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Friday, May 09, 2008--Andis Kaulins [5/09/2008 01:53:00 PM] - Home
J.K. Rowling Rightly Wins Child Privacy Case in the United Kingdom Pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
"J.K. Rowling didn't need the Dark Arts to make the paparazzi go poof", writes Gina Serpe at Yahoo! TV.
We have previously posted on the J.K. Rowling copyright infringement case, taking the opposing side, so it is only fair that we post about this litigated privacy case which Rowling (using her real name Joanne Murray) has now won in the United Kingdom, rightly so in our opinion.
The ruling in the case (David Murray (by his litigation friends Neil Murray and Joanne Murray) v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 446) by the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) involves an interpretation of the concept of the reasonable expectation of privacy of children according to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which provides:
"Article 8 Right to respect for private and family life
1 Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home
and his correspondence.
2 There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of
this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary
in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety
or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder
or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of
the rights and freedoms of others."
In the case at hand, the Murrays ("Rowlings") brought an action against the journalistic publication of a covert long lens photograph taken of Rowling and her husband together with their then ca. 19-month old son David as they were walking from their dwelling to a cafe. (David was born on 23 March 2003. The photograph was taken on 8 November 2004. Some sources thus say 19 months while others write 20 months.)
The High Court granted summary judgment against the Rowlings, denying that their child's right of privacy was infringed by publication of the photograph.
The England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) has now overturned that decision.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal ruled to the contrary that the case should should go to trial (or be settled), since the challenged publication of the photograph in question without consent was indeed a violation of the reasonably expected privacy right of the child under the clear circumstances of this case (a right which existed regardless of the public fame of one of the parents).
Out-Law.com writes:
"There have been some fears in recent privacy cases that courts were creating an image right, the right of celebrities to exert control in all circumstances of how their image is captured and used. Sir Anthony [Sir Anthony Clarke MR] said that this was not the aim and would not be the result of this ruling....
The ruling said: "We do not think that the reality is that the parents seek through their son to establish a right to personal privacy for themselves and their children when engaged in ordinary family activities. […] it seems to us that David may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in circumstances in which his famous mother might not."
The Court of Appeals stated:
"We do not share the predisposition identified by the judge in [66] that routine acts such as a visit to a shop or a ride on a bus should not attract any reasonable expectation of privacy. All depends upon the circumstances. The position of an adult may be very different from that of a child. In this appeal we are concerned only with the question whether David, as a small child, had a reasonable expectation of privacy, not with the question whether his parents would have had such an expectation. Moreover, we are concerned with the context of this case, which was not for example a single photograph taken of David which was for some reason subsequently published.
It seems to us that, subject to the facts of the particular case, the law should indeed protect children from intrusive media attention, at any rate to the extent of holding that a child has a reasonable expectation that he or she will not be targeted in order to obtain photographs in a public place for publication which the person who took or procured the taking of the photographs knew would be objected to on behalf of the child. That is the context in which the photographs of David were taken. [emphasis added by LawPundit]
It is important to note that so to hold does not mean that the child will have, as the judge puts it in [66], a guarantee of privacy. To hold that the child has a reasonable expectation of privacy is only the first step. Then comes the balance which must be struck between the child's rights to respect for his or her private life under article 8 and the publisher's rights to freedom of expression under article 10...."
Obviously, based on that discussion, Rowling has won the case and the defendants will have little option but to settle the case in her favor. Moreover, the case will surely be a landmark case in protecting the privacy rights of children, at least in the United Kingdom.
We definitely approve.
Hat tip to Out-Law.com, where interested readers can find more material on the ruling, also concerning how the Rowling privacy ruling bolsters the [Information] Commissioner's view of data protection law.
See IPKat
See also RangeFinderForum.com
See also Chris Cheesman at AmateurPhotographer.co.uk
J.K. Rowling Rightly Wins Child Privacy Case in the United Kingdom Pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
"J.K. Rowling didn't need the Dark Arts to make the paparazzi go poof", writes Gina Serpe at Yahoo! TV.
We have previously posted on the J.K. Rowling copyright infringement case, taking the opposing side, so it is only fair that we post about this litigated privacy case which Rowling (using her real name Joanne Murray) has now won in the United Kingdom, rightly so in our opinion.
The ruling in the case (David Murray (by his litigation friends Neil Murray and Joanne Murray) v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 446) by the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) involves an interpretation of the concept of the reasonable expectation of privacy of children according to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which provides:
"Article 8 Right to respect for private and family life
1 Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home
and his correspondence.
2 There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of
this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary
in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety
or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder
or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of
the rights and freedoms of others."
In the case at hand, the Murrays ("Rowlings") brought an action against the journalistic publication of a covert long lens photograph taken of Rowling and her husband together with their then ca. 19-month old son David as they were walking from their dwelling to a cafe. (David was born on 23 March 2003. The photograph was taken on 8 November 2004. Some sources thus say 19 months while others write 20 months.)
The High Court granted summary judgment against the Rowlings, denying that their child's right of privacy was infringed by publication of the photograph.
The England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) has now overturned that decision.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal ruled to the contrary that the case should should go to trial (or be settled), since the challenged publication of the photograph in question without consent was indeed a violation of the reasonably expected privacy right of the child under the clear circumstances of this case (a right which existed regardless of the public fame of one of the parents).
Out-Law.com writes:
"There have been some fears in recent privacy cases that courts were creating an image right, the right of celebrities to exert control in all circumstances of how their image is captured and used. Sir Anthony [Sir Anthony Clarke MR] said that this was not the aim and would not be the result of this ruling....
The ruling said: "We do not think that the reality is that the parents seek through their son to establish a right to personal privacy for themselves and their children when engaged in ordinary family activities. […] it seems to us that David may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in circumstances in which his famous mother might not."
The Court of Appeals stated:
"We do not share the predisposition identified by the judge in [66] that routine acts such as a visit to a shop or a ride on a bus should not attract any reasonable expectation of privacy. All depends upon the circumstances. The position of an adult may be very different from that of a child. In this appeal we are concerned only with the question whether David, as a small child, had a reasonable expectation of privacy, not with the question whether his parents would have had such an expectation. Moreover, we are concerned with the context of this case, which was not for example a single photograph taken of David which was for some reason subsequently published.
It seems to us that, subject to the facts of the particular case, the law should indeed protect children from intrusive media attention, at any rate to the extent of holding that a child has a reasonable expectation that he or she will not be targeted in order to obtain photographs in a public place for publication which the person who took or procured the taking of the photographs knew would be objected to on behalf of the child. That is the context in which the photographs of David were taken. [emphasis added by LawPundit]
It is important to note that so to hold does not mean that the child will have, as the judge puts it in [66], a guarantee of privacy. To hold that the child has a reasonable expectation of privacy is only the first step. Then comes the balance which must be struck between the child's rights to respect for his or her private life under article 8 and the publisher's rights to freedom of expression under article 10...."
Obviously, based on that discussion, Rowling has won the case and the defendants will have little option but to settle the case in her favor. Moreover, the case will surely be a landmark case in protecting the privacy rights of children, at least in the United Kingdom.
We definitely approve.
Hat tip to Out-Law.com, where interested readers can find more material on the ruling, also concerning how the Rowling privacy ruling bolsters the [Information] Commissioner's view of data protection law.
See IPKat
See also RangeFinderForum.com
See also Chris Cheesman at AmateurPhotographer.co.uk
Permalink
Wednesday, May 07, 2008--Andis Kaulins [5/07/2008 10:56:00 PM] - Home
A New Husker : Mount Union Cornerbacks Coach Ross Watson Joins Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Program as a Graduate Assistant on Defense
If you are a Husker football fan, as we are, you have to love this.
Ross Watson, who was the cornerbacks coach for the fabled Mount Union football team the past two years, joined the Nebraska football program in March, 2008 as a graduate assistant on defense.
We have previously posted at length about the unprecedented "culture of excellence" that Larry Kehres has instituted at Mount Union and hope that some of that philosophy - through Watson - rubs off on Bo Pelini's Cornhuskers in the upcoming 2008 football season. Only four months to go....
With hires like this, Nebraska is on the path to return to the exemplary greatness that once marked the Husker football program.
A New Husker : Mount Union Cornerbacks Coach Ross Watson Joins Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Program as a Graduate Assistant on Defense
If you are a Husker football fan, as we are, you have to love this.
Ross Watson, who was the cornerbacks coach for the fabled Mount Union football team the past two years, joined the Nebraska football program in March, 2008 as a graduate assistant on defense.
We have previously posted at length about the unprecedented "culture of excellence" that Larry Kehres has instituted at Mount Union and hope that some of that philosophy - through Watson - rubs off on Bo Pelini's Cornhuskers in the upcoming 2008 football season. Only four months to go....
With hires like this, Nebraska is on the path to return to the exemplary greatness that once marked the Husker football program.
Andis Kaulins [5/07/2008 10:58:00 AM] - Home
Global Warming Is Probably Not Man-Made but Rather Caused by a Solar Cycle : Also the Solar System is Experiencing Global Warming
The Foundation for the Study of Cycles, founded by Edward R. Dewey, of which we were a contributing member* many years ago, studied long-term and short-term cycles of all kinds, including solar cycles, which we - already 30 years ago - saw as a key to understanding various cyclic fluctuations in nature and in human society.
We noticed years ago that it was not just our own planet Earth that showed evidence of global warming but also the planet Mars, a confluence of planetary melts which suggested to us then that a solar (sun-caused) explanation of some kind was likely.
We have now run across a February 28, 2007 article at National Geographic News by Kate Ravilious titled Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says, where Ravilious wrote:
"In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said."
See also Russia Blog for a comment on the article.
A solar explanation is to our mind far more sensible than the far-fetched theories (e.g. orbital forcing) being propagated by some mainstream scientists that cycles in planetary ice ages are caused by minimal changes in the wobble of a planet's orbit and tilt. We might rightly call this farcical theory of mainstream science "The Tilted Very Wobbly Theory of Climate Change".
The trouble with this wobbly and surely incorrect theory is that global warming appears to be hitting the entire solar system, not just Mars. As written at Live Science by Ker Than in Sun Blamed for Warming of Earth and Other Worlds:
"Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University who monitors studies and news reports of asteroids, global warming and other potentially apocalyptic topics, recently quoted in his daily electronic newsletter the following from a blog called Strata-Sphere:
The alternative - equally unsubstantiated - notion that man is primarily responsible for global warming fails to explain, for example, why Lake Baikal, the greatest repository of fresh water in the world, has been experiencing a temperature increase over the last 137 years, far longer than can be explained by man-made causes. Rising lake temperatures over such a long period of time suggest a bigger influence than man's humble changes to the environment. Man again, elevates himself above nature here, which is often a mistake. Indeed, most people, in mainstream science and out, have simply been "brainwashed" by wobbly orbits or man-made climate change theory and thus are not open to contrary discussion.
We find Abdussamatov's thesis - contrary to the very weak science against the theory - to be much more plausible in looking to long-term cycles in solar activity as the primary cause for a global warming which has hit not just Earth but the rest of our Solar System. Just look at these photos of sun cycles and read these pages about how the Sun works. It is quite clear that when the Sun is in a periodic "glowing" phase, the entire solar system must heat up fairly quickly. Earth is a mere speck of dust as compared to the size and impact of the Sun.
Indeed, the existence of solar cycles is undisputed, and no one doubts that these cycles affect the climate:
1. Long-term Variability in the Length of the Solar Cycle
by Michael L. Rogers and Mercedes T. Richards, Penn State University
2. THE SOLAR WOLF-GLEISSBERG CYCLE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE
EARTH by Shahinaz M. Yousef, Astronomy & Meteorology Dept., Faculty of Science, Cairo University
3. Radiocarbon content variations and Maunder Minimum of solar activity
The question is one of degree - literally - which the mainstream scientists are currently incompetent to measure accurately. In our view, longer-term cycles such as the ice ages will be related to longer-term solar cycles covering thousands of years.
Comments on this topic by others:
UnSpace cited in more detail to Abdussamatov's findings as follows:
"Today, I was able to find the book "Multi-Wavelength Investigations of Solar Activity: Proceedings of the 223th [i.e. rd] Symposium of the International Astronomical Union Held in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 14-19, 2004," edited by Alexander V. Stepanov, Elena E. Benevolenskaya and Alexander G Kosovichev. Pages 541-542 had the article "About the long-term coordinated variations of the activity, radius, total irradiance of the Sun and the Earth’s climate" by Habibullo I. Abdussamatov,1 Pulkovo Observatory, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
National Post
__________
* If you read my 1975 article "The Kondratiev Cycle and Saros Cycle in Eminent Births 1700-1800 : Compared to Prices in Southern England for the Same Period"
here is why grain prices, for example, and solar activity are causally related, in plain common sense, as found at JoeCobb.com:
"Two centuries ago, the astronomer William Herschel was reading Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations when he noticed that quoted grain prices fell when the number of sunspots rose. Gales of laughter ensued, but he was right. At solar maxima, when the sun was at its hottest and sunspots showed, temperature was warmer, grain grew faster and prices fell. Such observations show that even small solar changes affect climate detectably. But recent solar changes have been big."
Update:
Read also this recent article (May 1, 2008) in the New York Times by Andrew C. Revkin
In a New Climate Model, Short-Term Cooling in a Warmer World
and the various related articles linked at that web page, e.g.
the New York Times Global Warming page.
See also the Tom Nelson anti - Global Warming blog, which is giving us a bit of traffic, thank you.
Global Warming Is Probably Not Man-Made but Rather Caused by a Solar Cycle : Also the Solar System is Experiencing Global Warming
The Foundation for the Study of Cycles, founded by Edward R. Dewey, of which we were a contributing member* many years ago, studied long-term and short-term cycles of all kinds, including solar cycles, which we - already 30 years ago - saw as a key to understanding various cyclic fluctuations in nature and in human society.
We noticed years ago that it was not just our own planet Earth that showed evidence of global warming but also the planet Mars, a confluence of planetary melts which suggested to us then that a solar (sun-caused) explanation of some kind was likely.
We have now run across a February 28, 2007 article at National Geographic News by Kate Ravilious titled Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says, where Ravilious wrote:
"In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said."
See also Russia Blog for a comment on the article.
A solar explanation is to our mind far more sensible than the far-fetched theories (e.g. orbital forcing) being propagated by some mainstream scientists that cycles in planetary ice ages are caused by minimal changes in the wobble of a planet's orbit and tilt. We might rightly call this farcical theory of mainstream science "The Tilted Very Wobbly Theory of Climate Change".
The trouble with this wobbly and surely incorrect theory is that global warming appears to be hitting the entire solar system, not just Mars. As written at Live Science by Ker Than in Sun Blamed for Warming of Earth and Other Worlds:
"Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University who monitors studies and news reports of asteroids, global warming and other potentially apocalyptic topics, recently quoted in his daily electronic newsletter the following from a blog called Strata-Sphere:
“Global warming on Neptune's moon Triton as well as Jupiter and Pluto, and now Mars has some [scientists] scratching their heads over what could possibly be in common with the warming of all these planets ... Could there be something in common with all the planets in our solar system that might cause them all to warm at the same time?”"
The alternative - equally unsubstantiated - notion that man is primarily responsible for global warming fails to explain, for example, why Lake Baikal, the greatest repository of fresh water in the world, has been experiencing a temperature increase over the last 137 years, far longer than can be explained by man-made causes. Rising lake temperatures over such a long period of time suggest a bigger influence than man's humble changes to the environment. Man again, elevates himself above nature here, which is often a mistake. Indeed, most people, in mainstream science and out, have simply been "brainwashed" by wobbly orbits or man-made climate change theory and thus are not open to contrary discussion.
We find Abdussamatov's thesis - contrary to the very weak science against the theory - to be much more plausible in looking to long-term cycles in solar activity as the primary cause for a global warming which has hit not just Earth but the rest of our Solar System. Just look at these photos of sun cycles and read these pages about how the Sun works. It is quite clear that when the Sun is in a periodic "glowing" phase, the entire solar system must heat up fairly quickly. Earth is a mere speck of dust as compared to the size and impact of the Sun.
Indeed, the existence of solar cycles is undisputed, and no one doubts that these cycles affect the climate:
1. Long-term Variability in the Length of the Solar Cycle
by Michael L. Rogers and Mercedes T. Richards, Penn State University
2. THE SOLAR WOLF-GLEISSBERG CYCLE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE
EARTH by Shahinaz M. Yousef, Astronomy & Meteorology Dept., Faculty of Science, Cairo University
3. Radiocarbon content variations and Maunder Minimum of solar activity
The question is one of degree - literally - which the mainstream scientists are currently incompetent to measure accurately. In our view, longer-term cycles such as the ice ages will be related to longer-term solar cycles covering thousands of years.
Comments on this topic by others:
UnSpace cited in more detail to Abdussamatov's findings as follows:
"Today, I was able to find the book "Multi-Wavelength Investigations of Solar Activity: Proceedings of the 223th [i.e. rd] Symposium of the International Astronomical Union Held in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 14-19, 2004," edited by Alexander V. Stepanov, Elena E. Benevolenskaya and Alexander G Kosovichev. Pages 541-542 had the article "About the long-term coordinated variations of the activity, radius, total irradiance of the Sun and the Earth’s climate" by Habibullo I. Abdussamatov,1 Pulkovo Observatory, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
I found the following quote to sum up the essential arguments presented:
""Moreover, according to the data of Borisenkov (1988)2, in each of the 18 deep Maunder-type minima of solar activity, revealed over the span of the last 7500 years, the cooling of climate had been observed, while warming occurred during the periods of high maxima. Thus, the integral radiation has always been essentially higher at the maximum, and it had noticeably decreased at the minima. Therefore, quasi-periodic variations of the solar activity during both the 11-year cycle and 80- and 100-year cycles are accompanied by proportional variations of the integral flux of solar radiation, which result in geophysical effects. (p. 541)"
National Post
__________
* If you read my 1975 article "The Kondratiev Cycle and Saros Cycle in Eminent Births 1700-1800 : Compared to Prices in Southern England for the Same Period"
here is why grain prices, for example, and solar activity are causally related, in plain common sense, as found at JoeCobb.com:
"Two centuries ago, the astronomer William Herschel was reading Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations when he noticed that quoted grain prices fell when the number of sunspots rose. Gales of laughter ensued, but he was right. At solar maxima, when the sun was at its hottest and sunspots showed, temperature was warmer, grain grew faster and prices fell. Such observations show that even small solar changes affect climate detectably. But recent solar changes have been big."
Update:
Read also this recent article (May 1, 2008) in the New York Times by Andrew C. Revkin
In a New Climate Model, Short-Term Cooling in a Warmer World
and the various related articles linked at that web page, e.g.
the New York Times Global Warming page.
See also the Tom Nelson anti - Global Warming blog, which is giving us a bit of traffic, thank you.
Sunday, May 04, 2008--Andis Kaulins [5/04/2008 09:14:00 PM] - Home
Patent Webinar on May 13, 2008 with the U.S. Commissioner for Patents
Philip Brooks' Patent Infringement Updates alerts us to an upcoming patent webinar on May 13, 2008 with the U.S. Commissioner for Patents, John J. Doll.
Patent Webinar on May 13, 2008 with the U.S. Commissioner for Patents
Philip Brooks' Patent Infringement Updates alerts us to an upcoming patent webinar on May 13, 2008 with the U.S. Commissioner for Patents, John J. Doll.
Andis Kaulins [5/04/2008 09:07:00 PM] - Home
European Union Lisbon Reform Treaty : Consolidated EU Version in All Official Languages
EU Law Blog has a posting linking to the newly released consolidated European Union Treaty which incorporates the amendments made by the Lisbon Reform-Treaty (.pdf and Word formats).
European Union Lisbon Reform Treaty : Consolidated EU Version in All Official Languages
EU Law Blog has a posting linking to the newly released consolidated European Union Treaty which incorporates the amendments made by the Lisbon Reform-Treaty (.pdf and Word formats).
Andis Kaulins [5/04/2008 11:12:00 AM] - Home
The Harry Potter Legal Saga : To Whom Do the Characters Truly Belong?
We have been in England and Scotland for several weeks, including a visit to Alnwick (pronounced "Anick" in England), the location inter alia of the Alnwick Garden and the Alnwick Castle, a Harry Potter film location.
Speaking of Harry Potter, the current issue of Law@Stanford writes:
""POTTER TRIAL: ON LAST DAY, DEFENSE OUTSHINES ROWLING"
The Harry Potter Lexicon trial, in which the law school's Fair Use Project (FUP) defended a book publisher against a copyright lawsuit brought by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros., was covered by the "New York Times," "Associated Press," "CNN," and many others. The "Wall Street Journal" "blogged" the trial, including FUP Executive Director Anthony Falzone's closing arguments, on its law blog. [Subscription may be required.]"
We posted recently at Literary Pundit about that J.K. Rowling copyright case, a posting which engendered the following comment:
"Macklin said... we replied to that comment:
"Please note that I use the term "Harry Potter" in this posting and that it is completely legal for me to do so. That already reveals to us an important legal principle.
J.K. Rowling makes a significant error in thinking that her characters "belong" to her only, as she has allegedly stated.
They belonged solely to her only as long as she kept them private and unpublished.
Once she published them - and for magnificent profit at that - the characters entered society. People buy her books, if you will, to enter "her" previously private fantasy world. She reveals her private world and they pay for it - it is a strict economic trade-off. Once they have read her books, those characters become a part of their lives too, and copyright law can not change that fact.
If, for example, I were to write a book on the influence of the Harry Potter books and the characters in them on my life, there is nothing that J.K. Rowling could do to stop it. It is my life and if she has published books that I have read and that have had an influence on me, I can write about them, mentioning characters and episodes in those books that were of importance to me. This would be called a "transformative" use of any of J.K. Rowling's materials.
Publications such as compilations, lexicons, encyclopedias, etc. are other means by which people deal with materials to which they and others have been exposed and which have had a significant impact on them or others. Without such (legally) transformative reference materials, our fiction and non-fiction world would be a T.S. Eliot wasteland. Literature lives on not only because it is read, but because it is discussed, cited, mentioned, referred to, compiled, abstracted, etc. in myriad forms.
In my opinion, Rowling and many other copyright and patent holders have a confused sense of our copyright and patent laws, thinking that these laws give them absolute control over their creations.
No one denies that it would be a flagrant copyright violation to copy a Harry Potter novel and sell it as "pirate" ware or under another author's name. But that is not the issue here.
Rather, Rowling is claiming that only SHE has the right to put out a lexicon about her books, from her point of view.
In my opinion, the law must resist this kind of control over human thought at every cost. No one prohibits Rowling from turning out her own lexicon, but she should not be allowed to prohibit others from doing so.
In the old Soviet Union, there was only one kind of truth, the kind found in Pravda. In J.K. Rowling's world, apparently only her own lexicon would be the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Sorry, but that is not a world that I want, and that is not a world envisioned by the copyright laws."
The Harry Potter Legal Saga : To Whom Do the Characters Truly Belong?
We have been in England and Scotland for several weeks, including a visit to Alnwick (pronounced "Anick" in England), the location inter alia of the Alnwick Garden and the Alnwick Castle, a Harry Potter film location.
Speaking of Harry Potter, the current issue of Law@Stanford writes:
""POTTER TRIAL: ON LAST DAY, DEFENSE OUTSHINES ROWLING"
The Harry Potter Lexicon trial, in which the law school's Fair Use Project (FUP) defended a book publisher against a copyright lawsuit brought by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros., was covered by the "New York Times," "Associated Press," "CNN," and many others. The "Wall Street Journal" "blogged" the trial, including FUP Executive Director Anthony Falzone's closing arguments, on its law blog. [Subscription may be required.]"
We posted recently at Literary Pundit about that J.K. Rowling copyright case, a posting which engendered the following comment:
"Macklin said... we replied to that comment:
"Please note that I use the term "Harry Potter" in this posting and that it is completely legal for me to do so. That already reveals to us an important legal principle.
J.K. Rowling makes a significant error in thinking that her characters "belong" to her only, as she has allegedly stated.
They belonged solely to her only as long as she kept them private and unpublished.
Once she published them - and for magnificent profit at that - the characters entered society. People buy her books, if you will, to enter "her" previously private fantasy world. She reveals her private world and they pay for it - it is a strict economic trade-off. Once they have read her books, those characters become a part of their lives too, and copyright law can not change that fact.
If, for example, I were to write a book on the influence of the Harry Potter books and the characters in them on my life, there is nothing that J.K. Rowling could do to stop it. It is my life and if she has published books that I have read and that have had an influence on me, I can write about them, mentioning characters and episodes in those books that were of importance to me. This would be called a "transformative" use of any of J.K. Rowling's materials.
Publications such as compilations, lexicons, encyclopedias, etc. are other means by which people deal with materials to which they and others have been exposed and which have had a significant impact on them or others. Without such (legally) transformative reference materials, our fiction and non-fiction world would be a T.S. Eliot wasteland. Literature lives on not only because it is read, but because it is discussed, cited, mentioned, referred to, compiled, abstracted, etc. in myriad forms.
In my opinion, Rowling and many other copyright and patent holders have a confused sense of our copyright and patent laws, thinking that these laws give them absolute control over their creations.
No one denies that it would be a flagrant copyright violation to copy a Harry Potter novel and sell it as "pirate" ware or under another author's name. But that is not the issue here.
Rather, Rowling is claiming that only SHE has the right to put out a lexicon about her books, from her point of view.
In my opinion, the law must resist this kind of control over human thought at every cost. No one prohibits Rowling from turning out her own lexicon, but she should not be allowed to prohibit others from doing so.
In the old Soviet Union, there was only one kind of truth, the kind found in Pravda. In J.K. Rowling's world, apparently only her own lexicon would be the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Sorry, but that is not a world that I want, and that is not a world envisioned by the copyright laws."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008--Andis Kaulins [4/15/2008 05:31:00 PM] - Home
Give Me Back My Love by Maywood and Other Great Songs : Late at Night, Rio, I'm in Love for the Very First Time : Dynamic Music Sung in Fabulous Voice
We heard the wonderful song Give Me Back My Love on the radio this week for the first time ever, listening by chance to a schmalzy station that we generally ignore (SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz), and were knocked over by the music and the voice of this fantastic song.
How great was our astonishment to find out that Give Me Back My Love by the group Maywood in the album Maywood was recorded way back in 1980 (see the lyrics at their site under Discography, World Wide, Germany, Maywood, Label CNR, Catalogue no. 0030.354.)
Why had we never heard this song anywhere before?
As we read in the biography at the official Maywood website, Maywood's Give Me Back My Love hit gold status in the Netherlands and Sweden but somehow escaped greater fame.
We definitely would put this song on our all-time Top Ten list of songs.
Absolutely fabulous.
Take a listen....
And, after some research, here is another song, by both Maywoods. Spectacularly good.
Maybe even better, at least optically for sure, than the first....
Late at Night....
Listen, Maywood...is superb, superb!
Update: OK, I'm hooked on these ladies. How about this vibrant song Rio (1981):
and, what can you say about this heart-to-heart song ...
I'm in Love for the Very First Time
For us, it is an Alice May and Caren Wood revival. MayWood. Beautiful.
Give Me Back My Love by Maywood and Other Great Songs : Late at Night, Rio, I'm in Love for the Very First Time : Dynamic Music Sung in Fabulous Voice
We heard the wonderful song Give Me Back My Love on the radio this week for the first time ever, listening by chance to a schmalzy station that we generally ignore (SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz), and were knocked over by the music and the voice of this fantastic song.
How great was our astonishment to find out that Give Me Back My Love by the group Maywood in the album Maywood was recorded way back in 1980 (see the lyrics at their site under Discography, World Wide, Germany, Maywood, Label CNR, Catalogue no. 0030.354.)
Why had we never heard this song anywhere before?
As we read in the biography at the official Maywood website, Maywood's Give Me Back My Love hit gold status in the Netherlands and Sweden but somehow escaped greater fame.
We definitely would put this song on our all-time Top Ten list of songs.
Absolutely fabulous.
Take a listen....
And, after some research, here is another song, by both Maywoods. Spectacularly good.
Maybe even better, at least optically for sure, than the first....
Late at Night....
Listen, Maywood...is superb, superb!
Update: OK, I'm hooked on these ladies. How about this vibrant song Rio (1981):
and, what can you say about this heart-to-heart song ...
I'm in Love for the Very First Time
For us, it is an Alice May and Caren Wood revival. MayWood. Beautiful.
Andis Kaulins [4/15/2008 01:27:00 PM] - Home
The Upcoming 2008 NFL Draft : Top Football Players from Smaller Schools May Be Surprisingly High Draft Picks
In the upcoming 2008 NFL Draft, the players from small schools that we would consider as potential high draft picks are:
1. Tyrell Johnson, Strong Safety, Arkansas State.
Johnson has great strength and agility, excellent speed, and is one of those players who has the instinct and desire which puts them in the right place at the right time in critical game situations. Johnson looks like a future Pro Bowl prospect to us.
see
Doug Farrar at Scout.com and his article Tyrell Johnson : Forgotten Man Gains Ground
Frank Cooney's NFL Draft Scout - Ratings
Frank Cooney's NFL Draft Scout- Combine
NFL Smackdown
2. Brian Johnston, Defensive End, Gardner-Webb.
Johnston has great speed for his size, and was often double-teamed in college ball. He may be a number one pick for a team needing a defensive end.
see
NFL Draft Guys
NFL Draft Dog
3. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cornerback, Tennessee State (born in Bradenton, Florida)
Many in fact see Rodgers-Cromatie as a first-round draft pick.
see
NFL Draft Countdown
NFL Draft Watch
NFL Insider NFL Draft Tracker
We are also interested to see if the following small college running backs, both originally out of Nebraska, will be drafted, and if so, in which round:
Danny Woodhead, Chadron State
see
NFL Draft Countdown
NFL Draft Watch
and
Xavier Omon, Northwest Missouri State (out of Beatrice, Nebraska)
Omon has the better size and weight for pro ball but is slower than Woodhead as an RB. Woodhead has lightning speed in all directions, but with size and weight normally considered too small for pro ball.
However, Woodhead is bigger and faster than Darren Sproles, and is about the same size and speed as Maruice Jones-Drew, both of whom have been quite successful in the NFL, and Woodhead has better combine-type stats at all levels than Sproles, so that we expect someone to take him in the draft as a return man for special teams.
Omon was the MVP in the Texas v. The Nation Game, a performance which we think will move him into a draft position rather than the otherwise expected free agent status.
The Upcoming 2008 NFL Draft : Top Football Players from Smaller Schools May Be Surprisingly High Draft Picks
In the upcoming 2008 NFL Draft, the players from small schools that we would consider as potential high draft picks are:
1. Tyrell Johnson, Strong Safety, Arkansas State.
Johnson has great strength and agility, excellent speed, and is one of those players who has the instinct and desire which puts them in the right place at the right time in critical game situations. Johnson looks like a future Pro Bowl prospect to us.
see
Doug Farrar at Scout.com and his article Tyrell Johnson : Forgotten Man Gains Ground
Frank Cooney's NFL Draft Scout - Ratings
Frank Cooney's NFL Draft Scout- Combine
NFL Smackdown
2. Brian Johnston, Defensive End, Gardner-Webb.
Johnston has great speed for his size, and was often double-teamed in college ball. He may be a number one pick for a team needing a defensive end.
see
NFL Draft Guys
NFL Draft Dog
3. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cornerback, Tennessee State (born in Bradenton, Florida)
Many in fact see Rodgers-Cromatie as a first-round draft pick.
see
NFL Draft Countdown
NFL Draft Watch
NFL Insider NFL Draft Tracker
We are also interested to see if the following small college running backs, both originally out of Nebraska, will be drafted, and if so, in which round:
Danny Woodhead, Chadron State
see
NFL Draft Countdown
NFL Draft Watch
and
Xavier Omon, Northwest Missouri State (out of Beatrice, Nebraska)
Omon has the better size and weight for pro ball but is slower than Woodhead as an RB. Woodhead has lightning speed in all directions, but with size and weight normally considered too small for pro ball.
However, Woodhead is bigger and faster than Darren Sproles, and is about the same size and speed as Maruice Jones-Drew, both of whom have been quite successful in the NFL, and Woodhead has better combine-type stats at all levels than Sproles, so that we expect someone to take him in the draft as a return man for special teams.
Omon was the MVP in the Texas v. The Nation Game, a performance which we think will move him into a draft position rather than the otherwise expected free agent status.
Monday, April 14, 2008--Andis Kaulins [4/14/2008 04:18:00 PM] - Home
Obama Clinton McCain : President and Senators : Not Everyone is a Natural Leader : Barack Obama IS : Hillary Clinton IS NOT : John McCain IS NOT
David Brooks at the New York Times has it right at The Obama-Clinton Issue.
A President is different than a Senator. Great leaders are not groupies.
Almost everyone who views the world realistically, and especially people with any kind of experience in organizations, will surely agree with our observation that leadership potential varies among human beings. Some people have natural leadership talents and are well suited to be "number one", whereas others are best suited to be "number two" or to work together in groups, or, indeed, to work independently. This does not mean that one type of person is better or worse than the other, but it has a great deal to say about who should be where in the organizational state of things.
We shifted our support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama because Obama has natural leadership talents and because Hillary Clinton, as became clear early in the Presidential campaign, does not have these natural leadership talents. Nor is this surprising. It would be remarkable in a marriage if both partners were natural-born leaders. Such people do not often marry each other. In this case, regardless of whatever strengths or weaknesses he may have had as President of the United States, Bill Clinton was a natural born leader, even from his youngest days, but his wife was not. Without Bill, Hillary would never be politically where she is today. She is still riding on Bill's coattails.
A similar difficulty exists with the Presidency of George W. Bush, whose election would have been unthinkable without the previous Presidency of father George H.W. Bush, a natural-born leader, who held all manner of leadership positions from his youngest days, something that can not be said for his son. George W. is still riding on his father's coattails.
John McCain has a similar critical flaw as a Presidential candidate. His status as a war hero and Senator does not make him a natural leader, and he has in fact not shown many leadership traits in his life, outside of war, either as a young man, or now in his older years, although his political skills have definitely improved with age, no question about that.
None of this is to say that George W. Bush is not a fine man (he might be our choice for a golfing buddy), or that Hillary Clinton is not a fine woman (she might be our choice as an intellectual chat buddy) or that John McCain is not a fine man (he might be our choice as a drinking buddy), but being a fine man or woman is not a sufficient qualification by itself for leading a great country forward into better times than it is now experiencing. There has to be more.
Contrary to some opinions, it is also quite clear that leadership ability is something conceptually different than experience, otherwise we could just always select people with the most experience to run things, but that is not the way the world works.
Take a look at these definitions of leadership at Google.
Which candidate best fits those definitions? and remember that the answer has little to do with race, religion, gender or political party. It has to do with ability.
Be honest, which Presidential candidate has those leadership qualifications?
We think in this election that the answer is clear.
Obama Clinton McCain : President and Senators : Not Everyone is a Natural Leader : Barack Obama IS : Hillary Clinton IS NOT : John McCain IS NOT
David Brooks at the New York Times has it right at The Obama-Clinton Issue.
A President is different than a Senator. Great leaders are not groupies.
Almost everyone who views the world realistically, and especially people with any kind of experience in organizations, will surely agree with our observation that leadership potential varies among human beings. Some people have natural leadership talents and are well suited to be "number one", whereas others are best suited to be "number two" or to work together in groups, or, indeed, to work independently. This does not mean that one type of person is better or worse than the other, but it has a great deal to say about who should be where in the organizational state of things.
We shifted our support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama because Obama has natural leadership talents and because Hillary Clinton, as became clear early in the Presidential campaign, does not have these natural leadership talents. Nor is this surprising. It would be remarkable in a marriage if both partners were natural-born leaders. Such people do not often marry each other. In this case, regardless of whatever strengths or weaknesses he may have had as President of the United States, Bill Clinton was a natural born leader, even from his youngest days, but his wife was not. Without Bill, Hillary would never be politically where she is today. She is still riding on Bill's coattails.
A similar difficulty exists with the Presidency of George W. Bush, whose election would have been unthinkable without the previous Presidency of father George H.W. Bush, a natural-born leader, who held all manner of leadership positions from his youngest days, something that can not be said for his son. George W. is still riding on his father's coattails.
John McCain has a similar critical flaw as a Presidential candidate. His status as a war hero and Senator does not make him a natural leader, and he has in fact not shown many leadership traits in his life, outside of war, either as a young man, or now in his older years, although his political skills have definitely improved with age, no question about that.
None of this is to say that George W. Bush is not a fine man (he might be our choice for a golfing buddy), or that Hillary Clinton is not a fine woman (she might be our choice as an intellectual chat buddy) or that John McCain is not a fine man (he might be our choice as a drinking buddy), but being a fine man or woman is not a sufficient qualification by itself for leading a great country forward into better times than it is now experiencing. There has to be more.
Contrary to some opinions, it is also quite clear that leadership ability is something conceptually different than experience, otherwise we could just always select people with the most experience to run things, but that is not the way the world works.
Take a look at these definitions of leadership at Google.
Which candidate best fits those definitions? and remember that the answer has little to do with race, religion, gender or political party. It has to do with ability.
Be honest, which Presidential candidate has those leadership qualifications?
We think in this election that the answer is clear.
Andis Kaulins [4/14/2008 02:15:00 PM] - Home
Globalization, The Changing World and Legal Order, Private International Law, Territorial Legal Systems, Cyberspace, Choice of Law
Conflict of Laws blog, in association with the Journal of Private International Law and sponsored by Clifford Chance LLP, carries a short article on Reshaping Private International Law in a Changing World by Horatia Muir-Watt, Professor of Private International and Comparative Law at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne).
This atricle raises important issues regarding globalization and the changing modern legal world. Muir-Watt touches upon three main areas:
1. Choice of law and economic due process
2. The “new unilateralism”
3. Conflicts of public law.
She writes in the first paragraph of her article:
"The past few decades have witnessed profound changes in the world order – changes affecting the nature of sovereignty or the significance of territory – which require measuring the methodological impact of political and technological transformations on traditional ways of thinking about allocation of prescriptive and adjudicatory authority as between states. Myriads of issues arise in this respect within the new global environment, such as the extraterritorial reach of regulatory law, the decline of the private/public divide in the international field, the renewed foundations of adjudicatory jurisdiction (particularly in cyberspace), the implications of individual and collective access to justice in the international sphere, the impact of fundamental rights on choice of law, the ability of parties to cross regulatory frontiers and the subsequent transformation of the relationship between law and market. Indeed, one of the most important issues raised by globalization from a private international law perspective is the extent to which private economic actors are now achieving “lift-off” from the sway of territorial legal systems. To some extent, traditional rules on jurisdiction, choice of law and recognition/enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards have favored the undermining of law’s (geographical) empire, which is already threatened by the increasing transparency of national barriers to cross-border trade and investment. Party mobility through choice of law and forum induces a worldwide supply and demand for legal products. When such a market is unregulated, the consequences of such legislative competition may be disastrous."
Read the entire article here.
Hat tip to EU Law Blog.
Globalization, The Changing World and Legal Order, Private International Law, Territorial Legal Systems, Cyberspace, Choice of Law
Conflict of Laws blog, in association with the Journal of Private International Law and sponsored by Clifford Chance LLP, carries a short article on Reshaping Private International Law in a Changing World by Horatia Muir-Watt, Professor of Private International and Comparative Law at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne).
This atricle raises important issues regarding globalization and the changing modern legal world. Muir-Watt touches upon three main areas:
1. Choice of law and economic due process
2. The “new unilateralism”
3. Conflicts of public law.
She writes in the first paragraph of her article:
"The past few decades have witnessed profound changes in the world order – changes affecting the nature of sovereignty or the significance of territory – which require measuring the methodological impact of political and technological transformations on traditional ways of thinking about allocation of prescriptive and adjudicatory authority as between states. Myriads of issues arise in this respect within the new global environment, such as the extraterritorial reach of regulatory law, the decline of the private/public divide in the international field, the renewed foundations of adjudicatory jurisdiction (particularly in cyberspace), the implications of individual and collective access to justice in the international sphere, the impact of fundamental rights on choice of law, the ability of parties to cross regulatory frontiers and the subsequent transformation of the relationship between law and market. Indeed, one of the most important issues raised by globalization from a private international law perspective is the extent to which private economic actors are now achieving “lift-off” from the sway of territorial legal systems. To some extent, traditional rules on jurisdiction, choice of law and recognition/enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards have favored the undermining of law’s (geographical) empire, which is already threatened by the increasing transparency of national barriers to cross-border trade and investment. Party mobility through choice of law and forum induces a worldwide supply and demand for legal products. When such a market is unregulated, the consequences of such legislative competition may be disastrous."
Read the entire article here.
Hat tip to EU Law Blog.
When Steven Vander Ark's publisher, RDR Books, told him it was okay to publish a printed version of Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon Web site, which is largely derived from work by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Vander Ark accepted that without further question and proceeded with the project. That cavalier attitude is no surprise when one considers he had been trying to market this idea to two other publishers.
When did it become okay to lift someone else's copyrighted material and present it as one's own? That's why, “in the name of scholastic pursuit”, I've made a copy of Vander Ark's Web site to use as my own Web site. Oh, it's okay. I've changed the name of the site and reorganized it a little. My version is called Harry Potter's Maxicon. Different enough, right?
Http://www.maxicon.org"