1,720,973 research outputs found
Emulation is the most sincere form of flattery : retro videogames, rom distribution and copyright
Full text linkThe Internet has made it possible for amateur game creators to collaborate on projects irrespective of geographical location. The success of projects such as Minecraft, and even CounterStrike, demonstrates that ‘indie’ developers can create entertainment products just as popular and successful as mainstream developers with huge budgets. However, many individuals instead are more interested in the old than the new – reliving past experiences through the playing of old videogames that are no longer commercially sold. Through the creation of emulators, and the ripping of ROM images (data that allows for the playing of an emulated videogame, such as Super Mario Bros. on the Super Nintendo), games with nostalgic value can be easily distributed, played and replayed. In addition, this allows for the preservation of legacy content that may otherwise be consigned to the ‘dustbin of history’. However, irrespective of the effort and ingenuity that goes into the creation of emulation software, and the effort involved in ripping ROM data to make old games playable, are these pursuits entirely legal? The purpose of this paper is to consider the compatibility of such projects with pre-existing norms of intellectual property law, comparing and contrasting the approaches of US and EU IP regimes in their handling of emulators and ROMS. The paper will analyse the issue under pre-existing legislation and with regard to relevant case law, seeking to draw conclusions on whether the existing regimes in copyright law are compatible and satisfactorily balance the right of videogame publishers to seek fair remuneration for their work with the desire by enthusiasts to preserve and relive a form of creative culture
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Digital Economy Act 2010 - a cause for celebration, or a cause for concern
No full textOutside of legislation pertaining to security and counter-terrorism in the United Kingdom, such as the Terrorism Act 20001 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000,2 one of the more controversial Parliamentary Acts passed during the term of the Labour Government is that of the Digital Economy Act of 2010.3 Indeed, few Acts have caused as much controversy and outrage, particularly amongst internet-based communities and activist groups. Organisations such as the Open Rights Group, which states its goal as being the preservation and promotion of rights and civil liberties in the digital age, have denounced the Act as undemocratic. One such example comes in an article written by the Open Rights Group shortly after the Digital Economy Bill (a draft of the passed legislation) was announced, emotively titled “Digital Economy Bill: Dangerous and Draconian Just Got Dictatorial”.4 The article described the proposed legislation as being arbitrary, disproportional and a threat to online rights. Another writer stated that:
“The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it's perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things which upset the entertainment industry.”5
The same author wrote of the passed Act that it was an attack on privacy, on democracy and on transparency.6 In contrast, during the drafting and development of the Bill, representatives from the entertainment industry wrote of the Bill in glowing terms: “the Act's measures to reduce illegal downloading will spur on investment in new music and innovation in legal business models”,7 stated the head of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Yet why is this newly passed Act so divisive? Why is there little consensus on the aims and effects of the Act, even in the Parliament which assented to the Bill passing into law? In order to better understand these difficulties, it is necessary not only to look at the content of the Act, but also its development and the manner in which it was enacted. This article shall consider in depth the copyright infringement related sections of the Act, and their origins, in order to determine the effectiveness and legitimacy of this controversial piece of legislation
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
The future of copyright enforcement online : intermediaries caught between formal and informal governance in the EU
No full textCombatting physical threats posed via digital means : the European Commission’s developing approach to the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to trace the development of the EU’s policies regarding the combatting of counterfeiting and in particular the establishment of the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy (later renamed the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights). This paper will demonstrate how ‘hard’ legal regimes for the management of online sales of counterfeit items have been significantly limited by the lack of effective data on the scale of the phenomenon, as well as the reluctance of Internet platforms to tackle online infringements. Through the empowerment of the Observatory and its transferal to the European agency the Office of Harmonisation of the Internal Market (OHIM) however, the EU has managed to establish its position as a cyber-security actor able to tackle online infringements of intellectual property rights. Through research into and identification of best practices concerning the quantification of counterfeit sales, information collection and sharing, and in facilitating coordination and cooperation between networks of private and public sector actors, the Observatory has taken on a key role in establishing online networks for proactively countering the sale and distribution of counterfeit products online. In this way, the Commission’s facilitation of a network governance model has led to the development of a more effective means of combatting the threat posed by physical goods that are distributed via digital means
Protecting music, not markets: the conflict between copyright collecting societies and single market aims
No full textAppropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The EU portability regulation : one small step for cross-border access, one giant leap for commission copyright policy?
Full text linkThis article seeks to demonstrate that the newly proposed Portability Regulation, intended to permit access to online works legally available in one Member State when the user travels to another Member State, represents a cautious first step towards significant copyright reform in the EU. While there are some ambiguities in the proposal that require scrutiny, the Commission has nevertheless made its first concrete step towards addressing issues of territoriality in copyright law
- …
