Explaining the Wikipedia Blackout
Posted on January 19, 2012
“Gee, Granddad (or Granny), tells us again about the day the Wikipedia went dark!”
Today’s 18-minute audio interview is with Jim Burger who is a copyright attorney with Dow, Lohnes in Washington, D. C. He’s specialized in copyright law for thirty years and prior to Dow, Lohnes was on the legal staff at Apple.
Wikipedia turned out the lights yesterday to protest two bills in Congress. Proponents claim the bills need to be enacted in order to protect movies, recorded music, and other “intellectual property” from piracy. Opponents assert enactment of the bills will, (a) censor the Internet, (b) obstruct innovation, and (3) place expensive burdens on innocent third parties.
To download 18-minute audio interview to iPod, iPhone, or iPad, click here.
The House Bill is termed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The Senate Bill is called the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Most Internet-centric organizations object to the bills, but Wikipedia is the paragon for three reasons. Read more…
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Why YouTube Beat Viacom
Posted on August 1, 2010
Our guest today is Jim Burger who is a copyright attorney with Dow, Lhones in Washington, D.C.
Three-and-a-half years ago Viacom asked YouTube to “take-down” 100,000 unauthorized postings of Viacom-copyrighted content. YouTube complied completely within a day. A month later Viacom filed a complaint in the Southern District Court of New York seeking statutory damages against Google (YouTube’s parent) for copyright infringement. Copyright statutes specify that damage awards can be as much as $150,000 per violation thereby representing a potential Google vulnerability of $15 billion. Viacom owns Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, BET, and similar media properties.
Download interview audio for iPad, iPhone, and iPod here.
The court selected by Viacom is traditionally sympathetic to copyright holders. But in June it ruled decisively in favor of YouTube. Read more…
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Revenue Impact of P2P File Sharing
Posted on May 24, 2010
Jim Burger
Today’s audio podcast is an interview with Jim Burger who is an intellectual property attorney with Dow, Lohnes. As such, he is as vigorously opposed to copyright infringement as anyone. Nonetheless, Jim questions the validity of claims by music executives that Peer-to-Peer file sharing has been a major cause the industry’s revenue decline.
Download audio to iPad, iPod, or iPhone here
He readily admits a correlation between P2P activity and declining CD sales, but emphasizes that mere correlation does not constitute causation. For example, CD sales topped-out during the 1999-2000 period, but those were the same years when Napster was most active. Not only was Napster the first popular P2P network, it was also probably the most widely used. Album sales did not decline until 2001 which was the same year that Napster was shut-down by a judge’s order. Read more…
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Legal Green Light for Cloud Computing
Posted on July 7, 2009
Jim Burger, Copyright Attorney, Dow, Lohnes
If you would like learn about a recent Supreme Court action providing a legal green light to a future “Networked Economy”, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Jim Burger who is an attorney with Dow, Lohnes in Washington, D. C. His specialty is intellectual property, including copyright law. Read more…
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MPAA Overestimates On-Campus Digital Piracy
Posted on February 12, 2008
Summary: If you would like to learn how the Motion Picture Association of America overestimated digital piracy on our nation’s college campuses, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Jim Burger who is an intellectual property attorney and Partner at Dow, Lohnes, in Washington, D.C. Jim has been a repeated contributor to Inside Digital Media on matters relating to copyrights, media protection, and piracy. Read more…
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