Author Archives: Hugh Paterson III

New Chevy Bolt EUV

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We newly acquired a Chevy Bolt EUV. It seems to present a very nice driving experience. One minor thing that I think the designers overlooked. When using Apple play, the fonts in the iPhone support a wide range of Unicode (as demonstrated by my phone's name in the first image). Apple play in the car's display unit also supports a similar range Unicode (second image). However, the screen of the drivers dash does not support the same set of characters (third image). It is quite common for fonts to replace the characters they don't contain with boxes. I encountered this issue with US based automobile manufacturers' media console displays in Nigeria when people were playing songs with titles in arabic script.

Two other user experience issues:

  1. My wife raises the seat and it didn't automatically lower when I get in. Every time I get in with her seat height I knock my head and it knocks my neck out of alignment.
  2. When I am in the front passenger seat and the car is off, and the driver is out of the car, one can not turn on the air conditioning.
  3. We live in Eugene, Oregon. It rarely gets to 104ºF, but when it does, the A/C feels weak and there are no vents in the back seat of the car.
  4. When we took the car to New Jersey for the winter the heater worked at 28°F but could not keep up at 24°F. This was even with the internal air circulation on. It has been my experience that the air recirculation system seems to still be drawing in outside air at all times. For example, we still experience exhaust fumes and smoke with it on.
  5. Windows on the sides of the car do not fold in (via a power button) to narrow the width of the car. They do fold in manually.
  6. It seems like the recirculation air control doesn't really only recirculate the air. It seems to continuously draw in new air. This is extremely vexing when one is behind diesel engine or external air is particularly odorant.
  7. Not terribly unusual, but tires need to be replaced in pairs–this can be expensive if one gets a flat in just one tire.

Copyrights and types

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I am trying to establish the kinds of materials defined as permitted for copyright, and some associated protections. For example, copyright circular 1 lists some types on the first page. Among them: Literary works, and sound recordings, which are two "broad" types of works outlined in US copyright law (Title 17 reproduced in Circular 92). The class Literary works further is divided down into several sub-types, one of which is software. My understanding of "literary" in this context is that one reads the text. So, I have some questions about these designated resource types.

  1. Is there a basis for understanding digital sound or motion pictures as software bundles? Or for copyright purposes are software and motion pictures very distinct classes of "things"?

My understanding is that the rights afforded to copyright holders are limited by type. For example, copyright allows the holder of an audio copyrighted resource to regulate the transmission via a digital audio transmission. Circular 1 states it as: "Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording".

  1. Do I rightly conclude then that this protection for audio is "type specific"? It cannot apply to, for example, sculptures, or motion pictures.

My understanding is that these types have slight variations to the protections afforded to them. For example, my understanding is that a motion picture is only copyright-able in a fixed format (congruent with other "types"). However, my understanding is that the copyright term only starts once it is published... published is a hard term to find a definition for. Circular 45 says the following:

"Publication of a motion picture takes place when one or more copies are distributed to the public by sale, rental, lease, or lending or when an offering is made to distribute copies to a group (wholesalers, retailers, broadcasters, motion picture distributors, and the like) for purposes of further distribution or public performance. Offering to distribute a copy of a motion picture for exhibition during a film festival may be considered publication of that work. For an offering to constitute publication, copies must be made and be ready for distribution. The performance itself of a motion picture (for example, showing it in a theater, on television, or in a school room) does not constitute publication."

  1. Do Creative Commons licenses apply to video material I host on my own website? In order for Creative Commons licenses to be enforceable or valid the copyright must be valid. If the copyright term only starts at publication, and publication requires sale, rental, lease, or lending, where in that process is free (libre) distribution?

This is of some interest to me as I am looking at comparing protections in different national copyright frameworks for ethnographic resources produced in scholarly contexts.