>>> "Lesley Ellen Harris" <[log in to unmask]> 8/27/02 9:58:14 AM >>>
FROM THE OFFICES OF LESLEY ELLEN HARRIS

Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce News

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Vol. 6, No. 3, August 27, 2002

ISSN 1489-954X
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Contents:


    1.. Studies, Legislation and Conventions:
    WIPO copyright meeting reports

    2.. Legal Cases:
    Danish court prohibits deep linking

    U.S. Mint settles lawsuit

    U.S. Term Extension Act challenge

    Thai court rules on cyber-defamation

    Canadian Supreme Court rules against creator

    Canadian ISPs not liable for copyright royalty payments

    Law Society of Upper Canada breached copyright

    Australian Federal Court upholds telephone directory copyright

    Deep linking violates E.U. law

    3.. Of Interest:
    Presentation on licensing electronic publications

    Mobile phone companies agree to digital copyright protection

    Deep linking challenged by Dallas Morning News

    University of Alberta guide to cyber-plagiarism

    4.. Seminars:
Online Canadian copyright law course

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Copyright, New Media & E-Commerce News is distributed for free by the office of Lesley Ellen Harris. Information contained herein should not be relied upon or considered as legal advice. Copyright 2002 Lesley Ellen Harris. This newsletter may be forwarded, downloaded or reproduced in whole in any print or electronic format for non-commercial purposes provided that its author is acknowledged and that you cc: [log in to unmask]

This newsletter is archived with the National Library of Canada at:

http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/202/300/copyright-a/index.html 


    1.. STUDIES, LEGISLATION AND CONVENTIONS:
    WIPO COPYRIGHT MEETING REPORTS - The full report of the 7th meeting of the WIPO SCCRR held in Geneva in May 2002 is now available at: http://www.wipo.int/eng/meetings/2002/sccr/index_7.htm. Past meeting reports are accessible at: http://www.wipo.int/eng/document/index_02.htm.

    
    2.. LEGAL CASES:
    DANISH COURT PROHIBITS DEEP-LINKING - A court in Copenhagen has ruled that an online news clipping service can no longer link to specific articles on newspaper Web sites. The court held that Newsbooster.com, which allows subscribers to search for news articles on a specific topic, was in direct competition with the newspapers, and that the deep linking affected the value of the newspapers' advertisements.

    U.S. MINT SETTLES LAWSUIT - The U.S. Mint has settled a copyright, trademark and false advertising law suit against Washington Mint, LLC after three years of litigation. See the U.S. Mint press release at: http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&ID=382.

    U.S. Term Extension Act Challenge - The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended copyright protection by 20 years to existing and future copyrights, is being challenged on a constitutional basis. On May 20, 2002, opening briefs were filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. Arguments will be heard in the Fall of 2002. An excellent site with all the information you'll ever need about this case, including court documents and briefs, is at: http://eldred.cc.

    THAI COURT RULES ON CYBER-DEFAMATION- A court in Thailand found a man guilty of defamation for posting a note to an Internet bulletin board that included a woman's phone number and a claim that she was a prostitute. The case marks the first time a Thai court has ruled on online defamation.

    CANADIAN SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST CREATOR - In the case, Theberge v. Galerie D'Art du Petit Champlain inc., an art gallery purchased posters by Quebec painter Claude Theberge, then transferred the images on the posters from the paper to canvas. The transferring process lifted the ink off the posters and transferred it to the canvasses. Therefore, no reproductions were actually made since the poster paper was left blank in the end. The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Mr. Theberge and for a seizure of the canvasses. However, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned this decision, finding that the images were not reproduced under the Canadian Copyright Act, but were merely transferred from one medium to another. The decision is at: http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/rec/html/laroche.en.html.

    CANADIAN ISPs NOT LIABLE FOR COPYRIGHT ROYALTY PAYMENTS - On May 2, 2002, the Federal Court of Canada upheld most of the Copyright Board's ruling (http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca) which held that Internet Service Providers ("ISPs") are not liable for copyright royalty payments where they act strictly as conduits. However, the Court reversed two other issues decided by the Board. The court ruled that caching activities should not be treated as mere conduit activity. In addition, the court ruled that jurisdictional reach should extend to foreign-based Web sites with a real and substantial connection to Canada. The court also discussed the appropriate role of copyright in Canada and referred to the recent Theberge case and stated that the Canadian Copyright Act "should be interpreted with an eye to striking an appropriate balance." The decision is at http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fct/2002/2002fca166.html.

    LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA INFRINGED COPYRIGHT - On May 14, 2002, the Federal Court of Canada re-affirmed that legal texts, annotated statutes, case reports and abridgments of court decisions are protected by copyright, and that permission is required from the appropriate legal publishers for photocopying services like those of The Law Society of Upper Canada. The decision is at http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fct/2002/2002fca187.html.

    Australian Federal Court Upholds Telephone Directory Copyright - On May 15, 2002, the Australian Federal Court upheld the Telstra copyright decision in which Telstra was found to enjoy copyright in its telephone directories. Telstra is Australia's leading telecommunications provider. The decision is at:

    http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2002/112.html.

    Deep Linking Violates E.U. Law - A Munich (Germany) Upper Court ruled that using a search engine to locate stories on newspapers' sites violates EU law. In November 2000, German newspaper Mainpost asserted that German search service NewsClub violated the law by searching through and linking directly to Mainpost content. The case was decided under the EU Database Directive, which grants copyright protection to database creators for "selecting and arranging" the information contained in a database even if there is no copyright in the collected information itself. The directive specifically protects the "unfair extraction" of materials in a database and specifically mentions downloading or hyperlinking. Deep linking has been the subject of various out-of-court settlements in the U.S. as well as under the laws of specific European countries, but not under the EU Directive. 

    

    3.. OF INTEREST:
    PRESENTATION ON LICENSING ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS - A presentation by Meg Williams, FEDLINK Network Program Specialist, describes how federal libraries and information centers can help their patrons and managers address the use of electronic publications in their agencies. Take a look at this online presentation at: http://www.loc.gov/flicc/video/licen/licen.html. The entire presentation is approximately 50 minutes.

    MOBILE PHONE COMPANIES AGREE TO DIGITAL COPYRIGHT PROTECTION - IBM and Nokia have agreed to design technology that will stop sharing of copyright protected games, graphics and ring tones by cell phone users. Concern over copyright violations between mobile phone users is increasing as technology to play music, video and high-quality games over mobile devices is being developed. 

    DEEP LINKING CHALLENGED BY DALLAS MORNING NEWS - The Dallas Morning News has issued a cease and desist letter

    to the owner of Barkingdogs.com, a news site that links to individual stories on the Dallas Morning News Web site. The Morning News states that it permits links only to its front page.

    UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA GUIDE TO CYBER-PLAGIARISM - Whereas copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyright protected materials, plagiarism is using other peoples' work and claiming it as one's own. Cyber-plagiarism is becoming more widespread. The University of Alberta Libraries has created an online publication called A Faculty Guide to Cyber-Plagiarism. This document explains why students plagiarize, how to prevent, detect and report cyber-plagiarism, and provides further resources on this topic. Take a look at: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism. 


    4.. SEMINARS:
ONLINE CANADIAN COPYRIGHT LAW COURSE - Copyrightlaws.com is once again offering the first online course on Canadian copyright law. This course has not only been well received in the past, it also provides an excellent basis for future copyright courses currently being developed by copyrightlaws.com. 

For further information, see: http://copyrightlaws.com or e-mail: [log in to unmask] 

This newsletter is prepared by Lesley Ellen Harris, a Copyright and New Media Lawyer and Consultant. Lesley is the author of the books Canadian Copyright Law (McGrawHill) and Digital Property: Currency of the 21st Century (McGrawHill - see http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/digitalproperty) Lesley can be reached at [log in to unmask], and at http://copyrightlaws.com.



This LEH-Letter issue was prepared with the help of Beth Davies.

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