As Slaw readers will know, one of the themes that recurs here quite frequently is the role of publishing and books in this culture of rapid technological change. Jason Epstein has a few thoughts on the matter, some of which he shared in the keynote at the recent O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference 2009 in New York. Epstein is someone you would very much want to listen to on the subject: now 81 years old, he created the Anchor Book imprint in the early 50s, launching the trade paper format; in 1963 he co-founded the New York Review . . . [more]

Well, yes… if you say so… but it seems a little harsh.

[Globe and Mail — ad in the print edition, where there’s a photo.] . . . [more]

Yesterday I had the privilege of presenting in the ABA teleconference Online Social Networking Gets Professional. It was an interesting discussion to be a part of, but equally fascinating was the discussion taking place simultaneously online. A feature that is fast becoming the norm, we had a full twitter support session going on behind the scenes – 380 tweets to be exact.

This was the second webinar I’ve done where we aligned twitter response with the programming (the first was with Lexblog on law firm seo). Some of the decisions were made in advance, such as finding an . . . [more]

The deadline is approaching for nominations for the Walter Owen book prize, awarded by the Foundation for Legal Research. This $10,000 prize rewards outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature. This year, the selection committee will consider books written in English and published in 2007 or 2008. For additional information, see the notice on the Canadian Bar Association website. . . . [more]

…isn’t as light-hearted today as it usually is. But it’s interesting, important and not unrelated to law, because it’s about languages.

(One of the essays in my book-yet-to-be, 13 Ways of Looking at the Law, says that law is a language game — a skilled activity engaged in by more than one person according to a set of protocols etc. etc. — best played by those who have been immersed in the language and who are sensitive to as many contexts for its use as possible. We touch on this from time to time on Slaw when we raise the . . . [more]

As you may know, in the U.S. federal government documents are not protected by copyright. (Canadian federal government documents are protected by copyright in Canada.) Take this in context when reading the summary of the February 5th, 2009 decision by the California Court of Appeals for the Sixth Appellate District released its decision in California first Amendment Coalition v. County of Santa Clara.

In this case, the County of Santa Clara tried to enforce copyright in public records and to impose licensing restrictions (resulting in license fees) on commercial vendors. California first Amendment Coalition (CFAC) sued the county to release . . . [more]

Vol. 13, No. 2, February 16, 2009 (ISSN 1489-954X) of Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce News, is now available. Email lehletter @ copyrightlaws.com for a copy. This issue will shortly be posted at: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/copyright/.

Contents include:

Is Illegal Use of Subscription Web Site a Copyright Violation?

Obama: Hope artist asks for Fair Use Ruling

NFB Makes Films Available Online

Copyright in Africa

Digital Music Report 2009

Some YouTube Videos Get Download Option

Authors Guild Claims Kindle’s Text-to-Speech Violates Copyright

Online Copyright Courses

Book: Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians

This e-letter, from 1996 to the present, . . . [more]

The CRTC started its new media hearing yesterday. It will consider whether the CRTC should regulate the Internet in some way – the thought being that it is just another form of broadcasting.

It’s an important issue that will no doubt garner a lot of press. Michael Geist will provide detailed ongoing coverage. From his post yesterday:

Throughout the hearings, I’ll be teaming up with Carleton professor Ira Wagman to offer up a full summary of the day’s events as we’ll have students carefully taking notes on all the presentations and discussions. . . . [more]

This from Louise Hamel, Manager of the Judges’ Library at the Ontario Court of Appeal:

The Court of Appeal for Ontario launched today an RSS feed for when:

• Decisions are added to the decisions page
• Case lists are available
• Leave to appeal notifications are posted
• Non-publication orders and in-camera hearings are announced

Additional feeds are under development and in the future you will be able to subscribe to separate feeds for each service.

You can check out this new service at http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/coa/en/
rss/index.htm.

♫ Everything, everything, everything, everything..
In its right place
In its right place…♫

Lyrics by Thom Yorke, music written and recorded by Radiohead.

One of the long-standing tenets of Google Mail (or GMail) was that you didn’t need folders – that its search abilities eliminated that need.

Problem is, as the size of your GMail Inbox grew, the ease of using Search to manage your GMail diminished. One was left wishing for a good-old fashioned folder structure that allowed you to stuff emails into them and thereby take them out of your Inbox.

Well, that wall came quietly crumbling . . . [more]

As of today, Harper’s Index is free online. For those of you who might not know, Harper’s Index is a collection of information set out in single lines as if it were statistical data and in a way that is meant to surprise and interest you. In the online Index you’re presented with a search box — which will return helpful suggestions as you type, guiding you to those terms that do in fact appear within the index.

For example, a search for “law” produces over half a dozen screenfuls of items, the first of which is:

1/85 Number of . . . [more]

Following up on Simon’s vaccines post from earlier this week comes the encouraging news that on Thursday (happy 200, Charles Darwin) the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued decisions in three vaccine-related test cases rejecting any causal link between vaccines and autism.

Yet, much like with the Pennsylvania victory in the battle over teaching evolution, I can only manage a half-hearted cheer at this latest triumph of science over superstition and ignorance. That it is even necessary to take this to trial – to say nothing of the refusal of so many to accept the correctness of . . . [more]