Red Meat, Yellow Journalism & Reporting On The Copyright Alert System In The US

Chris Castle is an attorney based out of Los Angeles and San Francisco who represents artists, producers, songwriters, record labels, music publishers, film studios and technology companies. President Barack Obama and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo each worked very hard to bring about the voluntary agreement that was announced last week among ISPs and rights […]

Welcome to Civilization, Pirate Party

There have been criticisms of the European Parliament elections from various quarters.  These criticisms range from a consistently declining voter turnout and lack of enthusiasm for the election of Members of the European Parliament to the ability of "fringe" political parties to gain a seat due to their ability to convert fanatical energy for a […]

False Innovation and the Pursuit of Sustainability

Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On Thursday, May 21, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel wrapped up hearings on the preliminary injunction she granted in the fall against Real Networks and its "RealDVD" copying software.  And the Real "Facet" DVD copying and storage device […]

The End of the Tail

Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. You've probably heard the expression "the long tail" used by Web 2.0 cognoscenti.  Despite the largely uncritical acceptance the idea received a few years ago, research shows that for artists the "long tail" is the "wrong tale".  But it may […]

International rights holders take note: First Amicus Brief to be Filed Opposing Google Books Settlement

Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. As Kate Lacey correctly notes in her post, the Google Books settlement creates what is essentially a single purpose private compulsory licensing regime benefiting only Google-assuming the settlement is approved at the upcoming fairness hearing for which the filing deadline […]

Voluntary collective licensing, Humpty Dumpty and the house of cards

Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  If you believe as I do that "voluntary collective licensing" is neither voluntary, collective nor a license, you will be interested in reading "Choruss's Covenant: The Promised Land (Maybe) For Record Labels; A Lesser Destination For Everyone Else," a very […]

In Which Tom Brown Gets Googled, or why the Google Books settlement is a bridge too far

Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Google has reached a settlement of the "Google Books" case brought by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against Google and several of Google's library business partners in the Google Books enterprise.  (The 300-page settlement agreement has […]

The Elephant in the Choruss

Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, a law firm specializing in music industry issues, content based technologies and public policy. Ever encounter people who think that illegal downloading can be solved by "turning off" the Internet?  That makes about as much sense as "voluntary collective licensing" or "ISP licensing" (used interchangeably).  […]