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Comment Re:Better service.. (Score 2) 133

I look at the chart you linked and see significant, precipitous declines where the RIAA either ignored negative feedback or outright attacked customers:

Late '70s - disco was pushed on radio, tv, everywhere, and audiophiles (LP buyers) rejected it (the sale of hissing cassettes stayed flat unti CDs came along)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco

1990s - CD sales flatten as the loudness war gets really noticeable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

2001 - CD sales take a nose-dive after the Napster decision (Feb. 2001)
http://gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/napster.htm

2005 - CD sales make a tiny comeback, along with digital, then both plummet as the RIAA lawsuit campaign focuses on university students and the MGM v. Grokster decision comes down
http://www.eff.org/wp/riaa-v-people-years-later

Has the RIAA finally won the war against its customers?

Comment Re:My high school teacher was one -- Patented? (Score 1) 113

Thank you for that very interesting anecdote. Please repeat it each time someone argues in favor of software patents.

Pick any purely software patent, get a gang of patent lawyers to translate it to some human-comprehensible language (such as C, ADA, etc.), then have someone "skilled in the art" of programming run a program representative of the patent's claims, except run it using a group of high school math teachers with pencils and paper instead of using a "digital computer".

If it involves a GUI, just ask the nearest kindergarten class to bring crayons to mark dots on a big piece of paper on the wall.

Is this patented yet?

Comment Re:Overkill (Score 1) 462

[...]
In fact, you could win on just one (most likely that there is no impact on the market for the work), as the analysis is one of equity, not mechanically adding up the factors and deciding in favor of whoever has the most on their side.
[...]

I suspect that the copyright holder could make a reasonable case that unauthorized publication on a website would have a negative impact on sales of the lyrics by authorized publishers, whether those authorized publishers sell sheet music, books or downloadable files. Any website with commercial activity, such as Google ads or click-throughs, in proximity to unauthorized publications is likely fried.

Here is a quickie reference to some fair use U.S. court case summaries, some of which illustrate your points about the factors and transformative works:

Key Court Case Summaries on Fair Use

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