Another BT tracker sued. But this one's not caving--will make an interesting test case.

WMC has poor sales. Could it be the DRM?

Years of US pressure on China to improve IP enforcement results in...Nike getting sued for infringement for using a stick figure.

--Ari

A must-read: Wired's account of the real backbone of pirated content. Particularly notable is that most P2P networks are virtually-useless as content distributors without topsites feeding them, that the industry leaks account for most of the content, and that the Jun Group uses them for marketing purposes.

--Ari

Townsend is gathering stories of scholarly copyright issues of every ilk.

Wired on BitTorrent.

Can't read this article yet, but it appears that small copyright controllers do not carry the same clout as the larger ones.

--Ari

Fisher's new book.

An example of the gap between content creators and content controllers.

A short, rather odd, interview with the WB head of antipiracy efforts. "It's a mistake to assume that illegal file-sharing translates to a one-to-one loss in sales." "You'll always be able to come up with a circumstance where a legitimate sale was replaced by file-sharing."

--Ari

Record industry finds ways to add value to CDs. Countering slides in prices, as well as increasing product loyalty. Clever. And they're looking elsewhere.

DRM easily thwarted, locks out library patrons.

Peerio P2P VoIP. SNIU.

Congress spends time fighting the real pirates.

--Ari

John Gilmore on why BitTorrent trackers shouldn't be liable.
And dissenting opinion.

M&M's as infringement devices.

Another paid SNIU.

Another voice SNIU.

A gripe about lack of scholarship in anti-anti-P2P works. It's been a problem for years, and a major reason I wrote that first analysis.

Better patents on the way?

--Ari

'Copyright tax' is lifted.

Nice Register article on rejection of MS's patent claims.

And another nice register article on IP.

Poland halts vote on EU software patent directive.

Pivotal civil-rights documentary in trouble due to IP issues.

EFF sponsors Tor, FreeNet-lite.

Overly-restrictiv e DRM hurts customers. When customers are unhappy, businesses are unhappy.

TV over everything.

--Ari

Two major BT sites go down. Is this a case where the Industry raids are actually having an effect?

Slashdot picked up on my site. SNIU.info is now up. Next incarnation might be a Wiki...all this updating gets tiring.

--Ari

New music download service for Linux.

New DRM. Good luck with that.

Lawmeme on why the RIAA's request to the Red Cross to dissolve Sharman's trust is nonsense.

Specter as chair--how will it affect IP?

Hatch as songwriter.

--Ari

An extremely detailed analysis of BitTorrent traffic.

--Ari

SNIU of profits: RIAA asks Red Cross to turn down money from Sharman.

FTC P2P conference. More coverage.

Canada quashes copyright tax on MP3 players. Not sure how I feel about this, as in theory it might be good, but asking legitimate users to pay for piracy seems silly.

Try tracking this. Yet another example of how the Internet is very difficult to control through legislation.

A step towards more SNIU--better search.

Studios claim that 90% of Grokster traffic is non-SNIU. So what becomes substantial, 10%? 20%? Given the millions of files traded every day, 10% seems substantial to me.

SNIU

Patents as weapons.

--Ari

Researchers visiting libraries and archives are finding digital cameras to be handy tools -- where they are allowed.

Wired's coverage of the FTC P2P conference.

IP wishlist.

The Ownership Society.

Unclear IP law targets more innocents.

Public domain movies high on charts.

FT: Give P2P more time.

BT SNIU.

Movies demonstrate conflicts between creativity and IP law.

--Ari

BT raids extend to Europe as well.

The next generation of anti-circumvention for DVDs. "We would rather chase professional pirates than College students."

More on the latest anti-BT, EDonkey, and DC++ lawsuits. Not sure about how the legality of this will work...the trackers generally don't host the files. Copyright law may work differently, but the 'right to link' has been well established in case law.

DRM interoperability ain't lookin' so hot.

Open access. I'm a big fan. Generally the proposals so far seem remarkably similar to the way copyright used to be: limited-time protection, followed by open access. Scientific publishing is particularly egregious because those who pay for the content (e.g. taxpayers) aren't the ones who benefit (e.g. the publishers).

TinyP2P, a nice example of the cat-out-of-the-bag syndrome of Internet legislation, reminiscent of the campaign to distribute the DeCSS code as widely as possible.

More P2P TV...SNIU.

IM and P2P threat center launched.

Canadian teens love P2P as well.

--Ari

Google ensuring the next generation of public domain.

I'm not sure if this is SNIU or not, but it's truly odd.

In a surprise revelation, less restriction on what can and can't be done with the basic laws of nature means more innovation.

MPAA starts on BitTorrent. They're targeting specific infringers. I wonder if they've looked at BT as a haven for SNIU and thus decided not to go after the tech itself, or if there's just no central company to sue? They're suing some others as well.

Witness at Kazaa trial in Australia claims tech can control illegal swapping in the same breath as he states they can't even count the number of instances of infringing vs. non-infringing content being traded.

Copyright vs. patents.

Swarmstreaming--an improvement over streaming, itself an improvement over the basic P2P concept.

What to do when tech outpaces law?

Priceless patent of the year: Trump's combover.

Google as infringer, public as beneficiary.

--Ari

Fair Use in the commercial world. C'est LV.

The DVD pie, notoriously small for artists.

BitTorrent statistics.

Double-patenting signed into law. Because they needed more incentive to sue.

--Ari

The content industries' scary plans for the future of fair use.

Sparse commentary on the RIAA attack on Lessig.

FTC reveals that P2P companies aren't pure evil.

Nice series.

P2P helps music sales. At least as good evidence as the RIAA provides for the contrary viewpoint.

EU Stuff.

Goin' after the consumers.

LATimes article on Congressional anti-P2P measures faltering.

--Ari

First, the big news for me, sniu.info is up and running.

Wired reports on MGM v Grokster.

EU sees doubts about file sharing.

BitTorrent gives Hollywood a headache.

IEEE Spectrum on the ailing U.S. Patent system. Priceless example: Smuckers suing for selling crustless PB&J.

Australia's already bad IP regime gets even worse.

RSS might be doomed if P2P solutions don't take hold.

Neil Turkewitz, Executive Vice President, Recording Industry Association of America, speaks on copyright.

Analysis of DVD-CCA license.

Fair use in trademarks defended.

College Board abuses copyright to silence its critics.

NPD Group thinks online music services are marketed incorrectly.

P2P numbers up.

Ratiatum.com attacks the music industry.

More legal engineering analysis of Mercora.

Weedshare used in Kazaa trial.

The Economist analyzes P2P.

More analysis.

More SNIU--analysis of NetCableTV.

Lowdown on paid music services, including Kazaa.

Congressional P2P advocacy.

--Ari

Jay-Z heading label. If only they could get DJ Dangermouse to do it instead.

And what of the old books?

DVD-CCA strikes again. First they came for the TiVo. Then they came for the Kaleidescope. And then they came for my PC, and there was no one left to protest.

Felten on Snocap

One of the worst decisions I think recently that's been made is the EULA click-through agreements. It was sold in the early days of the Internet, when legislators had even less of a clue then they do now, as a necessary thing for e-commerce, and perhaps it was, but the agreements are ridiculous.

DRM still ineffective.

--Ari

Mashups battle continues.

Content mobilizes.

PVR v TV business model.

Looks like an interesting iview.

/. fills in the NYT's coverage on ebooks.

MP3 surround released.

New, decentralized BitTorrent application developed--Exeem.

Low-tech anti-TiVo solution.

New codec.

Ari

Podcasting grows, now into video.

News flash: RIAA lacks support of musicians.

Napster Star changes his tune. Disengenuous title...Fanning always wanted to cooperate with the Industry, he just got sued out of existance before he could.

More legal stuff.

--Ari

A fairly concrete example of copyright being used to stifle political dissent. Found the link from MeFi.

iTMS pricing influences LexisNexis?

Grumbling about takedown notices.

--Ari

iTunes has serious market power.

Australia's terrible IP policies strike again.

Can't let those new technologies get out of hand, now can we?

IPac

Patent disaster.

Kazaa mounts the Betamax defense. Should really get that SNIU site running soon.

AP reviews sat radio walkman.

Yet another suit fails against lengthening copyright terms. Why don't the courts get it?

The value of IP generation from below.

--Ari