Medical Illustrators Denounces 'Orphan Works' Bills

The Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) (http://www.ami.org/), an international organization representing highly trained professional medical illustrators and animators, is slamming proposed legislation known as "The Orphan Works Act of 2008" (H.R. 5889/S. 2913), pending in the House and Senate. An "orphan work" is a creative work, visual or otherwise, whose copyright status and ownership cannot be readily found. Proponents want to use works declared "orphans" without infringement liability.

"If this bill passes, it will radically restructure copyright protections currently guaranteed to creators by making it legal for anyone to use, reproduce and change a creator's painting, illustration or photograph -- without permission, fair or appropriate compensation, or proper legal remedy," says Michael Belknap, AMI's president. Currently copyright owners are guaranteed the exclusive right to reproduce their artwork, prepare derivative images from their original creations, and control how and where their work is used. The proposed legislation would subvert copyright protection by allowing anyone to declare a work an "orphan" and use it without infringement liabilities after engaging in a presumptive "diligent" search for the copyright owner. Neither bill defines what constitutes a "diligent" search.

"These bills are a recipe for legal chaos and have numerous large companies expecting to sweep up these 'orphaned' visual materials for free or for minimal payments to the owners and creators," says Bill Westwood, an AMI past president. "The bills will excuse thieves from any significant financial liability for such infringement and even allow them to make minor modifications and copyright the original artwork in their name. This violates the exclusive rights guaranteed to the original creator under copyright law."

In these bills a safe harbor is extended to nonprofits relieving them of any monetary compensation to creators. Because medical illustrators create critically accurate visualizations for nonprofit organizations, universities and research foundations this will exert a special harm on medical education and the advancement of science. AMI believes there should be no loophole for nonprofit educational institutions, and no orphan works exemption for educational use. Fair use already generously covers scholarship. Any other use needs to be licensed according to existing copyright law that protects an artist's exclusive rights, regardless of whether the use is "commercial" or not.

If the bills are enacted, to attempt to keep their works from being declared "orphans" all visual artists must register their works in commercial visual databases or registries. The cost to register hundreds or thousands of illustrations could force many professionals into bankruptcy. Adding to the problem, there is no available visual recognition technology that can guarantee 100 percent accurate image identification. "Orphan Works" legislation would affect millions of visual imagery copyright holders worldwide, including medical illustrators, commercial illustrators, fine artists, graphic artists and photographers. AMI strongly opposes both bills.

Copyright and the Public Domain

ALM's Law Journal Press, a leading publisher of books for legal professionals, has released "Copyright and the Public Domain" by Stephen Fishman. The book brings new clarity to the question of how works of authorship enter the public domain and what can be protected by copyright. A detailed table of contents, as well as ordering information on this and other Law Journal Press books, is available at http://www.lawcatalog.com/.

Fishman is the author of fifteen legal reference works, including three books on copyright law. His publications have won the American Library Association's Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title and the Publishing Marketing Association's Benjamin Franklin Award. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Law and a member of the California bar.

"Copyright and the Public Domain" provides in-depth coverage of the copyright regime, including copyright duration, expiration and renewal; the publication requirement and what it means; copyright forfeiture and abandonment; public domain elements within copyrighted works; copyrighting new uses of public domain material; restoration of copyrights to foreign works under GATT; non-copyright restrictions that may apply to some works in the public domain; and many other related subjects.

The book fills an important gap in legal literature. William F. Patry, senior copyright counsel of Google Inc. and author of a multi-volume copyright treatise, has praised Fishman's latest work as "richly insightful and readable," adding "there has never been such a comprehensive look at the public domain."

Law Journal Press offers more than 100 titles in print on a wide variety of topics for legal and business professionals.

Free Report : Privacy and Digital Identity - Implications for the Internet

The Internet is no longer just a communications network, says Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. "It is becoming a platform for computing - a vast, interconnected, virtual supercomputer, which presents complex security and privacy challenges."

Today, identity data is increasingly being created, stored and used exclusively in the networked "Cloud." In telecommunications, a "Cloud" is the unpredictable part of any network through which data passes between two end points. "The Cloud is getting bigger," said the Commissioner. "Do you know where your personal data is and how it is being used or misused?"

The Commissioner is releasing a white paper, Privacy in the Clouds: Privacy and Digital Identity - Implications for the Internet, at the First International Workshop on Identity in the Information Society, in Arona, Italy, today.

For the purposes of the white paper, the term Clouds is used to refer generally to any computer network or system through which personal information is transmitted, processed and stored, and over which individuals have little direct knowledge, involvement or control.

The paper explores possible technological solutions to ensure that individuals will be able to exercise information self-determination, or privacy, in an era of networked grid computing, exponential data creation, ubiquitous surveillance and rampant online fraud.

The paper describes typical "Web 2.0" use scenarios, suggests a number of technology building blocks for protecting and promoting privacy online, and concludes with a call to develop a privacy-respective information technology ecosystem for identity management.

It will not be possible, says Commissioner Cavoukian, to realize the full potential of the next generation of the Internet and "Cloud computing" without developing better ways of establishing digital identity and protecting privacy.

In the white paper, she outlines four fundamental technological approaches, covering:

- new privacy-enhancing information technologies;

- personal devices (from cell phones to PDAs to smart cards);

- intelligent software agents, and

- intermediary identity providers.

"The goal of a flexible user-centric identity infrastructure must be to allow the user to quickly determine what information will be revealed to which parties and for what purposes, how trustworthy those parties are and how they will handle the information, and what the consequences of sharing their information will be," said the Commissioner. "The individual must be in control at all times."

The paper is available on the Commissioner's website, http://www.ipc.on.ca/.

Privacy Principles for Digital Watermarking

The Center for Democracy & Technology today released a set of privacy principles for digital watermarking. The principles are intended to provide guidance on how those deploying the technology can and should take privacy into account.

Digital watermarking technology embeds information, in machine-readable form, within the content of a digital media file (typically image, audio, or video). In some applications, watermarks signal basic identifying information about the media file itself, such as its title or author. In other applications, watermarks can provide individualized user or transaction information. CDT's principles address privacy questions that may arise when watermarks provide information about individual consumers or users.

"Watermarking seems to be getting increased attention as a tool for facilitating digital content distribution," said David Sohn, Senior Policy Counsel for CDT. "But people are bound to wonder what it means if their media files contain embedded information that can be used to identify them. From both the consumer and content distributor perspective, it would be best to address these kinds of privacy questions in advance, on a proactive basis."

In developing its privacy principles for digital watermarking, CDT consulted with industry representatives and interested privacy advocates. The principles fall into the following eight categories:

1. Privacy by design - address privacy considerations in the early design and planning phases of digital watermarking applications, not late in the process as an afterthought;

2. Avoid embedding independently useful identifying information directly in watermark – so that even if unauthorized third parties learn how to read the watermarks, no meaningful information will be exposed;

3. Provide notice to end users - disclose the existence and other key information about individualized watermarks, with a prominence appropriate to the extent and likelihood of any possible privacy impact;

4. Control access to reading capability - so that members of the public who happen to obtain a watermarked file will not have easy access to the devices or software needed to read the watermarks;

5. Respond appropriately when algorithms are compromised - reconsider how much reliance to place on watermarking systems whose workings have been exposed, particularly if there is a risk that watermarks could be altered or forged;

6. Provide security and access controls for back-end databases - adopt rules and security safeguards to protect databases containing information about individuals from unauthorized access;

7. Limit uses for secondary purposes - design watermarking applications to avoid "mission creep," by collecting, retaining, and disclosing individualized information only as necessary for the application's intended purpose; and

8. Provide reasonable access and correction procedures for personally identifiable information - so that individuals have reasonable opportunity to correct inaccuracies in the data stored about them.

Yahoo! Files Lawsuit Against Lottery Spammers

As part of its continued commitment to protect Internet users from e-mail scams, Yahoo! Inc. is filing a lawsuit against "Yahoo! Lottery Spammers" for unlawfully sending e-mail messages to Internet users for the purpose of deceiving them into believing that they have won a lottery or prize offered by Yahoo!. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City, under the Federal Trademark Act, the Federal CAN-SPAM Act, and related state laws.

The complaint alleges that without permission or authorization, and with full knowledge and notice of Yahoo!'s trademark rights, the spammers willfully masqueraded as Yahoo!, and sent e-mails claiming that the recipient had won a lottery, prize or other award from Yahoo!. Yahoo! does not offer any such awards and has no affiliation or any connection with the spammers or their e-mail communications. This type of lottery scam is a hoax designed to trick unsuspecting e-mail users into revealing valuable personal data like passwords, credit card information, and social security numbers. Commonly known as a "phishing" scam, in this confidence game, perpetrators typically use the stolen information to access recipients' bank accounts and credit cards, to apply for unauthorized credit cards or loans, or to fraudulently create documents bearing the victims' personal identification and then use or sell it in a wide variety of credit and identity scams. Some of the "winners" are also deceived into sending the defendants money for processing and mailing charges.

"The unauthorized use of Yahoo!'s trademarks is misleading, fraudulent, and has actually confused, misled, and deceived the public. Yahoo! will vigorously enforce its intellectual property rights and will not tolerate lottery hoax emails," said Joe Siino, Senior Vice President, Yahoo! Global IP and Business Strategy.

"Yahoo! is 100% committed to protecting our users from fraudulent e-mail messages and this lawsuit sends a clear message to spammers," said John Kremer, Vice President, Yahoo! Mail. "We are going after individuals who have attempted to negatively impact the e-mail experience for consumers across the Internet. Through our continued litigation efforts, our top goal and priority is to further protect Yahoo! Mail users and the public from this type of fraudulent activity."

Yahoo! takes trademark infringement and the issue of e-mail scams very seriously. This case, as well as previous litigation efforts, are a part of Yahoo!'s multi-faceted approach to fighting spam and e-mail fraud which also includes the use of advanced technologies, industry collaboration, and raising consumer awareness by providing Yahoo! Mail users with detailed tips on how to avoid online scams at http://antispam.yahoo.com/.

Citysearch Sued for Click Fraud

Citysearch.com is defrauding its advertising customers of millions of dollars by not only turning a blind eye to click fraud, but in fact encouraging it as well, according to a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court by Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP.

"Most click fraud cases involve companies that simply turn a blind eye to it," said the victims' attorney, Brian S. Kabateck, Managing Partner of Kabateck Brown Kellner. "Citysearch does this too, since it has no real program to prevent click fraud. But Citysearch goes beyond indifference to actively incentivizing click fraud. Citysearch's motive is simple: clicks equal cash, whether they're fraudulent or not."

Kabateck recently won a multi-million dollar settlement from Yahoo! and was part of an earlier $90 million settlement from Google on behalf of advertisers who were victimized by click fraud. He also recently filed a federal class action suit against Google for fraud within its "AdWords" pay-per-click advertising system.

Citysearch, part of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which is headed by Barry Diller, pays commissions to its salespeople based on the number of clicks their customers' ads receive, providing an incentive for click fraud, according to the lawsuit. Furthermore, the suit contends, contrary to Citysearch's own representations to its advertisers, it takes no real steps to prevent click fraud. And when customers become victims of click fraud, Citysearch fails to adequately advise them that they have been victimized or refund the money paid to Citysearch for that fraudulent activity.

The lawsuit seeks to represent all people or entities in the United States who paid money for pay-per-click advertising through Citysearch.com.

As detailed within the suit, the case of plaintiff Tom Lambotte shows Citysearch refusing to acknowledge blatant indications of click fraud.

Lambotte's Citysearch ad received a total of 7 clicks (plus two more that he generated) between December 11 and 25, 2007. On December 26 he received a response from Citysearch to his December 22 request to cancel his ad. Suddenly, his ad began receiving 12 to 16 clicks a day, for a total of 69 clicks between December 26 and December 31, when his ad was finally cancelled. He received in these five days 10 times as many clicks as he had received in the previous two weeks. Despite this, Citysearch refused his repeated requests to reverse these charges.

Click fraud can be detected by software that can track suspicious patterns, such as repeated clicks from the same source. Although Citysearch assures its customers that it applies this technology, the experiences of many of its customers shows otherwise, according to the suit. Still, customers are led to believe that Citysearch is in fact actively fighting against click fraud.

According to Citysearch's "Invalid Click Policy": "Citysearch also has sophisticated algorithms to track sessions and user behavior on our site to assist us in identifying click patterns that would indicate invalid clicks. In the event we identify a click as invalid, our customers are not charged for such clicks."

"Citysearch is operating contrary to its own contract with its customers," Kabateck said.

Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP is one of the nation's foremost consumer law firms. Its clients have won more than $750 million against Coca Cola, Farmer's Insurance, Eli Lilly and other major corporations. As a plaintiff's-only firm, Kabateck Brown Kellner is always on the consumers' side.

What To Do If You Find Unauthorized Transactions On Your Account

If you find unauthorized transactions on your credit card account, follow the steps below to find out whether you can be reimbursed:

Step 1: Contact your credit card issuer immediately to report the unauthorized transactions.

Step 2: Check your credit card agreement. By law, your agreement must contain a section that explains your maximum liability (usually $50) in the case of lost or stolen credit cards, or the unauthorized use of your credit card account number.

Step 3: Find out if your credit card issuer offers "Zero-Liability" on unauthorized transactions. For example, Visa and MasterCard cardholders are protected beyond the maximum liability found in their credit card agreements. This is done through a public commitment Visa and MasterCard call the "Zero-Liability Policy". If your Visa or MasterCard is lost or stolen, or if someone uses your Visa or MasterCard account number to make transactions you did not authorize, you can usually be reimbursed.

This policy applies to transactions made on the Internet, by phone or at retailers, but may exclude personal identification number (PIN)-based transactions - for example, a cash advance made on your card at an automated banking machine (ABM) - and transactions made on corporate credit cards. Find out from your credit card issuer whether they have such a policy and how it can protect you. Note that these policies are not listed in credit card agreements, since they are public commitments and not legal requirements.

Source: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/