World Governments Accuse Google Of Copyright Infringement

Google HQ

The Chinese, German and French governments have correctly accused Google of copyright infringement, in scanning 10,000,000 books, by authors all over the world, without permission.

Google's book scanning endeavor, has prompted legal action in numerous world courts, as they did not obtain the consent of copyright holders before embarking on this endeavor.

The U.S. Government, by way of the Copyright Office/Library Of Congress, has also denounced Google's book scanning project, stating it took away the rights of copyright holders.

The Judiciary Report agrees that the corporate behemoth, Google, should have obtained the permission of copyright holders, before undertaking this massive project. It unintentionally sent the signal that copyright infringement is okay, when it is not.

Many books now appear on the internet for free and pop up in regular searches on numerous topics and celebrities, eliminating the need to purchase the actual book.

This hurts writers all over the globe, who are not being compensated for their copyrighted works. The proposed Google settlement is too small and accurate records of how many times each scanned book was viewed should be provided to gauge the full extent of the financial damage.

The Judiciary Report is all for progress and technological advancement, believing scanning is a great step forward, but within the scope of the law. Obtain permission first.

Side Bar: Speaking of Google News. Someone removed the Judiciary Report from Google News weeks ago, after it had been accepted in the program with a few news articles from the site beginning to appear in search results in Google News.

Apparently, a certain crazy pop tart, Madonna, was angry the site received additional coverage and in her usual misconduct, violated the Civil Rights Act once again, in having it removed from Google News. Madonna's staff at Digilink pulled a similar stunt with the site's WordPress blog, which was later reinstated - a site Madonna's hackers at Digilink have been tampering with, to obscure the page's text.

China authors say Google violated copyrights

Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:06pm EDT, Saturday, 10 Oct 2009 11:09am EDT - SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A group representing authors in China has accused Google of violating copyrights with its digital library, a claim that Google denies by saying the service complies with international law.

Many major publishers and authors have taken up lawsuits against Google for its digitization of their works, accusing Google of copyright infringement. Google has already digitized 10 million books.

The China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) believes Google scanned thousands of books, by over 500 Chinese authors, into its digital library without their permission or compensation, said spokesman Chen Qirong.

"Whether you are a small company or big company you still need to respect the copyright of the authors," Chen said...

http://www.reuters.com

Google, French publishers face off in court

Thu Sep 24, 2009 1:59pm EDT - PARIS (Reuters) - Major publishers accused Google Thursday of "brutally" exploiting France's literary heritage as they launched a court challenge to the Internet giant's drive to scan digital copies of books and put extracts online.

Publishing house La Martiniere, the French Publishers' Association and authors' group SGDL asked a Paris court to fine Google 15 million euros ($22.09 million) and 100,000 euros for each day it continues to violate copyright by digitizing their books.

The trial caps a three-year challenge to what publishers say is the web giant's 2005 plan to create a massive online library without prior approval.

"It's an anarchic way of brutally stockpiling French heritage," Yann Colin, the publishers' lawyer, told the court.

"Digitizing is reproduction," he added. "Once it is digitized, you can't undo it."...

http://www.reuters.com

Germany criticizes Google for copyright infringement

Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:20am EDT - BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday criticized the efforts of Google Inc to build a massive digital library, saying the Internet should not be exempt from copyright laws.

In her weekly video podcast, before Tuesday's opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Merkel appealed for more international cooperation on copyright protection and said her government opposed Google's drive to scan libraries full of books.

"The German government has a clear position: copyrights have to be protected in the Internet," Merkel said, adding there are "considerable dangers" for copyright protection in the Internet.

"That's why we reject the scanning in of books without any copyright protection -- like Google is doing. The government places a lot of weight on this position on copyrights to protect writers in Germany."

Google has already digitized 10 million books.

Merkel, who will open the world's largest book fair in Germany's financial capital, said there was a need to discuss the issue in greater detail in international institutions...

http://www.reuters.com

Top US copyright cop opposes Google book deal

SAN FRANCISCO — The nation's top copyright official has joined the mounting opposition to a class-action settlement that would give Google Inc. the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books.

Her objections cast further doubt on whether the agreement will be allowed by a federal court, even as Google offered a concession Thursday aimed at smoothing the way for approval.

Parts of the settlement are "fundamentally at odds with the law," Marybeth Peters, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, testified in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday that was webcast. She also expressed concerns that the settlement would undermine Congress' ability to govern copyrights and could have "serious international implications" for books published outside the United States...

"The so-called settlement would create mechanisms by which Google could continue to scan with impunity, well into the future, and to our great surprise, create yet additional commercial products without the prior consent of rights holders," Peters wrote in a more comprehensive written statement submitted to the Judiciary Committee...

The open-ended nature of the settlement is "tantamount to creating a private compulsory license," Peters wrote, something she believes could circumvent the authority of Congress.

http://www.google.com

It's Official - Kanye West Is Crazy

Crackhead Alert!

Kanye West Interrupting singer Taylor Swift's speech

The U.S. government often issues terrorism alerts to warn the public to be vigilant. Well, this website is now issuing a crackhead alert, warning audiences to be vigilant regarding rapper Kanye West and his childish, unnecessary antics.

Yesterday, Kayne West rudely and inexplicably went on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards, interrupting singer Taylor Swift's award acceptance speech, to announce Beyonce's copyright infringing Bob Fosse rip-off video for the track "Single Ladies" was way better than Swift's clip. Beyonce smirked when it happened, but later called Swift on stage when she heard the audience booing West.

Let that sink in, Kanye. Essentially you were telling the world, Beyonce deserved to win an award for a music video she blatantly stole from dance legend, Bob Fosse. Shouldn't Fosse get the award, then. You think about that.

I've stated it before and I shall state it again, white women are nice, because Kanye could not have rolled up to a black woman on stage in that disrespectful manner. Well, he could have, but he'd be in traction in the hospital right now.

Bisexual, Kanye West and his bisexual girlfriend, Amber Rose, apologized to Swift after being booed and escorted out of the building, which sent the rapper and his ego crashing back to Earth.

Kanye was disrespectful and out of line. Over the course of the last year, Swift sold more records than he and Beyonce combined. Yet he took it upon himself to indulge in a tantrum, because Beyonce's husband, Jay-Z signed him to his company Rocafella, which is pure garbage.

Swift, should have rebuffed him when he tried to take the microphone from her, during the middle of her speech and said to him, "Move or I will slap some new lines in your head." That's another thing, Kanye, what's with the Egyptian hieroglyphics hairdo.

West, was asked to leave the VMAs after the incident, as he'd ruined the 19-year-old's acceptance speech. Dude, really believes his own hype, when he can't sing, is an average rapper and very derivative producer.

Really, what were you doing up there. You don't own music. In the grand scheme of things, you will be considered a footnote. Not even Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston or Barbara Streisand would have the right to do what you did to Swift. But then again, they know better than to be so ungracious.

Kanye West outburst rains on Swift's MTV parade

NEW YORK — The MTV Video Music Awards kicked off Sunday with a poignant, tender tribute to fallen icon Michael Jackson, but soon got back into raucous character thanks to Kanye West, who delivered yet another awards show outburst at the expense of country and pop sweetheart Taylor Swift...

West — who has flipped out after losing at the VMAs, the Grammys, the American Music Awards and more — complained again that the wrong person had been awarded a trophy. This time, it was on behalf of Beyonce...

But West ruined her moment when he jumped on stage at Radio City Music Hall...

http://www.google.com

Kanye West Asked To Leave VMAs After Rant Against Taylor Swift

Kanye West was asked to leave Radio City Music Hall not long after he crashed the MTV Video Music Awards stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video.

The rapper rushed onto the stage and immediately protested Swift's win, saying Beyoncé instead deserved the honor.

"I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time," 'Ye proclaimed after he pulled the microphone out of the country star's hands. B looked stunned as she sat by in the audience...

But his verbal attack against Swift had a more vicious tone. According to a tweet from Jay-Z's DJ, Neil Armstrong, Swift and her mother were seen backstage crying afterward...

He was booed again in the show when Diddy announced the nominees for Best Male Video. "What I say?" Diddy asked, as the boos rained down.

West had already left Radio City Music Hall by then, however.

http://www.mtv.com

Kanye West Apologizes To Taylor Swift For VMA Rant

Sep 14 2009 12:22 AM EDT ...At the beginning of the evening, Kanye West stormed the stage just after the first award, for Best Female Video. Taylor Swift won the award, and during her acceptance speech, West abruptly cut the teen singer off, grabbing the mic and protesting in support of Beyoncé, who was also nominated.

"I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time," he proclaimed as B looked on from the crowd, stunned.

Soon afterward, West was escorted from the building...

At around the same time, West took to his blog to deliver one of his familiar all-caps posts (edited into sentence case here) addressing the situation.

"I'm sooooo sorry to Taylor Swift and her fans and her mom," he wrote. "I spoke to her mother right after and she said the same thing my mother would've said. She is very talented! I like the lyrics about being a cheerleader and she's in the bleachers! I'm in the wrong for going on stage and taking away from her moment!

"Beyoncé's video was the best of this decade!!!! I'm sorry to my fans if I let you guys down!!!! I'm sorry to my friends at MTV. I will apologize to Taylor 2mrw. Welcome to the real world!!!! Everybody wanna booooo me but I'm a fan of real pop culture!!! No disrespect but we watchin' the show at the crib right now cause ... well you know!!!! I'm still happy for Taylor!!!! Boooyaaawwww!!!! You are very very talented!!! I gave my awards to Outkast when they deserved it over me ... That's what it is!!!!!!! I'm not crazy y'all, i'm just real. Sorry for that!!! I really feel bad for Taylor and I'm sincerely sorry!!! Much respect!!!!!"

http://www.mtv.com

Alicia Keys Outed For Stealing Music

video link

A video blogger, Alcove, has outed Sony singer and songwriter, Alicia Keys, for stealing music and melodies from 1970s musicians. The clip on Youtube is pretty compelling, if you know the current songs in question, Alicia Keys penned for herself and others, such as Whitney Houston's "Million Dollar Bill."

As I stated last week, Houston's new album contains infringements, such as the song "Salute." Sony engaging in their usual thievery.

All this thievery is so unnecessary. All Keys had to do was license the music, but wanting all the glory, she stole it. It would have looked better than just taking it and pretending their music never existed and you just came up with it on your own.

I also noticed Keys poached "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin for her debut single "Fallin."

How Original Is "Twilight"?

How original is "Twilight"? I ask because of all the plagiarism claims that have surfaced. The most notable are claims regarding the fourth book in Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" installment titled "Breaking Dawn" proving to be a rip off of Jordan Scott's preexisting copyrighted book "The Nocturne."

Previously, the "Twilight" perfume was shown to be a complete rip-off of Nina Ricci's well established fragrance. Therefore, the question is, just how much of this "Twilight" franchise is real and not stolen from someone else's copyrights. It's forming a pattern illustrating something is very wrong.

A lawyer tried to defend Meyer's conduct on the MTV website, regarding stealing the preexisting copyrighted book, by incredulously stating, some items in Scott's book are not uncommon.

Stephanie Meyer

I don't know about you, but a book featuring a woman pregnant with a vampire's seed, that is making her ill, with the baby having to be cut out of the womb and numerous lines of text being lifted from said book verbatim, among other things, is distinct and substantial, as it forms the basis for the work.

Furthermore, as a writer of any caliber, one should be ashamed to admit stealing anything from anyone, then looking for loopholes in Copyright Law to hide behind, as it states you are a fraud.

The internet is a great place, but is has exposed a lot of writers, including myself, to unwanted plagiarism and copyright infringement, by Hollywood stars and so-called writers, hiding behind their computers, while stealing from hardworking people. Who could respect such thievery, as it is ugly and so uncalled for.

Mariah Carey Stealing Perfumes Again

Mariah Carey's new "Forever" perfume

Mariah Carey previously stole her first perfume, turning what was a good, valuable copyrighted product, into devalued, harebrained, distasteful nonsense.

"Still" by Jennifer Lopez - Mariah Carey's ad campaign rips off the theme, dress, hairstyle (era) and sofa with buttons.

Now comes her third fragrance "Forever" and the campaign is a massive rip off of singer Jennifer Lopez's preexisting, years old perfume "Still."

Stephanie Meyer Plagiarized Book

Stephanie Meyer

"Twilight" author Stephanie Meyer, has plagiarized the preexisting, copyrighted book "The Nocturne" by indie writer, Jordan Scott, for her later released, best-selling tome, "Breaking Dawn." It is the fourth book in the "Twilight" series.

Megan Fox and "Twilight" Actor Robert Pattinson at the Teen Choice Awards

She has been sued by a law firm representing Scott, who wrote her book as a teenager, copyrighted it, published excerpts of it on her website, then released it for sale.

Lawyers for Scott prepared a 15-page document that was released to the internet, outlining the similarities. I read the document and agree, there are distinct and substantial similarities that cannot be classified as anything else other than copyright infringement.

For example, Scott's preexisting book "The Nocturne" has a storyline of a woman getting pregnant for a vampire and the child in her womb making her ill. It also contains a post wedding sex scene on the beach. Two years later, Stephanie Meyer's book contains the exact same things. There are other detailed similarities as well.

Meyer clearly read and plagiarized Scott's preexisting book. There are too many distinct duplications for it to be a coincidence. Sometimes authors get writer's block and use other people's work to solve the problem. Meyer, like so many other Hollywood infringers, didn't need the money, but wanted all the glory, cash and credit.

'Twilight' Author Accused of Biting Vampire Story

Posted Aug 4th 2009 10:00AM by TMZ Staff - ...A woman named Jordan Scott fired off a cease and desist letter to the publisher of "Breaking Dawn" -- the fourth book in the series -- claiming the Twilight tale contains a "striking and substantial similarity" to Scott's book, "The Nocturne."

In her extremely detailed letter, Scott claims her book was published in 2006 -- two years before "Breaking Dawn" -- and it's no coincidence that many of the scenes are almost identical. Such as...

-- Both books contain a post-wedding sex scene
-- Both books contain a scene about a woman who's sick because she's carrying a child with "evil powers"
-- Both books contain a scene with the death of the main character's wife

And according to Scott, the dialogue in all of these scenes -- and more -- is extremely similar...

http://www.tmz.com

Sony Suffering Sales Losses

Howard Stringer

Sony and Sony Ericsson continue to suffer massive sales losses, in a terrible financial decline that refuses to abate. Sony's image in the world is so ugly now, people are not inspired to buy from them, due to their dirty corporate practices, such as copyright, patent and trademark infringement.

They've suffered a fresh string of embarrassing losses and defeats recently, posting huge sales declines and having to withdraw some of their product lines, due to the fact people are not buying them.

What is Sony CEO and resident animal's solution to this quagmire, fire more people and force out company junior CEOs, when the problem lays with him, as he is bar none one of the most corrupt, thieving, devious, despicable human beings on the planet. You and Sony are criminals.

Sony Ericsson Reshuffles Leadership, Looks to Tighten Product Line

08/17/09 2:27 PM PT - Executives at both Sony and Ericsson will take new leadership positions at Sony Ericsson, the duo's joint venture in the mobile handheld space. Ericsson's Bert Nordberg will become Sony Ericsson's president upon the retirement of current prez Hideki Komiyama. Meanwhile, Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer will also serve as Sony Ericsson's chairman.

Bert Nordberg, a 14-year veteran of telecom system provider Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) More about Ericsson, has been named president of Sony Ericsson, the firm's joint cellphone venture with the Japanese consumer electronics giant. He'll be succeeding Hideki "Dick" Komiyama, a Sony (NYSE: SNE) More about Sony executive who has led Sony Ericsson More about Sony Ericsson since 2007 and is now headed for retirement.

Nordberg will be co-president of Sony Ericsson -- a new position for the firm -- beginning Sept. 1 and will assume full responsibility on Oct. 15.

In another executive reshuffle, Sony Ericsson has also tapped Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's chairman and chief executive, to take over the chairmanship of the Sony Ericsson board. The role is currently held by Carl-Hendric Svanberg, the Ericsson chief executive, who is in line to become chairman of BP in the United Kingdom.

Although prompted by outside circumstance -- Komiyama's retirement -- the moves may be necessary for the venture to right itself in the face of sharply declining revenues.

Dwindling Commitment?

Sony Ericsson, now in its eighth year, has lost at least US$1 billion in the past 12 months. There have also been questions about the companies' -- particularly Ericsson's -- commitment to the endeavor because of their own recent struggles with market forces and falling cash balances, Ronald Gruia, principal analyst and program leader of Frost & Sullivan's More about Frost & Sullivan emerging telecoms and ICT practice, told the E-Commerce Times...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

Sony Pulls The Plugs On OLED Due To Losses & Production Problems

18/08/2009 - Bleeding cash and TV market share, Sony has now said that they will not deliver a new OLED TV this year because of costs and production problems. New research has also revealed that 4 out of 10 Sony OLED TV panels made are dumped because of production problems.

Hailed 18 months ago as the breakthrough TV technology that would catapult Sony into a dominant position in the TV display market, OLED TV is now turning into a lemon for the Japanese TV maker who in Australia has seen their TV display market share savaged by Samsung.

Also in Australia Sony is struggling with several other products with the Company recently admitting that they have had to replace faulty Sony Walkman and Vaio Notebooks that are prone to melting.

In an admission to the Wall Street Journal Sony has said that they are set to delay the launch of its next organic light emitting diode, or OLED, television because mass producing the new ultrathin displays would exacerbate losses at its TV division.

In Australia the Company is trying to sell a tiny 11" OLED TV for $6,999 which is $2,000 more than some vendors are selling a 55" Full HD TV for, complete with a free Nintendo Wii gaming console...

In previous ChannelNews stories we reported that Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer had said in May 2008 that Sony would have a 27-inch OLED television available within 12 months.

http://www.smarthouse.com.au