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03 Aug 2010 09:50

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U.S.: The FBI thinks Wikipedia has no right to use its logo

  • The reasoningWikipedia puts logos on its various pages, often recreating them in a vector format in cases where the original is a low-resolution sample. Also, most things acquired by the U.S. government, from logos to photos to numerous other assets are designated public domain. Certain insignias, such as the FBI’s, however, are restricted for non-copyright reasons.

    The conflict This particular logo of the FBI led to Wikipedia’s offices getting a letter claiming that “Whoever possesses any insignia …or any colourable imitation thereof..shall be fined … or imprisoned … or both.” Considering that the seal is commonly used in other places, this seems like an odd source to attack. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 6 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2010 09:36

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Culture: CBS decides Jack Benny’s legacy worth more to them hidden away

  • Basically, CBS has decided that it could cost too much to pay a lawyer to figure out if they can release these films – or even turn them over to Benny’s fans and family for release – and so it has decided to simply abandon them, sealing them back up in the vault forever.
  • Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow • Regarding CBS’ decision to block the release of a set of old Jack Benny masters to the late comic’s fan club, for purposes of remastering. The network blocked the decision despite the footage being public domain, the fan club getting consent from Benny’s family, promising to pay for the remastering themselves, and being genuinely good-intentioned. These 25 episodes were thought lost forever. Now they’ll be locked away in some vault instead. Lame. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2009 10:27

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Tech: Cut it out: Tr.im was closing. Now it’s going public domain.

  • It is our hope that tr.im, being an excellent URL shortener in its own right, can now begin to stand in contrast to the closed twitter/bit.ly walled garden.
  • A statement from the Nambu staff • Regarding tr.im’s plans to become an open-source alternative to bit.ly, currently the most popular URL shortener. We understand what they’re going for and appreciate it, but we wish they’d do it with a lot less public attacking of their competition. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2009 11:17

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Culture: “Word Worms”: Another example of turning copyright on its ear

  • Public domain toons are a sadly-wasted resource – one Alex Gorosh uses in clever ways, creating family-friendly raps to go with the old-school toons. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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