Blog Profile / Techdirt
| URL : | http://techdirt.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Industries / Law | |
| Posts on Regator: | 18982 | |
| Posts / Week: | 71.5 | |
| Archived Since: | April 22, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Ron Paul Doesn't Win RonPaul.com And Is Guilty Of Reverse Domain Hijacking
We found it odd back in February to see Ron Paul try to use the domain dispute process to take over RonPaul.com, a domain that was held by some of his biggest supporters. The folks who had the domain had even offered Paul the RonPaul.org...Show More Summary
President Obama Is 'Troubled' About Chilling Effects His Own Administration Is Causing To Journalism?
Well, this is rich. During his talk on Thursday, much of which focused on terrorism and drones, President Obama admitted that he's asked Eric Holder to review the DOJ's process for investigating leaks that involve getting information...Show More Summary
Yet Another Anti-Patent Troll Bill Introduced In Congress
We were just talking about the third attempt by someone in Congress to deal with some aspect of patent trolling, and already we have a fourth bill. Senator John Cornyn has introduced the Patent Abuse Reduction Act, which has a variety of provisions that would make life slightly more difficult for trolls. Show More Summary
District Attorney And Major TV Network Sued Over Stupid Reality Show
Cross-posted from
The most tragically stupid decision was greenlighting a reality show about lawyers. No one cares about watching real-life lawyering. That’s why Nancy Grace exists — to boil salacious cases down to sound bites so viewers...Show More Summary
DailyDirt: Tuition Debt Is For Chumps?
Crowds of students are graduating (or have just graduated) from college, and they might be a little nervous about how they're going to pay off their student loans. Student debt can be difficult to pay off, so some folks are trying to avoid it completely in a few novel ways. Show More Summary
Adam Savage On Why Copyright And Trademark Holders Need To Get Over Their Obsession With 'Control'
Reader aster points us to a tested.com video in which Adam Savage talks about copyright issues. I've seen Savage mention on Twitter in the past that he's a closet copyright geek who is very interested in copyright policy, and the conversation...Show More Summary
Partisanship Over Spying On Journalists Is Stupid: Spying On Journalists Is Bad, Period
I've said many times before that I'm not a member of any political party, nor a fan of partisanship in general, and that means most political parties are a ridiculous concept to me, because they're more focused on "beating the other guy" than doing what's right. Show More Summary
Magic Hat Brewery Sues West Sixth Brewing, Claiming 6 Looks Too Much Like 9
You may recall that years ago Anheuser-Busch applied for a trademark on the number 312, having bought out Goose Island Brewery, who had a beer by that name. The catch is that 312 is the area code for most of Chicago, where Goose Island was based, and that seems like a sort of funny thing to trademark. Show More Summary
Filmmaker Behind The Pirate Bay Documentary Says Bogus DMCA Takedowns Take Away His Free Speech
We just wrote about how major Hollywood studios had included links to the freely available, Creative Commons-licensed documentary, TPB AFK, in a bunch of bogus DMCA notices to Google, meaning that perfectly legitimate links were likely being removed. Show More Summary
Vermont Declares War On Patent Trolls; Passes New Law And Sues Notorious Patent Troll
I've always liked the state of Vermont -- but mainly because it was a nice place to visit. But, now the state appears to be declaring war on patent trolls. A new anti-patent trolling law has been quietly enacted, H.299, which targets patent trolls. Show More Summary
Prenda Lawyer Says Georgia Court Should Ignore Judge Wright's Order Because... Look! Hackers!
Remember Jacques Nazaire? He's the local counsel for Prenda in a case in Georgia who was trying desperately to get the judge there to ignore Judge Wright's order in California, which lays out how Prenda's lawsuits are highly questionable, and likely against the law. Show More Summary
Chicago School System On FOIA Requests: Stonewalling, Obfuscation, & Paper-Shredding
If you're a government with something to hide, there are plenty of shady ways to handle Freedom of Information Act requests. You can make sure your organization is legally allowed to carry guns and simply refuse, like the NYPD. You can...Show More Summary
VOD Service Acetrax Shutting Down, Forcing Customers Through DRM Hoops To Retain Their Purchased Movies
Does DRM stop (or even slow down) piracy? This question's hardly hypothetical. It's been answered with a resounding "no" all over the internet. Of course, it's been argued that DRM was never about piracy prevention, but instead was a vehicle for content owners to control the technology in the hands of the end users. Show More Summary
Man Butt Dials 911 While Discussing Murder Plot
We've had plenty of stories of dumb criminals being caught in surprising ways thanks to new technology. Particularly common are the criminals who confess via the internet. However, this next one is a new one: a Florida man named Scott...Show More Summary
Kim Dotcom Threatens To Sue Google, Facebook And Twitter Over 2-Factor Authentication Patent If They Don't Help Him
So, a lot of people are talking about Kim Dotcom's latest gambit, which was to point out that he holds a patent (US 6,078,908 and apparently others in 12 other countries as well) that covers the basics of two-factor authentication, with a priority date of April of 1997. Show More Summary
Amazon Wants To Sell Fan Fiction With It, Originator And FanFic Author All Sharing Profits
Here's an interesting one. Amazon is getting some buzz today for launching Kindle Worlds, a setup by which authors of fan fiction can effectively profit from their works without fear of legal repercussions. Obviously, there's a ton of...Show More Summary
Cool New Platform For Supporting Artists: Patreon, From Jack Conte
I'm obviously a big fan of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, but I've always argued that it's just one of many models that content creators can use to succeed today. In fact, for a long time, I've felt that the biggest thing that was missing from Kickstarter was any sort of ongoing payment system. Show More Summary
Modest Proposal: Going Piracy Neutral
Here's an amusing one out of the UK. Nick Henderson has created something of a Swiftian "modest proposal" for people who feel guilty about infringement. Modeled after the idea of carbon offsets to become "carbon neutral," he suggests...Show More Summary
DailyDirt: Graduation Advice To Remember
Maybe you remember your graduation. Maybe you don't. If you were lucky, you graduated college and knew exactly what you wanted to do. You had a job all lined up, and when asked about your plans, you could avoid saying anything along the lines of: I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. Show More Summary
New Bill Would Stop Patent Trolls From Hiding Behind Shell Companies
We've talked in the past about how patent trolling operations love to use shell companies to hide who actually owns the patents. Intellectual Ventures has thousands of shells, but it's even worse in many cases when it's smaller trolls, where no one has any idea who's actually behind the trolling. Show More Summary