Professor Evans appointed to Small Publishers Association (SPAN) Board of Directors

Brian Jud, Executive Director of the Small Publishers Association Network (SPAN) announced to the membership my appointment to the Board of Directors as an interim member. SPAN is a nonprofit trade association of authors and independent publishers with the mission of building successful writing and publishing businesses.

SPAN includes two levels of membership. SPANpro is a paid-membership trade association with a package of benefits to help you become a more successful author or publisher of quality content in printed, electronic or audio formats. SPANnet is a free, active, enthusiastic community of authors and publishers sharing their knowledge and experiences on writing, marketing, book production, and selling books to non-bookstore buyers, as well as many other skills vital to business success

I am truly honored and excited to be among the ranks of such an experienced and knowledgeable group of Directors that includes Executive Director Brian Jud, Cevin Bryerman (Publisher, Publishers Weekly), Rudy Shur (expert in special sales and former IBPA Board member), Bob Erdmann (inaugural Publishers Marketing Association president and foreign rights expert), Guy Achtzehn (PR expert with 25 years of experience in the promotional-products industry) and Scott Flora (former SPAN Executive Director).

Bios and photos of all SPAN Board members are at
http://www.spanpro.org/staff

Publication Alert: Reverse Engineering IP by IP law Prof. Tonya M. Evans (digital tech & IP)

Abstract

Reverse Engineering IP [free download]

Copyright 2013 Tonya M. Evans (published by Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review)

Credit: Leaping Lion Photography

“With the advent of the Internet and digital technology, the twenty-first century has ushered in a quantum increase in the ways to create, disseminate, and commercially exploit creativity. Digital technology allows anyone to create perfect digital copies of protected works in the comfort of their homes and to distribute them to tens, hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people with the click of a hyperlink via a handheld device. Indeed, copyright touches more ordinary people in substantial ways in this age of information than at any other time in American copyright history.

[....]

This Article asserts that copyright reform initiatives should “sample” (that is, borrow from) patent policies that protect access for further innovation to “remix” (that is, inform and reform) copyright law for the same end in the creative context. Throughout the Article, I use appropriation art to illustrate how an established cumulative medium of artistic creation is negatively impacted by overly restrictive copyright laws and may benefit from patent policies seemingly more well suited to encourage and support such creative innovation.

The 411 on upcoming launch of the Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America will soon go live and its fearless leaders promise to curate “the best open access and digitized materials” at dp.la. On the heels of the Google Book debacle, libraries and other interest-holders joined forces to digitize and make available public domain & licensed works and other resources for the DPLA.

THE DPLA describes its launch as follows:

SCOTUS holds that buying copies of books lawfully made overseas & selling in the US is A Okay (for now)

Source: JOLT Digest of Harvard Journal of Law and Technology

Credit: MyArstechnica.com

“The Supreme Court, in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., held in a 6-3 decision that the “first sale” doctrine applies to copies of copyrighted work lawfully made abroad, reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The case involved the resale in the United States of approximately 600 copies of textbooks that originally had been bought in Thailand at relatively inexpensive prices. On remand, the Supreme Court ordered that the Second Circuit conduct further proceedings consistent with the Court’s opinion.

The unauthorized importation of copyrighted material is barred by § 602 of the Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. § 602), and John Wiley & Sons’ (“Wiley”) right to distribute is protected by § 106(3). However, the first sale doctrine of § 109(a) extinguishes the copyright owner’s interest in a particular copy after the first sale to a consumer. At issue in Kirtsaeng was whether § 109(a) applies to goods of “foreign manufacture”—more specifically, whether the phrase “lawfully made under this title” applied to goods like the Asian editions of the Wiley textbooks.”

Read the full article at Jolt.law.harvard.edu

Facebook, Zuckerberg to Face a Jury over rights to “Timeline” trademark issue

Source: Bloomberg.com

 

Credit: Involver.com

Facebook Inc. (FB) (FB), owner of the world’s largest social-networking service, lost bid to end a trademark infringement lawsuit over its use of “timeline” and related terms.

Timelines Inc. started a Web site in 2009 that lets users create chronologies tracing historical events such as wars, sporting events and advances in science. It sued Facebook for infringement and unfair competition in September 2011, a week after the social-network announced it was adding a “timeline” feature to its user pages.

Facebook counter-sued, claiming Timelines’ registered marks weren’t sufficiently distinctive to warrant protection and asking for judgments of non-infringement and a cancellation of the registrations.

Read the full article about Facebook Timeline Trademark battle at Bloomberg.com

Supreme Court Hears Two Landmark Cases in Same-Sex Marriage Equality

This week marks a historic time in our nation’s highest Court. Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Proposition 8. Proposition 8 was California’s 2008 ballot initiative banning gay marriage. It won support from 52% of voters and nullified a decision five months earlier by the state’s Supreme Court allowing the practice. The state court in May 2009 said the ban could stand. Listen to oral arguments or read the transcript.

On Wednesday, the justices will hear arguments in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 federal law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages regardless of their validity under state law. Some of my students at Widener University School of Law are increasing awareness of DOMA on campus by providing information and answering questions at a booth hosted by OUTLAW, the school’s LGBTQ campus organization.

Click here for answers to frequently asked questions about DOMA provided by GLAAD.

The CAS is coming! The CAS is coming! What “six strikes” means for you (Verizon’s plan LEAKED)

The Copyright Alert System (CAS) is coming!

The CAS is a much-anticipated  [or dreaded] new anti-piracy plan called the “Six Strikes” Copyright Alert System Program. It aims to thwart large-scale piracy of copyrighted works on the Internet. The CAS is the Internet Service Providers’ industry-response to concerns about secondary liability for alleged copyright infringement and piracy committed on their networks.

What it is and How it Works