3 Count: Locked Out

Jonathan BaileyJune 21, 2011

2 minutes read

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Righthaven Loss: Judge Rules Reposting Entire Article Is Fair Use

First off today, Righthaven, already stung by a legal defeat that calls into question their contract with Stephens Media to pursue copyright infringer, has lost another round with a judge ruling that the republishing of an entire article from the newspaper was a fair use. According to the judge, Righthaven could not show how the market for the work was harmed by the use and that the nature of the work, with little original content, it was not at the “core” of copyright protection. As a result, the judge ruled that the republishing of the entire article was a fair use, ruling in favor of Wayne Hoehn, the alleged infringer. Hoehn’s attorneys are expecting to petition the court to force Righthaven to pay their costs.

2: Oracle Copyright Suit Seeks Billions from Google

Next up today, the full scope of the Oracle/Google copyright lawsuit is seeing the light of day as Oracle makes it clear they are seeking damages in the billions of dollars. The case centers around Java, which Oracle acquired from Sun Microsystems. Oracle accuses Google of infringing both copyrights and patents with their use of Java, including in the Android operating system. Google has countered Oracle’s assertions saying that their logic for determining potential damages is flawed but also moved to put the case under seal to protect confidential information.

3: Microsoft Misusing Copyright Law in Xbox Antitrust Lawsuit, Group Says

Finally today, the EFF has filed a brief in a case that pits Microsoft, the makers of the Xbox 360, against Datel Design & Development. The suit stems from a 2009 firmware update to the Xbox 360 that locked out third-party memory modules, such as those made by Datel. Datel sued claiming it was an antitrust violation to do so but Microsoft defended themselves claiming that Datel violated the DMCA by circumventing the protections in the operating system to enable cheating and unauthorized access to the system. In their brief, the EFF claims that the DMCA was not meant to prevent cheating and was solely meant to prevent access to copyrighted works. They are asking the judge to toss out Microsoft’s defense, calling it an abuse of the law.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.