Law
Lou Bonnevie and Toto Gentica: This is Fair Use
Since Lou Bonnevie and Toto Gentica of Dimitri Productions clearly do not grasp even the most basic intellectual property concepts, allow me to demonstrate to them fair use for comment and criticism in accordance with Section 185 of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines:
Oh, and Dimitri, don’t bother reading through the Code for a loophole you can exploit. I already checked. I am not a laywer, but to the best of my understanding, nothing in that law could possibly justify what you did to Alodia and Tricia.
OMB Fines CD-R King Over Blank Discs
I’ve been saying it for years: the Optical Media Act is a bad idea. Part of that bad idea: import permits for fucking pieces of plastic.
The Optical Media Board (OMB) has ordered CD-R King, one of the country’s biggest suppliers of optical media and related technology products, to pay P1.5 million in administrative penalties.
This was after the OMB, through the Bureau of Customs, found that the company was allegedly importing optical media discs without proper import permits from the agency, according to Cyrus Valenzuela, officer-in-charge of legal service division of OMB, in an interview.
The OMB sent its order Tuesday to CD-R King, informing them of their administrative violation of provisions of Republic Act 9239, or the Optical Media Act of 2003.
This is the same kind of thinking that gets Warner a per-Zune fee: just because a device with perfectly legitimate uses can conceivably be used for “piracy” means it should cost more. If you’re buying such a device, you’re automatically a thief and you should pay for your thievery. That’s just ludicrous! Not only does it raise the cost of legitimate information exchange — the basis of any vibrant civilization — it also serves no other purpose than to protect someone’s obsolete business model. That such an idea should be enshrined in law is even more ludicrous!
CD-R King gives a lower-income Filipinos a chance to use technology. It would be a shame to see it shut down just because the recording industry can so easily write our laws.
(Via Jepoy Bengero.)
