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1: Copyright Troll Righthaven’s Epic Blunder: A Lawsuit Targeting Ars

First off today, Righthaven filed suit against freelance writer Eriq Gardner over a column he wrote for the site Ars Technica. The article in question was about a previous Righthaven lawsuit, that one against The Drudge Report, in which Ars ran a photo taken from Righthaven’s filings in the case, which happened to depict a grainy version of the Denver Post photo the original lawsuit was over. Righthaven, which represents both the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, announced they had dropped the suit against Gardner with prejudice after realizing their error, but the blunder called into further question Righthaven’s litigation tactics, which involve suing sites and their owners over using content from various newspapers without first filing any form of warning.

2: In Bow to Authors, Baidu Scrubs Document Sharing Site

Next up today, bowing to pressure from local authors, Chinese search engine Baidu has scrubbed nearly 3 million documents from its document sharing service, Wenku, and has said that it will shut down the service if problems continue. Baidu also said that it is seeking a new round of negotiations with authors and other copyright holders regarding the document service and is hoping to reach a mutually-beneficially agreement. Though Baidu has said it can’t be certainly 100% of the infringing material is gone, it does hope that the mass deletion shows their good faith and will help bring authors to the negotiating table.

3: EMI Wins $950,000 in Copyright Infringement Lawsuit over Beatles Songs

Finally today, the BlueBeat.com case has been settled and EMI can expect to get nearly $1 million from Media Rights Technologies, the former owners of the site. BlueBeat was selling Beatles tracks for 25 cents without a license from EMI, who hold the rights to the songs, and, when pressed in court, claimed that they were not selling the original tracks but instead were offering ones created by ”psycho-acoustic simulation”. The judge, however, disagreed with that and found the company liable for infringement, prompting this settlement.

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 6 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.

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

1: Author Slams eBook Piracy, Son Outs Her As a Music Pirate

First off today, as part of a point/counterpoint on the issue of ebook piracy, the Norwegian publication Dagens Næringsliv ran an interview with author Anne B. Ragde, who slammed ebook piracy. However, during the interview, she admitted to buying counterfeit handbags and her son said that the two of them had a rather large pirated MP3 collection. Ragbe defended herself by saying the quotes were taken out of context, that the iPod on which the music is stored is “not representative of (her) relationship with the music industry” and that she will delete the songs when she arrives at the cottage where it’s stored during the holidays.

2: YouTube Extends Video Time, Promises Copyright Protection

Next up today, Google has announced that it will begin allowing some users to upload clips longer than 15 minutes to YouTube but it will only be doing so for those with a proven track record of complying with YouTube’s copyright policies. YouTube has also said that it will be rolling out the feature slowly and that it will continue to use the ContentID system to ensure that copyright infringing material is not uploaded to the service. However, many content creators, in particular the Independent Film & Television Alliance, are not wholly convinced of the power of the ContentID system.

3: Judge: Music Website Violated Beatles Copyrights

Finally today, a year after the service was forced to close due to a lawsuit, BlueBeat.com has been found liable for copyright infringement for selling the Beatles songs, over a year before they were legally available on the Web. The site famously sold the Beatles, along with other popular artists, for 25 cents per track. The company was shuttered by another industry lawsuit in 2009 but the case involving EMI over the Beatles tracks continued.

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 6 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.

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

1: Skype Founders Set to Get 10 Percent, Option to Buy Three Percent More and Two Board Seats

First off today, Skype users can rejoice as it appears the Skype lawsuit has been settled. The case, which saw the two original founders of the company sue their buyer, eBay, alleging that the company did not have a license to manipulate or alter the code to the Skype software itself. That software, according to the founders, is owned by Joltid, a company they own. Though it seemed odd that eBay would buy the company but not the rights to its core product, the suit hit at a time when eBay was looking to resell Skype to other investors and the lawsuit threatened the future of the company.

Well, today we have word that a settlement has been reached. The former founders of Skype will be given a 10% stake in the company and an option to buy an additional 3% for $84 million. They will also be given two seats on the company’s 23-person board.

This puts to bed one of tech’s ugliest and most vindictive copyright lawsuits in recent years and clears eBay, Skype and its new owners to move forward with the company’s future.

2: E.U. Leaders Bolster Internet Access Protections

Next up today, the EU has reached an agreement that it hopes will serve as a compromise between various nations and companies that wish to disconnect file sharers from the Web and activists who view the Web as an inalienable right. The EU has agreed that any action resulting in the disconnection of a file sharer must be subject to some form or legal review and can not be done simply on the say so of copyright holders.

This follows closely a similar deal in France, where an initial bill to disconnect repeat file sharers was shot down after it failed to provide judicial oversight to the process. A revised bill, one with such oversight, is making its way through the legislature now.

With this agreement comes an end to over 6 months of negotiation on the issue that will finally allow for the passage of the related telecommunications act, which will overhaul many aspects of the EU communications systems.

3: Judge Halts Online Sale of Beatles Songs

Finally today, I think we all saw this one coming. A judge has ordered BlueBeat to stop selling Beatles tracks on its site, rejecting its famous “psycho-acoustic simulation” argument. The company had been selling Beatles tracks for just 25 cents, even though Beatles music is not available for legal download anywhere on the Web. They had claimed that their tracks were not copies, but rather, were legal covers created using their “psycho-acoustic simulation” technology.

The judge, however, found that argument less than compelling and, despite a registration certificate for the works, has issued a temporary retraining order barring BlueBeat from selling the tracks while the lawsuit against them, filed by EMI, moves forward.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

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 Saturday morning for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Monday morning right here on Plagiarism Today.

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

1: Warner Music Videos to Return to YouTube

First off today, after a nine-month standoff, Warner Music’s videos are returning to YouTube. Warner and YouTube, which is owned by Google, had a falling out after the two companies could not agree on the amount WMG should be paid for users of their content on the site. This lead to many videos being removed or muted if they had WMG music, which includes artists such as Madonna and Metallica.

The two have resolved their differences and, in a statement, WMG even hinted at some new changes to YouTube including “an enhanced user experience on YouTube with a feature-rich, high-quality premium player and enhanced channels” whatever that may mean.

YouTube says it expects the WMG vides to be online by the end of this year.

2: Court denies preliminary injunction in constitutional challenge to Copyright Royalty Board

Next up today, a court has denied a preliminary injunction against the Copyright Royalty Board and the Copyright Office that was requested by music streaming service Live365. Live365 had sued the CRB claiming that the appointment of the judges was in violation of the U.S. Constitution, as they were not appointed by an appropriate government official.

This is an argument that has been raised before, including in a recent case involving SoundExchange, and there is a case on this topic in front of the Supreme Court currently. If it is found that the CRB is unconstitutional, it would almost certainly be stripped of its powers to set licensing and royalty rates while also endangering many of its recent rulings, including ones dealing with podcasting and music streaming over the Web.

The Live365 case is continuing. With the preliminary injunction denied, the case will now move on toward a trial.

3: Video Company Asks For $6.3M In Lennon Film Case

Finally today, we have a continuation in one of the strangest copyright cases in a long time. In 1970 Anthony Cox shot video of former Beatle John Lennon at home who, in turn, sold the rights to World Wide Video LLC in 2000 for $125,000. However, in 2002, it Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, claims to have bought the rights to the video for $300,000 from Anthony Pagola. The problem being that Pagola, by all accounts, had no rights to offer the footage for sale.

Despite this, the courts recently ruled that Ono is the rightsholder following a suit that saw World Wide Video file against both Pagola and Ono after Ono threatened a documentary produced using the footage. According to the judge, World Wide Video did was aware of Ono’s claim and did not act timely to resolve it. However, the court also found that Pagola, who did not respond to the suit, did not have the rights and now World Wide Video is asking for a judgment of $6.3 million against him. According to World Wide Video, this accounts for the value of the video, which is between $4-$6 million according to their attorneys, and the sale price of $300,000.

The judge has not ruled but did hint that she found the amount to be “speculative”. Ono has said that she has never cleared the work for any commercial use and that the value seemed inflated.

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 Saturday morning for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Monday morning right here on Plagiarism Today.

It has been a very busy week for copyright news as the international stage became a flurry of activity. This week we have news from Singapore, Italy, Sweden and, as usual, the United States. We have conflicting opinions on the role of the ISP in enforcing copyright, charges filed against the pirate bay and a new music service falling flat on its face.

So, as always I sat down with Chris Matthieu from Numly to discuss those stories and more with our usual mix of news, views and abuse.

This week’s stories include.

• Qtrax Retreats
• The Pirate Bay Admins Face Charges
• ISPs Forced to Surrender User Data
• ISPs NOT Forced to Surrender User Data
• Aliens to Get DRM Free Music
• And Many more…

You can download the MP3 file here (direct download). Those interested in subscribing to the show can do so via this feed.

Show Notes

[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/plagiarismtoday/copyright20eps44.mp3]