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USPTO Publishes Suggestions For Intellectual Property Enforcement
First time accepted submitter rjkimble writes "In June, the USPTO solicited proposals for voluntary best practices supporting intellectual property enforcement, especially against infringement that occurs online. It received 23 responses from individuals and organizations, including Google, the EFF, and the MPAA and RIAA. [On Wednesday] they were posted to the USPTO web site."
google: I guess just...takedown notices, or DMCA takeouts, or whatever it is you want in response to twerk team videos and spiderman endings.
EFF: %s/intellectual property/imaginary property
MPAA: whats the name of that jellyfish with a sting that causes weeks of agony? that one. thats our suggestion.
RIAA: In the eyes.
Good people go to bed earlier.
What do you mean? There are published comments from private citizens (and they are some real gems).
I'm sure the USPTO has already received a DMCA takedown request from an automated bot, claiming the copyright enforcement suggestions as copyrighted material.
Nah, then it would cost the copyright holders money, which does not fit with privatize the profits, socialize the costs.
Here are some suggestions on how to reduce piracy in Australia:
1.Reduce (if not eliminate) the delay between the release of a film in the USA and the general cinema release in Australia. Right now I could go onto any number of pirate sites and download a very much watchable copy of "White House Down" (probably a screener rip) even though it isn't in Australian cinemas yet.
2.Make more old films and TV available on DVD so people dont need to pirate them. I have a copy of Young Einstein (classic Aussie film) on DVD but I had to grey-market import a Region 1 copy to get it. Its ridiculous that so much content just isn't available in Australia even when its available on DVD in other countries.
3.Stop giving Foxtel (and other pay TV operators) exclusive rights to shows. If the only way to get a TV show is to buy Foxtel (and possibly a channel package on top of that) then to hope that Foxtel airs the show you want to see then people will pirate it. If its available on a digital download service like iTunes or Google soon after its US airing (and at a reasonable price), people will have an incentive to buy it rather than pirating it.
4.Stop delaying the local airing of TV shows and air them sooner. Under The Dome is the perfect example of how this should be done, its being aired on local free-to-air TV hours after the US airing AND if you miss it on TV, you can watch the episode on a "catch-up" TV website free and legal.
flow is even more important now, with screen sizes between 4 inches and 60 plus inches.
if you want precise control, there is a portable document format that does a great job.
quit whining.
Home burglary is a real crime. It is not a violation of a temporary monopoly. Someone is actually deprived of property and possibly placed at risk of real harm.
If all of this intellectual property stuff is so much like real property, then why don't we see law enforcement treat IP theft like the car thieves in my town? Steal my shitbox beater and the cops will risk their own lives, the lives of the criminals plus any innocent bystanders in pursuit of the crapmobile. They'll put down spike strips or ram it to get hold of the thieves.
So, when Microsoft, Apple, or Google steals my invention, who do I call to bring on the SWAT team?
Have gnu, will travel.
Amazing that in 2013, HTML still cannot perform even half the functions a PDF can do. This includes, for example, non-flow oriented precise layout.
It's amazing that in 2013, hammers still aren't good at screwing and unscrewing screws.
A. Member Organizations and Associations
Independent Film & Television Alliance (2013JUL22) -- Our business exists on licensing agreements. We want to keep strict control over the scope of those agreements, but we are cool with third parties such as ISPs, advertising providers, and payment processors doing our enforcement for us. Thanks in advance (suckers).
Recording Industry Association of America (2013AUG17) -- Well said IFTA, but you forgot search engines and cloud storage providers. They should work for us too. We recommend the PTO think long and hard about this issue so we can continue lobbying around you in the background. PS -- trust these attached academic papers which may or may not provide multiple perspectives and may or may not be funded in part/whole by us or our interests.
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (2013AUG21) -- We need to get all payment providers & monetary institutions signed up for our DMCA Takedown for Payments system. No false positives or your money back!
Center for Copyright Information (2013AUG21) -- The Copyright Alert System is probably working, but it would be impossible to prove that using empirical data. But we can't prove it's not working either so let's just keep marching.
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (2013AUG21) -- Counterfeit medication is dangerous. We should be diligent in our efforts to reduce this problem.
Public Knowledge (2013AUG21) -- Efforts to combat infringement must not themselves infringe on the rights of individuals. "Under the Dome" name drop. It will be hard to determine if any of these programs are actually working and publicly available data is an important part of that evaluation.
Center for Democracy & Technology (2013AUG21) -- We agree with PK about transparency. We also specifically call out CCI on this issue.
Motion Picture Association of America (2013AUG21) -- Hey, IFTA & RIAA, don't exclude anyone. We are all in this together. Let's include everyone in the enforcement gang (I'm looking at you, user generated content sites). Also, we can probably just guess some statistics if we need to.
The Internet Association (2013AUG21) -- We really need to reevaluate the entire copyright system. These initiatives may not be providing any long term benefit. Lets focus on productive solutions like increasing legal sources for content.
Association of American Publishers (2013AUG21) -- Small content creators cannot protect themselves from infringement so if we do not enlist third parties there will be no more quality content. Can we make DMCA Takedowns easier?? Here's an idea, lets make the third parties we are using to do our enforcement also keep track of how well it's working. Then they can just tell us.
Computer & Communications Industry Association (2013AUG21) --- Back off, government. You're disturbing the market. Let's not forget the purpose of copyright, the public good. These problems will solve themselves as industries evolve (and they already are).
Electronic Frontier Foundation (2013AUG21) -- Cooperative Voluntary Initiatives? Hah, voluntary. Public good, remember? Fair use, too. Don't fall into the trap of serving a special interest.
Copyright Alliance (2013AUG21) -- Expand enforcement! Empower small content creators!
Consumer Electronics Association (2013AUG21) -- Counterfeiting is bad, mmkay? We are for strict measures insofar as they benefit our interests. We are against strict measures insofar as they do not benefit our interests. That's fair, right?
B. Companies
I'm not ok with piracy.
I'm not ok with plagiarism or commercial piracy, but I'm fine with file sharing. And I say that as someone who just registered copyright on a book I'll be releasing as soon as I get an ISBN.
The MAFIAA knows piracy sells. The trouble is, it sells indie stuff as well as MAFIAA stuff, and when you buy two indie CDs that's an RIAA CD that lost a sale. The fight against "piracy" is a fight to stifle competition.
Nobody ever lost money on piracy, but many artists have gone hungry from obscurity, a prime example being Van Gogh.
Free Martian Whores!
IM not ok with absurd copyright lengths. Until such time as copyrighted works start flowing into the Public Domain as originally intended, the entire system is a sham.
Good-bye