Mother Jones provides an amusing roster of facts pertaining to the crazy world of intellectual property protection. Among my favorites:
AMONG THE 16,000 people thus far sued for sharing music files was a 65-year-old woman who, though she didn’t own downloading software, was accused of sharing 2,000 songs, including Trick Daddy’s “I’m a Thug.” She was sued for up to $150,000 per song.
NINETY-ONE pending trademarks bear Donald Trump’s name, including “Donald J. Trump the Fragrance” and “Trump’s Golden Lager.” He failed to trademark the phrase “You’re fired.”
FOR INCLUDING a 60-second piece of silence on their album, the Planets were threatened with a lawsuit by the estate of composer John Cage, which said they’d ripped off his silent work 4’33”. The Planets countered that the estate failed to specify which 60 of the 273 seconds in Cage’s piece had been pilfered.
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“One is not qualified to run mucks.”
Intellectual property law in this country is a big mess. Nothing compared to “family” law, but still pretty bad.
If the 65-year old woman in question is the one I’m thinking of (could be another one), not only did she not own downloading software, but she was accused of using Kazaa. The punchline: she owns a Mac, and (at least at the time of the alleged piracy) Kazaa doesn’t run on Macs.