We Shall Overcome

NPR’s All Things Considered has a report about the song We Shall Overcome, emblemamtic of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Isaias Gamboa, author of a 2012 book We Shall Overcome, filed a civil suit to establish that the song had been sung by many before the copyright was granted in 1963. The song is now stripped of copyright and is in the public domain. 2 min, 7 sec, transcript available.

Happy New Year

To start out the new year on a light note, NPR's Nina Totenberg reports here on All Things Considered about a lawsuit to decide who owns the copyright to this selfie taken by a monkey. PETA, the animal rights group, says the monkey does. The photographer whose camera the monkey used says he does. A federal district judge has just ruled that nobody does. 2 min 53 sec, transcript available. You can read more about the case and find motions filed in the case here. "Monkey see, monkey sue is not good law - at least not in the Ninth Circuit." is the best quote.

"Happy Birthday" Saga

A federal judge in California has finally ruled that the song "Happy Birthday" is not subject to copyright but is in the public domain. NPR's All Things Considered has the story. 3 min 37 sec, transcript available (some mistakes).

Borders and Copyright on Public Radio International

PRI’s program, The Takeaway, of July 30, has two stories of potential interest to readers of this blog. One is about a border dispute between Canada and the United States, and the other is about copyright to the Happy Birthday song. 6 min 11 sec for the border story and 1 min 08 sec for the song. For a longer story about the song, see this post.

Happy Birthday Copyright

NPR's All Things Considered of July 12 reports on a lawsuit which argues that the song Happy Birthday should not be covered by copyright. 3 min 46 sec, transcript available.

Copyright and Fair Use

NPR's All Things Considered of Sept. 27 has a story about a YouTube takedown notice sent to Laurence Lessig, Harvard Law School professor and expert on copyright law, and the lawsuit that he filed in return. 4 min 30 sec, transcript available

Aaron's Laws: Law and Justice in a Digital Age

Lawrence Lessig, on the occasion of being appointed to the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, gave a lecture titled "Aaron's Laws: Law and Justice in a Digital Age" to honor the memory of Aaron Swartz, an internet prodigy who committed suicide in January. Lessig's lecture begins, after a long introduction, at 8:30. In all, the video is 1h 42 min, no transcript, but an expertly prepared and presented power point presentation is woven into the video. Excellent

Megaupload site's legal troubles

This site's name promises mega uploads (usually of the illegal kind). NPR's Weekend Edition of Saturday Jan. 21 has the story of the site's closure this week after a raid in New Zealand.

4 min 16 sec, transcript available For more information about the case, NPR has this.

Piracy, seen from Australia - by land and by sea.

Problem pirates of Somalia from Australian Broadcasting Corporation's programme Background Briefing of 28 February 2010. More piracy, this time of the internet variety, on Background Briefing for 3 January 2010. 48 min., streaming or .mp3, transcript available.

A new website, Academic Earth, has started a collection of links to online video lectures from major U.S. universities. So far there are only two law courses : one on copyright and one on climate change and the law from UC Berkeley. The Berkeley lectures include one on the International Climate Regime. 1h40min., no script, FlashPlayer.

Legal Lad's Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life These recordings are usually 6 or 7 minutes long. Topics include the law concerning libel and slander, handguns, store security, file sharing, the minimum wage and wills. You can listen to the audio files and find transcripts on the web site. You can also subscribe to the podcast here. The "legal lad" is a lawyer but starts each recording with a warning (disclaimer) to ensure that he can't be sued.

The Westminster Hour The BBC weekly programme The Westminster Hour has some items of interest for the legal listener. Getting away with murder - about the corporate manslaughter bill - Interview with Gerry Sutcliffe 8 October 2006 Extradition equality - Interview with Edward Garnier 6:18 min. 5 November 2006 Copyright - 6:53 min. 5 November 2006 From the programme's archive: Clive Anderson examines politically charged trials - 22 December 2005 1) Peter Hain and South African sports tours 2) Ricky Tomlinson and striking building workers 3) The ABC official secrets trial