derivative work

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts finally issued its ruling on out-of-state residents marrying in Massachusetts, upholding a previously moribund statute that had been dusted off especially for same-sex marriages. [nyt 3/30; Cote-Whiteacre v. Mass. Dept. of Public Health, SJC-09436 (Mass. SJC 2006/3/30)]

I’m working my way through a new report from Consumers International on copyright’s impact on access to knowledge in eleven different developing nations. The study reviews the statutes and finds that in almost all ways, developing nations have afforded more copyright protections than required by international treaties, to the detriment of public access to information.

Yet another instance of boys-read-boys makes the news. This time, Dave Itzkoff’s new “It’s All Geek To Me” column in the NYT. My partner thought I’d be excited — and I was — to see science fiction getting a column in the NYT. Alas, though, it’s only a boy-reads-boys column.
The first column (March 5, [...]

i’ve been too angry to post about south dakota — and really, too unsurprised and cynical to have anything particularly interesting to say — but some music has been particularly resonant to me the last few weeks watching the South Dakota legislators presume to regulate the personal lives and medical decisions of women. so here’s [...]

In an article about the post-Brokeback cowboy fashion revival [NYT 2006/3/9], I noticed this paragraph:
When you unravel the history of cowboys and their clothes, the 150-year tug of war over who’s a cowboy and who’s a dude, as department-store cowboys are still derisively called, gets tangled. The Wild West may be the place where branding [...]

Today, on our way to the Fung Wah bus (we never got there, but that’s another story), my partner & I happened to stop in at a bookstore/teahouse for brunch. Then we realized that they were actually having a booksigning by Margaret Atwood. I’m in the middle of a huge deadline, and have just started [...]

on the oscars, just now, jon stewart on movie piracy (i paraphrase):

Let’s face facts. It hasn’t been the best year for Hollywood.
The box office was was a little bit down and piracy continues to be a problem. If there is anyone out there involved in illegal movie piracy, don’t do it.
Take a good look at [...]

so much has been going on that i can scarcely keep up - especially since I just started working full-time with Brennan Center’s Free Expression Policy Project on a new Fair Use Empowerment Initiative.
but lately I’ve been reading:

Perfect 10
Illinois Tool Works v. Independent Ink (antitrust / patent borders). William Patry has the most insightful commentary [...]

I was deeply saddened early this week to learn that Octavia Butler had died. She exemplified the spirit of inquiry that makes science fiction truly the literature of ideas. Below I collect a number of resources about Octavia Butler.
Action

Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund

Obituaries and Remembrances

SFWA Remembrances
Memories in the comments on Steven Barnes’ blog
Memories in [...]