copyright

WASHINGTON--What's wrong with Congress being a little stingy about doling out taxpayer dollars to universities if they let peer-to-peer file-sharing pirates run amok on campus networks?

Not a thing, says the Motion Picture Association of America's top lawyer in the nation's capital.

On the heels of a House of Representatives committee's passage of a higher-education funding bill that includes new antipiracy obligations for universities that participate in federal financial aid programs, MPAA Washington general counsel Fritz Attaway suggested it's reasonable to condition federal education funding on copyright enforcement efforts.

"When the government is subsidizing … Read more

Eds. note: This story was updated at 8:07 p.m. PST to give an update on the expected committee vote time.

WASHINGTON--So far, a U.S. House of Representatives panel hasn't done anything to alter part of a bill that would deprive colleges and universities of financial aid for their students unless they make a plan to provide "alternatives" and deterrents to illicit peer-to-peer downloading.

Debate on a massive Democratic-sponsored higher education spending bill (PDF) began around 1:30 a.m. ET and continued late into the evening on Wednesday. But no amendments were expected to … Read more

Prince is close to making up with three fan sites that spent the past week trading nasty publicity releases with the purple music king.

Prince Fans United (PFU), a group formed by three fan sites dedicated to Prince; Housequake.com, Prince.org, and Princefams.com, was trying to hammer out an agreement with the artist's representatives on Wednesday, according to Gavin McLaughlin, a spokesman for the group.

PFU was formed after Prince allegedly demanded that the sites remove all "photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince's likeness," the site operators claimed.

"We'… Read more

WASHINGTON--A U.S. House of Representatives committee plans to vote Wednesday afternoon on a Hollywood-backed higher education bill that would deprive colleges and universities of their financial aid funding if they don't agree to provide deterrents and "alternatives" to peer-to-peer piracy.

A provision buried in the 747-page College Opportunity and Affordability Act (PDF) requires schools to devise a plan for providing "alternatives" to unlawful downloading--as well as "a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity." Those requirements would be added to an existing list of conditions for receiving federal student … Read more

A music-sharing site supported by the Recording Industry Association of America is lending its support to new federal legislation intended to strong-arm universities into curbing peer-to-peer piracy.

The chief executive of Ruckus.com, which offers advertising-supported music at no cost to college students, said Monday that he backs a bill introduced Friday by Democrats that requires universities to agree to offer "alternatives" to peer-to-peer infringement--upon pain of all their students losing federal financial aid.

Ruckus would probably be the largest single beneficiary of that requirement. And its CEO, Mike Bebel, is enthusiastic about the legislation.

"I think … Read more

Continuing an aggressive campaign to defend his copyrights, pop star Prince is preparing to file lawsuits within the next few days in three countries--including the United States--against The Pirate Bay, CNET News.com has learned.

One of the world's best-known BitTorrent indexing sites, The Pirate Bay has defiantly linked to pirated copies of films, TV shows, music videos, and other content while often boasting that it ignores Hollywood's requests to remove them. The Pirate Bay does not host any unauthorized content, but the service is internationally famous for being a highly effective file-sharing tool.

Prince will file similar … Read more

Everybody knows that copyright owners can demand that YouTube and other Web sites remove unauthorized copies of their work under the law. But what happens when the owners of intellectual property err in their claims?

On Wednesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that advocates for the rights of Internet users, issued six principles that copyright holders should consider before trying to remove a piece of content.

EFF has represented several individuals who have seen their videos removed from Web sites after a copyright owner erroneously claimed that their copyright was violated. EFF recently filed suit against Prince on … Read more