Singularity Law

Twitter.com is a service that lets people send short messages (140 characters or less) (called “tweets”) to those who decide to “follow” them, and to receive short messages from those they choose to follow. While Twitter.com is used both for social networking and for business communications, it can also be an effective way to get [...]

I was interested in an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times shortly before Christmas. It indicated that some of the major writers were meeting with venture capitalists to see of they could start their own production companies to create entertainment products specifically for the Internet. The writers apparently see this as one [...]

For many years (probably since fair use began), copyright owners have viewed fair use as some sort of government sponsored piracy of their creative efforts. But since a copyright has never been viewed as a monopoly, and the rights granted are constrained by the constitutional grant, fair use has always been viewed as part [...]

What’s a lawyer to do? Your client tells you to send a nasty letter to Digg.com, demanding that it immediately take down an encryption key that can unlock the digital right management on HD-DVDs. You send the letter. Digg, “acting on advice of its lawyers,” complies. The CEO posts a notice on the [...]

Accepting the old adage, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” some record labels are posting their own video clips on some of the very same P2P networks they claim are violating their copyrights. Suretone Records, a label of the Universal Music Group, with popular groups like Weezer and Drop Dead Gorgeous, is reported [...]

Viacom recently sued YouTube for copyright infringement, claiming a billion dollars in damages for unauthorized copies of its content posted on the popular website. Many observers suspect that the suit was filed by Viacom, not because it intends to litigate the matter through to judgment, but as a negotiating ploy to get a better licensing [...]

The news media and blogosphere have been abuzz about the move by Viacom to have all of its content removed from YouTube. Viacom paid someone (and probably a lot of someone’s) to compile a list of 100K video clips on YouTube that arguably infringe its copyrights (I say “arguably” since news reports indicate that [...]

My son, also named Michael, is a budding filmmaker (alright, so is half of LA). About three years ago, when he was a junior at UCLA he and a friend made a short fan film for a Star Wars fan site. The video (called Ryan v. Dorkman) featured a laser sword fight including special effects [...]