Confessions of a Mad Librarian

For those who missed it, Steven Colbert came up with a new catchphrase last night during his interview with John Perry Barlow of the EFF: "Librarians are hiding something". The Shifted Librarian has the video of the segment.

Why was Barlow on the Colbert Report? Well, EFF is suing VIacom on behalf of MoveOn because of Viacom suing YouTube/Google, in small part over Colbert Shows clips/parodies of same.

I have only 2 3 minor observations:

1) What would it take to get Leslie Berger or Loriene Roy on the Colbert Report?

2) Stephen said last night that it was a trademarked phrase, but trademark protection does not work like copyright. The moment a copyrightable expression is fixed in a tangible medium, it is effectively under copyright. But for trademark ... you have to file for TM protection to the US Patent and Trademark Office, there are forms to be filled out, fees to be paid and requirements to be met. And while I'm not an experienced USPTO searcher, I was unable to find a trademark on the phrase "Librarians are hiding something." If you are a better searcher than I (which isn't hard ... I'm slowly losing my mojo), take a look and let me know what you find. Maybe it's not too late for ALA to put its hat in the ring ...

3) I see shirts and mugs and bumper stickers out of this:

Librarians are hiding something ... your privacy.

Hmmm ... whatever happened to my CafePress account?

Posted by Eli at 05:58 PM | Permalink

I. Love. This.:

Defenders of Intellectual Freedom, Who Smell Nice (requires account or looking at an ad)

Posted by Eli at 10:23 PM | Permalink

I was about to title this post, "C-SPAN meets Creative Commons," but that does not appear to be technically correct. However, this is still very good news. Thanks to Hui Hua Chua for spreading the word via the GovDoc-L list.

From the NY Times:

The public affairs cable network C-Span announced yesterday that it was changing its copyright policy to “allow noncommercial copying, sharing and posting” on the Internet of its coverage of events sponsored by Congress or any federal agency, a decision that covers about 50 percent of its material.

The rules would apply to video in the network’s archives from the late 1970s as well as what appears today, and is intended “to increase the political dialogue,” C-Span’s president and co-chief operating officer, Rob Kennedy, said.

The change, he said, would allow “citizen journalists” like bloggers and collaborative Web sites to link to the material without worry of copyright infringement.

Posted by Eli at 01:15 PM | Permalink