infringement claims

Despite suing the wrong person multiple times, the RIAA has always pushed back when asked to pay for the legal fees of those wrongfully sued.

Tanya Andersen has fought back pretty hard on that claim (and then sued the RIAA separately on other charges as well).

You may recall Bridgeport Music as a company that claims to own the rights to various musical compositions and has a long history of suing anyone who samples even the tiniest bits of that music.

The worst part is that there are very serious questions concerning whether or not it really has the rights to much of the music it claims to control.

George Clinton, for example, claims that Bridgeport used forged signatures to get control over his catalog.

Paul Alan Levy writes "In a new decision, a federal judge in Atlanta has rejected a claim by Wal-Mart that parody t-shirts and bumper stickers sold over CafePress.com, using the phrases "walocaust," and "wal-qaeda," violate its trademark.

We've been discussing how patents can have a serious economic downside (as was recognized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as they designed the patent system).

It appears that some researchers are trying to quantify just how much damage bad patents are doing to the economy.

Ray Beckermann has compiled a nice list of quotes from judges who don't buy into the RIAA's flimsy evidence.

It makes for good reading.