This is a lightly edited version of a blog post published on Harold’s personal blog, “Tales from the Sausage Factory,” on WetMachine.com. In any cliche villain scene, there’s a bad guy threatening to hurt someone else — an innocent bystander, perhaps — unless the protagonist does what the bad guy wants. Although no one would […]

I’m happy about the Supreme Court’s 6-2 decision in Google v. Oracle, affirming that Google’s reimplementation of the Java API for Android was a fair use and thus not copyright infringement. Google and Oracle’s competitions can breathe a sigh of relief, since a result that went the other way could have seriously inhibited the ability […]

Today, Public Knowledge filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the Prometheus Radio Project and other opponents of the Federal Communication Commission’s 2017 Order eliminating most of the broadcast ownership rules.

Today, Judge Lance Walker in the U.S. District Court of Maine rejected arguments from ISPs that the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules, and Congress’s disapproval of FCC broadband privacy rules, preempt states from asserting authority over broadband

There are very few actions as immediately and obviously intrusive as having your mail read. No matter your age or place — or how much you still use physical mail — the right to private communications is an established social norm. Whether I send a letter, text, or email, I expect no one but the […]

Bashing social media for supposed liberal bias has become pretty standard fare for some conservative pundits and politicians. This remains true despite zero evidence of any kind of bias by social media companies against conservative content or Republican politicians. In fairness, Democratic political leaders have made similar accusations. For example, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has […]

I’m very concerned about yesterday’s decision in U.S. v. Sabre, the antitrust case examining the merger of Sabre and Farelogix, two airline ticket software companies. Aside from the consolidation of the airline ticket software industry, the decision includes a really troubling interpretation of the already problematic American Express decision from 2018, potentially making it more […]

Last month, Judge Victor Marrero of the District Court of the Southern District of New York issued a decision allowing the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile to proceed, rejecting a suit brought by a coalition of state Attorneys General. This decision is deeply disappointing—Public Knowledge and other groups fought hard to stop the merger, […]

Last night, the House Judiciary Committee marked up Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) bill, “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019,” (H.R. 2426), to establish a new Copyright Claim Board within the United States Copyright Office.

Today, Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District Court of California ruled that Qualcomm’s patent licensing practices violate the Federal Trade Commission Act.