3 Count: Bear Necessities

Jonathan BaileyMay 1, 2012

2 minutes read

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

1: Pirate Bay Must be Blocked, High Court Tells ISPs

First off today, Matt Warman at The Telegraph reports that a High Court Judge in the UK has ordered that all five of the major ISPs in the country have to block access to The Pirate Bay. The ruling follows a lawsuit from the BPI, the UK equivalent to the RIAA, which sought the ban. The judge that issued the ruling was the same one that ruled in favor of a similar block for Newzbin2. Free speech advocates worry that the block will not be effective but may lead to calls for more such blocks in the future. Most ISPs expect to have the block in place within a few days.

2: Russia, China on Top Copyright Pirates List Again-USTR

Next up today, Dough Palmer from Reuters reports that the U.S. Trade Representative has released their annual Special 301 Report, which names countries it views are not doing enough to enforce copyright within its borders. The USTR list did not include many surprises. On the higher “Priority Watch List” there were countries such as Russia, China and, for the second year in a row, Canada. On the lower, “Watch List” there were some 27 countries including Italy, Finland and Greece. The list contains no sanctions or threat of sanctions but is an attempt to get uncooperative governments to pass tougher copyright laws and more strongly enforce the ones that they have.

3: Bear Down: AP Pulls Falling Bear Image Amid Copyright Dispute

Finally today, Stephanie Haberman at Mashable reports that the Associated Press has issued a “photo elimination” on a viral image of a tranquilized bear falling out of a tree. The photo, originally taken by University of Colorado Boulder student Andy Duann was published by the school’s paper, the CU Independent, which then sold it to the AP, where it was picked up and went viral. Duann has said he is considering taking legal action against the paper for its misuse of the photo though he is happy with the exposure it has gotten. In the meantime, the elimination order is designed to have any site using the photo from the AP remove the image as soon as practical.

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.