AP claiming links are not "fair use"

Someone needs to sit down with the Associated Press. Somehow they have it in their head that someone linking to an AP article and using their headline is not fair use.

Putting aside the point that most newspapers who run AP articles are free to change their headlines (and many do), they must not realize that short titles, phrases, etc. are not covered under the Copyright Act.

Copyright restoration overturned?

First I've heard of Golan v Ashcroft. If anyone has an update, please let me know.

Judge blocks distribution of Salinger "sequel"

Word is that the author & publisher thought Salinger would come around once he read the book. Idiots.

Google settles with Authors Guild, et al

The scanning of books by Google was the subject of a number of lawsuits, including the AAP, the Author's Guild, and a number of publishers directly. I don't know how I missed it, but it looks like they settled recently.

More from PW here.

National Center for State Courts decide to let the RIAA drive for awhile

David Kravets with some righteous anger at the National Center for State Courts, for a pamphlet full of factual errors intended, it seems, to scare people into the RIAA position on file sharing.

He wasn't tough enough, IMO, on the NCSC for putting out a pamphlet with errors, since they are a body intended to help State courts (though why a state court would be the setting for a copyright violation I don't know).

SCOTUS declines to take on MLB stats case

Their action leaves stand the rights of the public to use statistics without the need to obtain permission. In particular, fantasy game producers need not pay fees to MBL or the MLBPA to use baseball statistics in their games.

Finally a victory for the public in a copyright case.

Clip licensing clearinghouse?

This would be a very cool thing for those of us in the clearance business.

The SAG comments seems to be mere posturing by me (worried about "overexposure" indeed!). But posturing over small things led to the writers' strike in the first place.