Why the Copyright Act Expressly Preempts State-Level Public Performance Rights in Pre-1972 Recordings

Over the past several years, two former bandmates in the 1960s rock group, The Turtles, have initiated several lawsuits against the popular music streaming services, Pandora and Sirius XM, arguing that the band owns common law copyrights in the sound recordings of its songs, and that these state-level copyrights grant the band an exclusive public performance right in its sound recordings. If accepted, this argument has the potential to significantly distort federal copyright policy because states would not be constrained by any of the balancing features of the Copyright Act, including Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbors for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), statutory licenses under 17 USC § 114, or even the limitations, such as fair use, in §§ 107 through 122. In spite of how detrimental state-by-state copyright policymaking could be to Congress’s policy choices embodied in the Copyright Act, federal courts have not applied any form of preemption that would prevent states from legislating at will in this area, because § 301(c) appears to contain a disavowal of preemption for any state law dealing with pre-1972 sound recordings. This note advances an interpretation of § 114(a) that would expressly preempt state-level public performance rights in pre-1972 sound recordings as well as an interpretation of §301(c) that would greatly narrow the scope of the disavowal of preemption, allowing federal courts to strike down state laws that severely distort federal copyright policy

Enlargement Policy Consensus Among the EU Member States: The Question of Kosovo’s Independence and its Effects on Serbia’s Accession

In a continuously evolving world system, it is more crucial than ever for the European Union (EU) to work as a cohesive and unified bloc. Yet this is hindered by the EU’s inability to fully integrate member states and futile enlargement objectives. The EU’s ambitions in the Western Balkans include a full implementation of European values within the region by making membership an incentive. This tactic is two-fold; it increases the EU’s influence in the Western Balkans by negating Russia’s power, and it unifies a larger portion of the continent. However, the current enlargement policy is not sufficient enough to withstand Kosovo’s disputed independence. This debate creates a dichotomy between member states that support Kosovo’s independence and those that do not. Thus, this paper aims to answer the question of how much is Serbia willing to compromise in order to become an EU member state, and how much is the EU willing to compromise to strengthen its influence in the Western Balkans. To do so, a case study comparing Serbia and Croatia’s accession processes will be presented. This paper will analyse the effect Kosovo’s status will have on the accession process in terms of member state consensus. Finally, this paper will advance recommendations for ways in which the EU can adjust the accession for the special case of Serbia in order to maintain influence in the Western Balkans

The effects of social skills training on the writing skills of middle school students with learning disabilities

The purpose of the study was to determine if training in social skills in a classroom setting would lead to greater achievement in writing. Fifty-seven children in grades six through eight (ages 11-14) from a predominantly middle-class school in a largely urban school district in South Florida participated in this study. Participation in the study was limited to students who had been evaluated, met diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities and were placed in a learning disabilities language arts class. Seven dependent variables were measured to evaluate the effects of social skills training (independent variable) on the writing skills of children with learning disabilities. The four writing variables were thematic maturity, syntactic maturity, fluency, and quality of expression. Three social skills measures were parent rating, student rating, and teacher rating of social skills behavior in the classroom. Three tests designed to measure changes in written language development and social skills acquisition and performance were used for pre-testing and post-testing. To assess the writing skills, two assessment instruments were selected: Test of Written Language-2 (TOWL-2) (Hammill & Larsen, 1988) and the Woodcock Psychoeducational Battery Achievement and Supplemental Tests (Woodcock & Johnson, 1990). To assess social skills, Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) was selected. Areas of significant improvement in the writing measures were syntactic maturity and quality of expression in the experimental group. In the control group, syntactic maturity improved significantly more than in the experimental group. When pre and post test differences were examined for both groups, only syntactic maturity was significant. However, the gain score was greater for the control group than for the experimental group. The students\u27 home language had a significant effect on syntactic maturity but not on any other variable. Thematic maturity approached significance and should be considered when practical applications are discussed. Examination of the results of the social skills measures revealed that no significant differences were evident in any area. There were no significant effects on the parent, student or teacher rating measures either by the social skills training or the writing instruction. The home language of the students had no effect on the social skills measures

Geophysical investigations of near-surface mine sites in northern West Virginia

The production of acid mine drainage (AMD) from surface and underground coal mine sites in northern West Virginia is a major environmental problem and continues to receive much attention in affected communities. Reclamation efforts at these sites often require extensive and costly treatments and are based on limited subsurface information. Use of geophysical techniques to characterize these sites, monitor remedial efforts, and provide additional subsurface information is evaluated in this study. Terrain conductivity (EM31 and EM34) grids as well as resistivity and magnetic profiles were collected at a mine spoil and two abandoned underground mine sites in northern West Virginia. Data were contoured and modeled using computer software to evaluate various subsurface conditions. Geophysical data were used in conjunction with hydrologic, geochemical, and borehole data previously collected to develop a better understanding of subsurface conditions at each site. Because terrain conductivity data can be collected rapidly and interpreted easily, it is the most promising of the techniques used in this study. Results of this study illustrate the potential benefits of geophysical surveys to mine site evaluation as well as some limitations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Zapotec Language Activism And Talking Dictionaries

Online dictionaries have become a key tool for some indigenous communities to promote and preserve their languages, often in collaboration with linguists. They can provide a pathway for crossing the digital divide and for establishing a first-ever presence on the internet. Many questions around digital lexicography have been explored, although primarily in relation to large and well-resourced languages. Lexical projects on small and under-resourced languages can provide an opportunity to examine these questions from a different perspective and to raise new questions (Mosel, 2011). In this paper, linguists, technical experts, and Zapotec language activists, who have worked together in Mexico and the United States to create a multimedia platform to showcase and preserve lexical, cultural, and environmental knowledge, share their experience and insight in creating trilingual online Talking Dictionaries in several Zapotec languages. These dictionaries sit opposite from big data mining and illustrate the value of dictionary projects based on small corpora, including having the flexibility to make design decisions to maximize community impact and elevate the status of marginalized languages

Design of a Multi-Color Plenoptic Camera for Snapshot Hyperspectral Imaging

The design of a custom camera lens including: a two-lens optical system, filter array, and iris has been developed enabling a greyscale plenoptic camera to acquire full field-of-view, 2D, instantaneous hyperspectral measurements. This work focuses on the use of 7 discrete color filters and their effect on the image quality. It was determined that the placement of the filters inside the aperture plane of the camera was paramount to mitigating image artifacts. In addition, design rules were developed such that the optimal optical parameters (image distance, working distance, and focal length) can be easily determined from a few charts