The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wants your help to beat a recently approved patent on podcasting that many feel is bogus.

“I’m certainly not a lawyer or an expert in patent law,” said podcast pioneer Dave Winer upon hearing of Volomedia’s patent announcement, “but it seems the work Adam Curry and I did in creating the format and protocol for podcasting, in 2001, may have inspired their ‘invention’. It certainly predates it.”

We’ve seen a lot of ignorant new media moves over the last few years – but it looks like photosharing site TweetPhoto and their lawyers could be blazing a new trail. TweetPhoto, via their representatives Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, has sent a takedown letter full of legal threats to podcaster Frank Peters, because Peters […]

Chicago’s Horizon Realty, a property management company, filed a $50,000 libel lawsuit Monday against a former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, over one of her alleged Twitter posts. Horizon argues that Bonnen libeled the company with her May 12th tweet, which read in part “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty […]

Campaigning for sweeping reform of copyright, privacy and patent laws, Sweden’s Pirate Party this weekend won enough votes in the country’s national elections to secure a seat (possibly two) in the European Parliament. Sweden is accorded 17 representatives in the EU governing legislature, and the Pirate Party’s 7.1 percent showing is enough for at least […]

Peter Althin, the attorney representing Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde, has called for a retrial, Swedish news site The Local revealed today. Swedish radio channel Sveriges Radio’s P3 news programme reports that the judge in the case was a member of the same copyright protection groups as several of the main entertainment industry representatives, who […]

YouTube is bringing back silent movies – by censoring at least some videos that make use of unauthorized copyrighted music. Here’s an example: More examples here and here.  YouTube displays this message under the videos: These videos cry out for remixing with some alternate music, don’t they? via Mashable

Liz Gannes at New Tee Vee reports on another live streaming deathcasting incident: In a striking display of the power of live video, Abraham K. Biggs committed suicide on Wednesday while broadcasting himself on video site Justin.tv. As we understand it from various forum posts, the 19-year-old Floridian was apparently egged on by commenters on […]

Creative Commons – the non-profit that promotes legal sharing on the Internet – is on Twitter, as of about 2 hours ago.  Music that is licensed using Creative Commons licenses has been hugely important to podcasting and new media – so you may want to consider subscribing to the “official Creative Commons microblog.”

Sandor Ferenci, a biker who posted videos of himself on YouTube performing stunts and speeding at up to 210 kph (130 mph), has been jailed after confessing his misdemeanors to the police. Ferenci, 28, was contacted by the police after a motorist saw him speeding on his powerful motorcycle and noted his registration number. When they […]

Google’s got a big problem with YouTube – the melting-pot nature of user-generated media.

This, along with a billion-dollar lawsuit, courtesy of Viacom, is keeping Google from making money on 96% of its content.

It’s time for Google to settle with Viacom, and get on with building a business based on what makes YouTube unique – user-generated media.