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

1: Dutch Court Orders Companies To Block Pirate Bay

First off today, a Dutch court has ordered two of the country’s biggest ISPs, Ziggo and XS4ALL, to block subscriber access to The Pirate Bay. The action comes after a judge ruled that the reciprocal nature of Bittorrent makes it so that users can not merely download pirated content but must upload as well. In the Netherlands, downloading unlicensed content is legal but uploading it is not. The lawsuit, which was brought by the local anti-piracy outfit BREIN, may be appealed though the ISPs will have to comply with the order as it goes through. BREIN has also said it will be taking similar action against other ISPs in the country.

2: AP, NYTimes, McClatchy, Others Launch NewsRight Online Rights Clearinghouse

Next up today, the AP, New York Times and 26 other news organizations have formed a company named NewsRight to track, monitor and enforce copyright in news-related content. The company, which opened formally last week, is composed of 11 people and is said to be using technology to track news content, understand how it’s being used and, eventually, seek licensing agreements for it. According to a representative for the company, the first year will be spent mostly learning the market for this service with a focus on selling the data its content tracking can generate.

3: Reddit Going Dark for a Day to Protest SOPA Online Censorship Bill

Finally today, the popular social news site Reddit is planning to shut down for a period of 12 hours on January 18 in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act. The act, which would make it possible for copyright holders to obtain court orders forcing ISPs to block access to “rogue” websites, has been the source of controversy online and the Reddit community has been instrumental in organizing opposition to it. Reddit is also attempting to get Google and other major sites to join them with the blackout.

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: High Court Day 2: iiNet Says AFACT Lawsuit Inevitable

First off today, yesterday was day 2 in the Australian High Court trial between AFACT and iiNet. AFACT, a consortium of copyright holders, had sued local ISP iiNet claiming they had not done enough to stop infringement. Though iiNet won in both of the lower courts, the appeals court ruling opened the door to a “three strikes” system in the country. AFACT appealed the case to the High Court. The second day focused more on iiNet’s ability to control its customers actions and on AFACTs demands, with iiNet claiming that nothing short of terminating suspected repeat infringers would have been adequate to avoid a lawsuit. The case enters its third day today and is likely to continue next week.

2: Copyright Corruption Scandal Surrounds Anti-Piracy Campaign

Next up today, the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has found itself in the center of a controversy as composer Melchior Rietveldt is claiming that the group used his song without permission on various DVDs for the anti-piracy warnings. According to Rietveldt, he was paid to compose a song for an anti-piracy ad to be played at a film festival. However, BREIN (or another party) went on to use the work for warnings distributed on DVDs without any compensation. To make matters worse, a board member of Buma/Stemra (a royalty collection agency), Jochem Gerrits, offered to help but only if he could collect 33% of the earnings. Gerrits has since said his words were misinterpreted but has offered a temporary resignation. That being said, according to BREIN director Tim Kuik, the contract dispute does not actually involve the organization as it is not the distributor nor the client involved.

3: EFF to Copyright Office: Let my Tablets, Consoles, and Phones Go!

Finally today, the EFF is preparing for the next round of Copyright Office hearings on DMCA exemptions and is hoping to expand on exemptions that it helped fight for in the last round. The DMCA prohibits the circumvention of DRM and other digital locks but provides exemptions where it is acceptable. To determine what exemptions are appropriate, the copyright office holds hearings every three years and rules on what new exemptions should be added. Last year, the EFF and other groups argued for an exemption to jailbreak phones and received it. However, the exemption didn’t cover the trafficking of the software to perform the jailbreak nor did it cover other commonly-jailbroken items such as tablets, video game consoles, etc. The EFF is hoping that, with this round, it can earn those exemptions as well.

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: Google mulls divorcing U.S. Chamber of Commerce

First off today, Google is mulling leaving the Chamber of Commerce, one of the nation’s largest lobbying and trade groups, after the chamber came out in support of PROTECT IP and Stopping Online Piracy Act (SOPA), both of which are acts Google opposes and say threatens the Web due t their inclusion of Web filtering as a possible solution to copyright infringement. Also, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is also mulling parting ways with the Chamber of Commerce for the same reason. The threats of departure follow on the heels of Yahoo!, which quietly dropped its membership last month.

2: Major Usenet Provider Shuts Down Following Court Order

Next up today, Usenet provider News-Service.com is shutting down following a court order from Dutch court ordering the company to remove all infringing content from their servers. Unable to comply with the order, the company has ceased operation as it attempts to appeal the ruling. Though not a well-known company, News-Service.com is Europe’s largest Usenet provider and has many better-known resellers. The company was sued by the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN for allegedly hosting infringing material and enabling piracy.

3: Sixth Judge Rules Against Righthaven

Finally today, in the Righthaven cases, a sixth judge has now ruled against the controversial Las Vegas company saying that they lacked the right to sue in their case, this one against NewsBlaze LLC, and have had the case dismissed. Righthaven came to prominence for suing bloggers and forum admins for illegally posting content from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post. Righthaven claimed that rights to the work were assigned to them but that was later found to be untrue, thus prompting the string of, at times costly, defeats.

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: Ivi Seeks To Stay Shutdown Order

First off today, the controversial television streaming service Ivi is seeking a stay of the court order that had demanded it stop streaming television programs from a variety of networks. The company was sued by a collection of television and media companies, which complained that the service was unlawfully streaming their content online. Ivi had claimed that was a cable network under the current law and thus qualified to rebroadcast TV signals for a small fee. The judge, however, disagreed and ordered Ivi to shut its streaming service off, an order that Ivi is now seeking to halt.

2: Anti-Piracy Outfit Suffers Huge DDoS Attack, Blames Usenet Users

Next up today, the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN has fallen victim to a massive DDOS attack that has taken its site offline. According to BREIN, the attack is being launched by supporters of FTD, a Usenet search engine that was a favorite among file downloaders recently closed by BREIN. However, FTD is far from the only site that BREIN has closed, leading to speculation that there may be other sites/groups involved.

3: Houston Playwright Wins Copyright Infringement Case

Finally today, Houston Playwright Je’Caryous Johnson is celebrating his recent court victory over author Michael Baisden. Baisden sued Johnson saying that he had continued to perform two plays, “Men Cry in the Dark” and the “Maintenance Man”, as well as sell DVDs of performances, without permission. According to Johnson, Baisden had given him permission to turn the stories into plays but claimed that the rights expired, a notion that the jury disagreed with.

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: Google Belgian Copyright Appeal May Decide Search Engines’ Fate in Europe

First off today Google is appealing a decision in Belgium in a case that could drastically change the way the search engine (and others like it) operate in Europe. The case found that Google News violated copyright law by linking to and posting short snippets from articles out of French and German language newspapers in Belgium as, according to the court, there were no fair use provisions for such a use. Google, which lost in the lower court, removed the newspapers involved but the papers came back and demanded 49.1 million euros for the time their content was available. The case could, potentially, end up before Europe’s highest court, thus creating a precedent that may have implications across the continent.

2: Ivi.tv’s Video Service Ordered Shut Down

Next up today, Ivi.tv, a video streaming service that allowed visitors to stream television content from various markets over the Web, has been ordered to shut down. The company claimed to have found a loophole in the law that allowed it to rebroadcast TV stations, claiming to be a cable system under copyright law. However, since Ivi.tv said that it didn’t qualify as such a service under the Communication’s Act, the judge ruled that it was not such a provider at all and ordered it to close its doors. Ivi.tv has said that it plans to appeal.

3: BREIN Seizes Warez Servers, Owners Seize Them Back, May Sue

Finally today, the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has suffered a setback in its case against the piracy topsite Swan. In January the group had seized the groups servers, however, the process was done without judicial oversight and now owners of the server has seized it back and contemplating a lawsuit against BREIN claiming the seizure to be unlawful. At least two members of the Dutch Parliament are also asking about the seizure, expressing concern that BREIN gained access to servers that had personal and business data on them without any kind of warrant.

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: Google Gets Involved in BitTorrent Search Engine Lawsuit

First off today, Google has filed an amicus brief in the ISOHunt case, which is on appeal after the MPAA won in the district court against the Bittorrent tracker, claiming that the district court was right to rule against ISOHunt, but that it did so for the wrong reasons. According to Google, the lower court’s finding that ISOHunt was not eligible for safe harbor protection as it had ignored warnings that there was infringing material. However, Google worries that such a ruling could impact their business and, instead, believes that ISOHunt is liable because it induced copyright infringement, not because it ignored warnings. Google had sought permission from both sides to file the brief but the MPAA declined, though the court permitted the filing over their objections.

2: Google Must Continue to Fight Oracle’s Copyright Claims

Next up today, Google’s ongoing lawsuit with Oracle, which has Oracle accusing Google of inappropriately using JAVA code in Google’s Android operating system, must continue as the judge in the case denied Google’s request for a summary judgement. The judge said that there was not enough evidence for granting such a judgment at this time but denied it without prejudice, meaning that Google will be able to refile after discovery has been completed and additional evidence has been found.

3: BREIN Uses Court Win As Leverage To Wipe Out Usenet Sites

Finally today, the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has used its recent court victory over the Usenet site FTD to shut down another 11 such sites, these with a combined total of 900,000 members. BREIN, which won its case against FTD earlier this month, has been busy using the ruling to pressure other sites into closure and, according to their announcement, has been successful. However, there are significant questions about the applicability of the FTD ruling to these cases, which found FTD to be infringing because 13 members of the site also uploaded content to Usenet, and not merely point to it as the site was designed for.

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: Anonymous’ Operation Payback IRC Operator Arrested

First off today, the operator behind Anonymous’ “Operation Payback” IRC chatroom has been arrested in the Netherlands. The room was the home base and synchronization tool for the DDOS attacks against both the various pro-copyright entities targeted in November and many of the organizations caught up in the Wikileaks scandal. The suspect, a 16-year-old who went by the name Jeroenz0r, was arrested in The Hague and his server went offline Thursday night. However, the DDOS attacks seem to be continuing as now the Dutch Prosecution Office appears to have been shut down briefly but is now back online.

2: Copyright Troll Righthaven Sues for Control of Drudge Report Domain

Next up today, Righthaven, the group that historically has sued websites for reusing content from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of its newest client, the newspaper chain MediaNews. However, the lawsuit is attracting a lot of attention as they have sued the Drudge Report for reposting an image of a TSA patdown that was originally from The Denver Post. The lawsuit also accuses the Drudge Report of libel for linking to a section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal site with the words “VEGAS CONFIDENTIAL”. The suit is seeking damages, costs and an injunction to transfer the Drudge Report’s domain to the site.

3: Mininova Pays Settlement to BREIN to End BitTorrent Lawsuit

Finally today, the lawsuit between the Bittorrent search engine Mininova and the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN is over. Mininova has paid a settlement to BREIN and dropped its appeal in the case, bringing the matter to a conclusion. A previous court ruling had already found out that Mininova to be liable for infringing torrents available on its service and ordered it to filter out such files. However, Mininova responded by clearing out their database and only accepting files from authorized sources. This settlement not only ends the lawsuit, but also ends the chance that Mininova will return in its original form.

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: Steinbeck Family Lose Latest Round in Copyright Feud

First off today, John Steinbeck’s son and granddaughter have lost their latest battle over his copyrights. An Appeals Court ruled yesterday that the estate and all of his copyrights belong to Elaine Steinbeck, John Steinbeck’s third wife. This decision reaffirmed a lower court ruling on the subject. According to the plaintiffs, Elaine had not met her obligations to Steinbeck’s other heirs and was enriching herself unjustly on the royalties of Steinbeck’s popular works, which include The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. According to the plaintiffs, they are considering what their next move will be.

2: Pirate Party Leader and Anti-Piracy Boss Clash in Twitter Fight

Next up today, in a very rare public spat, the head of the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN, Tim Kuik, and head of the Dutch Pirate Party Samir Allioui, traded barbs via Twitter. The argument started after Kuik highlighted a Dutch newspaper article about why sharing copyrighted files was wrong. Allioui posted a rebuttal and directed it Kuik and the two began to trade barbs. The, at times vulgar, exchange ended with Kuik saying Allioui had sought a job from BREIN, something Allioui denies. The argument ended this morning, likely after a night’s rest, with Kuik saying that he was done with the “Claptrap party” and was moving on to “real work”.

3: Inflatable Giant Gorilla Attacks Google (for Copyright Infringement)–Scherba v. Google

Finally today Scherba Industries, a companies that makes inflatable gorillas is suing Google for copyright infringement. According to Scherba, Google ran an advertising campaign for its Adwords product that included an image of an inflatable gorilla that looked a great deal like Scherba’s. As a result, Scherba filed a copyright infringement suit against Google seeking a declaratory judgement, an injunction and damages.

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.

1: Rival ISPs Team Up in Court To Fight Pirate Bay Block

First off today, two rival ISPs in the Netherlands, Ziggo and XS4ALL are teaming up against the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN, which threatened Ziggo with legal action if the ISP did not block access to The PIrate Bay. Now its rival, XS4ALL, is stepping in, joining the case on Ziggo’s side combating what they refer to as “censorship”. The case went to court June 28.

2: Playboy Suing Drake for Copyright Infringement

Next up today, Canadian rapper Drake is being sued by Playboy for copyright infringement. Playboy holds the rights to Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds’ 1975 song, “Fallin’ in Love”, which the media company accuses Drake of having used in his hit from last year, “Best I Ever Had”. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages and that all of the allegedly infringing works be recalled and destroyed.

3: King’s Quest returns in The Silver Lining

Finally today, a fan-made series of games based upon the popular King’s Quest series from the 80s and 90s is back on again. The series, entitled Silver Lining, has had a dubious legal history. Sierra Games, the original makers of the series, merged with Vivendi, which sent a cease and desist letter over the game. However, that notice was retracted when the makers agreed to change the name to “The Silver Lining”. Then, when Vivendi merged with Activision, Activision’s attorneys sent another cease and desist but this one has been retracted after a backlash in the gaming media, paving the way for the free game to be released sometime this year.

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.

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

1: The Pirate Bay Will Not Appeal Order to Remove Torrents

First off today, for reasons not completely clear, The Pirate Bay admins have decided not to appeal a Dutch judgment requiring them to remove certain infringing torrents and block access to Dutch users. This comes one month after a similar ruling was handed down against Mininova, which forced the site to go “legit” and limit its torrent activity to those uploaded by users.

However, this does not mean that The Pirate Bay will meet the same fate as enforcement may prove difficult in this case. Not only does BREIN nor even The Pirate Bay’s own attorneys know where they are located right now, thus why BREIN notified them of the ruling via Twitter, but the three men sued claim to no longer operate the site.

The ruling gives The Pirate Bay a deadline of March 1, 2010 to remove the infringing torrents, list to be provided by BREIN, so we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

2: Yahoo Issues Takedown Notice for Spying Price List

Next up today, Yahoo! may have stepped into the Streisand Effect. The company has filed a DMCA takedown notice against Cryptome, saying that the site’s posting of their 17-page data retention policy, which outlines what user data is retained, for how long and how much the government is charged for access to it when required, is an infringement of their copyright.

Cryptome responded saying that they could not find “a grant of copyright” from the Copyright Office for the document. However, this is a clear misunderstanding of U.S. Copyright law as no such “grant” is required for any purpose other than suing and collecting statutory damages. Yahoo! counsel responded, calling the delay “unwarranted”.

But even though Yahoo! may have the right to demand such removal, what is less clear is if it is a wise move. Other ISPs on the site have taken no such action and the move seems to have only drawn more attention to Yahoo!’s practices in this area.

Cryptome is yet to respond to Yahoo!’s latest letter, which is dated December 3rd.

3: Could Copyright Reform Win Buy American Battle?

Finally today, Scotty Greenwood, the executive-director of the Washington-based Canadian American Business Council, has an interesting theory that connects sewage pipes and copyright policy, at least in terms of trade agreements.

Part of President Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package included a controversial “Buy American” clause that required goods and services to be purchased from within the country when stimulus money was spent. This has been a major headache for Canada, the U.S.’ largest trading partner, and has even resulted in sewer pipes made in Canada being ripped out of the ground to be replaced by U.S.-made ones.

However, Greenwood thinks that the entire matter can be resolved “tomorrow” if Canada passes copyright reform that grants more protection to copyright holders, especially U.S.-based industries. Canada was recently added to a blacklist of countries with lax laws preventing the piracy. He thinks that, with real copyright reform, the U.S. may be willing to negotiate on its Buy American rules.

Greenwood, however, does not represent his counsel or anyone else in saying that. Still, his opinion does carry clout with many in the field. However, with the Canadian Parliament due to recess shortly, no new copyright legislation seems imminent.

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.