However, yesterday I had the good fortune to run across a video by the University of Bergen from Norway. They, it seems, have taken anti-plagiarism videos to a whole new level.

With a video entitled “A Plagiarism Carol” (embedded below) they have created one of the funniest and best-produced videos on the subject I’ve seen, if not the best.

The video centers around a typical college student name Kaj who, after being given an important assignment, gets carried away with having fun and is forced to write his paper at the last minute. There he is tempted to plagiarize his work but is stopped by the Ghost of Plagiarism, which shows him what his life might be like if he goes forward with it.

The video is takes a humorous tone and has a lot of cultural references. The most obvious being A Christmas Carol but there are also references to Dirty Harry, CSI, Ozzy Osbourne and more. The story even ends on an elaborate song and dance number that explains the importance of citation.

Two words of warning about the video. First, it is in Norwegian. However, if you click the “CC” icon on the video, you can enable closed captioning, which gives you English subtitles. Second, content-wise the video is definitely aimed at a college crowd. I would describe it as being a PG-13 clip that, while certainly not adult-oriented, has some brief sexual and drinking references.

All in all though, it’s one of the most entertaining and best-produced videos on the subject of plagiarism I’ve seen, if not the best. It may not be the most thorough explanation on the topic of plagiarism, but it certainly gets your attention and gets its message across. My only regret is that I didn’t find it sooner…

So, without further ado, check it out for yourself.

photo credit: rosarito_82

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

It was another active week for copyright news with the Digital Economy Bill in the UK taking center stage. We also have updates from Norway, information about copyright-oriented ransomware and a series of Star Wars reviews that disappeared briefly from YouTube.

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

This week’s stories include:

• Digital Economy Bill Becomes Law
• British MPs Have Copyright Spat of Their Own
• Norwegian Pirates Safe, For Now
• Frankie Valli Sues Former “Jersey Boys” Actors
• 90-Minute Star Wars Eviceration Removed, Restored to YouTube
• 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: File-Sharers Safe Until Music Biz Change Laws

First off today, Norwegian file sharers can breathe a sigh of relief though maybe not for long. The IFPI and Norwegian rights group TONO have announced a shift in their strategy away from litigation to lobbying for stronger laws and enforcement. This comes after a series of legal defeats in trying to force ISPs in the country to block The Pirate Bay. The groups are looking toward the UK and the Digital Economy Bill there as an example of how future action should be taken.

2: Copyright Violation Alert Ransomware in the Wild

Next up today, malware is now using piracy to extort money from unwitting victims. Pretending to be from the imaginary ICPP Foundation, the alert states that pirated content has been found on the PC and offers a “settlement” offer of about $400. The ransomware doesn’t lock up the computer but any attempts to close the fake warnings produces other warnings stating that this is viewed as a rejection of the settlement. The malware is also location-aware, changing language and names as appropriate.

3: Copyright 1710-2010 “For the Encouragement of Learning”

Finally today, April 10 marked the 300th anniversary for copyright law. The world’s first modern copyright law, the Statute of Anne, was signed into law by the British Parliament on April 10, 1710. Though not the absolute first copyright law, it was the first modern one to focus on authorship of a work. The British Council is using the anniversary to strike a debate about the past and future of copyright.

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: Remarkable Third Trial Coming for RIAA’s First P2P Defendant

First off today, the record labels have submitted a rejection of the judge’s reduced damages award in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case and have set the stage for a truncated third trial solely on the issue of damages. The labels won $1.92 million in damages in the second trial, after a $222,000 judgement was vacated. The judge then reduced that award to $54,000 and ordered the RIAA to either accept the reduced amount or prepare for a new trial on damages, which record labels are doing now.

2: Goojje Not to Change Logo Despite Google Objection

Next up today, upstart Chinese search engine and portal Goojje has said they will not change their logo, which bears a strong resemblance to Google’s, despite the threat of a copyright lawsuit from the U.S. search giant. Goojje, has chosen to remain defiant in the face of Google’s legal threats and also apparent hacker attacks that have brought the site down in recent days.

3: Pirate Movie Privacy Case Set For The Supreme Court

Finally today, we have an update to a strange case in Norway. In 2008, the Filmkameratene studio released the movie Max Manus in theaters, the most expensive Norwegian movie at the time, only to have it pirated, allegedly by a projectionist. After an investigation, the studio felt it had its man but tried to compel the ISP used to upload the video to divulge the information about the subscriber, a matter that went to court. The court ruled in the case but the verdict was sealed, much to the chagrin of privacy advocates. However, this unknown verdict is now being appealed, by one side or another, to the Supreme Court of Norway.

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: Pirate Bay Buyer Has Car and Motorcycle Repossessed

First off today, if you were holding out any hope of The Pirate Bay sale going through, I think it’s safe to say that things are looking a bit more bleak this morning. Hans Pandeya, the CEO of Global Gaming Factory X, which plans to buy The Pirate Bay some time this month, had both his car and motorcycle repossessed by tax authorities for failure to pay approximately $110,000 in owed taxes.

A tow truck showed up at his house and took both the car and the bike away. Another board member is also suing Pandeya for an estimated $840,000 that he claims is owed to him.

Despite this, Pandeya is still working to come up with approximately $7 million in funding to purchase The Pirate Bay and over $10 million to purchase technology company Peerialism, which would provide the tools to make the legitimate version of the site practical. However, all of this seems highly unlikely given the current financial situation at the company.

2: American Federation of Musicians Demand NDP Apology For Supporting Balanced Copyright

Next up today, Canada’s New Democratic Party has found itself at the center of a bizarre copyright-related tiff with the American Federation of Musicians. Several members of the NPD were passing out fliers opposing Canada’s bill C-61, which would strengthen copyright protections in the country and impose more DMCA-like restrictions on circumvention, at a town hall meeting in Toronto. They were escorted away by security, which was controversial in and of itself, but the fallout continues as AFM has demanded an apology from the party over the content of the flier.

Representatives of the NPD have already responded and said that “It ain’t happening” but the fallout on the Web has been widespread. In the end, it was a poor move for the AFM as it seems to have drawn more attention to the actions of the NPD members involved and to their arguments against the law.

3: Dozens of Copyright Groups Petition Against File-Sharing

Finally today, 36 rights groups, represending over 1,700 different copyright holders, have banded together to launch a new campaign in Norway entitled “Share – Not Steal” and is hoping to circulate a petition to force the government in that country to take stronger action against illegal file sharing and clarify their position.

According to the petition, some in Norway proposing the “legalization of software piracy” by looking at systems that pay copyright holders via taxes or other means while allowing file sharing to continue.

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 and, though the U.S. was surprisingly quiet on that front, the EU stepped up in spades giving us more Pirate Bay Fodder, a copyright extension and a new study that has turned some heads.

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:

• The Pirate Bay Judge Accused of Bias
• EU Passes a 20-year Copyright Extension on Musical Works
• Australia Puts a TV Dispute to Bed
• Are Pirates the Best Customers?
• The One Copyrighted Work No One Wants to Register
• 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

1: Study finds pirates 10 times more likely to buy music

First off today, a new study from Norway found that those who pirate music are ten times more likely to purchase music than their non-downloading counterparts. The study, which only looked at Internet users over the age of 15, examined whether a user had downloaded free music, legally or illegally, and then asked for proof of any purchases.

If this study is accurate, then it is possible that pirates are actually a major buying force for the record labels. It also comes hard on the heels of the verdict in The Pirate Bay trial as well as new decision in Norway that will make it easier for copyright holders to get information about file sharers.

2: Biden promises ‘right person’ as new U.S. copyright czar

At a recent event Vice President Joe Biden said that the administration, “Will find the right person for intellectual property czar.” While what he said isn’t very controversial, the fact that he said it at a Hollywood gala seems to indicate what he means by the “right” person.

The Obama administration, already signaling a much more industry-friendly approach to intellectual property than many had hoped, has the duty of appointing someone to coordinate the administrations IP policy and it seems likely, much like with the RIAA-friendly DOJ attorneys, that this person will be very sensitive to the needs of large copyright holders and very controversial among copyright reformers.

3: Sorting out the Pirate Bay verdict

Finally today, we get a bit of extra commentary today on The Pirate Bay verdict and several things become a bit more clear.

First, the the four men were convicted due largely to the very relaxed standards for conviction of “assisting” in a crime in Sweden. In a previous Swedish case, a person was convicted of assisting in mayhem solely for holding the perpetrator’s coat.

The prosecutor was able to easily meet the standard set forth by the law, backed up by The Pirate Bay’s own emails and public statements. They were able to show that The Pirate Bay had knowledge of infringing torrents, were in a position to act and did nothing. This, combined with the providing of the search engine and the bitorrent tracker, was enough for the courts.

We also get the opinions of Swedish legal experts who say that, though there will likely be two appeals, it is highly unlikely that the verdict will be altered over overturned in any meaningful way. Apparently, legal experts feel that the verdict is solid enough to stand up to the appeals, or that simply few cases get overturned on appeal.

If this is true, the case could drag on for many years without much in the way of major developments.

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.

1: Court flunks high schoolers’ appeal on plagiarism database

First off today, in a case that has been going on for two years, a Federal Appeals Court ruled that plagiarism detection service Turnitin’s storage of previously checked papers is a fair use, supporting a lower court’s ruling in the matter.

In 2007, students from a Virginia high school sued Turnitin, saying that the copyrights to their essays was being infringed by the product as it stored copies of their essays in a database for matching against future papers. Though students signed a contract permitting this, they were all minors at the time and the contract was signed under threat of failing the course.

The lower court sided with the makers of Turnitin on both the contract and the fair use arguments, however, the Appeals court only addressed the fair use one, finding that Turnitin’s use of the content was transformative, even though it used the whole of the content. The court did not rule on the contract issue.

2: Lawsuit won’t keep ‘New Moon’ from rising

A recent lawsuit filed against “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer has been attracting a great deal of attention in the literary world today. Meyer is being sued by a former college friend and roommate, who claims to have created the concept for the popular series.

Though initial reports stated that the lawsuit had brought production of the second movie in the series, “New Moon”, to a halt, it appears that is not the case. The movie, which is based upon the book of the same name, is still currently slated for a Nov. 20th release.

Lawsuits such as this one are surprisingly common for popular works but rarely gain any traction. Still, without knowing the facts of the case, it is difficult to make any judgment.

3: Norway Makes it Easier to Go After File-Sharers

Finally today, in further news from Scandinavia, a decision from Norway’s Post and Telecommunications Regulator has paved the way for courts to demand personal information of subscribers from ISPs when the situation demands it.

Noway, previously, had very strict privacy rules that prevented copyright holders from going after file sharers. However, with this decision, the door is open for courts to decide when it is appropriate to force an ISP to give up their subscribers.

Though not the same as Sweden’s IPRED law, discussed previously, it seems that it will likely have many of the same results.

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.