3 Count: ACTA Coming

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1: ACTA Will Be Signed Saturday, US and Japan Say

First off today, representatives from U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland will be in Japan Saturday to sign the controversial ACTA treaty. The treaty, which standardizes both civil and criminal enforcement of copyright and trademark, has drawn controversy from when negotiations first started due, in large part, to its secretive drafting process and that it was drafted outside of existing trade organizations. However, other reports indicate the the EU will not be signing the agreement at this event, due to the fact it has additional steps to take to approve its signing. The treaty will remain open for signing until May 1, 2013.

2: Righthaven Copyright Suits Tossed in Colorado, Too

Next up today, Righthaven, the organization that has been suing websites over content allegedly copied from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, has had its cases in Colorado dismissed. The Colorado judge, following the lead of his Las Vegas counterpart, ruled that Righthaven did not have grounds to sue as its agreement with the Denver Post only granted it the “right to sue”, which does not exist in copyright law. The Denver Post has already terminated Righthaven’s contract and Righthaven is also fighting a $34,000 judgment against them in a similar case in Las Vegas.

3: Princeton Bans Academics From Handing All Copyright to Journal Publishers

Finally today, Princeton University, in a bid to promote greater access to academic research, has barred its professors from handing over all copyrights to journal publishers, save in cases where a waiver is granted. Its new open access policy gives the university the “nonexclusive right to make available copies of scholarly articles written by its faculty”. Professors can continue to publish research on their sites, the university’s site and other not-for-fee venues.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will 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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