3 Count: Roll D6 for Litigation

By Jonathan Bailey • Apr 8th, 2009 • Category: 3 Count

This is daily column on Plagiarism Today where the site brings you three of the days biggest, most important copyright and plagiarism news links. If you want to offer your feedback on the column, use the contact form or just follow me on Twitter at @plagiarismtoday.

1: Wizards Pulls PDFs, Sues Eight for Copyright Infringement

First off today, a company known by nerds and geeks the world over (myself included), Wizards of the Coast, has pulled its purchasable PDFs from its site and filed suit against eight people that it accuses of sharing those aforementioned PDFs via file sharing networks.

If you do not know who Wizards of the Coast is, meaning that you are probably reasonably popular and socially adjusted, they are the makers of Magic the Gathering card game as well as the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game. The PDFs in questions were downloadable handbooks for their games, which they apparently have a way to tie back to the individual that uploaded them as they claim that all eight of these people purchased copies and then made them available via file sharing networks.

2: National Federation for the Blind protest at Authors Guild in NYC today over Kindle text-to-speech

In more serious news today, the controversy between the Author’s Guild and Amazon over the Kindle 2 text to speech feature is continuing. Weighing in this time are the National Federation for the Blind and the Reading Rights Coalition, an organization that represents people who cannot read print.

According to the organizations, the complaints by the Author’s Guild, which resulted in the Kindle’s text-to-speech feature being enabled only on books that permit it, will hinder access to books to those that can not read printed words, including those who are blind or dyslexic.

The groups protested outside of Amazon’s New York headquarters yesterday in an attempt to make their arguments heard.

3: Some questions related to Google News and the Associated Press

Finally today, in response to some of the AP’s comments talked about in yesterday’s 3 Count, Google has filed a response, saying that it works closely and even partners with news agencies to display the content that it does and, for the uses that aren’t licensed, it feels fair use protects it.

Google went on to say that they, “Drive traffic and provide advertising in support of all business models — whether news sources choose to host their articles with us or on their own sites, and whether their business model is ad-supported or based on subscriptions.”

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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Jonathan Bailey is The Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today, which he founded in 2005 as a way to help Webmasters going through content theft problems get accurate information and stay up to date on the rapidly-changing field. He is also a consultant to Webmasters and companies to help them devise practical content protection strategies and develop good copyright policies.
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  • On the Kindle issue: You know I think outloud most of the time, so these are just thougths and questions I'd like to look into...

    I suppose it was once considered plagiarism to convert written material to braille?

    I'm going to assume that users of Kindle (blind or not) have to purchase these "special" books for the device. If they've purchased a license, why does that not include having the right to use the text to speech feature? Why should Kindle users (blind or not) have to purchase an additional format (i.e. audio book) to be able to "hear" the book.

    I also assume that Kindle users would like the convenience of being able to read or hear the material. The ability to listen to the book on the way to work or while stuck in traffic would seem to be an appeal to people looking into purchasing Kindle. They could read while at home and listen while on the road.

    Blind people may be interested in the fact that not only could they listen to the books but other family members could also use the device to read with.

    I understand authors want their material protected but I can't imagine any author being such an ass that they'd not want their material accessible to blind people. And since a license is purchased for the books on Kindle I don't see why the one license wouldn't be sufficient enough for everyone to use the book in a way that is necessary for them.

    I would also think that any self-respecting author would want their material available to anyone and not get their panties in a wad because something like Kindle can appeal to a broader audience.

    I will go back and read some of the other links the article suggested, but I'd also like to know how many authors were behind the Author's Guild plight in this case, and I hope it's none of the authors I like to read.

    There are times when special needs should have special rules. Finding the happy medium could prove to be a chore.

    I haven't read enough on the Wizards of the Coast or Google News and AP to comment those. I will try to make it back to check those out.

    Good post! Thanks for sharing,
    Patti
  • The Kindle issue is frustrating to us copyright types. Most seem to agree that the Author's Guild went out on very thin ice legally when they made their case against the text to speech feature of the Kindle and Amazon caved, not because they were in the legal wrong, but because they needed the AG to keep selling eBooks.

    I agree with you on the Kindle issue. But this one was settled more out of politics than out of legalities. Always frustrating.
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