File-Sharing Copyright Trolls Invade Finland

The practice of issuing copyright infringement notices for the purpose of obtaining cash settlements is now commonly referred to as “copyright trolling." It’s a practice that started in Germany, before moving to the UK and US, and now it’s facing a resurgence in Europe, this time in Finland.

Kim Dotcom Launches Party For New Zealand Elections

Kim Dotcom launches political Internet Party

Digitize any book in the public domain

A form of poetry in India called Vachana sahitya is part of the popular Indian language, Kannada. It evolved in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th as part of the religious Lingayatha movement. Since that time, more than 259 Vachana writers, called Vachanakaru, have compiled over 11,000 Vachanas (verses).

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At present, our repository, Vachana Sanchaya, has around 200,000 unique words that were derived from these poems. The public has been using our repository and accessing Vahanas (poems) from our Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ profiles. There are thousands of people now who read a Vahana as part of their daily routine. Vachana Sanchaya is not just meant for reading the poems, it is also meant for research. So, we have added a way for researchers to help us review the content and will be adding references from various research papers.

Parody Finally Made Legal In UK

Draft regulations have been published in Britain that will finally end the anomaly where quotation, parody, caricature and pastiche are considered breaches of copyright. If approved by Parliament, they will come into force on June 1st, finally closing the loophole in copyright law that allowed copyright owners to chill criticism and stifle research in cases that are otherwise reasonable.

RIAA Demands Personal Details of Pirating YouTube Users

Why Movie Streaming Sites So Fail to Satisfy

UK Govt: DVD and CD Ripping Will Be Legalized This Summer

The UK Government has published a guide informing consumers about an upcoming revision of copyright law which will legalize CD and DVD copying for personal use. The changes go into effect in June, and will also broaden other forms of fair use, including parody and quotation rights.

Jury: MP3tunes founder must pay $41 million for copyright violations

Michael Robertson, an entrepreneur who has been waging legal feuds against the music industry for more than a decade now, has been ordered to pay $41 million to a record label that sued him.

Pirate Bay’s Longest Surviving Torrents Turn 10 Years Old

The second oldest Pirate Bay torrent that’s still actively seeded is an “Italian Teens Home Video.” This file was uploaded on March 30, 2004 and currently has three seeders. The third place goes to a pirated copy of “Revolution OS”, a documentary covering the history of Linux, GNU and the free software movement.

German Court Says Creative Commons 'Non-Commercial' Licenses Must Be Purely For Personal Use

Creative Commons licenses have been hugely successful in allowing people to share their creations in ways otherwise impossible using traditional copyright monopolies. But one problem remains unresolved: what exactly does the "non-commercial" license allow you to do? This lack of clarity has led various people to advocate avoiding the use of CC-NC. Back in 2012, Techdirt reported on a call to drop completely both the non-commercial and the no-derivatives licenses. In the same year, a group of German copyright experts released in collaboration with Wikimedia a document entitled "Consequences, Risks, and side-effects of the license module Non-Commercial -- NC", which was made available in an English translation the following year (PDF).

U.S. Department of Labor applies Creative Commons license to all work created with $150M grant

Books, Porn, Open Source: The Pirate Bay's Oldest Torrents Are 10 Years Old

Demonoid Returns, Website Now Back Online

Trademark issue will cause $30,000 worth of multimeters to be destroyed

US says India should prefer US business and workers for its solar plants

US is bent on raising the price of drugs in developing countries

Recent developments by the Obama administration seem bent on making it more difficult to purchase top rated drugs in developing countries. The move follows patent rulings around the globe that may place U.S. drug companies at a disadvantage in the industry; a matter which is not taken lightly by the U.S. of course. India has made the news for ordering drug companies to give up their patent rights, all in an effort to help lower the spiraling costs of drugs. Canada, likewise, became something of a villain when several court rulings dismantled the patents of popular drug companies in favor of the country’s generic industry. The threat has been detected, and there is an urge to act, but it’s not that simple.

Networks Skip Controversial Trade Deal

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal has drawn heavy criticism. Over 500 labor, environmental and farm groups oppose granting the White House "fast track" authority to speed the pact through Congress. The deal, still being negotiated in secret, has spawned protests around the world. Even some Democrats are pushing back against the White House.

How Big Pharma (and others) began lobbying on the Trans-Pacific Partnership before you ever heard of it

In 2009, four years before the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a widely-debated trade deal, few would have noticed a new issue popping up in a handful of lobbying reports. That year, 28 organizations filed 59 lobbying reports mentioning the then far-off trade agreement. Almost half of those organizations were pharmaceutical companies or associations.

Obama Nominates Former SOPA Lobbyist to Help Lead TPP Negotiations