Cre8tive Flow

Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa, and he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.

He is also a well respected columnist on internet and copyright issues facing Canada, and the rest of the globe. He also blogs about those issues, and his opinions on subjects dealing with the web are always well considered and thoughtful.

So, when I saw a new article from him about his recent visit to China, I thought that it worth sharing here…

For a little while, not too long ago, when you typed in a URL in the address bar of your browser, and you made an error in the address, you might have ended up at a search engine.

The search engine was one run by Verisign, and it wasn’t one that you decided upon yourself, or that you could opt out of going to.

It provided a way to search for the right address, or to click upon ads that were possibly paid for from other companies.

Julie Hilden makes a strong case for holding Google to be immune from defamation suites.

Anytime anyone publishes something, there is a risk that someone isn’t going to be happy with what was published. Some things published might cause harm to the subjects of the articles.

But what about a site that doesn’t actually write the articles, or publish them in the first place, but rather offers those results as part of a bundle from a large number of web sites?

Sort of like what Google does?

I know it’s early to nominate something for the best of the week, only being Thursday. But I’ve been watching the headlines, and looking since Sunday to see if something better came up.

Nothing has. Nothing likely will.

I watch headlines. I like the news. I enjoy seeing if someone can encapsulate the meaning of a long essay, or article, or tale in a handful of words. It’s a fine art, or a science, depending upon your belief system, education, upbringing, or desire to argue.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled in France on May 10th, in a civil case which pits Google against one of the largest insurance companies in the world. AXA is challenging Google’s Adwords program after, the charge has it, that “Google sold AXA’s registered trademarks as advertising search terms.”

There are also two lawsuits involving Google and American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, Inc., on both coasts of the United States, which involve Google selling advertising when registered trademarks of American Blind are used as a search.

The legal landscape surround the jpeg file format is littered with defendants, as Forgent Networks filed complaints against thirty-one hardware and software manufacturers on Friday.

The companies had been contacted over the past year, and offered the opportunity to license the technology. None accepted.

This press release from July of 2002, clarifies their understanding of what they own when it comes to the seventeen-year-old jpg format.

The slashdot thread from back then contains some thoughtful and interesting commentary. Today’s thread is worth a visit for its discussion of jpeg vs PNG, the notion that jpg is actually a suite of many technologies, and that the jpg patent in questions will expire within the next couple of years or so.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has commenced a new initiative to “protect innovation and free expression.”

The problem as they see it is that there have been a number of patents awarded without an adequate level of review from the US patent office.

They are spearheading this project on two different fronts:

One is to document the harm to free expression, and small businesses, and non-commercial efforts.

The other is to actually challenge the worst of the patents they identify with a re-examination request filed with the Patent Office.

I’m often called upon by friends and relatives and acquaintances to help them with their computer problems. The most frequent problem I’ve seen the past year or so has been popup ads showing even when a browser isn’t launched.

There are programs that can find themselves on your computer in a number of ways, all of which are questionable. Some of them serve ads. Others collect information about your computer usage, and surfing habits, and “phone home” with that information.