Comment Re:Copyright? (Score 1) 82
I guess we don't
Comment Re:Copyright? (Score 1) 82
And you are arguing that that having a new copyright on those photographs of a public domain image is a Good Thing?
I wasn't arguing either way, actually. Just stating that in the US those photos would not be copyrighted.
Comment Re:Copyright? (Score 1) 82
"The case cited only has to do with photos of public domain images."
What year were those drawings, um, drawn in? Yes, no matter where in the world you are, those drawings are public domain. And if you were in America then any photo/scan of those images would also be public domain.
We don't copyright ALL photos. Only those which have some "original" creativity to them (the quote around original because that is what the law says).
Comment Re:Copyright? (Score 4, Informative) 82
"if you took your own photo of them, you would have the copyright to it"
Wrong (In the US).
In the US we don't give copyright for simply making a faithful reproduction of anything. You didn't add any new creative element by taking a photograph of a piece of paper. This is why Google does not hold a copyright on the scans of public domain works. (but they do limit their use based on Contracts/TOS, which is fine, you can sign away your rights in a contract)
For the court case which spells this out see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Corel_Corp.
Now, in the UK, what you said is probably correct. They are, in my opinion, wrongly assigning copyright to people based on "sweat of the brow" work, not creativity.
Comment Re:Gchat (Score 1) 127
They are "encouraging the use of other clients" by not providing an option for Linux. I think you should have said they are "requiring the use of other clients if you want an Open Source solution."
So, they are better because they're offering is closed source and thus encouraging people to use another client?
Submission + - OOXML's 662 New Year's Resolutions (robweir.com)
Rob Isn't Weird writes: "Microsoft has finally responded to the resolutions concerning OOXML. The only problem? The JTC1 NBs who are deciding OOXML's fate have to download 662 individual PDFs from a slow, password-protected server and many had trouble getting the password. Don't misunderstand the ECMA's intent, though. There would have been 662 OOXML files if they had wanted to make it hard for people to read and criticize the responses. Thanks to the Internet, other interested parties have put all 662 resolutions online in a searchable, taggable format and are requesting that everyone interested help examine them. That means you, Slashdot."
Submission + - Former MS (now FF)Security Honcho: MS Hides Holes (mozilla.com) 1
theranjan writes: "When Jeff Jones, a Security Strategy Director at Microsoft, decided to compare Internet Explorer security vulnerabilities with those of Mozilla Firefox, and decided to publish his results showing that Internet Explorer was more secure, he perhaps forgot that the Head Security Strategist of Mozilla, Window Snyder, was a former MS employee, in fact the security lead for the Service pack of Windows XP and Server. In a rebuttal of the study, Window Snyder said that the number of vulnerabilities publicly acknowledged was just a "small subset" of all vulnerabilities fixed internally. The vulnerabilities found internally are fixed in service packs and major updates without public knowledge. This is probably one of the first times that we have confirmation from one of Microsoft's former workers that this practice is routinely followed in Microsoft. This also confirms that the studies performed or referenced by Microsoft touting itself as the safest Operating system, comparing the vulnerabilities between OSes, needs to be taken with bucketfuls of salt. Finally, Window speaks out against the practice of counting bugs,stating plainly that "If we as an industry would just acknowledge that counting bugs is useless then vendors could feel safe talking about what they are doing to protect users" and "Were not building fixes for our PR team, were building them for our users. Go ahead and count.""
Submission + - Spam lawsuit's last laugh is at Hormel's expense (startribune.com)
Brian Cartmell writes: "Minneapolis — StarTribune Writes: Hormel may have lost at least part of that argument. In a closely watched lawsuit against a Seattle-based company, Spam Arrest, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled against Hormel, saying that consumers of canned Spam wouldn't confuse it with "Spam Arrest" software that blocks unwanted e-mail, which now is generically called spam.
Derek Newman, Spam Arrest's attorney, said the decision opens the door for many other anti-spam software companies to incorporate the word "spam" into their trademarked product names.
"Spam Arrest fought this battle for the whole software industry," Newman said. "The case is limited to the e-mail usage of the word spam, which will not detract from the fame associated with Hormel's meat products trademark."
Hormel said it was disappointed, but officials wouldn't comment on what the decision means to the company.
"Although we understand and accept that the term 'spam' has taken on new meaning in recent years, it is important to remember that we created the Spam brand more than 70 years ago and have invested significantly to build, support and protect the brand," Hormel spokeswoman Julie Craven said."
Derek Newman, Spam Arrest's attorney, said the decision opens the door for many other anti-spam software companies to incorporate the word "spam" into their trademarked product names.
"Spam Arrest fought this battle for the whole software industry," Newman said. "The case is limited to the e-mail usage of the word spam, which will not detract from the fame associated with Hormel's meat products trademark."
Hormel said it was disappointed, but officials wouldn't comment on what the decision means to the company.
"Although we understand and accept that the term 'spam' has taken on new meaning in recent years, it is important to remember that we created the Spam brand more than 70 years ago and have invested significantly to build, support and protect the brand," Hormel spokeswoman Julie Craven said."
Submission + - Football field-sized kite powers latest freighter (networkworld.com) 2
coondoggie writes: "A kite the size of a football field will provide most of the power for a German heavy freight ship set to launch in December. The Beluga shipping company that owns the 460-foot Beluga said it expects the kites to decrease fuel consumption by up to 50% in optimal cases as well as a cutback of the emission of greenhouse gases on sea by 10 to 20%. Interestingly, the ship will be hauling windmills from Esbjerg, Denmark to Houston, Texas. The company that makes the kite for the German transport, SkySails, has made kites for large yachts but is targeting commercial ships with new, larger kites. And it has the ambitious goal of equipping 1,500 ships with kites by 2015.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22225"
Submission + - Mixed news on Wiretapping from 9th Circuit USCoA
abb3w writes: The bad news: the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Al-Haramain lawyers may not submit into evidence their recollections of the top secret document handed to them detailing the warrantless electronic scrutiny they received. "Once properly invoked and judicially blessed, the state secrets privilege is not a half-way proposition." The good news: they have declined to answer and directed the lower court to consider whether "FISA preempts the common law state secrets privilege" with respect to the underlying nature of the program itself... which also keeps alive hopes for the EFF and ACLU to make those responsible answer for their actions.
Coverage at CNET, the NYTimes, and elsewhere; PDF of ruling here.
Coverage at CNET, the NYTimes, and elsewhere; PDF of ruling here.
Submission + - Open Source Mathematical Software
An anonymous reader writes: The American Mathematical society has an opinion piece about open source software vs propietary software used in mathematics. From the article : "Increasingly, proprietary software and the algorithms used are an essential part of mathematical proofs. To quote J. Neubüser, 'with this situation two of the most basic rules of conduct in mathematics are violated: In mathematics information is passed on free of charge and everything is laid open for checking.'"
Submission + - Japanese Lunar Probe Returns First HDTV Video (www.jaxa.jp) 3
Riding with Robots writes: "The Kaguya probe, now in lunar orbit, has sent down the first footage of the moon's surface from its onboard high-definition TV camera. The Kaguya mission, which consists of a main orbiter and two smaller satellites in a 100-km-high, polar orbit, is slated to officialy begin its science phase in December."
Submission + - French Threat to ID Secret US Satellites (beskerming.com)
SkiifGeek writes: "Space.com has reported that the French have identified numerous objects in orbit that do not appear in the ephemeris data reported by the US Space Surveillance Network. Since the US has claimed that if it doesn't appear in the ephemeris data, then it doesn't exist, and the French claim that at least some of the objects have solar arrays, it seems that the French have found secret US satellites.
While the French don't plan to release the information publicly, they are planning to use it as leverage to get the US to suppress reporting of sensitive French satellites in their published ephemeris.
The Graves surveillance radar (the French system) and a comparable German system may form the basis of a pan-European Space Surveillance network — another system that the Europeans don't want to rely on the US for."
While the French don't plan to release the information publicly, they are planning to use it as leverage to get the US to suppress reporting of sensitive French satellites in their published ephemeris.
The Graves surveillance radar (the French system) and a comparable German system may form the basis of a pan-European Space Surveillance network — another system that the Europeans don't want to rely on the US for."
Submission + - Alex The Grey Parrot, Colleague of Irene Pepperber (scienceblogs.com)
grrlscientist writes: "Yesterday, I received the devastating news that Alex the African Grey parrot, who was both a study subject and colleague to Irene Pepperberg, died unexpectedly at 31 years of age.
From the Story: Even though Alex was a research animal, he was much more than that. This species of parrot generally lives to be 50-60 years old, so Alex was only middle-aged when he died. According to some reports I have read, it is possible that Alex might have succumbed to Aspergillosis, a fungal infection of the lungs that he has battled in the past. However, the cause of death will not be known until after a necropsy has been completed tomorrow. A necropsy is an autopsy that is performed on an animal. Alex's veterinarian is returning from vacation to personally conduct this necrospy."
From the Story: Even though Alex was a research animal, he was much more than that. This species of parrot generally lives to be 50-60 years old, so Alex was only middle-aged when he died. According to some reports I have read, it is possible that Alex might have succumbed to Aspergillosis, a fungal infection of the lungs that he has battled in the past. However, the cause of death will not be known until after a necropsy has been completed tomorrow. A necropsy is an autopsy that is performed on an animal. Alex's veterinarian is returning from vacation to personally conduct this necrospy."
Submission + - New Method to Detect and Prove GPL Violations (uni-sb.de)
qwerty writes: A paper
at the upcoming academic conference
Automated Software Engineering
presents a new method to
detect code theft and could be used to detect GPL violations in
particular. While the co-called birthmarking method is demonstrated for
Java, it is general enough to work for other languages as well. The API
Benchmark observes the interaction between an application and (dynamic)
libraries that are part of the runtime system. This captures the
observable behavior of the program and cannot be easily foiled using
code obfuscation techniques,
as shown in the
paper. Once such a birthmark
is captured, it can be searched for in other programs. By capturing the
birthmarks from popular open-source frameworks, GPL-violating
applications could be identified.
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