Friday’s Endnotes – 03/04/16

Software Piracy Hurts Linux Adoption, Research Finds — The theory is that if the commercial product is easily available for free, people will choose that over lower cost or even free open-source alternatives. Thus, weak copyright protections and enforcement hurt open-source developers and independent creators.

YouTube Trial: Juror Says YouTuber’s Incorporation of Unlicensed Clips Is Not Fair Use — The case settled, making the jury verdict, still under seal, moot. But it should give other YouTuber’s pause to know that not everyone considers all user-generated content a fair use free-for-all.

NPPA and other visual arts associations release copyright small claims white paper — “These organizations have identified the creation of a small claims option to be their most urgent legislative priority before Congress. They assert that the cost and burden of maintaining a lawsuit in the only existing venue for hearing copyright infringement claims—federal district courts—is prohibitive and all too often leaves visual artists no way to vindicate their rights. They see a small claims process within the Copyright Office as providing a fair, cost-effective and streamlined venue in which they can seek relief for relatively modest copyright infringement claims.”

Hijacking the Special 301 Process: We will all suffer the consequences — As part of the Special 301 Process US trade negotiators identify foreign countries that are not living up to the IP obligations they’ve agreed to with the US. Unfortunately, recently some groups have been pushing to use it as a vehicle to weaken and dilute IP protections. Hugh Stephens explains more here.

That’swhatshesaid Didn’t Ask Permission Because They Didn’t Have To, Says Attorney — That’swhatshesaid is a show that criticizes the underrepresentation of women in American theater by performing only the female parts from a number of current plays. Attorneys for the performer and playwright responded to a cease and desist from the publishers of some of the plays used in the show by claiming fair use. Based on the facts as discussed here and in other news stories, my guess is that this indeed is a classic example of fair use.