3 Count: Hacked Up

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1: Hackers Charged with Stealing Over $100m in US Army and Xbox Technology

First off today, Nicky Woolf at The Guardian reports that four men have been charged with participating in a hacking ring that netted over $100 million in various intellectual property.

In their activities, the men are alleged to have taken everything from Xbox technology, Apache helicopter training software and pre-release copies of games, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Two of the men involved have pleaded guilty and cases are pending against the other two. In addition to the four U.S. citizens involved, a fifth man in Australia also faces charges. The men face charges of computer fraud, criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud and theft of trade secrets. The police have also seized $620,000 in proceeds from a theft related to the ring, however, that profit seems to come from a single, isolated incident.

2: Wounded Warrior Project Sues Pa. Group Claiming Copyright Infringement

Next up today, Jim Boyle at The Pennsylvania Record reports that the Wounded Warrior Project, a nationwide charity that aims to help wounded soldiers, has filed a lawsuit against Keystone Wounded Warriors claiming both trademark and copyright infringement.

According to the lawsuit, the Keystone Wounded Warriors uses a logo that is confusingly similar to the Wounded Warrior Project. They also accuse the smaller charity of using the Wounded Warrior Project logo in the background of promotional videos. Since the Wounded Warrior Project logo, which features the silhouette of a soldier carrying another, is artistic, they are suing for both trademark and copyright infringement.

The Wounded Warrior Project wants an injunction against the use of similar marks, for Keystone to create an ad campaign making it clear that they are not associated with the Wounded Warrior Project and pay both compensatory and punitive damages for the use of the materials.

3: It’s now Legal to Rip CDs and DVDs for Personal Use

Finally today Hug Langley at Tech Radar reports that an update to UK copyright law takes effect today and with it comes the formal legalization of CD ripping and cloud backup of legally-acquired copyrighted works.

CD ripping had remained technically illegal in the country though rarely, if ever, enforced. However, while the new law still makes it unlawful to copy works to give or sell to others, making such copies for your personal use is now legal.

The new law also legalizes parody, even if it involves using copyrighted works, providing a protection for that expression similar to what is found in the United States.

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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