9th Circuit rejects Kahle vs. Gonzales, AAP PR

Just briefly mentioning two important things that I have neglected to follow here.

1). The 9th Circuit Court’s rejection of Brewster Kahle’s constitutional challenge to copyright laws that prevent people from using orphan works. That link is to the Cyberlaw project at Stanford and will be updated with commentary and future developments. This couirt decision is simply sad news, as many were hopeful that this challenge might lead to a real liberation in U.S. information policy.

2). The Association of American Publishers’ hiring of Dezenhall Associates, known as the “pit bull of PR,” to attack the open access movement in media messages. Ordinarily the public wouldn’t hear about this kind of a private arrangement, but somehow Nature Magazine learned of it. One rich quote from the Nature article for you:

Dezenhall noted that if the other side is on the defensive, it doesn’t matter if they can discredit your statements, she added: “Media messaging is not the same as intellectual debate”.

Lots more on the AAP PR thing on Peter Suber’s Open Access News blog.