As reported a while back on this site and others, Lexmark (manufacturers of printers, scanners, and multi-function devices) have filed suit against Static Control Components for making a product that allows you to refill Lexmark toner cartridges without paying Lexmark. Although it isn't a complete win for Lexmark (that'll likely …

Microsoft today announced its new Rights Management software for Windows 2000 Server. The press release is here, and an article from CNet is here. The basic structure is to provide Windows programs with access (via a programming API to be available later this year) to documents with user- specific, time-specific …

In yet another round of fun Napster-related lawsuits, CNet is reporting in this article that Napster investor Bertelsmann is being sued by a group of music producers for, in effect, causing more piracy by prolonging the life of the now-failed music-swapping service.

According to an article in BusinessWeek, the Canadian Copyright Board is looking into compensating labels for the theoretical loss of revenues that they propose are attributable to piracy. According to the article, it is looking at raising the current $.21 CD levy to $.59 (that's nearly 200%) and adding a …

An article on CNet reports that a grand jury in California indicted six people on charges that they violated the anti-decryption portions of the DMCA, primarily related to signal theft on satellite TV. Of the six, one has apparently plead guilty to violating the DMCA. The trial dates will be …

In a recently published article in the IEEE's magazine, The Institute, the organization is calling for congress to take a second look at the DMCA. To quote the article: "Two recent court battles, as well as concerns raised by members, have prompted IEEE-USA?s Intellectual Property Committee to re- …

With Verizon's recent request for a stay of the order for it to provide information to the record labels after a recent court loss, the labels are fighting back. According to an article from CNet, the RIAA has filed a strongly worded brief accusing Verizon of failing to live up …

An article in InfoWorld states that the RIAA has once again been attacked by people who apparently don't agree with the organization.

In this morning's L.A. Times there is an editorial by Janis Ian about the RIAA and their counter-productive attempts to "help" musicians by thwarting MP3 downloads. The 40-year veteran of the recording industry indicates that merchandise sales rose over 300% after recordings were made available in MP3 format online …

Quoting from the action alert at the EFF, "Representatives Rick Boucher and John Doolittle recently re-introduced the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, H.R. 107), which would enact labeling requirements for usage-impaired "copy- protected" compact discs, as well as several amendments to 1998's infamous Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA …

CNet has an article on Microsoft's announced DRM platform toolkit for media companies and producers. The Data Session Toolkit (so-named because the intention is to store the DRM'd content in a second "session" of the CD with Data only flags) contains licenses for Microsoft's Media Player format and allows labels …

I'd encourage everyone to read this article on Salon.com. The piece is from a long-time record executive (John Snyder is president of Artist House Records), who has done a superb job of putting together a coherent piece on copyright, file sharing, and the music industry's fight to keep themselves …

Sometimes you just never know who's going to come to your rescue. In the case of privacy on the Internet, Verizon is starting the year off as benefactor to the world by fighting the RIAA in court over the identity of an internet user. Of course, it's not all quite …

In a positive move, the Parliament of Finland has turned back the controversial European counterpart to the US's DMCA. As reported by Electronic Frontier Finland in their news release, this keeps Finland from becoming only the third member state of the EU to adopt the convention. According to EU policy …

In an effort to assuage fears that the DMCA would stifle creativity (ahem), the Copyright Office is required to review the DMCA every 3 years to find exemptions that should be added to the law (or at least how it is applied). The comment period for this three year period …

Once again, a great article in The Economist covers the copyright issue with a sane, but radical proposal in Copyrights: A radical rethink. In short, their suggestion is to return the copyright system to its origins and get it back to helping the little guy, not the behemoth.

CNET is reporting that a "coalition" of technology companies has formed to oppose the MPAA and its bid to get the government to impose regulations requiring intrusive copy protection be installed in computers and consumer electronics devices. The bill, proposed last year by Senator Fritz Hollings, D-SC, has not yet …

In yet another travesty of justice that marks the DMCA, a report on CNET (also seen on other services) indicates that a Federal Judge has rules that Verizon's internet service will have to give up identifying information to the RIAA about a user who has been using the Kaaza …

According to this article1 on MSNBC, Microsoft has announced today that they have a new technology for copy protection of CD's. This will create a multi-layer CD which contains information readable by consumer devices (CD players) and differently by computers, so that copy protection mechanisms will work. I haven't …

Since they charge for it on CD's, it was only a matter of time before the RIAA decided they needed to get more revenue by taxing ISPs. This article on Yahoo covers the latest ideas from that most loved of musical institution (tongue firmly in cheek at this point).