Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 31, 2006 at 2:15:00 PM CET
Reading a DVD with VLC or mplayer is now illegal in France
Starting tomorrow December 31st 2006, reading a DVD protected with CSS (as most DVD are) is illegal in France when it is done with a software allowing to circumvent the protection, such as VLC or mplayer which can both use the libdvdcss library.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 28, 2006 at 5:39:00 PM CET
MP3 site responds to legal action
Russian MP3 site Allofmp3.com says legal action by US record firms to shut it down is "unjustified".
In a statement on its website the firm repeated assertions that its service was legal under Russian law.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 28, 2006 at 5:17:00 PM CET
HD DVD reportedly cracked, but difficult to verify
Reports are circulating that the AACS content protection system shared by both Blu-ray and HD DVD has been cracked. None of the sites reporting this information have confirmed the crack, however, and our own investigation suggests that this is not a full working crack at this time. From the available details, the hack appears to only address AACS encryption, which means that Blu-ray would not be fully crackable using this method, as it has additional forms of DRM.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 28, 2006 at 12:21:00 PM CET
BackupHDDVD, a tool to decrypt AACS protected movies
I was not aware of anyone having done that, so I did. BackupHDDVD is a tool to decrypt a AACS protected movie that you own, so you can play it back later using an HDDVD player software.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 21, 2006 at 10:34:00 AM CET
How fat is my DRM?
Some CD buyers in Texas and California can claim up to $175 each from record company Sony BMG as a result of a legal settlement this week.
Both states took action against the music giant over its "rootkit-style" DRM, designed to prevent PC users from copying music CDs to their hard drives.
The complaints allege that Sony BMG failed to notify consumers of the presence of the DRM on the outer-packaging, and therefore loaded unauthorised software onto their PCs.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 8, 2006 at 12:17:00 PM CET
Hofmannsthal-Erben klagen Richard-Strauss-Nachkommen
Die fünf Erben des Dichters Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929) wollen auch nach Erlöschen des Urheberrechtsschutzes für die Texte von neun Opern des Komponisten Richard Strauss (1864-1949) am Erlös der Aufführungen beteiligt werden.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 8, 2006 at 12:15:00 PM CET
Experte fordert scharfes Vorgehen
Ein im Auftrag der britischen Regierung erstellter Bericht spricht sich für harte Strafen für Urheberrechtsverletzungen im Internet aus.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on November 27, 2006 at 11:34:00 AM CET
No copyright extension for songs
The copyright on sound recordings will not be extended after an independent review commissioned by the Treasury.
Sir Cliff Richard and Jethro Tull had been among artists lobbying for copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on November 13, 2006 at 4:39:00 PM CET
Procol Harum in copyright fight
Members of UK rock band Procol Harum have appeared in court in a dispute over the hit A Whiter Shade of Pale.
For almost 40 years the number one song has been credited to the lead singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on November 5, 2006 at 1:33:00 PM CET
Big labels are f*cked, and DRM is dead
Interview Few people know the music industry better than Peter Jenner. Pink Floyd's first manager, who subsequently managed Syd Barrett's solo career, Jenner has also looked after T.Rex, The Clash, Ian Dury, Disposable Heroes and Billy Bragg - who he manages today. He's also secretary general of the International Music Managers Forum.
And he doesn't pull his punches.
The major four music labels today are "fucked", he says. Digital music pricing has been a scam where the consumer pays for manufacturing, distribution, and does all the work - and still has to pay more. Labels should outsource everything except finance and licensing.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on November 3, 2006 at 3:53:00 PM CET
Spanish judge says downloading is legal
A judge in the northern city of Santander in Spain dismissed a case against an anonymous 48-year-old man who shared digital music on the net.
Judge Paz Aldecoa of No. 3 Penal Court ruled that under Spanish law a person who downloads music for personal use can not be punished or branded a criminal. He called it "a practised behaviour where the aim is not to gain wealth but to obtain private copies".
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on November 1, 2006 at 5:56:00 PM CET
MPAA: If You Sue People, Make Sure you OWN the Copyright!
Shawn Hogan has received plenty of attention in the last year for his decision to fight the MPAA over the lawsuit they filed against him, claiming he had shared the movie Meet the Fockers via a file sharing program. The problem? Hogan didn't actually share the movie, has never downloaded it, and actually owns the DVD of the movie in question. The MPAA made it clear that if he just paid them $2,500, they would forget the whole thing -- which certainly has the feel of extortion.
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