Forget About Patent Trolls, Copyright Trolls Can Be Even Scarier

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Here is a great article that Matthew found and sent to me today and I wanted to share it with everyone else.  Thanks Matthew this is a great article.

This is an article from a copyright attorney who sums up what Getty is doing pretty well.

http://technologyandjustice.com/2013/09/09/forget-about-patent-trolls-copyright-trolls-can-be-even-scarier/

The letter is not signed by an attorney, but uses the term “License Compliance Team” as the signatory.  Attempting to intentionally mislead you into thinking that Getty Images has retained legal counsel, in their Reference line they use the term “Case Number:” which is followed by a fictitious court docket number.  Nowhere in the letter, will you find an actual Copyright Registration Number issued by the U.S. Copyright Office.

We need laws in place to reward those who took risks, put in the money and time investment to create and own property (digital or tangible). However, there is a threshold that is crossed by intellectual property owners when their primary business is trolling.

The question then is when does proactively protecting one’s IP cross the line into trolling? My response would be when the IP owner receives more revenue from going after IP violations than from the legitimate licensed use of the owner’s IP.

When policing and enforcement becomes a main revenue driver for a copyright or patent holder, there is an issue.  While I am all for protecting one’s IP rights, there is a breaking point when enforcement has gone too far into money making of its own.

[stinger]

Nice article!  Sums things  up well.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

I liked it a lot and tucked it away in my files for future reference and use.

[Mulligan]

Excellent article. Thanks to Matt for sharing this one via Greg!