-euro creative industries Read more about Commission starts legal action against 23 EU countries over copyright rules they won’t implement that favour big tech over small business and forced censorship[…]
Japan’s onerous Unfair Competition Prevention Law has created what looks from here like a massive overreach on the criminalization of copyright laws. Past examples include Japanese journalism executives being arrested over a book that tells people how to back up their own DVDs, along with more high-profile cases in which arrests occurred over the selling Read more about Japanese Police Arrest Man For Selling Modded Save Files For Single-Player Nintendo Game[…]
Google was fined €500m ($590m, £425m) by the French Competition Authority on Tuesday for failing to negotiate fees with news publishers for using their content. In April last year, the regulator ruled the American search giant had to compensate French publishers for using snippets of their articles in Google News, citing European antitrust rules and Read more about Google fined €500m for not paying French publishers after copying their texts on search results[…]