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.

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

After two weeks off for the holidays we’re now back with a full slate of copyright news, in particular news about Mininova, Psystar and Google Book Search. In addition to those tales, we have two stories revolving around the “Twilight” series and several stories from the international front, including impending legislation in the UK and Spain.

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

This week’s stories include:

• Mininova Goes “Legit”
• Apple and Psystar Reach a Partial Settlement
• Court Refuses to Shut Down OpenBittorrent
• “Twilight” Author Sees Plagiarism Suit Dismissed
• Are Musician Royalty Statements Fantasy?
• 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

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.

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

1: Apple, Psystar Strike Deal in Copyright Case

First off today, court rivals Apple and Psystar have reached a partial settlement in their battle. Psystar, a computer maker, had been selling “Hackintosh” computers with Apple’s OSX preinstalled on them in violation of Apple’s license, which limits OSX only to Apple computers. Apple sued Psystar and, even though the company only used legitimately purchased copies of OSX, was successful in at least one case as the court found Psystar liable for violating the license and the DMCA due to their circumvention of Apple’s copy protection.

The two sides have reached a partial agreement in their suit. Psystar has agreed to stop preinstalling OSX on their computers and pay an undisclosed amount of damages once appeals are exhausted. This follows a request for an injunction against Psystar that would shutter the company completely and order them to pay $2.1 million in damages.

However, this isn’t the end for Psystar nor their selling of computers with OSX as an option. Psystar has hinted in court filings that they are shifting the responsibility of installing OSX from themselves to the user and are now looking to bundle Rebel RFI, a $50 utility the company made, to help users install OSX on their Psystar-purchased machines.

No word yet on where Apple will stand on that, but it seems unlikely that Apple will agree to allow that to continue either, possibly adding yet another lawsuit to the list in the Apple/Psystar war.

2: Mininova Limits its Activities to Content Distribution Service

Next up today, Bittorrent tracker Mininova, second in popularity only to The Pirate Bay, has pulled all infringing torrents off its site and limited its sharing activity to its Content Distribution Service (CDS), thus ending its reign as a pirate haven.

This follows a decision in a Dutch court that prohibited Mininova from hosting torrents for certain titles or similar works. After testing several filtering systems, Mininova has decided that the only way to completely comply is to remove all non-CDS torrents from the site.

Mininova’s CDS system was started in 2007 as a way for producers to quickly distribute their files over the network and has been used by filmmakers and bands alike to distribute their work for free over the Mininova system.

3: AFACT v iiNet: Epic BitTorrent Copyright Case Concludes

Finally today, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and local ISP iiNet have concluded their case. The two sides presented closing arguments last week and have turned the case over to the judge, who is expected to rule some time next month.

The case began after AFACT attempted to have iiNet send notices of copyright infringement to some of its subscribers that AFACT accused of illegally downloading content. iiNet refused, citing several Australian laws that protect them, prompting AFACT to sue.

The case, if ruled in favor of AFACT, could cause a major shift in the responsibilities of ISPs in Australia.

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 is Monday 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 with tons of important bittorrent and legal stories to go over. We have lots of legal cases including one case that is back from the dead and another that is just now dead, after fourteen years of litigation.

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

This week’s stories include:

• Pirate Bay Sale Chances Look Grim
• Mininova Suffers a Setback
• ISOHunt Enjoys a Victory
• SCO is Back… Sort of
• Canadian Plaintiff Waits 14 Years for Vindication
• 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

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.

1: Mininova Ordered to Remove All ‘Infringing’ Torrents

First off today, a Dutch court has ordered bittorrent tracker Mininova, often seen as a possible replacement for The Pirate Bay, to remove infringing torrents from its service and take a more active role in preventing infringing material from being shared using the service.

The civil action, which was brought by the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, demanded that Mininova remove all torrents linking to infringing material within the next three months or face a fine up to 5 million euros. This comes after the site instituted a new filtering technology, partnered with the Motion Picture Association, and the site has a long-standing notice and takedown system.

Mininova has said that they are unsure what they will do in response to this and are considering an appeal. However, any such appeal would, obviously, have to be filed within the next three months.

2: YouTube shares more video profits

Next up today, YouTube is opening up its revenue sharing scheme to include creators of one-off viral videos. The goal, according to YouTube, is to enable everyone to “monetize their 15 minutes” of fame, even if it is just a one hit wonder.

Previously, the revenue sharing program was only available to either large copyright holders, such as music labels and TV/Movie studios, or YouTube users who regularly posted high-traffic clips. However, with this expansion, it hopes to reach smaller YouTube users that have had a video become popular unexpectedly.

3: Gyms could face new music copyright fee

Finally today, hearings have been scheduled for spring to determine if Canadian gyms have to pay an extra royalty for playing music and, if so, how much.

Gyms currently pay a royalty, estimated at $600 per year by one owner, to the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, which represents song writers and composers. However, a new royalty, on top of the old one, may be applied to go toward performing artists and record labels.

Though it is the Copyright Royalty Board of Canada that will have the final say, many are already anticipating higher gym memberships to pay for the royalty should it pass.

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.

1: Apple rejects BitTorrent control app Drivetrain

First off today, Apple is in a spot of controversy after it denied an application for the iPhone/iPod Touch app store that would have allowed users to take control over their Transmission install remotely and stop, start and queue up downloads. It is important to note that the app did not actually download anything over bittorrent, just control an installation of Transmission on their home or office computer.

According to the rejection, Apple denied the app because “this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights.” This despite the fact that Apple has allowed an RSS application that allows remote queuing for several bittorrent clients, including Transmission.

It is worth noting that bittorrent, though often used to download copyright infringing material, is not by itself an infringement and there are many legal torrents available, including public domain movies, Linux ISOs and more.

2: Popular Torrents Start to Disappear From Mininova

Next up the first reviews of Mininova’s new bittorrent filtering system are in and it appears that the system is actually fairly effective. Many of the most popular, and infringing, torrents have been pulled down and uploading them again is not working, Instead, torrents suspected of containing banned material are submitted for an extra review and are not posted to the site.

Some users have found a way around this by sharing links to working torrents rather than the actual files. This works because the torrent removal system works based on a hash system, one that looks at the content of the file itself, rather than the metadata of it. This system could be defeated, theoretically, by simply changing the content of the torrent, perhaps by adding a small, unrelated file, but it would only work until the new torrent was blacklisted as well.

It remains to be seen how long Mininova will use this system, if it will placate copyright holders or how users will tolerate it over the long run.

3: House of Commons Lawyers Sent Takedown Notices Over Committee Video

Finally today, the Canadian House of Commons is in a bind regarding videos of its proceedings. Unlike with the U.S., where all works created by the government are in the public domain, House of Commons videos are protected by Crown Copyright, the licensing of which is often strictly controlled.

This has led lawyers for the House of Commons to file many takedown notices against clips of their proceedings posted on YouTube. Fortunately, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (SCPHA) has recognized that the law has to change in the digital age but the debate rages on as to exactly how as many MPs are concerned about use of the video to distort or lie about what took place during the proceedings.

The committee ultimately adopted a very liberal approach that allows for non-commercial and accurate reporting of the proceedings using the videos. However, it may still put some parodies and commentary uses of the videos outside of the bounds of the license, thus possibly resulting in a takedown demand.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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.

This wasn’t to say that this week was devoid of big developments. RedLasso gets hit with a big cease and desist, Mininova faces a lawsuit, a major new trade agreement on the horizon, Canada’s DMCA may move forward and linking to movies leads to a big fine.

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.

We also have updates on the Google/Viacom case as well as a new independent group that becomes the fifth largest music rightsholder.

Also, in weird copyright news, we have a political leader that has been arrested in relation to a famous warez group, an engineer allegedly fired for his copyright opinions and plagiarized poetry at the Washington Post.

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.