Funferal » International law and structures http://funferal.org/blog engraved and retouched and edgewiped and pudden-padded Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:08:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The interplay of copyright and creativity – a Storify collection http://funferal.org/blog/2012/02/04/the-interplay-of-copyright-and-creativity-a-storify-collection/ http://funferal.org/blog/2012/02/04/the-interplay-of-copyright-and-creativity-a-storify-collection/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:42:40 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1530 I’ve recently started playing around with Storify. In the piece embedded below, I’m gathering together various different snippets concerning the interplay of copyright and creativity.

Storified by Andrew Ó Baoill
Mon, Feb 06 2012 01:43:55 ·
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Copyright and creativity

The interplay between copyright and creativity – the extent to which legal tools for enforcing copyright help or hinder the creative process – is a live issue, with the recent defeat of SOPA in the United States, and the debate over ACTA in the EU.

  1. Many scholars of copyright stress the importance of a permissive approach to appropriation and reuse, if we are to continue to have space for the emergence of new creative voices. From Lawrence Lessig, who has written on the importance of Remix, to Patricia Aufderheide’s work on strengthening Fair Use, there is a strong intellectual current pushing for a copyright regime that facilitates and protects new ways of using and exploring the act of remix, collage, and creative appropriation. That current is at odds with the strong lobby of the industries founded on intellectual property, on maintaining control of libraries of creative work, locking it up like De Beer’s diamonds, to create an artificial scarcity, and releasing it in drip-feed fashion, in a time and manner that maximizes financial return.
  2. EU leaders have approved the ACTA treaty – which implements SOPA-style provisions, but implementation may be challenged by the European Parliament, with leaders there charging the European Commission with ‘bad faith’ in the negotiation process. The protests and challenges have attracted the attention of the EU Observer – chronicler of activities in the EU institutions – and the New York Times.
  3. It can be amusing to see professional politicians shot down over copyright violations, particularly the use of popular music in their events and promotional materials, but for a proponent of permissive copyright laws, the legal issues at play can be unclear. Where a politician simply doesn’t bother to license music, the situation is clear – just as when any event organizer doesn’t pay licensing fees. But what professional operator is going to overlook that detail these days? This piece from the NY Times illustrates that the legal dispute usually involves not copyright law (which, in the US, is primarily focused on the market for a work, and the revenue accrued) but issues of reputation and endorsement, which are bundled with copyright law (under author rights) in some other countries, but in the US involves use of trademark law and, in some cases, charges that the association with the politician (even if they have paid a blanket licensing fee) can damage the original market for the work. (In this case, then, you have someone who falls foul of an element of the Fair Use test, without having asserted Fair Use!).
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    “
    Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Mr. Romney, said the campaign had stopped using K’naan’s song out of respect for his political views, even though the campaign bought blanket licenses from two public-performance societies — Ascap and BMI — which pay royalties to members.

    Experts on copyright law said such licenses, usually bought by restaurants and other businesses that play recorded music, do protect the campaign from many copyright complaints, but a politician can still be sued under the federal trademark law for false advertising if the use of the song implies that the musician has endorsed the candidate.

    Romney and Gingrich Pull Songs After …
    Wed, Feb 01 2012 17:25:08

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]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2012/02/04/the-interplay-of-copyright-and-creativity-a-storify-collection/feed/ 0 Reducing US spending? Cut the military budget http://funferal.org/blog/2011/10/05/reducing-us-spending-cut-the-military-budget/ http://funferal.org/blog/2011/10/05/reducing-us-spending-cut-the-military-budget/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:09:46 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1484 From Just Foreign Policy: FCNL has established a toll-free number: 1-877-429-0678. Urge your Rep. and/or Senators to press the Supercommittee to end the wars and cut the military budget. In talking to your Rep., urge support for the Lee-Campbell bipartisan letter to the Super Committee on cutting military spending.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2011/10/05/reducing-us-spending-cut-the-military-budget/feed/ 0 Global Facebook subject to Irish Data Protection rules http://funferal.org/blog/2011/09/28/global-facebook-subject-to-irish-data-protection-rules/ http://funferal.org/blog/2011/09/28/global-facebook-subject-to-irish-data-protection-rules/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:29:04 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1482 Turns out that all Facebook user accounts, outside of the US and Canada, are overseen by its European headquarters in Ireland. That means that it’s subject to Irish data protection rules, and the Irish data protection commissioner has now launched an investigation. This is one to watch.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2011/09/28/global-facebook-subject-to-irish-data-protection-rules/feed/ 0 Traitors http://funferal.org/blog/2010/12/01/traitors/ http://funferal.org/blog/2010/12/01/traitors/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 03:35:02 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1440 I’ve been advocating, privately, the prosecution for treason of David Drumm and other Irish former bankers who are manipulating foreign and domestic bankruptcy proceedings to retain their ill-gotten gains. Having made their fortunes by fuelling a speculative bubble, they then engage in clearly deceptive tactics to avoid their personal responsibilities during bankruptcy proceedings, move overseas to get beyond the scope of Irish law, and have the gall to sue the Irish state for losses in the value of their bank shares, after their pyramid schemes came crashing down. These people are traitors to their nation, and among the lowest form of scum.

Now the Irish government is engaging in another form of treason. The government is signing off on an agreement with the IMF and others, in which they commit the state to changing the retirement age, introducing water charges, and to cut social welfare rates, among other things. These changes are to take place at set times – many of them after the next election will take place. As a parliamentary democracy (and in line with the Irish constitution) international agreements, particularly those which involve charges on the public purse, must be approved by the Oireachtas.

The government, however, is refusing to get parliamentary approval for the MOU – though it has deigned to publish (most of) the text of the agreement. The role of the government is govern, within the legislative bounds set by the legislature. In this case we have a government which is seeking to tie the hands of the legislature and future governments, and which is refusing to submit the agreement for parliamentary approval. Why is that? Joan Burton may have the answer, noting that:

Distinguished economist, Professor Barry Eichengreen, wrote in Germany’s financial daily, Handelsblatt, today that: “Ireland will be transferring nearly 10 per cent of its national income as reparations to the bondholders, year after painful year.”

Traitors. And perhaps a lower form of scum.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2010/12/01/traitors/feed/ 0 Definitions matter http://funferal.org/blog/2010/02/06/definitions-matter/ http://funferal.org/blog/2010/02/06/definitions-matter/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:19:05 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1390 EUObserver reports on internal EU Commission documents that seek to redefine palm oil plantations – “the source of one of the most destructive forms of biofuels” – as forest that “would not per se constitute a breach” of rules on sustainability. While forests are generally seen as desirable under such rules, because they are not a net contributor to global warming, and support diverse ecosystems, the definition of ‘forest’ has been tweaked in the draft rules, following intensive lobbying, in order to cover some of the activities that such rules are meant to discourage.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2010/02/06/definitions-matter/feed/ 0 War declared! (kind of) http://funferal.org/blog/2009/09/22/war-declared-kind-of/ http://funferal.org/blog/2009/09/22/war-declared-kind-of/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:47:13 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1365 Well this could be awkward. (Are we expected to cut off all communications?) The EU is threatening a visa war with Canada, because of its withdrawal of visa waivers from visitors from the Czech Republic. That decision, in turn, had been prompted by a large number of applications for asylum by visiting members of the Czech Roma community, who face significant discrimination within that country.

The Canadian decision has been criticized by groups such as Amnesty, who point to that pattern of discrimination:

“Last year there was a big pogrom against Roma in the north of the Czech Republic in Janov. And the whole incident has still not completely been resolved and there are no conclusions yet,” Dasa van der Horst, the head of the Amnesty International branch in Prague, told Czech Radio.

And now – as expected for a while – the EU has weighed in. However, one hopes that apart from putting pressure on Canada to reinstate the visa waiver, member states (and the Commission) are taking the opportunity to put pressure on the Czech government, and push for greater action to combat discrimination and prejudice against the Roma community.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2009/09/22/war-declared-kind-of/feed/ 0 Postal services in Europe – have your say http://funferal.org/blog/2008/04/17/postal-services-in-europe-have-your-say/ http://funferal.org/blog/2008/04/17/postal-services-in-europe-have-your-say/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:36:36 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/2008/04/17/postal-services-in-europe-have-your-say/ This from the Comreg list:
ComReg was asked by ECORYS for help in identifying consumers who are willing to participate in a short web-survey on customer needs for postal services.  This is part of a study that ECORYS is undertaking for the European Commission on The Main Developments in the Postal Sector (2006-2008). The initial deadline of 31 March 2008 has now been extended to 31 May 2008.

The request can be viewed at http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/CP46.pdfComReg wishes to thank those who have already participated in the survey and would urge other interested parties to participate prior to the extended deadline.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2008/04/17/postal-services-in-europe-have-your-say/feed/ 0 The Cliff Richards performance copyright extension http://funferal.org/blog/2008/02/15/1299/ http://funferal.org/blog/2008/02/15/1299/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:19:28 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/2008/02/15/1299/ The EU commission is proposing to extend copyright terms for performers of music, to match the existing terms for composers. The notion of retroactive extension is problematic (though not unprecedented), but there are some interesting aspects to the proposal:
For session musicians, the record companies will set up a fund reserving at least 20 percent of the income during the extended term to them. For featured artists, original advances may no longer be set off against royalties in the extended term, which means the artist would get all the royalties during the extended term.

The commissioner also intends to propose a “use it or lose it” provision. In the case where a record company is unwilling to re-release a performance during the extended term, the performer can move to another label.

 

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2008/02/15/1299/feed/ 0 A Critical Ear – 24 January, 2008 http://funferal.org/blog/2008/01/25/a-critical-ear-24-january-2008/ http://funferal.org/blog/2008/01/25/a-critical-ear-24-january-2008/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:23:02 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/2008/01/25/a-critical-ear-24-january-2008/ We’re now posting this evening’s edition of A Critical Ear. It lasts about 90 minutes. Contents:
  • Interworld Radio news headlines (3-4 min)
  • Interworld Radio feature about healthcare services in Zambia (6 min)
  • Discussion of Iran and US foreign policy regarding Iran (30-40 min)
  • Gaza – recent developments and context
  • Jose Padilla (5-10 min)
  • Economic developments in the US – recession or not, policy reactions (interest rates, economic stimulus packages) (10-15 min)
  • Kucinich dropping out of presidential race, impact of media (5-10 min)
  • notices and events (5 min)

Update: I’ve now posted an edited file which contains only the discussion of Iran and Gaza.

]]> http://funferal.org/blog/2008/01/25/a-critical-ear-24-january-2008/feed/ 2 A Critical Ear – latest edition http://funferal.org/blog/2007/11/15/a-critical-ear-latest-edition/ http://funferal.org/blog/2007/11/15/a-critical-ear-latest-edition/#comments Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:06:19 +0000 Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/2007/11/15/a-critical-ear-latest-edition/ This week’s show is now online. It lasts just around an hour, and features Bob Naiman and myself discussing Pakistan, Iran, and the success of Brazil’s AIDS drugs policy. Locally we discuss SEIU’s possible strike and the growing support from the campus community, and the CCHCC protest about the exclusion of 40% of the local community from healthcare facilities at Carle clinic.

Edited to add: The first part of the show, focusing on US foreign policy and international affairs is now online as a separate file.

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