|
|
Law Offices of David L. Hoffman
|
|
"PREDICTABLE
PRICES FOR UNPREDICTABLE PATENT PROBLEMS"
|
|
IP Strategy Newsletter
July 2009
|
|
|
BRILLIANT STRATEGY
GET SUED FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
GoogleŽ was
sued for copyright infringement by a class of publishers and authors
because GoogleŽ has been creating an electronic library of out of
print books (but some still in copyright protection). GoogleŽ
argues it is scanning these books for indexing for searches
and claims "fair use."
Recently, GoogleŽ and the plaintiffs entered a settlement, but
now the Justice Department and various state attorney generals wants details
of the settlement before the upcoming September 2009 hearing for the Court
to approve the settlement. The proposed settlement
apparently would give GoogleŽ rights to out-of-print and
orphaned works (those for which the copyright holder cannot be
identified) and GoogleŽ would have to set some kind of pricing
schedule for the books. Opponents of the deal argue that it
would essentially give GoogleŽ a monopoly and/or a price
fixing on the vast number of out of print and orphaned works.
If you have ever tried to find an out of print book, or tried to find
the copyright holder of an old work, you would probably favor the
settlement. If you fear that GoogleŽ has control of what we
find when we search, and now seeks control over what we read, then
you probably don't favor it. Frankly, I think GoogleŽ actually hoped it would
get sued in a class action, so it could cheaply get agreement with
all relevant copyright holders, a brilliant bit of strategy.
David Hoffman
Law Offices of David L. Hoffman
28494 Westinghouse Place, Suite 204
Valenica, California 91355
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tip
of the Month
Make sure your client's company owns its
copyrights. Whenever using an independent contractor to create any
text, drawing, logo, photo, web site, software, advertisement, or
other work, there should be a written copyright assignment to your
client before work begins.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|