Intellectual Property
You'd like to move the tracks you bought from Rhapsody to a personal stereo like Apple's iPod, but the copy protection prevents you. Creating or using the software necessary to make the switch could put you behind bars.
You want to distribute your band's music, but the P2P system that's revolutionized your ability to reach listeners is being sued out of existence, a company claiming to own a patent to all streaming media technology is demanding licensing fees, and record labels are breathing down your neck over the samples you've looped.
You want to criticize Vivendi Universal on your website or blog, but the plug's been pulled on your "vivendisucks" domain name because of its unflattering reference to the company's trademark.
EFF fights to preserve balance and ensure that the Internet and digital technologies continue to empower you as a consumer, creator, innovator, scholar, and citizen.
Intellectual Property Cases
- Electric Slide Litigation
- Sapient v. GellerEFF is fighting back against Uri Geller -- the "paranormalist" famous for seemingly bending spoons with his mind -- on behalf of a YouTube critic who was silenced by Geller's baseless copyright claims.
- MGM v. Grokster

- The Betamax Case

- Napster Cases Archive
- Kelly v. Arriba Soft
- Online Policy Group v. Diebold
- Blake v. Google
In The News
- ARS TECHNICA | January 06, 2009 Judge: transcoding doesn't block Veoh "safe harbor" defense
- CNET NEWS.COM | December 11, 2008 Reselling MP3s: The music industry's new battleground?
- DIAMOND WORLD | December 08, 2008 Tiffany caught in a legal tryst
Other Resources
- May 15, 2008 The Lost Art of Orphan Works
- Chilling Effects[chillingeffects.org]
- The Endangered Gizmos list
Related Issues
- Patents
- Digital RadioRIAA's Attempt to Control Recording From the Radio
- No Downtime for Free Speech CampaignLearn about how copyright claims can inhibit free speech
- File SharingFile Sharing and Peer to Peer issues
- Broadcast FlagA mandate would force all future digital televisiontuners to include "content protection" (aka DRM) technologies.
- Digital VideoDigital Video Restrictions
- DMCADigital Millennium Copyright Act
Whitepapers
- 2006 Unintended Consequences: Seven Years under the DMCA
- 2006 IAAL*: What Peer-to-Peer Developers Need to Know about Copyright Law
- 2005 When Push Comes to Shove: A Hype-Free Guide to Evaluating Technical Solutions to Copyright Infringement on Campus Networks
- 2005 Digital Rights Management: A failure in the developed world, a danger to the developing world
- 2005 Fair Use and Digital Rights Management: Preliminary Thoughts on the (Irreconcilable?) Tension between Them
- 2003 Digital Rights Management: The Skeptics' View
Deeplinks Posts
- January 05, 2009 UMG v. Veoh: Another Victory for Web 2.0
- December 19, 2008 Is it Patentable?
- December 19, 2008 RIAA v. The People Turns from Lawsuits to 3 Strikes
Press Releases
- December 04, 2008 Jewelry Company Quest to Expand Trademark Law Could Quash Internet Commerce
- September 26, 2008 EFF Urges Court to Protect Innovation in Arista v. Lime Wire
- August 18, 2008 Innocent Customers Potentially Dragged Into Legal Battle Over Satellite TV

