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1: RIAA IP Addresses Matched to Illegal BitTorrent Download

First off today, a series of articles from the blog Torrentfreak have connected IP addresses allegedly associated with the RIAA, Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment and even the palace of French President Nicholas Sarkozy with downloading files via Bittorrent. The blog used a new site entitled YouHaveDownloaded, which monitors some 20% of the Bittorrent traffic and records IP address information. Visitors can then see what the service has found that they’ve downloaded or check other IP addresses. There’s been no comment from any of the organizations involved.

2: Sony, Warner Join Suit Against Grooveshark Music Service

Next up today, in a move that was predicted last week, both Sony and Warner Music have joined Universal Music’s lawsuit against the streaming service Grooveshark. The lawsuit, which Universal filed in November, alleges that Grooveshark executives uploaded tracks to their streaming service in violation of copyright law. Grooveshark denies this and claims that its tracks are user uploaded and, as such, it deserves safe harbor protection from the DMCA. However, according to Universal, emails and other information obtained through an earlier lawsuit indicate otherwise. Sony and Warner joining the lawsuit now means that the three biggest record labels are involved and the fourth, EMI, which currently licenses its music to Grooveshark, is in the process of being sold to Universal.

3: Court Will Test Time-Shift Drift

Finally today, the Federal Court of Australia is taking up a case that could have a major impact on the nation’s copyright laws as it pertains to time shifting. The case centers around Optus, a local cell phone carrier, being sued by a slew of sports leagues and TV networks. According to the plaintiffs, Optus is illegally enabling users to record and stream live TV, including football (soccer) and Rugby matches on their phone. According to Optus, this is completely legal as time shifting, recording TV for viewing at a later date, is legal. However, the lawsuit alleges that, since the act is done via the cell network, those rules don’t apply and that since there is such a small delay between when a work is recorded and available, that it isn’t true time shifting and is instead just moving the media to a more convenient platform. Many, however, are predicting that this is an area of Australian copyright law that is ripe for legislative action, possibly making any impact from this case short-lived.

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: SOPA Supporters, Opponents Make Last-Ditch Efforts Ahead of Hearing

First off today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has scheduled the controversial Stop Only Piracy Act for a vote in his committee today. As a result, forces both for and against the act are making last-minute pushes to appeal to representatives on the panel. Those against SOPA have ramped up their efforts to flood representatives with letters and phone calls while those in favor have been doing the same but also taking out ads, including a full-page ad taken out by the AFL-CIO in the Washington Post. The bill, which would enable copyright holders to seek orders forcing ISPs, payment processors and ad networks to block or stop doing business with foreign sites primarily aimed at copyright infringement. If the bill passes the committee, it will go to a vote in the full House.

2: Sony and Warner Are Said to Sue Web Music Service

Next up today, even as Universal’s newest lawsuit against Grooveshark begins to ramp up, both Sony and Warner are considering joining in by filing suit against the company as well. Universal, which recently sued the music streaming service claiming that it’s employees had uploaded tracks to the service for others to stream, an allegation Grooveshark denies, is seeking damages for alleged infringement of songs they own. Sony and Warner, two other major labels, are believed to be ready to join in with filings today and will likely make many of the same allegations. Grooveshark claims its service is protected by the DMCA, which holds hosts non-liable for uploads by users if they remove them after receiving a notice. However, if the files were uploaded by Grooveshark employees, then that protection would be lost.

3: Serious Sam 3 Features Giant Pink Scorpion on Illegal Copies of Game

Finally today, thinking about pirating the recently-released Serious Sam 3? It literally could kill you (in game at least). The first person shooting game, which focuses on over-the-top action, has a protection system inside it that detects when a person is playing an illegal copy of the game and, instead of booting them out, generates an immortal scorpion that chases and kills the player early in the game. However, the plan may backfire as some legitimate players are now saying they want to pirate the game just to get the scorpion experience.

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: Anonymous Threat Taken Seriously

First off today, members of the group Anonymous, upset about the recently passed legislation in New Zealand to suspend suspected file sharers from the Internet, have threatened to attack the New Zealand Parliament’s website, as they have done with other sites in the past. The government has said that they are taking the threats serious and are taking steps to mitigate against the potential attack. There is no word as to when the attack is scheduled to begin or how serious the threat is.

2: Dropbox Attempts to Kill Open Source Project

Next up today, cloud-based file synchronizing service Dropbox has filed a “mistake” DMCA notice and has attempted to kill an open source project, Dropship, which takes advantage of Dropbox’s hashing system to share files. Dropbox, which synchronizes files between computers via the Web, using a hashing system to prevent it from storing a file more than once. Dropship uses this system to allow Dropbox users to share files using just the hash, having the file appear in both user’s Dropbox folder. Dropbox has requested the project be removed from Github, which its owner did voluntarily, and has removed copies of Dropship stored on their server. Dropbox has admitted a DMCA notice it sent was a “mistake”, caused by a bug in Dropbox’s file removal system, but has continued to try and shut down all mirrors of the software.

3: YouTube Is Said to Be Near a Major Film Rental Deal

Next up today, reports from industry insiders indicate that Sony, Warner Brothers and Universal have all inked deals with Google to rent movies via YouTube, a project that has been in the works for at least two years. According to reports, the prices will be similar to the rental rates on iTunes and other competitors. Currently independent filmmakers already offer such rentals on YouTube for $2 to $4 per viewing.

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: Barbie Mugged by the Bratz In $89 Million Jury Verdict

First off today, we have more information about the outcome of the Mattel/MGA lawsuit over Bratz and it seems it is an even more complete defeat for Mattel than previously indicated. Mattel, who sued MGA claiming that they stole the initial concept for the Bratz line when they hired on a former Mattel employee, who they said created the idea while working for them, not only lost their lawsuit over the line, but also lost a counter-lawsuit filed by MGA where the company claimed Mattel had stolen company secrets. Mattel will now have to pay MGA nearly $89 million. The jury, however, did agree that MGA had agreed with Carter Bryant’s Mattel contract, Bryant being the creator of the Bratz line, and awarded Mattel $10,000.

2: China to Punish Baidu for Illegal Music Search Service

Next up today, Xinhua, China’s official news agency, is reporting that the government is planning on taking punitive action against some 14 sites for providing illegal music, including the country’s largest search engine, Baidu. The nature of the punishment hasn’t been disclosed and Baidu, according to previous statements, is preparing to launch a licensed music service in May. Baidu, however, has promised to take quick action against any files identified by the government. There are fears that the punishment could impact Baidu’s notoriously soaring stock price, which has grown over 50 percent in the past year alone.

3: Playstation Network Shut Down To End Piracy Free-For-All

Finally today, the Playstation Network (PSN) has been down for nearly a week though Sony, the company that operates it, has been rather quiet on the cause. The reason may be because of a hacked Playstation 3 firmware which enabled users to access developer functions on the network and begin downloading Sony content for free. According to a staff member at a PS3 modding site, Sony has taken the network offline while they secure against the hack, which could also, potentially, expose credit card and other sensitive data. This information, however, is unconfirmed and even the person making the claims admits he can not be 100% certain.

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: Associated Press, Artist Settle in Obama ‘Hope’ Poster Lawsuit

First off today, Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the Obama “Hope” poster, has settled his long-running legal battle with the Associated Press. The AP, whose reporter took the photo that the poster was based on, claimed that the poster was an infringement but Fairey had claimed it was a fair use. However, the two sides agreed to disagree on the legal issues and Fairey has agreed to never use another AP photo in his artwork again. Also, there was an undisclosed financial settlement but we have no idea which way it went or for how much. A separate lawsuit involving a manufacturer of T-shirts with the image is continuing separately.

2: Sony Launches Legal Action Against PlayStation Hackers

Next up today, Sony has launched legal action against George Hotz and others who released the key for the PS3 that could, in the future, enable the running of any software on the system, including pirated games. Hotz, who is best known for breaking the security on the iPhone, is named alongside of 100 others associated with the hacking group fail0verflow, which was responsible for the leak. Hotz has said that he is confident the legal action won’t succeed and is ready to defend himself against it.

3: Record Labels To Pay $45 Million for Pirating Artists’ Music

Finally today, in Canada, record labels have agreed to pay some $45 million for copyright infringement. The lawsuit stems from a “pending list” in which labels would use tracks on compilation CDs and, rather than paying the royalties, put the track on the list to be paid later. Artists, fed up with the unpaid royalties sued the labels. Though the damages could have been as high as $6 billion, the two sides agreed on a settlement that would bring all existing pending list claims up to code. However, it seems that the practice itself is unlikely to change.

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: Exclusive: Sources Detail Google’s Proposal For A Music Service

First off today, Billboard has a story where it cites unnamed sources on what Google is planning for its Google Music feature. According to the report, Google is wanting to create a combination of iTunes with a digital storage service where users will be able to buy tracks and access them from anywhere. The service will also scan your existing libraries and automatically give you access to those tracks as well. That has created at least some contention over whether to allow illegally downloaded tracks to be accessed, but there are rumors Google may compromise on this issue by doing more with its search product to prevent file sharing. The service will also allow every song to be played once completely free before reverting to a 30-second preview. There is no word if the record labels are on board with this project or not.

2: Chinese Online Video Portal Ku6 Strikes Deals With Major Hollywood Studios

Next up today the Chinese video portal Ku6 has signed a deal with Sony and at least one other studio to allow content from them to be used on the site. Ku6, with this announcement, becomes the first Chinese site to strike such a deal, making it a potential landmark moment for legitimacy in the Chinese video sharing world, which is often seen as being a haven for piracy.

3: Video Websites to Inspect for Copyright Violations

Finally today, in a news story that is almost certainly related to number 2, 15 Chinese video sharing sites have all agreed to a government demand they begin searching for and removing copyright infringing material. Ku6 is among the sites listed. There is supposedly inspections of another 59 sites underway and seven sites have been closed and another subject to penalties for hosting infringing material.

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: Eircom to Cut Broadband Over Illegal Downloads

First off today, Eircom’s Ireland’s largest ISP, has initiated a trial period where it will engage in a graduated response, or three strikes system. The ISP, which has some 750,000 subscribers, will process some 50 IP addresses per week on behalf of the Irish Recorded Music Association and will disconnect alleged file sharers for a year after they have received three warnings. Competitor UPC has still resisted such efforts and has a court case on the subject next month.

2: U.S. Court: Isohunt Has to Shut Down

Next up today, in the ISOHunt case, a permanent injunction has been issued that bars the torrent search engine from providing access to almost any and all Hollywood movies. The injunction is likely to force ISOHunt to shut down in the U.S., blocking visitors from within the country. The judge also found that ISOHunt’s “lite” interface, which was designed to mirror Google in appearance, was not enough and was merely a new look on the same results.

3: Sony Believes Piracy is the PSP’s Biggest Problem

Finally today, according to Sony, its beleaguered PSP handheld gaming system is struggling largely due to piracy, which the company says is “killing” the platform. According to the company, the piracy issue is worse in Japan but that is causing many publishers to not offer full support for their products in North America. Sony is introducing new copy protection techniques to reduce or slow down piracy, in hopes of rectifying this issue.

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.

1: Beyonce’s Record Company Puts a Ring On Her YouTube Channel

First off today, Beyonce’s official YouTube channel suffered a blow as Sony, Beyonce’s label, ordered the removal of her video for “Put a Ring on It”. The takedown appears likely to have been in error though the video remained down all weekend. However, contrary to the article’s title, the majority of Beyonce’s channel appears to be unaffected, including other music videos, as it is just the one video that is down. Unfortunately though, it happens to be the most recent one.

2: Big Content: Stopping P2P Should be “Principal Focus” of IP Czar

Next up today, the day before the deadline, the RIAA, MPAA, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild, and other groups filed their recommendations to Victoria Espinel, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator for the Obama administration at the request of her office. According to their filing, the “principle focus” of the new office should be to “turn the tide” against P2P file sharing. The relatively thin filing, only two pages, cites four studies, which are viewed as dubious the author of the article, and gives each industry a chance to report its own loses due to P2P file sharing.

3: Economists Urge Government to Stop War on Piracy

Finally today, even as the major content players in the U.S. were filing a petition for greater enforcement of P2P, two economists in Spain were publishing a report calling for eased restrictions on copyright and an end of the war on file sharing. According to the report, such a clampdown benefits major copyright holders “at the expense of users and lesser-known artists” and time would be better spent developing new business models. The report comes as Spain, which has legal non-commercial file sharing, is considering new legislation to clamp down on file sharing sites.

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: Judge Dismisses God of War Copyright Lawsuit Against Sony

First off today, screenwriters Jonathan Bissoon-Dath and Jennifer Dat have had their case against Sony, the publisher of the popular God of War video game franchise, tossed out after the judge found that there was no evidence of copying by Sony or the games developers from their works. The pair had sued claiming that the game bore a strong resemblance to their work but the judge found that the similarities were not extensive and there was no evidence that Sony even had access to their writing when making the game, dismissing the case without letting it head to a trial.

2: Researchers Aim To Reduce Copyright Infringement False Positives

Next up today, Polycipher, a group jointly owned by U.S. ISPs Comcast, Cox and Time Warner, has funded research into a product entitled BitStalker that it claims can actively monitor Bittorrent swarms and do so very cheaply while reducing the false positives that plague current detection systems. There is some doubt if the technique can work and Comcast has said that they are no longer involved with Polycipher or this research, but the news has caused a major stir among those interested in detecting and preventing detection of bittorrent-based piracy.

3: Oregon Candidate Pulls Look-Alike Logo

Finally today, Oregon state senate candidate Mark Delphine was forced to pull his logo from his Web site after it was discovered to have a very strong resemblance to the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team. According to Delphine, the logo was donated by a volunteer and he was unaware of the similarities until he began to get calls about it.

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: Guardrails for the Internet: Preserving Creativity Online

First off today, a great deal of controversy is swirling over an opinion piece posted by Michael Lynton, the CEO and Chairman of Sony, to the Huffington Post.

In his editorial, in this editorial, he says that piracy is a major burden on the copyright holders and puts the entire Web at risk and proposes putting safeguards on the Web to, in his view, make the Web a better place to sell and promote creative works. He likens the Web to the highway system and encourages that “rules of the road” be placed on the Web.

Naturally, this has caused a great deal of controversy and led some to even post paragraph by paragraph rebuttals. It seems as if, rightly or wrongly, this is going to be the conversation piece for copyright for the next few days…

2: Gaming anti-piracy chief blasts ‘terrorists’

Next up today, Yutaka Kubota, the president of Japan’s Association of Copyright for Computer Software, used the word “terrorist” to describe those who pirate Nintendo DS games. This has upset many on both sides of the issue and flames tensions at a very critical time for Japan.

This come on the heels of Nintendo releasing estimates that 120 million DS games have been bootlegged and Japan is considering legislation to criminalize such piracy, which is currently legal under current Japanese law.

3: EU pushes music industry to open up online rights

Finally today, EU antitrust regulators have sent a strong message to the various licensing boards and publishers “to move quickly to adapt their licensing solutions to the online environment.”

This isn’t the first time the EU government has made statements along these lines but, this time, it seems to be tinged with more of a threat. The European Commission has already found the collecting societies guilty of anti-trust violations but did not impose any fines at the time, which was July of 2008.

The biggest problem that the EU government has is that there is no EU-wide licensing system. There are different systems in most countries, 12 overall, and artists are typically bound to the organization that serves their particular nation. This is one of the reasons why Apple does not provide an iTunes store EU-wide.

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.