More copyright complaints

Free Republic | April 8, 2004 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

As most of you are aware, we've recently received several copyright complaints. In the last few weeks, we've received complaints from the SJ Mercury News, Independent (UK), SF Chronicle and The Boston Globe. Just a couple days ago the Post-Gazette send a cease and desist notice and yesterday I heard from the Tribune-Review.

Tonight, I got a call from Amy and there were two more registered letters at our PO Box. The McClatchy News (Sacramento Bee) and USAToday are now added to the list of publications that have complained about copyright violations.

Well, folks, the handwriting is on the wall. The complaints are now coming in faster than I can respond to them. John is currently in the process of writing programs to search out and automatically excerpt all existing threads from these sources.

I think we're gonna have to go to excerpt and link for all news sources very soon unless we have written permission on file.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Hmmm ... I wonder what would happen if a freeper who posts an excerpt plus a link to a full article were to ALSO grab a full copy of the article and place it on any web server they have access to (I believe that almost all of us who pay monthly fees to ISPs can upload some maximum number of megabytes to some private space reserved for us on our ISP's servers for purposes of creating our own "home page" or whatever else we want to do with it - right?).

And then along with the excerpt plus the pointer to the original article, we could also post on FR a link saying, "if the pointer to original article becomes obsolete then click here" and provide a link to our saved copy.

That way any readers can first attempt to follow the link to the original site, and only after failing would they go to someone's saved copy. If most of us did this, then you would think that the Media-Powers-That-Be would consider the 1000's of us small potatoes kind of people to be unworthy targets, as opposed to the temptation for them to harrass Big Potato targets like FR itself.

[Howlin]

You mean it would look like this?

“It was time for a change, to bring a new perspective to the channel,” an NBC executive this week reportedly told the New York Times. This “new perspective” will be a new President and General Manager of MSNBC – Richard N. Kaplan.

[supercat]

What I don't understand is why does the bar have to pay? If anyone is in violation it is the band not the bar? Why don't the lawyers go after the band? Cause, the band dispears into the night but the bar can't so the blood suckers go after the bar even thou the bar didn't do a danm thing wrong.

Because that's the way ASCAP et al. bribed Congress to write the rules. They're not stupid. They understand that if they charged bands to cover other people's tunes, bands wouldn't be able to afford to do so and thus would either write their own music or go out of business. So they write laws to exempt the musicians from paying for music while making the venue owners (the deeper pockets) pay.

[John Lenin]

This sounds like a winnable court case but who's got the money to fight them ?

[AM2000]

How about a smaller child window without any of the navigational toolbars? That wouldn't be so bad.

[giotto]

It seems to me that there is an issue that might take precedence over copyright, namely historical preservation. It's like when you buy a building and then the historical preservation society decides that the building has some historical significance. So, even though you bought the house, and you have rights as a property owner, the historical society prevents you from tearing the building down or even making any changes they don't approve of.

This is analogous to what Free Republic is doing--preserving history. So, even though the publications and the authors of the articles have certain rights, those rights may be superceded by the value of the articles as historical documents.

What do you think?

[Howlin]

Ha! My bookmarks unfold into the next room!

[First_Salute]

Sounds like the concerted work of David Boise.

Still, it would help to have a guide on how to write a synopsis of a news story.

Too often, the first paragraph or so is listed at the top of the page, when actually, it is permissible (not to mention a news standard) to glean the pickings from the whole story --- snippets from the breadth of paragraphs.

It would help if you had a guide explaining that with example and illustration.

[Mo1]

LOL!!!

[ambrose]

It will be interesting to see if DU and other websites are allowed to post their articles.

The DU and most other news sites require excerpting of all material. The Liberty ComPost doesn't require excerpting, but I think all of two people in an Arkansas trailer park read that forum.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Why don't the lawyers go after the band?

I don't imagine you'll find a lot of lawyers interested in suing a Top 40 cover band. Not much money in it, I'm guessing. It's the club that has to pay the fees to BMI and ASCAP, and if I'm not mistaken, that probably covers their canned house music, too.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Bars pay, and should pay, the annual license fees to ASCAP/BMI because for most bars that feature live entertainment, with cover charge, they more than make up the cost of the minimal license fees in profits from drinks and food sold to patrons who come to see the band.

Personally, it's my opinion that any bar that uses the license fees as an excuse to not host live music or karaoke, becuase they find the cost prohibitive are merely using it as a cop-out in light of more serious financial issues... but, that's just me. ;0)

[Mo1]

OK then .. it's CD's

I'll have to order a case tomorrow :0)

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Gotta log in there.

[John Lenin]

Can't use frames. They complain that's a copyright violation.

Nonsense!

[Reagan Man]

Articles posted on FreeRepublic have always been a basic launching pad for discussion of the issues. If its done right, a quick article summation can contain all the high points, pertinent stats and relevent data necessary to fill any informational void left from limitations imposed by the copyright gestapo.

[Triple Word Score]

Many of us write well and there is a lack of paying work out there.

Perhaps your site could strike out on its own, become more primary-source oriented? "A Free Republic Exclusive!" could become more trustworthy than anything from the Drudge Report.

We have done extremely well at breaking news, and at finding, compiling and relating apparently disparate information together.

You have at your disposal hundreds of talented amateur journalists.


Direct us, oh Master....

[Indy Pendance]

They might not be right, but FR doesn't have the big bucks to fight a battle to the US supreme court, battling libs along the way. Check that link out, I've found lots of stuff there when researching. It's kind of cumbersome, but, I've always eventually found what I was looking for.

Free Republic is breaking that media glass ceiling the liberals had maintained for decades. Now, they're running scared, and I have to believe this is an orchestrated effort to silence us. What's more scary is if the dems get control of the internet....

[jpsb]

And that tells you it is all about money and not about writing laws that are fair. And the entertainment industry wonders why they are becomming as hated as lawyers.

[supercat]

BTW, I wonder what would happen if a venue which didn't want to pay the ASCAP/BMI extortion fees were to hire bands but explicitly require in the bands' contract that the bands not perform any works copyrighted by ASCAP or BMI, with the exception of instrumental performances of the song "Good Morning to All" [a tune published prior to 1922 but which, aside from the conversion of some quarter notes to dotted-eight/sixteenths, is identical to the tune "Happy Birthday to You", to which ASCAP claims copyright].