3 Count: Getting Birched

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1: Small ISP Stands Up to Rightscorp’s “Piracy Fishing Expedition” and Wins

First off today, Joe Mullin at Ars Technica reports that Rightscorp has suffered a setback in Georgia as local ISP Birch has successfully defeated a DMCA subpoena that attempted to force it to turn over the identities of some 71 suspected infringers.

Rightscorp is an anti-piracy company that monitors file sharing traffic and gathers IP addresses and then uses the DMCA subpoena process to try and compel ISPs to turn over their subscriber information. When they do, Rightscorp attempts to force small settlements with the suspected infringers.

However, Birch fought back against the DMCA subpoenas saying that the subpoenas were not the subject of any action in court and likely never would be. While the court, citing an appeals court ruling in a separate circuit, agreed the subpoenas should be quashed, it also declined to sanction Rightscorp saying that it did not amount to a frivolous filing.

2: Netload Resurfaces at New Home After Court Order

Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that the file-hosting service Netload has reappeared after about a week offline, reappearing on a new domain but with the original logins still intact.

The site closed briefly after the a German court issued an injunction barring the site from distributing a pirated album. This would have forced Netload to monitor for uploads and shares of the album for face significant fines, up to 250,000 Euros ($281,000) per infringement. The site then closed down.

However, the site has now reemerged, abandoning its .in domain in favor of a .me extension. Despite the move, the site is allegedly operated by the same people and the user accounts on the old service are functional, even if uploads are not working at this time. But the lack of ownership change means that the injunction still stands and the new site could still face the same sanctions.

3: Did Konami Use YouTube Copyright Rules To Censor Kojima Criticism?

Finally today, Evan DeSimone at New Media Rockstars reports that a video critical of the video game company Konami has been removed due to a copyright claim by the company, raising allegations that Konami has attempted to censor the video.

The video was produced by YouTuber George Weidman, who claims that an anonymous source within Konami gave him information about the dispute between the company and the legendary game designer Hideo Kojima, who is employed by Konami. The video accuses Konami of abandoning console gaming and sandbagging several popular franchises as they look to refocus their business.

While the video does show short clips of various Konami games, most of the video was screen captures from various sources, including websites and Konami statements. While it’s possible that the video did trigger an automatic ContentID removal, it had been on YouTube for sometime and had begun to gain traction. Whether it was an attempt to censor the video or not, others have responded by reposting the video all over YouTube, providing multiple versions for those who are curious.

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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