3 Count: Skeptical Circuit

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1: Fox Pitches Ninth Circuit On Dish Injunction

First off today, John Eggerton at Multichannel News reports that a panel at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the lawsuit between Dish Network and Fox, a case that centers around Dish Networks’ AutHop DVR with Slingbox, which the lower court had denied an injunction against.

Fox had already failed in both courts to secure an injunction against Dish’s AutoHop DVR, failing to show it did any irreparable harm, but sued again when Dish released a new version coupled with Sling, which allows recorded shows to be streamed to various devices via the Web.

Fox tried to liken AutoHop DVR with Sling to Aereo, which recently lost at the Supreme Court, saying that Aereo was an almost identical product. However, at least one judge on the panel was skeptical of that argument, saying that the Dish DVR was a “completely different technology” than Aereo. The first lawsuit is also ongoing at the lower court, with petitions for summary judgment expected next month.

2: Amended Copyright Act Seeks to Stop Online Piracy

Next up today, Paris Mokhtar at Today Online reports that Singapore has passed a new copyright act that aims to reduce piracy by compelling ISPs in the country to block access to infringing sites.

Previously, copyright holders could submit takedown notices to ISPs but, without a legal requirement to block such sites, few did. The new law, however, lets copyright holders apply to the court and receive a judgment that the site should be blocked.

It is unclear what technological measures the ISPs will use to block the sites.

3: The ‘Netflix For Pirated Movies’ Will Soon Work With Your Google Chromecast

Finally today, Steven Tweedie at Business Insider reports that the controversial movie streaming tool Popcorn Time has announced a new feature, one that will allow you to stream pirated movies directly to your TV via Chromecast.

Popcorn Time is a Windows application that allows you to stream movies found on BitTorrent, almost all of which are available illegally. It’s known for its easy-to-use interface and for adding features such as built-in VPN integration, which aims to make it more difficult be detected.

Chromecast support will, theoretically, help it better compete with legitimate alternatives, like Netflix, which have a strong presence on devices like the Chromecast, Apple TV and Roku boxes. However, the feature is currently in alpha and is still being tested.

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.

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