The objective of the blog is to provide a fair analysis and awareness of legal issues in an easy way for the understanding of the people at large
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
A new begining of Cyberlaw adjudication in USA
As I have already written in my earlier blog regarding the Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment as a justice of US Supreme Court.The appointment of Sotomayor is special for the cyberlaw community keeping in mind her good knowledge in the field. She is the first judge with cyber law background took the judicial oath on 8th August 2009, becoming the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve the US Supreme Court. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr administered to her in two private ceremonies at the Supreme Court building, completing her ascent to a life-tenured position as the nation’s 111th justice — the first to be nominated by a Democratic president since 1994.
Her rise brought her to the attention of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, who recommended that President George Bush appoint her to the federal bench, which she joined in 1992. President Bill Clinton later elevated her to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. President Obama nominated her in May to succeed Justice David H. Souter. She is a highly qualified, mainstream and moderate jurist. On Sept. 8, 2009, the US Supreme Court will hold a special invitation-only investiture ceremony, a special sitting at which she will take her seat for the first time, probably followed by an appearance alongside Chief Justice Roberts for a traditional picture on the front steps of the court.
Now it is expected that some good judgments will come in future in the field of cyberlaw. Because still we lack judges in most of the countries who have sound understanding in the field of cyberlaw.
Her rise brought her to the attention of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, who recommended that President George Bush appoint her to the federal bench, which she joined in 1992. President Bill Clinton later elevated her to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. President Obama nominated her in May to succeed Justice David H. Souter. She is a highly qualified, mainstream and moderate jurist. On Sept. 8, 2009, the US Supreme Court will hold a special invitation-only investiture ceremony, a special sitting at which she will take her seat for the first time, probably followed by an appearance alongside Chief Justice Roberts for a traditional picture on the front steps of the court.
Now it is expected that some good judgments will come in future in the field of cyberlaw. Because still we lack judges in most of the countries who have sound understanding in the field of cyberlaw.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Obama's Photo and Fair use of Copyright
Fair-use cases are those which are not the violation of copyright and are exceptions to the infringement of copyright. There is fair use doctrine which is meant for the non commercial use of the copyrighted works. Almost all the Copyright Acts of the various countries have in one or the other form some provisions for fair use. Accordingly Indian Copyright Act 1957 has sec. 52, which provides fair use. US copyright law also provides fair use. But the boundaries of fair use and infringement are very thin and some time it becomes very difficult to decide. Accordingly there is ongoing controversy as J.D. Salinger, Woody Allen and J.K. Rowling have provided over the months on the fair-use front, the following just might take the cake as Best Fair-Use Smackdown Ever.
It hasn’t yet boiled into a lawsuit yet, but it’s got serious potential. At issue: a poster created by folks at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (aka NORML), which uses a photo of Barack Obama as an undergraduate at Occidental College, circa 1980.
The picture shows Obama puffing on a cigarette (of the tobacco type). People at NORML took the image, dressed it up a little to make it look like Obama’s puffing on some serious Early Pearly Maui (or something), and stuck it on their Summer of Love-inspired promotional poster for their annual conference. The message on the poster: “Yes We Cannabis.”
Lisa Jack, an Obama classmate back at Oxy, was very angery over the picture instead of Obama.
“They do not have my permission,” said Jack, now a psychology professor in Minnesota, to the Post. These photos “are absol. She held that it is not to be used in this way. … I really made a grand effort to do this properly, and I’m very irritated.
Some experts of the IPR didn’t seem it to cause any trouble. “With very little adulteration, experts placed what appears to be a cannabis cigarette” in the Obama’s hand. St. Pierre admits they didn’t get permission, but “our lawyers thought it was adulterated enough to comply with the fair use doctrine.
The standard provided as per the copyright law is is whether there was a “transformative use.” And that doesn’t necessarily mean the image has to be transformed — an image can remain exactly the same and satisfy fair use if the picture is framed in a way that sends a message. Let us wait and watch and see what happens on the issue.
It hasn’t yet boiled into a lawsuit yet, but it’s got serious potential. At issue: a poster created by folks at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (aka NORML), which uses a photo of Barack Obama as an undergraduate at Occidental College, circa 1980.
The picture shows Obama puffing on a cigarette (of the tobacco type). People at NORML took the image, dressed it up a little to make it look like Obama’s puffing on some serious Early Pearly Maui (or something), and stuck it on their Summer of Love-inspired promotional poster for their annual conference. The message on the poster: “Yes We Cannabis.”
Lisa Jack, an Obama classmate back at Oxy, was very angery over the picture instead of Obama.
“They do not have my permission,” said Jack, now a psychology professor in Minnesota, to the Post. These photos “are absol. She held that it is not to be used in this way. … I really made a grand effort to do this properly, and I’m very irritated.
Some experts of the IPR didn’t seem it to cause any trouble. “With very little adulteration, experts placed what appears to be a cannabis cigarette” in the Obama’s hand. St. Pierre admits they didn’t get permission, but “our lawyers thought it was adulterated enough to comply with the fair use doctrine.
The standard provided as per the copyright law is is whether there was a “transformative use.” And that doesn’t necessarily mean the image has to be transformed — an image can remain exactly the same and satisfy fair use if the picture is framed in a way that sends a message. Let us wait and watch and see what happens on the issue.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)