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

It was a busy week for copyright news as we a have a ruling that could devastate the mass litigation tactic for dealing with p2p file sharing, Disney suing Dish Network for copyright infringement and Perfect 10 is giving copyright litigation yet another shot, this time against Giganews, the Usenet services company.

In addition to that, Patrick and I attempt to answer the question of whether Netflix is reducing piracy and we also get to take a look at some of the demands being made by the record labels on MP3 locker sites, such as Amazon Cloud Storage and MP3Tunes.

This week’s stories include:

• Judge Denies Subpoena, Says IP Address Not a Person
• DIsney Sues Dish Network Over Starz Freebie
• Perfect 10 Sues Again
• Canada Put on U.S. “Priority Watchlist” for Piracy
• U.S. Offered New Zealand Help in Drafting Copyright Laws
• 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.

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

1: Lime Wire Jury Chosen as Music Labels Seek Copyright Damages in New York

First off today, the jury has been selected in the LimeWire trial and arguments are expected to begin later today. LimeWire, which was famously shuttered following a lawsuit by the record labels, has already been found to have induced infringement with its former file sharing service, leaving only the issue of damages to the jury. The labels, however, have listed just over 11,000 tracks they are seeking damages for. LimeWire’s founder, Mark Gorton, is also being sued by the labels and is expected to testify at the trial.

2: Disney sues Dish Network Over Free Starz Offer

Next up today, Disney is suing Dish Network for copyright infringement, claiming that the company is violating their copyrights by making the premium Starz channel available for free to certain subscribers. Disney, which licenses many of its movies through Starz, said it only gave permission for their movies to be aired if they were a premium offering. Starz is also suing Dish Network over the debacle, claiming breach of contract.

3: Canada Joins China, Russia in US List of Top IP Scofflaws

Finally today, the U.S. Trade Representative released its annual Special 301 report identifying nations that it felt was not doing enough to protect intellectual property. There were few surprises or changes this year but Canada was moved up in the list to the “Priority Watch List”, a distinction shared by China and Russia. China itself received some praise for its latest copyright crackdowns but was still thought to be ineffective in its enforcement. The Special 301 report opens the possibility of the U.S. seeking sanctions through the World Trade Organization or unilaterally if the nation is not on the list.

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: Judges Tosses Pooh Copyright Claims Against Disney

First off today, a judge has tossed out a lawsuit by the heirs of Stephen Slesinger over the iconic Winnie the Pooh character.

Slesinger was a television and film producer who, in the 30s, purchased the merchandising rights to the character and then sold them to Disney in 1961 in exchange for a royalty. However, Stephen Slesinger Inc., a company that represents his estate, accused Disney of accounting trickery to lower the royalties paid.

The initial lawsuit was thrown out after thirteen years of litigation due to misconduct by a private investigator. However, the heirs sued Disney again, this time for copyright infringement, only to now have this suit thrown as well.

The litigation has been going on since 1991 and is actually continuing as the heirs still have a claim against Disney pending before the U.S. Patent Office.

2: Copyright Alliance Calls For Content Control

Next up today, The Copyright Alliance, a non-profit coalition of artists who support stronger copyright law, has created an online petition asking for President Obama to “pursue policies supportive of the rights of artists.”

The petition stops short of saying exactly what those policies are or would be, but goes to great lengths to portray copyright holders as “the essence of America” and contributors of $1.52 trillion to the GDP.

The petition currently has over 7,500 signatures from artists and copyright holders of all stripes and is growing rapidly.

3: Ignoring RIAA Lawsuits Cheaper Than Going to Trial

Finally today, something a bit different. If you’ve been sued by the RIAA and you’ve missed your chance to settle, should you: A) Defend yourself in court? B) Ignore it.

Well, according to a recent article by Nate Anderson, the answer is that you’ll come out much cheaper if you do the latter. Judges in four cases gave defendants who didn’t respond to lawsuits, and thus lost automatically, got the minimum amount per song $750. For ten songs that amount came out to $7,500 for the entire suit. Compare that to the per-song awards by the juries in the two Thomas cases, which were $9,250 and $80,000 respectively and the difference is clear.

Though the cheapest route is to still settle the case, which usually costs about $3,000, ignoring the case does appear to be cheaper than the alternative.

This is what happened to Joel Tenenbaum, who narrowly avoided a default judgment being entered against him when he showed up in court and the judge located attorney Charles Nesson “Help” him and wound up making him liable for $22,500 per 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 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 was a slam-packed show this week with stories from all over the world and updates to a lot of the ongoing copyright sagas.

All in all, there were eighteen stories this week including news from all over the copyright world including our “Weird Story of the Week”.

This week’s stories include:

• Fair Use Must Be Weighed When Filing a DMCA Notice
• The Pirate Bay Fights the Italian Blockade
• Comcast Gets Scolded for P2P Throttling
• Disney’s Copyright in Mickey May be in Trouble
• Pirate Video Game Toy Lands Seller in Jail
• 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

However, there was a fair amount of bad news this week as well as the IFPI “three strikes” idea is gaining traction, Muxtape closes for mysterious reasons and a huge push is being made to spy on Internet traffic to look for copyright violations.

Remember, as usual, this week’s linkroll is a “raw” link list. Some stories are duplicated, some do not point to their original sources and some may not be accurate. A great deal of refining goes into producing the show notes for the Copyright 2.0 Show.