It is Friday again and that means that it is time for another episode of the Copyright 2.0 Show.

With Patrick on the road and unable to record last week, we have a lot of catching up to do as there’s two week’s worth of news to get through in just one hour. However, the biggest stories all came from the most recent week including the closure of BTJunkie and “used” music reseller Redigi living to fight another day. However, we also get caught up on the ongoing stories such as the ACTA protests and the Oracle/SAP lawsuit just to name two.

It’s definitely an episode you don’t want to miss, especially if you like Coca Cola (long story).

This week’s stories include:

• BTJunkie Voluntarily Closes
• “Used” Music Seller Redigi Fights On, Avoids Injunction
• After Protests, Three Countries Put ACTA Ratification on Hold
• Oracle Seeks New Trial in Lawsuit Against SAP
• Pirate Bay Sentences are Final, Supreme Court Denies Appeal
• Much, Much 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

About the Hosts

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey (@plagiarismtoday) is the Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today (Hint: You’re there now) and works as a copyright and plagiarism consultant. Though not an attorney, he has resolved over 700 cases of plagiarism involving his own work and has helped countless others protect their work and develop strategies for making their content work as hard as possible toward their goals.

Patrick O’Keefe

Patrick O’Keefe (@iFroggy) is the owner of the iFroggy Network, a network of websites covering various interests. He’s the author of the book “Managing Online Forums,” a practical guide to managing online communities and social spaces. He maintains a blog about online community management at ManagingCommunities.com and a personal blog at patrickokeefe.com.

Pirates have a long history of adapting and evolving to respond to new threats and challenges. Whether it’s a matter of adapting an existing system or creating an entirely new one, where there has been a will to obtain illegal copies of files, there’s been a way.

But while the old means haven’t truly died off, people still buy bootleg DVDs and trade files on Usenet after all, the new methods become more popular and become the focus of both pirates and anti-pirates alike. But these changes do more than provide new ways to access the same files, they actually change the nature of piracy and how people approach it. This, in turn, changes how it affects content creators and how, if they choose, they fight it.

While the potential impacts are literally too many to count, here are five of the bigger changes in piracy and what they likely mean for you.

1. Long Tail Piracy is Growing

With traditional P2P networks and Bittorrent trackers, one of the limitations was that there had to be some pretty significant interest in a work before piracy of it was practical. If there wasn’t at least a certain number of people interested in sharing the file, you probably couldn’t find it. As such, for a creator, piracy was almost a good problem to have as it was a sign of popularity.

However, with the shift to cyberlockers, it’s practical to share fies with much less interest. A link on a cyberlocker site can just as easily be downloaded by one person as a million.

The Impact: Niche content that often escaped being traded illegally online is now being swapped freely. Smaller and niche content creators need to look harder at piracy issues and decide if and how they want to respond.

2. Moving Away from the U.S.

Though the U.S. certainly hasn’t had the most piracy-friendly laws for services hosted in it, it’s domains (.com, .net and .org) have been popular among pirates and U.S. hosts, noted for being cheap, reliable and close to the bulk of the target audience, have been favorites among such sites.

However, the recent domain seizures and the shuttering of Megaupload has pirates rethinking this. Not only has The Pirate Bay moved to a .se domain, but other sites are bailing out of the country. New ones are less likely to start up within it.

The Impact: Most of the world has a reasonably strong notice and takedown system and, as the recent seizure of ex.ua in Ukraine shows, there aren’t too many true safe havens for pirates in the world. However, enforcing copyright may become more difficult, especially with sites that move into unfriendly territory. Regardless, it’s going to require becoming more familiar with working within a greater number of countries.

3. Appearance of Legitimacy

Pirate-friendly sites have routinely made claims that they are “just like Google” or other legitimate services. However, such sites have made a greater effort in recent months and years to promote this image, claiming to comply with DMCA notices, even when they don’t (as with Megaupload) and put on a more “corporate” face.

Much of this is in hopes of keeping law enforcement and attorneys at bay, but it’s also part of an effort to appeal to other businesses and consumers to secure advertisers and direct payments.

The Impact: This can create a sense of confusion among some consumers, who at least at times, think that the services are legitimate. Though someone who visits The Pirate Bay isn’t likely a lost customer, someone who Googles for a product and forks money over to a cyberlocker site for an illegal download may well be.

4. Spam, Spam and More Spam

Though spammers have always targeted pirate-related keywords and continue to do so, those efforts seem to have been accelerated in recent months or years as various services use spam keywords to target almost any work you would want to download.

If you search for a work in Google the results are going to be cluttered with fake “download” results that do any number of unscrupulous things including tricking customers to pay for a file that isn’t there, obtain information for identity theft or simply cram more spam advertisements at the viewer.

The Impact: This, in some part, mitigates the first and third changes. Finding pirated content is harder, especially on long tail items, because of these spam results. While the unethical and illegal things they do certainly don’t justify it, this is possibly the only time spammers have ever helped legitimate content creators.

5. Mirrored Uploading/Multiuploading

Finally, one trend that has been growing in recent years is the increased use of tools that automatically upload one file to multiple services. With these tools, one user can upload one file and have it appear on a dozen or more cyberlocker services.

While these tools aren’t new and have been popular in some circles for a long time, many hubs are starting to demand their usage to improve reliable access to files and their use among pirates is likely to grow.

The Impact: Obviously, this is going to make it much more difficult to remove works from the Web. Rather than dealing with one infringing copy, you may be dealing with a dozen or more. This means more work and, in some cases, more expense.

Bottom Line

On one hand, the future when dealing with piracy seems pretty bleak. Pirates are targeting different types of works and doing so in ways that is more difficult to stop. However, there are also reasons to be hopeful. Not only do the techniques for removing content remain, overall, fairly effective but new business models are being created by legitimate companies that may help compete with piracy and deal it a stronger blow.

All in all, these steps are just the next evolution in piracy and it’s an evolution that’s been going on for a long as there have been copyrighted works.

Piracy has been a part of being a content creator since day one and it isn’t going to go away. However, with time and effort, it may become more of a nuisance than a major concern and that, in the long run, should be the end goal. Not the elimination of piracy, but the mitigation of it.

Pirate Flag Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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

1: Spanish Group Looks to Sue FBI Over Megaupload File Loss

First off today, the Pirate Party in Spain is attempting to rally former Megaupload users to file a lawsuit against the FBI for seizing the site and, in the process, denying them access to their files. The FBI, which shuttered Megaupload last week on allegations of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering, took offline millions of files that were stored on the service, at least some of which were not copyright infringing. The government has said it is unlikely users will be able to retrieve their files in the future. The Pirate Party is also looking at whether or not the seizure breached other elements of Spanish law, including misappropriation of personal data.

2: Wi-Fi Case Could Make Users Liable

Next up today, Liberty Media Holdings is suing some 13 Boston-area Internet subscribers because their Internet connection was used to illegally download the pornographic movie “Down on the Farm”. However, what separates this case from other Bittorrent lawsuits is that the plaintiffs are claiming negligence on the part of customers who have an open wifi, saying that they are at least partially responsible for any infringement that takes place over their connection due to their lack of protection on their wireless router. If the theory succeeds, it could have a drastic impact on businesses that offer public wifi as well as customers with unprotected connections.

3: B.o.B's 'Airplanes' Producers Slapped With Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Finally today, musician B.o.B’s latest hit “Airplane” has found itself at the center of a copyright controversy. Christine Dominguez has sued the producers behind the song claiming that they unlawfully cut her out of the writing credits. According to Dominguez she worked on and was credited for a previous version of the song that was released in 2009 but, when B.o.B’s version was released, they removed her from the credits, denying her both attribution and her share of the royalties. Dominguez is suing for unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and failure to account for revenues derived from the song.

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 5 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: Judge Slams Attorneys in ‘South Park’ ‘What What (In the Butt)’ Copyright Lawsuit

First off today, a judge has ruled in favor of the TV show South Park and its owners, Comedy Central and Viacom, saying that their use of the YouTube sensation “What What (In the Butt)” was a clear fair use. The lawsuit, which was brought by Brownmark Films, who made the original video featuring the artist Samwell (who is not involved in the lawsuit), after South Park in an episode entitled “Canada on Strike” did a parody of the video with South Park characters singing the song. According to the judge, who had previously dismissed the suit in July, the use was a clear cut case of fair use and has now ordered Brownmark to pay Viacom’s legal bills, totalling over $30,000 in the case. However the judge has offered to reduce the fees further if Brownmark can show it is unable to pay. That being said, Brownmark is appealing the ruling so those fees could actually rise.

2: Copyright Trolls Auction Off €90 Million in File-Sharing Settlements

Next up today, in Germany, the law firm Urmann has been very active in suing and seeking settlement from suspected file sharers. However, in an attempt to extract some revenue from defendants that haven’t settled, the company is looking sell the “debt” to a collection agency. At stake is some 70,000 defendants who, according to Urmann, owe 1286.80 Euros each, meaning about 90 million Euros ($120 million) in total if every case is settled. This would be the first such sale of its type though there is no indication as to how much Urmann is hoping to get for the sale but it seeking bidders among debt collection agencies.

3: World Media Infringes Copyright To Show More Of Angry Birds

Finally today, photographer Matti Matikainen took a photo of Teija Vesterbacka, the wife of Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka wearing an Angry Birds-themed dress in honor of Rovio’s popular game. However, Matikainen’s photo ended up being spread far and wide, including appearances on Techcrunch, LA Times, Dailymail and Mashable among others, all without licensing or payment. Matikainen’s friend and colleague, Kari Kuukka, took to his blog to talk about the issue and about how the free exchange of photos online is kiling the licensing market, hurting many photographers.

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 5 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.

With the holiday in the U.S. there wasn’t a whole lot of local copyright news to talk about but, fortunately for this podcast, other countries rushed in to fill the void and bring us yet another packed episode of copyright news, views and abuse.

This includes a major ruling in the EU on the issue of ISP filtering, a plan from Australian ISPs to tackle piracy and concerns that Spotify may be heading for a day of reckoning as labels start to back out. All of this and much, much more!

This week’s stories include:

• Grooveshark Emails Released, Show Company Aware of Infringement
• EU Says ISPs Can’t Be Forced to Filter Infringing Material
• EU Advocate General Says You Can’t Copyright a Programming Language
• Australian ISPs Propose Anti-Piracy Plan, Copyright Holders Unhappy
• New Anti-IP Infringement PSA Campaign Launches in U.S.
• 200 Labels Leave Spotify
• Bittorrent Defense Attorney Switches Sides

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

Show Notes

About the Hosts

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey (@plagiarismtoday) is the Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today (Hint: You’re there now) and works as a copyright and plagiarism consultant. Though not an attorney, he has resolved over 700 cases of plagiarism involving his own work and has helped countless others protect their work and develop strategies for making their content work as hard as possible toward their goals.

Patrick O’Keefe

Patrick O’Keefe (@iFroggy) is the owner of the iFroggy Network, a network of websites covering various interests. He’s the author of the book “Managing Online Forums,” a practical guide to managing online communities and social spaces. He maintains a blog about online community management at ManagingCommunities.com and a personal blog at patrickokeefe.com.

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

1: Grooveshark Emails Outed in Copyright Case

First off today, in Universal’s newest lawsuit against music streaming service Grooveshark, several emails from the company’s higher-up have been outed, indicating that the company adopted a policy of asking forgiveness rather than permission. Universal is suing Grooveshark claiming that the company makes available countless tracks by Universal music for streaming. Grooveshark, however, claims that its music is uploaded by users and it is protected by DMCA safe harbors. However, the most recent Universal lawsuit claims that Grooveshark employees, including its CEO and VPs, have uploaded thousands of tracks to the service. However, the emails from Grooveshark paint a picture of a company that knew it is hosting infringing content but was trying to become a “force” so that the record labels would be forced to settle with them rather than sue. Grooveshark has called the suit a “gross mischaracterisation of information”.

2: Justice Department Launches Public Education Campaign to Fight Copyright Theft

Next up today, the Justice Department has unveiled a new advertising campaign aimed at consumers with the goal of stopping intellectual property misuse. The campaign largely targets the purchase of counterfeit goods, such as fake clothes, bootleg DVDs, etc. but also has spots dealing with illegal downloads, buying fake drugs and also fake electronics. The campaign aims to show that intellectual property theft is not a victimless crime and includes TV, radio and print spots that will be running during the holiday season.

3: BitTorrent Defense Lawyer Joins Copyright Trolls

Finally today, DC-area attorney Mike Meier made a name for himself during some of the initial Bittorrent lawsuits by defending clients and being an outspoken critic of the mass-litigation strategy. However, according to a recent change of his site, he has switched sides and now represents rightsholders filing suit against Bittorrent users. Meier, who once referred to such lawsuits as “extortion” and was listed by the EFF as an attorney to help users fight such lawsuits, has changed his home page to list the various lawsuits (and hundreds of Bittorrent users) his firm has filed suit against. While it’s not uncommon for attorneys to work both sides in such matters, Meier’s history of being an outspoken opponent of the tactic makes this an unusual move.

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 5 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.

In honor of Halloween, I’m going to highlight twelve of my personal favorite public domain horror movies. I’m not aiming to make this a “best of” list by any stretch, if anything, I”m aiming for variety in styles, subjects and eras. Some of these are classics, some of them are relative unknowns but all are great films (for different reasons).

Bear in mind that these movies are only public domain in the United States, many may be protected by copyright elsewhere. Also, I’m linking each of these to their page on archive.org and Public Domain Torrents if available for easy downloading.

I hope you enjoy these movies and, most importantly, have a happy and safe Halloween!

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

We already talked about this movie in greater detai, but it bears repeating. This is the foundational movie for the modern zombie film. Every film since owes at least something to it and a copyright error caused it to be put in the public domain from day one.

The plot of the movie is straightforward, the recently dead begin to rise and commit grizzly acts of murder on the living while a small group of survivors have to set aside their differences and work together to survive the night in the old farmhouse they took shelter in.

It’s a classic horror movie that holds up very well today.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

The House on Haunted Hill (1959)

An eccentric millionaire named Fredrick Loren and his wife, Annabelle, throw a horror-themed party where they invite five guests to spend the night in a supposedly haunted mansion. Those who do so will be rewarded with $10,000. Though the movie has its share of ghosts and scares, most of the movie focuses on the guests and the betrayals and conspiracies they have going between them.

It’s a chiller of a horror film starring the always-great Vincent Price as Fredrick and directed by B movie giant William Castle. A good, spooky time without too much in the way of gore. Definitely holds up better than the recent remake, even if it can be a bit silly in places.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Nosferatu (1922)

Another one we already talked about, Nosferatu is probably the earliest surviving vampire film and is shot in the classic German expressionist style that gives everything a very surreal feeling.

A 1922 silent film, Nosferatu largely follows the plot of the original Dracula novel but with many changes, especially of the character names. It’s a creepy and eerie movie that is perfect for putting in the background of your Halloween party as nearly every frame is designed to be chilling in at least one regard.

Download on Archive.org (Not available) | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Carnival of Souls (1962)

When an auto accident causes Mary and her two friends to punge off a bridge and into a river, Mary somehow survives but can’t remember anything about how. She tries to move on with her life, even taking a job as a church organist, but she is constantly haunted by strange happenings and seems to be unable to escape that fateful day.

Carnival of Souls is a much more subtle horror movie than most, relying on creepiness and mystery more than traditional scares a great chiller movie that often springs some great conversation.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)

The last of the hammer dracula films to star Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, The Satanic Rites of Dracula isn’t the best in the series but is a solid one for those who want to see the Lee/Cushing combo.

In the movie, which is set in the 1970s, a cult of devil-worshippers revive Dracula, who is bent on destroying humanity as part of his own death wish. He hatches a plan to use a plague to wipe out humankind and must be stopped by Van Helsing.

Not the greatest movie in the Hammer lineup, but the only on to have lapsed into the public domain and still a great chance to see two incredible actors playing amazing parts.

Download on Archive.org (Not available) | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Dementia 13 (1963)

Dementia 13 centers around the family of an eccentric millionaire widow (what is it with the eccentric millionaires in this list?) who still mourns the death of her daughter, Kathleen, who died long ago in a freak drowning accident. She’s willed her fortune to charity in Kathleen’s name and her living children, who have gathered at the family estate for a bizarre ritual mourning her death, are upset about this.

It’s a tale of murder, intrigue as the ghost of Kathleen seems to haunt the home and grounds, tormenting the family’s matriarch as a spate of murders begin to strike those around the family.

All in all, a great thriller of a movie and one, much like The House on Haunted Hill, that centers more on the characters and their story than traditional scares. Best of all, this is one of the earliest works of Francis Ford Coppola, who went on to produce the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse now among others great films.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

White Zombie (1932)

If you want to see what zombie movies were like before Night of the Living Dead, this is the textbook example.

White Zombie centers around a young couple, Neil and Madeleine, that are eager to be married. While in Haiti, they plan to get married on the plantation of one Charles Beaumont. However, Beaumont’s hospitality is selfish in nature as he seeks to steal Madeleine for himself and he enlists the aid of voodoo master Murder Legendre, who is played by Bela Lugosi, to turn Madeleine into a zombie.

It’s a tale of voodoo and betrayal. A great example of 1930s horror at its finest.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Tormented (1960)

Jazz pianist Tom has an argument with an ex girlfriend, Vi, atop a lighthouse. Vi threatens to ruin Tom’s engagement with his current fiance, Meg, but Vi slips and nearly falls into the ocean. Though Tom had an opportunity to save her, he refused to help and watched as Vi was killed by the fall.

At first Tom thought the matter was over but Vi’s vengeful spirit begins to haut him, turning his isolated island community into a living Hell. Tom slowly descends into madness, becoming more and more desperate to save his relationship and keep his life intact.

This movie is a bit more campy than some of the others, using the best special effects available at the time, Vi is a great nemesis to Tom, who is a morally ambiguous but intriguing character caught in an impossible situation.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Body in the Web or Horrors of Spider Island (1960)

When a group of sexy nightclub dancers crash on a mysterious island when en route to Singapore, they at first think they’ve found paradise after locating a cabin, some food and a source of fresh water. But after the lone male in their group gets bit by a spider and starts to turn into a giant monster, be begins to pick off the members of the group one by one.

Body in the Web, better known as Horrors of Spider Island, is a camp classic meant for stupid, cheesy Halloween fun. Several versions of this film are circulating, including some with the superflous nude scenes cut out, which even makes it fairly family-friendly.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Jesse James Meets Frankensteins Daughter (1966)

When an armed robbery goes bad, Jesse James and his wounded cohort Hank wind up at the door of Maria and Rudolph, Dr. Frankenstein’s grandchildren (Note: Contrary to the title, Maria is NOT Dr. Frankenstein’s daughter) who intend to use Hank to continue their grandfather’s work. Can Jess James save his good friend and the town from the horrors of Dr. Frankenstein’s descendants?

To be clear, this movie is stupid. WHen there’s an obvious error in the title of the movie, you know you’re in for a stupid but funny good time. This movie is for those who enjoy laughing at their horror movies in the “so bad they’re good” kind of way.

Part western, part horror, completely ridiculous.

Download on Archive.org | Download on Public Domain Torrents

Bottom Line

All in all, no matter what your tastes in horror movies are, there’s probably at least one or two great films out there for you in the public domain. So, if you haven’t secured your Halloween movie watching yet, fire up your browser or your Bittorrent client and download a free, legal movie for your spook night enjoyment.

That is, unless you’re scared…

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

1: Copyright holders attack BT and TalkTalk for their continued resistance to DEA

First off today, as UK ISPs BT and TalkTalk prepare to take their case against the Digital Economy Act to the UK’S highest court, copyright holders and rights groups are blasting the ISPs’ continued opposition to the act. According to reps of both the Music Publishers Association and Warner Brothers, the time has come for the ISPs to stop trying to fight the law and start enforcing it. The law requires ISPs to pass along notification of alleged infringement to their customers and, after several warnings, sever Internet access to repeat infringers. The law also opens the door to the blocking of Internet sites deemed to be infringing, but the government has said they will not put that part into effect. Rightsholders applauded other ISPs, including Virgin and Sky for their cooperation with copyright holders.

2: ‘Copyright Trolls’ Unite to Prevent Downfall of BitTorrent Lawsuits

Next up today, a case in Virginia involving a mass bittorrent lawsuit has drawn the attention of at least two other law firms engaged in the practice. The system, which involves filing lawsuits against a large number of unnammed defendants to get their personal information via subpoenas to their ISPs, came under fire in the court when the judge dismissed all but one of the defendants and called the process a “shake down”. The judge also ordered the plaintiff to explain why the litigation should be allowed at all. Fearing a ruling that could harm the entire industry, Steele Hansmeier, a law firm that handles similar lawsuits, filed an amicus brief in the matter through another firm, Anderson & Associates, which are also involved with such lawsuits. This is a sign that the parties are taking this ruling very seriously and are worried about its implications nation-wide.

3: Justin Bieber is Behind Bars in New Campaign

Finally today, a new campaign by the advocacy group Fight For the Future depicts teen pop sensation Justin Bieber behind bars. The campaign is an effort to protest proposed legislation in the U.S. that would make streaming, in some circumstances, a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison. Bieber famously got his start on YouTube where his singing of various popular songs caught the attention of Usher, who signed the artist. According to Fight For the Future, that could now land other artists in jail if the law passes.

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 5 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: Wyden Questions Legality Of ACTA

First off today, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and the chair of the Senate Finance Committee’s International Trade Subcommittee, is questioning the legality of ACTA treaty. Specifically of interest to Wyden is that the treaty was signed as a “sole executive agreement”, meaning that it doesn’t change U.S. law and does not need Congressional approval. However, according to Wyden, even if the treaty does not change U.S. law, copyright is under the purview of Congress in the constitution, meaning that the treaty can’t be entered into without Congressional approval. The treaty is an attempt to harmonize anti-piracy efforts between many countries including U.S., Japan, Australia and the EU, the latter of which has not signed the treaty as of yet but was involved in the negotiations.

2: Massive Fine in Denmark’s First Ever ‘Sampling’ Copyright Case

Next up today, the elctro band Djuma Soundsystem is in some legal hot water as a court in their native Denmark ruled the group owes 747,182.82 kroner (approx $130,000) for their sampling of a ten second loop. The lawsuit stems from the group’s 2003 song “Les Djinns” which looped a ten second clip from a song entitled “Turkish Showbiz’ by Atilla Engin. The group lied to their label and said there were no samples in the song, which was released and sold 150 copies. However, when the band wanted to re-release the track after switching labels, they tried to clear the sample but, after attempts to work out an agreement failed, the band was sued, prompting this recent judgment. Djuma Soundsystem has said they plan to appeal the verdict, admitting they owe money to the rightsholders but believe the verdict is much too high.

3: Undercover Cops and Politicians Escape BitTorrent Lawsuits

Finally today, a filing by an attorney seeking to push through a massive bittorrent lawsuit on behalf of an adult content provider has filed a pleading that sheds light on how IP addresses are converted into settlements or individual lawsuits. The filing, which aims to show why it’s legal and necessary to bundle so many “John Doe” lawsuits into one suit. According to the filing, many of the individuals are dropped from the suit including undercover police, those who have died, prominent figures and those operating public hotspots where finding an individual defendant is almost impossible. However, it remains unlikely that these arguments will have much sway in the case, as they aren’t necessarily legal arguments for joining together so many lawsuits.

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 5 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: Spanish Court Rules That Linking to Potential Copyright Infringing Material Is Not Copyright Infringement

First off today, in Spain an Appeals Court has ruled that providing a link to a copyright infringing work is not an infringement itself. The case centers around indice-web, a site that links to various P2P files available for download. It was sued by the SGAE, a Spanish collection society, only to be ruled legal in a lower court. That decision has been upheld in the more influential Court of Appeals of Barcelona. Though the ruling only applies to Spain, it may draw more fire to the country, which many already see as having laws that enable infringement.

2: Broadcasters Get A Mixed Judgment Against TVCatchup

In the UK today, broadcasters won a mixed judgement against the TV streaming and virtual DVR site TVCatchup. A judge has ruled that at least certain elements of the site are illegal and is waiting for a related case to be resolved before ruling on other matters. On the subject of broadcasts, the judge ruled TVCatchup does not reproduce substantial parts of the station’s works, but ruled the opposite on the issue of movies. The judge also ruled that TVCatchup has the right to rebroadcast works over cable but also that its mobile service is unlawful. Finally, the judge is waiting for a ruling in a case involving the Premier League dealing with boxes that decode foreign broadcasts to weigh in on the above issue of broadcasts and a “temporary copying” loophole cited by TVCatchup.

3: 200,000 BitTorrent Users Sued In The United States

Finally today, according to Torrentfreak, the number of mass lawsuits filed agianst file sharers has reached 200,000 in the last year alone. Though many of those lawsuits have been dismissed or dropped, 145,417 are still in play at this time. The lawsuits, which find copyright holders filing suit agianst thousands of “John Doe” defendants in a bid to force ISPs to turn over subscriber information, primarily exist to send “settlement letters” that have the defendant end the case for a few thousand dollars and not go through the cost of a trial and risk a larger judgement.

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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