Tunnels Passé, Prisoners Use Copyright Laws for Escape
Techdirt blog has a story about prison inmates abusing copyright laws to extort prison officials.
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A group of inmates apparently copyrighted their names and then demanded millions of dollars from the prison they were in for using their names without permission. The claims were sent to the warden of the prison and when he didn't pay up, the prisoners were able to file claims against his property -- and then hired someone to seize the warden's property and freeze his bank accounts. At this point they then demanded to be released from prison before they would return the property. |
Though the plan didn't work, it shows that the definition of intellectual property is being pushed to its limits.
Thanks to JR for the story.