Tag Archive for: overcome

‘We Shall Overcome’ Overcomes Bogus Copyright Claim — Officially In The Public Domain

The same legal team that helped get the song “Happy Birthday” officially cleared into the public domain has done it again with the song “We Shall Overcome.” As we wrote about, the same team filed a similar lawsuit against The Richmond Organization and Ludlow Music, who claimed a highly questionable copyright in the famous song “We Shall Overcome.” As the lawsuit showed, the song had a lengthy history long before Ludlow’s copyright claim.

Last September, the judge made it clear that the song’s claimed copyright was on weak grounds, rejecting arguments that key parts of the song were subject to copyright. Apparently, Ludlow Music tried to salvage something out of the wreck by just promising to offer a “covenant not to sue” against the plaintiffs… which the judge said wasn’t good enough earlier this month.

So, now the two sides have come to a settlement clearly admitting that the song is in the public domain:

Defendants agree that hearafter they will not claim copyright in the melody or lyrics of any verse of the song We Shall Overcome (“the Song”)…. Defendants agree that the melody and lyrics of those verses of the Song are hereafter dedicated to the public domain.

This is, obviously, a good result. Though I find it a little tacky that the defendants now want to “dedicate” the song to the public domain, when the truth is the song has been in the public domain all along, and it was only a false copyright claim by the defendants that attempted to hide the fact that it was in the public domain. Also, as with “Happy Birthday,” these publishers still got to profit off of years of licensing a song they had no legitimate right to license.

Still, it’s good to see yet another song officially in the public domain without any legal dispute over its status. The full dispute isn’t over yet, as the plaintiffs are still seeking legal fees, which they very well may get. Now let’s see if these same two defendants can be convinced to let go of their bogus copyright claim on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” as they’re facing a very, very similar lawsuit over that song too.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Techdirt.

RSA: Elite cryptographers scoff at idea that law enforcement can ‘overcome’ encryption

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ call for a way to “overcome” cryptography met with scorn from a panel of elite cryptographers speaking at this week’s RSA Conference 2017 in San Francisco.

“Any one of my students will be capable of writing good crypto code,” says Adi Shamir, the ‘S’ in RSA and a professor at the Weizmann Institute in Israel.

Sessions’ use of the term “overcome” during his confirmation hearings actually means installing backdoors, says Ronald Rivest, the ‘R’ in RSA and a professor at MIT. He cited a joint Congressional study that concluded that weakening encryption works against the national interest, and that encryption is global anyway — so the U.S. can’t call all the shots.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Network World Tim Greene

AG Nominee Backs Law Enforcement’s Ability to ‘Overcome’ Encryption

President Trump’s attorney general pick Jeff Sessions says law enforcement should be able to “overcome” encryption in criminal investigations.
Threatpost | The first stop for security news

Internet security bill supporters scramble to overcome GOP opposition before … – Minneapolis Star Tribune


Roll Call (subscription)

Internet security bill supporters scramble to overcome GOP opposition before
Minneapolis Star Tribune
WASHINGTON – The Senate could leave town this week for a monthlong break without passing legislation to protect the U.S. electrical grid, water supplies and other critical industries from cyberattack and electronic espionage. Congressional sponsors of
Convoluted Cybersecurity Act gets voted down in the SenateVentureBeat
Senate Internet Security Bill Falls to Partisan RancorRoll Call (subscription)
Beefing up Web securityLos Angeles Times
AFP
all 692 news articles »

“internet security” – read more