Tag Archives: property

Rivalrous and Non-Rivalrous ‘things’: Explained through song and illustration

I written multiple times about the difference between rivalrous and non-rivalrous things.  The basic difference is that only one person can ‘possess’ somethiing that is rivalrous; whereas more than one person can possess something non-rivalrous. Madisonian​.net has a post by Jacqui Lipton that links to an illustrated music video that helps explain this concept.  It …

November 17, 2010 – 9:47 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Copyright, Virtual Worlds | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Implied licenses: Why copyright and contract prevents North Country Gazette from suing you

The North Country Gazette has threatened to sue folks who read more than one article on their website.  Since the threat was unearthed by BoingBoing and Techdirt, and re-posted on Slashdot, the website has gone down, come back up, and added a username/password authentication requirement. The original threat, detailed by Techdirt, outlines the Gazette’s plans …

October 28, 2010 – 11:08 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Copyright | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Does U.K. Heritage own all Stonehenge images? No.

U.K. Heritage, the folks who maintain Stonehenge, have claimed ownership over Stonehenge images.1  This is especially relevant to me because I visited Stonehenge in Spring 2009 and, yes, took pictures. Does U.K. Heritage own the rights to all images of Stonehenge?  No.  Might they have claims against folks who took pictures of Stonehenge?  Maybe, but …

October 21, 2010 – 9:55 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Copyright | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

DMCA Takedowns versus Free Speech

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, gets a lot of bad press.  Digital rights management software, or DRM, is blamed on the DMCA’s anti-circumvention clause.  The MPAA went so far as to argue that the DMCA’s anti-circumvention clause even prevents fair use defenses.1  But it is not all bad. Wired went so far as …

October 18, 2010 – 9:51 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Copyright, General | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

The problem of viewing Copyrights as property

I.  There is no Property in Intellectual Property Slashdot used to have a contributor/user who went by the name “I Don’t Believe In Imaginary Property.”  This user seemed most interested in issues surrounding copyright and patent law.  The implication was always that he, or she, didn’t believe copyrights should be viewed as property. I agree. …

January 26, 2010 – 7:39 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Polemics, The Future of Law | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)