CUFADM02A Posting: Finding / Describing a Copyright, Licensing or Intellectual Property

Search method:
Using Google I did a search for "Music copyright dispute cases", and I found a case relating to the downloading of copyrighted music and reproduction of the files by an Internet cafe. Then I used the same search engine but I put in the name of the case to find more information.

The Case in question:
The article describes a case in the London High Court about an Internet cafe that was involved in distributing, via burnt cds, copyrighted music files. The BPI or British Phonographic Industry who act on behalf of Sony, EMI and Universal conducted an investigation of the Cafes' in question throughout 8 UK cities and found hundreds of music files on computer hard drives.
http://www.out-law.com/page-3280
Out-Law news 29/1/03

An exception to the Copyright, design and patents act 1988 allows someone to record a TV or Cable program to watch at a later date known as "The home recording Internet cafe in question tried to say that they were acting within these guidelines however the Judge stated that the "excessive business operation" of the cafe' could hardly be considered private or domestic use.
http://www.legalday.co.uk/lexnex/simkins/simkins190203.htm
Legal Day Legal commentary 19/2/2003


Initially the BPI tried to settle out of court ordering the cafe to pay a sum of 1 million pounds, when refused the amount was lowered to 100,000 pounds, but the BPI sued after details of the case were disclosed to the media.

The cafe was found guilty of music piracy, the preceding judge dismissed their defence claims as "Fallacious and speculative" during his verdict. The sentence is yet to be imposed but a sum of around 500,00 pounds is expected by many industry insiders.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20030128-667.html
Wayne Hardman 1/28/2003

All information obtained from these sites:

Exception", the

• http://www.legalday.co.uk

• http://www.out-law.com

• http://arstechnica.com

CUFADM02A Posting: Useful Websites About Copyright Part 3

Q1:

Australian Law Online.
Website Title: Australian Law Online - Homepage.
Web address: http://www.law.gov.au/accesspoint?action=menuHome

Australian Law Online provides access to law and justice related information from all levels of government.

Site Overview:

• Home page contains sung headings such as Australian legal system, crime and crime prevention etc. The page is then divided into sections under categories like |For families| |For individuals| etc, each containing sub sections. There are also links across the top:
• australia.gov.au
• About this site
• Contact us
• Privacy
• Copyright
• Disclaimer

Page viewed Dec 13 at 4.38Pm.

IP Australia
Website Title: Welcome to the home page of IP Australia......
Web address: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/
IP Australia grants patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeders rights. By granting these rights IP Australia is supporting Australia's economic development.

Site overview:

• Main page
• Patents
• Trade marks
• Designs
• Plant breeder's rights
• What is Intellectual property?
• An introduction to IP
• Patents
• Trade marks
• Designs
• Copyright
• Circuit layout rights
• Plant breeders rights
• Patents
• What is a Patent?
• Before you apply
• The application process
• Maintaining your patent
• Trade marks
• Designs
• PBR (Plant breeders rights).
• Business strategies
• Resources

Site visited Dec 14 at 4.45Pm.

Creative Commons.
Website title: Creative Commons
Web address: http://creativecommons.org/
Creative Commons provides free tools that let Authors, scientists, artists and educators easily mark their work with the freedoms they want it to carry.

• Main page
• Home
• Weblog
• About
• FAQ
• Contact
• Press kit
  
• Policies
• Privacy
• Site map
• Explore
• Audio
  
• Video
• Images
• Text
• Education
• Software

Site visited Dec 14 at 5.00Pm.

Creative Commons Australia.
Website title: Creative Commons Australia.
Web address: http://creativecommons.org.au/

CCau is the Australian derivative project of the Creative Commons project in the United States of America. We are porting the Creative Commons licences into Australian domestic law and fostering a creative community premised on re mixable QUT in Brisbane, CCau is devoted to the promotion of Creative Commons in Australia.

Site Overview:

creativity. Hosted at

• About
• Contact
• General information
• Press
• Website issues
• Learn more
• audio
• images
• video
• text
• education
• Licences
• Materials
• CC Clinic
• Research

Site visited Dec 14 at 5.10 Pm.

WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Website Title: WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Web address: http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international IP system which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.

Site overview:

• About WIPO
• IP services
• Program activities
• Resources
• News & events

WIPO also have a search engine setup on the site.

Site visited Dec 14 at 5.30 Pm.

BL8: CUFADM02A Posting: Useful Websites About Copyright Part 2

Q1:
Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA)

Website title: APRA - For composers Authors and Publishers of music.
Web address: http://www.apra.com.au/

APRA provides protection, through Copyright laws, for 44,000+ members. It is a non-profit organisation and collects royalties on behalf of it's members.
Website Overview:

• About us home
• APRA/AMCOS Boards
• Corporate Documents
• Supporting the arts
• Working for APRA
• Contact us
• Media centre
• Resources

Screenrights (Formerly - The Audio Visual Copyright Society)

Website title: Screenrights
Web address: http://www.screenrights.com.au/

Screenrights is an organisation setup to allow schools, TAFEs and universities to copy certain programs from television and radio for education purposes, and they distribute money to their members on a not for profit basis.

Site overview:

• Home |Film & TV Users| |Film & TV Industry| |Screenrights|
• Board
• Publications
• Annual reports
• Newsletters
• Code of conduct
• Forms
• Fact sheets
• Submissions
• Policies
• Links
• Staff
• Contact

Visited Dec 13 at 8.00 pm.

CUFADM02A Posting: Useful Websites About Copyright Part 1

Q1: Australian Copyright Council

Details:
Website title: Australian Copyright Council's online information centre.
Web Address: http://www.copyright.org.au/

The Australian Copyright Council is a non-profit organisation setup to provide information and training about copyright in Australia.

Overview of the site:

• Main page

• copyright information

• publications

• training

• policy and research

• what's new

• shop

• about our site

Visited Dec 13 at 5.30pm

The Arts Law Centre of Australia.

Details:

Website title: The Arts Law Centre of Australia online.
Web address: http://www.artslaw.com.au/

The Arts Law Centre of Australia is another non-profit organisation, it is setup to provide specialist legal and business advice, referral services and professional development resources for artists and arts organisations.

Overview:

• Home
• legal services
• legal information
• sample contracts
• publications
• policy and research
• subscriptions
• indigenous
• events

They also have search engine.

Visited: Dec 13. 5.45 pm.

BL4: CUFADM02A Posting: “Da Vinci Code”

Q1: Background Information - “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail”: Find an Editorial
Review of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” on the Internet – Read the review, then copy / paste the review in your Question 1 answer. Make sure you include the Website details of the Editorial Review.

A1: Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, and Richard Leigh, authors of The Messianic Legacy, spent over 10 years on their own kind of quest for the Holy Grail, into the secretive history of early France. What they found, researched with the tenacity and attention to detail that befits any great quest, is a tangled and intricate story of politics and faith that reads like a mystery novel. It is the story of the Knights Templar, and a behind-the-scenes society called the Prieure de Sion, and its involvement in reinstating descendants of the Merovingian bloodline into political power. Why? The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail assert that their explorations into early history ultimately reveal that Jesus may not have died on the cross, but lived to marry and father children whose bloodline continues today. The authors' point here is not to compromise or to demean Jesus, but to offer another, more complete perspective of Jesus as God's incarnation in man. The power of this secret, which has been carefully guarded for hundreds of years, has sparked much controversy. For all the sensationalism and hoopla surrounding Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the alternate history that it outlines, the authors are careful to keep their perspective and sense of skepticism alive in its pages, explaining carefully and clearly how they came to draw such combustible conclusions. --Jodie Buller

Review by Amazon.com address http://astore.amazon.com/gp/detail.html?tag=awardrointime00&linkCode=sb1&asin=0440136482

Q2: Background Information - “The Da Vinci Code”: Find an Editorial Review of “The Da Vinci Code” on the Internet – Read the review, then copy / paste the review in your Question 2 answer. Make sure you include the Website details of the Editorial Review.

A2: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is in Paris attending a conference. Late in the night, he is rudely woken up by the hotel management and is taken to a murder scene. The curator of Paris's most famous museum, The Louvre, is dead. The curator, Jacques Sauniere, was to have met Langdon earlier that evening, but never made it. Langdon is seemingly roped in to cash in on his skills as a symbologist; the old man, it turns out, left a lot of clues around just minutes before he died. However, Langdon is considered the prime murder suspect by the French police.

Enter Sophie Neveu, an attractive, brainy cryptologist in the French Police division, and, as it happens, granddaughter of the murdered curator. She believes that Langdon is innocent and that he can help her solve the mystery of "grand-pere's" death. Sophie is convinced that her grandfather has set out a treasure hunt for her and that the trail, when followed, will lead to answers and possibly rich rewards. So it happens that Langdon and Neveu team up together, break codes, and chase trails. Their investigations lead them into the territories of secret ancient societies. The Priory of Sion, which included many famous personalities such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton, is one such.

What exactly is it that Sophie's grandfather wanted only her to find out? Why is the secret so explosive that both Neveu and Langdon have to fight off multiple enemies to get to the truth? These are some of the questions the pair need to answer, and fast.

Dan Brown's earlier novel, Angels and Demons, featured the same protagonist, Robert Langdon. Like the previous book, The Da Vinci Code is a well-researched thriller and Brown manages to educate without losing too much pacing. The Da Vinci Code is a great history lesson about ancient Christianity and matters related to The Holy Grail. In the book, Brown keeps the suspense taut and engaging. He does, however, resort to some clichéd methods such as moving along three subplots in parallel and leaving each chapter suspended in a cliffhanger--soap opera style.

The story occasionally strains credibility early on. How could a dying man, one wonders, have time to write out intricate mind puzzles even if as Sophie explains, her grandfather "entertained himself as a young man by creating anagrams of famous works of art." Fortunately, Brown's pacing doesn't leave too much time for questions. From the explosive start to the explosive finish, The Da Vinci Code is one satisfying thriller. I see movie rights being sold already. Pick this one up on a long flight home and you'll never know where the time went.

Review by: Poornima Apte MAR 16, 2003
Web address: http://mostlyfiction.com/spy-thriller/brown_dan.htm

Q3: Research this case and write a summary in your own words outlining:

• The initial claim and demands by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh

• Some key features of the case in relation to Copyright and Intellectual Property issues

• The final court ruling, key issues supporting the court’s ruling, and consequences for the various parties involved.

A3:

• Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh sued Publisher Random House for the publication of Dan Brown's novel "The DaVinci Code. Baigent and Liegh alleged that Brown copied there ideas and used them to write his novel.

• Both books "The DaVinci Code" and "The holy blood and the holy grail" seem to based around a common theme that Jesus Christ fathered a child and that his line lives on today, this is why Mr Liegh and Mr Baigent believed there copyright to have been broken, they claimed their intellectual work to have been plagiarised.

• The High courts final ruling was that Mr Brown did use Liegh and Baigent's collected work to write his novel but did not substantially copy their work. Liegh and Baigent were ordered to pay a sum of $350,000 in damages to random house and were refused an appeal. The court stated that " A novelist must be free to "draw appropriately" from historical works without facing a court and having his integrity called into question". http://news.bbc.co.uk

Q4: Why was Sony (in its capacity as a Film company) so interested in the outcome of the case? Make sure to include any Website details used to help you answer this question.

A4: The film "The Davinci code" was released by Sony Pictures. If the court ruling had favoured Liegh and Baigent, then the film would not have been allowed to be released.

usatoday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-02-27-da-vinci-code-copyright-case_x.htmsony
Sony Pictures: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thedavincicode/index.html

Q5: On 07-April-2006, Jon Silverman, a legal affairs analyst for BBC News, discussed the
impact of the case in relation to creative works. On the BBC News (International Version) website, find Silverman’s article – ‘No surprise’ in Da Vinci judgement. Outline the key issues raised by Silverman in relation to Copyright and creative works.

A5: One of the key issued raised by Silverman in his report was that, since no copyright can be placed on a concept, the claim would have to be based on how the concept is conveyed I.E the structure of the work. Another key issue noted by Silverman, was that under Copyright law, writers are given coyright protection if they can prove a degree of labour in their work.

'No surprise' in Da Vinci judgement. Jon Silverman. BBC News.co.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4888954.stm

BL3: CUFADM02A Posting: “Finding Nemo”

Q: What is the Website Address for BBC News?

A: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Q: After performing your Search, how many postings did your find?

A: I found 8 postings relating to this story.

Q: List the Title and Date of each Posting (in ascending date order i.e. from oldest to most recent)

A: News - Disney sued in France over Nemo. 24 Dec 2003.
News - Finding Nemo case delayed. 29 Jan 2004.
News - Finding Nemo copy case begins. 24 Feb 2004.
Newsround - Frenchman claims he invented Nemo. 25 Feb 2004.
News - French author loses Nemo battle. 12 Mar 2004.
Newsround - Writer loses claim for Nemo. 13 Mar 2004.
News - Frenchman loses Nemo copy claim. 20 April 2005.
Newsround - Children's author loses Nemo case. 21 Apr 2005.

Q: After reading the postings in date order, write a summary in your own words outlining:

The initial claim and demands by Franck Le Calvez.

Some key features of the case in relation to the claim of Copyright and Trademark Infringement.

The final court ruling, key issues supporting the court’s ruling, and consequences for the various
parties involved.

A: 1. When finding Nemo was released, french writer Fracnk Le Calvez laid claims that some of the characters in the film were too similar to characters he had published in his book "Pierrot the clown fish". Calvez demanded the ban of all products that infringed on his character designs.

2. Mr Le Calvez claims that he invented the clown fish character "Pierrot, long before Disney created "Nemo", therefor a claim was made relating to a breach of copyright law. Mr Calvez's claims were later deemed unfounded due to the fact that Disney had drawn the Nemo character as early as 2000 and Mr Calvez's story was published in 2002. Mr Calvez however maintains that his character pierrot was registered in 1995.

3. The final ruling was that Nemo was created before Pierrot. The court even declared that Mr Calvez had knowledge of Nemo before he created Pierrot. Mr Calvez was ordered to pay 61,000 euros in costs and damages to both Disney and Pixar.

BL7: CUFADM02A Posting: Editing My Link List and Adding a Posting to a Student’s Blog

QUESTION 1: What is the Website Title and Website Address of the Blogger Help Topic “How do I edit my link list”

Answer: Website title is: Blogger Help: How do i edit my links list? Address: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41427&topic=8920

QUESTION 2: Confirm that you have linked my Teacher Blog and two other Student Blogs – Add the Blog Title and Blog Address for each.

Steven Reynolds student blog:
http://stevenreynolds-studentblog.blogspot.com/

Zaida Stefano's student blog:
http://zstefanocufadm02a0206.blogspot.com/

Pauline fountain Teacher blog: cufadm 02a 0206: http://pfountaincufadm02a0206.blogspot.com/

QUESTION 3: Confirm that you have added a Comment to the “BL1 > Part 1: CUFADM02A Posting: About Me” posting on one of the Student Blogs in your Link List. Provide the following details i.e. Student Blog Title, Student Blog Address, Date and Time you added the Comment, Link to your Comment.

Answer: Zaida Stefano's student blog: http://zstefanocufadm02a0206.blogspot.com/

Link to comment:
http://zstefanocufadm02a0206.blogspot.com/2006/11/part-1-cufadm02a-posting-about-meeeeee.html#comment-7854308869336826648

4 December 2006 17:53