DoJ_v_Microsoft Archive
Directory of articles regarding the legal battles between
Microsoft and the Justice Department in the anti-trust and monopoly
catagories (old - we are not archiving material about the Microsoft
investigations and cases of 1997 onward, as this issue is well-reported
elsewhere, and in great volume).
Microsystems_v_Scandinavia_Online/ The Cyber Patrol case - Microsystems
(and Mattel) sue two foreign ISPs and two Web site authors under bogus
copyright and trade secret claims in an attempt to silence critics
who have decrypted the Cyber Patrol censorware's blacklist to show
that it wrongly blocks out non-prographic material.
Scientology's lawsuits against Internet users
and attempts to shut down or raid newsgroups, anonymous remailing
services and Internet access
providers (the cases revolve around copyright and trade secret claims
on the part of CoS).
Free Patents Online
"FreePatentsOnline.com provides free access to data on millions of patents. Attorneys use this data for all types of patent searches. Inventors wishing to do their own patent searching use the data for novelty searches. And everyone can use it just to browse all the interesting (and sometimes crazy!) ideas that are out there."
Public Domain has produced analyses of issues such as database "extraction
rights", as well as the more run-of-the-mill
copyright, trademark and patent issues as they relate to the Net.
Site is tracking the various legislation, WIPO discussions, etc.
Very good intros to the debates.
Audio/ Intellectual property and audio: music, MP3, record companies,
RIAA, Audio Home Recording Act, audio-related Digital Millenium
Copyright Act lawsuits, and related material.
DMCA/ Directory of information on the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (a.k.a. WIPO copyright treaty implementation bill), 1998-2000
The DMCA gives intellectual property holders the right to take
away the fair use and related rights of the public to protect a
commercial "digital rights management" scheme, and interferes with
the legitimate operation of peer-to-peer file sharing systems.
DMCA is probably unconstitutional.
DRM/ Directory of links to all materials on our site relating to
"digital rights management" (DRM) systems, otherwise known as
copy protection schemes and access control schemes, and their impact on
your fair use and other rights.
Foreign_and_local/ Directory that contains information regarding foreign
countries patent process.
HDTV/ directory of information on intellectual property vs fair use
disputes regarding, HDTV, DTV and other high-definition and/or digital
television standards. See also Broadcast Flag
INDUCE Act
Information and documents relating to the INDUCE act
Internet_address_disputes/ directory of info on cybersquatting and legal
disputes over Internet email addresses and host (domain) names.
Licensing_disputes/ Directory of info on disputes about software licensing
and related topics.
Linking/ Directory of information on legal disputes arising from
linking, inlining and framing content from one site to another.
IP_SLAPP/ Directory of information on SLAPP cases involving abuse of
intellectual property rights (or asserted rights)
NET_Act_sentencing/ Directory of info on the "No Electronic Theft" Act
(NET Act), a rather stupid copyright law alteration intended to go
after non-commercial infringers, like kids trading pirated games.
Material includes EFF testimony on the sentencing guidelines for this
new crime, which as drafted were very injust.
NII_copyright_bill/ Directory of info on the 1996 US "NII Copyright"
bill - a dreadful mess that threatens the fair use rights of all
Americans.
P2P/ Directory of info on the legal disputes surrounding
peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution services and protocols,
such as Napster, FreeNet, Gnutella, etc.
SDMI/ Directory of info on the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)
trade association, and their draft standard for a "Digital Music Access
Technology" (DMAT) copy protection with does anything but provide or
enhance access to digital music. Instead it would esentially end all
fair use right in the mainstream music world.
SSSCA_CBDTPA/ Directory of information on the draft Security Systems
and Standards Certification Act (SSSCA), and its introduced derivative,
the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA).
SSSCA/CBDTPA would mandate Hollywood-created copy-prevention "features"
in digital media technoloy, including digital television.
SPA_cases/ Directory of documents relating to the Software Publishers
Association's Internet Anti-Piracy Campaign, the frivolous lawsuits filed
as part of this campaign, and the associated, and deeply flawed, "ISP
Code of Conduct" being pushed by SPA and an alternative to getting sued.
Video/ Intellectual property and video: movies, MPEG, DVD, DeCSS,
Motion Picture Industry Association (MPAA) litigation, Digital Millenium
Copyright Act (DMCA), DVD Content Control Association (DVD CCA)
litigation, DeCSS prosecutions, etc.
WIPO/ Documents and information about WIPO (World
Intellectual Property Organization).
UCITA_UCC2B/ Information on the (draft, as of 1999 to early 2000)
Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), formerly
known as the draft Uniform Commercial Code Article 2B (UCC2B), proposed
and adopted by the unaccountable quasi-governmental body known as the
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL).
UCITA, which could soon by adopted by most or all US state
legislatures, is an anti-individual, anti-artist, anti-fair-use
copyright law that would benefit only large corporate intellectual
property holders, especially in the entertainment and software
industries.
Amicus Brief [PDF 124k] filed with Consumer's Union, Public Knowledge, et al. in Philips v. AWH Corporation, a patent law case. September 20, 2004
EFF's written testimony to the British Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport on why the British Broadcasting Corporation's Creative Archive should be enshrined in the 2006 BBC Charter (UK). Also available as a PDF [51k] September 11, 2004
Grey Tuesday: A Quick Overview of the Legal Terrain
Some questions and answers about DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album, a mash-up of The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album
20030905_whenu.pdf U-Haul International v. WhenU.com, Opinion granting WhenU's motion for summary judgment
ltr_tauzin_opposing_database_bill_030905.pdf Letter on the discussion draft of the Database Bill sent to Representative Tauzin by Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, EFF, EPIC, and Media Access Project. (September 5, 2003)
20030328_taxes-com_pr.php EFF: Federal Court Reverses in Taxes.com Web Publishing Case, Responds to Electronic Frontier Foundation Request
20030328_taxes-com_amended_prelim_injunc.pdf amended preliminary injunction ruling in the JK Harris v Taxes.com case. The court amended the earlier ruling in light of a motion to reconsider filed by EFF. (J.K. Harris v. Kassel). (March 28, 2003)
20020830_eff_reply_taxes-com.pdf EFF's Reply Brief in Support of Defendants' Motion for Reconsideration in Taxes.com (J.K. Harris v. Kassel). (August 30, 2002)
ca_softpatent.tesimony Transcripts of testimonies from the USPTO
office's Public Hearing on Use of the Patent System to Protect
Software-Related Inventions in San Jose in January of 1994.
eff_wipo_19961122.comments Electronic Frontier Foundation response to
PTO Request for Comments on proposed Sui Generis Database Protection
Treaty. EFF advising removing the treaty from the agenda of the Geneva
Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights
Questions, and outlines several serious problems with the proposed treaty,
aside from the fact that it is an attempt by the US Administration to
pull and "end run" around our own legislature. These problems include:
undermining of several Supreme Court rulings; making facts rather than
expressions copyrightable; making non-creative assemblages of obvious
information copyrightable; encouragement of monopolism; undermining
of the public's fair use rights to government information maintained
by contractors; undermining of the Freedom of Information Act; vagueness
in definitions to the extent that "database" can mean almost anything;
providing for the copyright of even minute amounts of information in
a database; establishing essentially infinite-duration copyright by
allowing a minor change to a "database" to reset the period of copyright
coverage; attempting to hold online system operators liable for the
actions of users beyond their control; and finally prohibiting
necessary reverse engineering, cryptanalysis and software recovery by
greatly over-broad criminalization of tools to perform these tasks if
they can also conceivably be used for copyright infringement. In short,
the treaty draft is ill-conceived, and caters to the wishes of a small
number of corporations at the expense of the entire public.
hr2265_1997.bill_report Full text of, and Congressional report on, the
"No Electronic Theft (NET) Act of 1997", a copyright bill introduced
by Rep. Coble to make it a *criminal* copyright violation to infringe
or aid/abet the infringing of a copyright *even without criminal
intent*. A dangerous piece of legislation that as of Nov. 5, 1997,
passed the House with little difficulty, and is up for passage in the
Senate with *no hearings*. EFF is working with other organizations
to prevent the Senate "rubber stamping" of this legislation.
hr2265_1997_congrec_debate_images/index.html Congressional Record debate
on HR2265, the "No Electronic Theft (NET) Act", legislation that would
impose criminal penalties on copyright infringers who had no criminal
intent and who made no profit. [The documents consist of fax images
in GIF format, with an HTML index.]
idea_economy.article John Perry Barlow's article "Selling Wine Without
Bottles: The Economy of Mind on the Global Net", discussing the
innapropriateness of traditional conceptions of intellectual property
when applied to cyberspace.
ipwg_nii_ip_lehman.report Final ("White Paper) version of the IITF
Intellectual Property Rights Working Group report on i-p on the NII.
Strongly criticized by many individuals and organizations as a "wolf
in sheep's clothing" that would butcher the public's fair use and access
rights to support the entrenched interests of the media conglomerate
lobby. Sept. 1995.
ipwg_nii_ip_lehman_report.draft A Preliminary Draft of the Report of
the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights by Bruce Lehman,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks, Chair- July, 1994. This is the "Green Paper" version.
ipwg_nii_ip_report_acis.comments Sept. 1994 comments on the draft
NII intellectual property report, from American Committee for
Interoperable Systems (ACIS)
ipwg_nii_ip_report_samuelson.comments Pamela Sameulson's December 1994
article "Legally Speaking: The NII Intellectual Property Report"
commenting on the Working Group on Intellectual Property Right's
Preliminary Draft Report on Intellectual Property and the
National Information Infrastructure
lehman_pto.speech Opening remarks of Bruce Lehman (USPTO) at the Public
hearings on patent protection for software-related inventions in Feb 1994
nwu_ipwg_paper.comments Nation Writers' Union's strong criticism of the
IITF IPWG final NII Intellectual Property White Paper (a.k.a. the
Lehman Report.)
va-dc_softpatent.summary Gregory Aharonian's Feb 1994 summaries of
the testimonies at USPTO's hearings on software patenting in Washington.
va-dc_softpatent.testimony transcripts of the PTO public hearings on
software patenting on Feb 10, 1994 summarized in the file
va-dc_softpatent.summary in this directory.
20020704_victorias_secret_amicus.pdf Final version of the amicus brief (prepared by Peter Jaszi's clinic) for the Victoria's Secret TM dilution case pending before the Supreme Court.
written_softpatent.testimony various testimonies at the PTO hearing on
patent protection for software related inventions.