No, I’m not writing about the “action” in the ring. The ring-side antics may be as phony as can be, but the business wants to make sure that its intellectual property rights are protected in cyberspace. Rip-off World Wrestling Federation sites are not allowed. 

In last month’s article I wrote about Playboy Publishing suing one of its former models for using the Playmate description on a web site without a license from the company. (A correction is in order. She was a Playmate as stated in the text of the December article, not a “Bunny” as indicated by the title. 

In any event, owners of trademarks and copyrights have long wanted some way to control the use (or reuse) of their property in the web world. On the one hand they want to develop a large and enthusiastic fan base. But they must make sure that they do not loose the exclusive rights to the trademark or permit illegal copying of copyright protected material. Of course they also want the revenue from the brand. 

 According to a December 7th story on Zdnet’s website, new technology may make it possible to allow some limited downloading of images but still control the context and use of the protected material. Microsoft (aren’t they into everything?) and a company called Thingworld.com have combined streaming audio and video through the use of Microsoft’s Windows Media Player with Thingworld.com’s digital locking software that can protect the material from unauthorized use. The owner can then control the duplication or alteration of the material. Another option allows the material to be downloaded and installed on a local computer, but it contains an automatic link back to the authorized home site. 

 I had some trouble downloading and installing the browser plug-ins that make this development possible. And, even after I had it running I succeeded in crashing my computer three times. But, I must say the demonstration pages for WWF, the South Park cartoon characters and the New England Patriots are very impressive and provides some spectacular animated graphics. 

The extensive sales material on Thingworld.com’s website indicates that developers can create sites that can be “moused over, clicked on, taken, owned, collected, shared, locked, copyrighted [and] used as a screen saver.” The company also claims the product will also work for pay-per-view web events! If it really provides that level of protection to intellectual property rights, it could open the net to tremendous amounts of database and graphic material that won’t be posted until the owners feel secure. 

Visit http://www.thingworld.com/ They are back again. 

 The Texas Legislative Website is up for the 1999 legislative session. Legislators that were reelected were allowed to pre-file bills for the legislative session that starts on January 12th. Readers of prior columns will remember that the site (http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/) posted by the Texas Legislative Council’s office can be indispensable if you want to follow particular bills. It also has an updated link to the current Texas Statutes. 

 In the coming legislative session it is predictable that a lot of attention will be focused on computer related topics. Between the Year 2000 mess, tax issues and use of computers (particularly the internet) at schools and libraries, this session will be very busy. As I prepared this article I found that thirteen out of the 300+ bills that had already been filed in the House deal with computers and the Internet. 

Guess what, one of them deals with Year 2000 liability. HB-40 filed by Rep. Pitts is only the first of what may be a very, very large number of bills attempting to limit liability for Year 2000 legal problems. 

Although that particular bill may not apply to most APCO members, many of us will be interested in the sales tax exemption for Internet access proposed in HB 111 by Rep. Maxey. If that bill eliminates the sales tax on internet service it will fit nicely with the recent federal tax moratorium on certain aspects of internet commerce. 

A tip about using the legislative site is in order-most, but not all of the computer and Internet legislation is indexed under Science and Technology. 

Law Site Bookmark for January, 1999

America Lawyer Media has now launched a new site at http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com that is slicker. It seems to have borrowed a style page from USA Today by placing more emphasis on pictures and short leads to articles on the front page. I hope they maintain the substantive content along with the new visual presentation.