3 Count: LexisNexis NoNo

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

1: Attorney Class Accuses LexisNexis and West of Copyright Violations

First off today, a new lawsuit filed on behalf of two attorneys claims that two of the world’s largest legal aggregators, West Publishing and LexisNexis, are infringing the copyright of lawyers by adding legal briefs and other filings to their database without permission. According to the lawsuit, those briefs are protected by copyright and are used by the companies in their databases, which they charge to access. The lawsuit is seeking class action status and wants damages for the copyright infringement and for the services to stop including briefs in their databases.

2: Standards Leader Blasts HTML5 Video Copy Protection

Next up today the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organization that sets standards for things such as HTML and CSS, has found itself in the center of a digital rights management (DRM) controversy. Several members of the organization, including Google, Netflix and Microsoft, proposed a new HTML5 video standard that would enable the use of DRM in video. Though HTML5 video is an attempt to get away from using plugins such as Adobe Flash, the lack of copy protection has kept many content providers aways. However, the proposal has drawn fire from W3C’s HTML editor Ian Hickson, who called the proposal “unethical”. Hickson does not have veto power but is widely respected in the field of Web standards and even works for Google, who is backing the plan. Hickson has a long history of opposing DRM in HTML standards, going as far as to call DRM “evil”.

3: DeNA’s Fishing Game Violates Gree’s Copyright: Court

Finally today, Japanese game maker DeNA has been ordered to pay ¥230 million ($2.85 million) in damages to competitor Gree over alleged infringement of one of Gree’s games. DeNA, on its mobile gaming site “Mobage”, offers a game entitled “Tsuri-ge-town 2”, which was, according to the judge, modeled after the Gree game “Tsurista”. DeNA has already filed an appeal in the case and will be able to continue providing their game as the court did not attach a provisional order blocking it from being distributed.

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.

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.