IP: Online Group to Give Advice Regarding Copyrights

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Online Group to Give Advice Regarding Copyrights

By AMY HARMON

The NY Times


The rise of the World Wide Web has been closely tracked by that of the 
cease-and-desist order, a letter typically accusing a Web publisher of 
copyright or trademark violations and warning that "your conduct may result 
in legal action against you."
Unless, of course, one ceases and desists.
Now, concerned that corporations are using the notices to intimidate sites 
whose content may be protected by the First Amendment, the Electronic 
Frontier Foundation and several law schools have created a searchable 
cease-and-desist database to inform recipients of their rights.
"People get these letters and wonder, `Does this mean I have to take 
everything down and go home?' " said Wendy Seltzer, a fellow with the 
Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "What we try 
to do with this site is to clarify what it is they have to worry about and 
what's more likely to just be someone blowing hot air."
The foundation is an online civil liberties group based in San Francisco. 
The first entries in the database, which is scheduled to become available 
starting today at www.chillingeffects.org, include line-by-line commentary 
and analysis provided by law students at Harvard, Stanford and the 
University of California at Berkeley.
Clicking on the highlighted phrase "your posting of these items is an 
infringement of Paramount's rights" in a letter from Paramount's parent 
company, Viacom (news/quote), to a "Star Trek" fan site operator, for 
instance, takes readers to a legal explanation of copyright infringement 
and a description of when it is acceptable to use copyrighted material.
The site invites Internet users to submit the notices they have received, 
all of which will be similarly annotated. As the database grows, the site's 
operators plan to publish a regular update that they hope will help 
document for legislators and others how intellectual property holders are 
using or abusing their rights.

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