MP3 resale violates copyright law, court rules
A court ruling has put the kibosh on reselling digital media. In a lawsuit between Universal Music Group's Capitol Records and MP3 reseller ReDigi, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan has sided with the record label and said that reselling songs bought on iTunes, Amazon, or other digital music venues is akin to copyright infringement."The court grants Capitol's motion for summary judgment on its claims for ReDigi's direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement of its distribution and reproduction rights," Judge Sullivan wrote in a summary judgment filed Saturday. "The court also denies ReDigi's motion in its entirety."ReDigi calls itself "the world's first online marketplace for used digital music." The company argued that it was operating under the "first sale doctrine," which says that people can resell or rent goods. This legal doctrine is what Netflix uses for its business model. ReDigi also noted that it's legal for people to sell used CDs and DVDs.However, Judge Sullivan ultimately concluded that digital media can only be resold if permission is granted by the copyright owner."Courts have consistently held that the unauthorized duplication of digital music files over the Internet infringes a copyright owner's exclusive right to reproduce," Judge Sullivan wrote. "However, courts have not previously addressed whether the unauthorized transfer of a digital music file over the Internet -- where only one file exists before and after the transfer -- constitutes reproduction within the meaning of the Copyright Act. The court holds that it does."A ReDigi spokesperson told CNET that the judge's ruling mainly affects the service's 1.0 technology. Further iterations of its service, including 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, were not considered by Judge Sullivan in his summary judgment and could ultimately be deemed to comply with copyright law. "The case has wide ranging, disturbing implications that affect how we as a society will be able to use digital goods," the ReDigi spokesperson told CNET. "The Order is surprising in light of last month's United States Supreme Court decision in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley & Sons, which reaffirmed the importance and applicability of the First Sale Doctrine in the United States of America."Capitol Records first filed its copyright complaint against ReDigi in January 2012. At first, Judge Sullivan denied the record company's motion to shutdown ReDigi. However, after putting more thought into the matter, he seems to have changed his mind."ReDigi will continue to keep its ReDigi 2.0 service running and will appeal the ReDigi 1.0 decision, while supporting the fundamental rights of lawful digital consumers," the ReDigi spokesperson told CNET.Both Capitol Records and ReDigi are to file a joint letter to the court by April 12 on what they expect the next steps in the case to be.
Australian Bureau of Statistics releases town management game
Australian Bureau of Statistics releases town management game
So you think your local government can be run better, do you? A new game by the Australian Bureau of Statistics lets you put your money where your mouth is.Called Run That Town, it lets you take control of any city, town or village in Australia with a postcode. Now, we've all played town management sims before, but this one has a few twists. Based on actual census data from 2011, it requires a little more than just planning out where to put things.(Credit: Leo Burnett)The aim of the game is to make your chosen town the best it can be, including happy citizens. When proposals for public works land on your desk, you have to choose whether or not to approve them. Of course, you can just choose arbitrarily on whatever you think sounds good â€" but the fractious citizens can be hard to please. Their support is actually necessary â€" each proposal will cost you two kinds of in-game currency, money and clout, and if you don't have enough, you'll find it hard to move ahead.When deciding on a proposal, therefore, it helps to listen to the citizens as they argue for and against. A zoo, for example, will make children happy, but the older citizens will grumble at the use of land. It seems like an easy decision; but in fact, choosing not to build the zoo in this instance earned a popularity decrease, since families made up a large percentage of the town in question. You can't just take the person speaking into account â€" you have to also measure their passion about the project (seen on a scale on the screen), as well as census data, such as their demographic and how representative they are of the average resident. You can then track how well each project does by reading newspaper reports.Even so, perhaps just like real life, you can't predict everything, and keeping your popularity in the majority is a delicate juggling act. You can never keep everyone happy â€" in fact, it's downright frustrating at times. You think you're building something your townspeople will love â€" a community centre for the elderly, for instance â€" and then another group will get up in arms, such as parents complaining that land could have been better put to use as a playground. Everyone hates everyone else, resentful that the rich/unemployed/elderly/children/single people/students are getting their requirements seen to, even though you might have already built three facilities and thrown six events catering to them.But that unpredictability also makes the game so difficult to tear yourself away from.Of course, it helps that Run That Town is excellently designed. Produced by Leo Burnett, with narration by Shaun Micallef, writing by Kieran Ots andAyla Norris-Smith, and development by Millipede Creative (which you might remember from the amusingly potty-humoured Bullistic Unleashed), the game â€" somewhat surprisingly, in fact, coming as it did from a governmental office â€" is a fantastic piece of work. Although it seems complicated, its clear tutorial and interface makes it really easy just to pick up and play.Run That Town is free on the iTunes app store, and we heartily recommend picking it up and giving it a whirl.
So you think your local government can be run better, do you? A new game by the Australian Bureau of Statistics lets you put your money where your mouth is.Called Run That Town, it lets you take control of any city, town or village in Australia with a postcode. Now, we've all played town management sims before, but this one has a few twists. Based on actual census data from 2011, it requires a little more than just planning out where to put things.(Credit: Leo Burnett)The aim of the game is to make your chosen town the best it can be, including happy citizens. When proposals for public works land on your desk, you have to choose whether or not to approve them. Of course, you can just choose arbitrarily on whatever you think sounds good â€" but the fractious citizens can be hard to please. Their support is actually necessary â€" each proposal will cost you two kinds of in-game currency, money and clout, and if you don't have enough, you'll find it hard to move ahead.When deciding on a proposal, therefore, it helps to listen to the citizens as they argue for and against. A zoo, for example, will make children happy, but the older citizens will grumble at the use of land. It seems like an easy decision; but in fact, choosing not to build the zoo in this instance earned a popularity decrease, since families made up a large percentage of the town in question. You can't just take the person speaking into account â€" you have to also measure their passion about the project (seen on a scale on the screen), as well as census data, such as their demographic and how representative they are of the average resident. You can then track how well each project does by reading newspaper reports.Even so, perhaps just like real life, you can't predict everything, and keeping your popularity in the majority is a delicate juggling act. You can never keep everyone happy â€" in fact, it's downright frustrating at times. You think you're building something your townspeople will love â€" a community centre for the elderly, for instance â€" and then another group will get up in arms, such as parents complaining that land could have been better put to use as a playground. Everyone hates everyone else, resentful that the rich/unemployed/elderly/children/single people/students are getting their requirements seen to, even though you might have already built three facilities and thrown six events catering to them.But that unpredictability also makes the game so difficult to tear yourself away from.Of course, it helps that Run That Town is excellently designed. Produced by Leo Burnett, with narration by Shaun Micallef, writing by Kieran Ots andAyla Norris-Smith, and development by Millipede Creative (which you might remember from the amusingly potty-humoured Bullistic Unleashed), the game â€" somewhat surprisingly, in fact, coming as it did from a governmental office â€" is a fantastic piece of work. Although it seems complicated, its clear tutorial and interface makes it really easy just to pick up and play.Run That Town is free on the iTunes app store, and we heartily recommend picking it up and giving it a whirl.
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