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1: Summit Sues Twilight.com Owner for Copyright Infringement

First off today, Summit Entertainment, the movie company behind the “Twilight” movies, is suing the owner of Twilight.com for copyright and trademark infringement. According to Summit, the site repeatedly used photographs, logos and other elements from the Twilight movies without authorization and profited from its use of the information. The site currently is nothing more than links to authorized resellers of Twilight books and movies as well as banner ads. The lawsuit alleges that the site participated in contests and quizes that were unauthorized and misleading.

2: Denver Post Publisher to End Contract with Copyright Enforcement Firm

Next up today, Righthaven, the company that has filed some 275 lawsuits over content reused from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, will be losing its contract with the latter. The publisher of the Denver Post, MediaNews Group, has announced it will be allowing its contract with Righthaven to expire. This is the latest in a string of setbacks for Righthaven, which has included negative court decisions, largely over their position to sue in the cases they have acted on.

3: EU Regulators Vote to Extend Music Copyright for Another 20 Years

Finally today, EU regulators have given approval to extending the copyright on sound recordings from 50 years to 70 years, a move that will likely be finalized on September 12 when a Council of Ministers will have a final say, forcing member states to pass the extension into law by 2014. The extension does not affect composers of songs or other copyright holders, which generally get a copyright for as long as they live plus another 70 years.

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: U.S. Faces Legal Challenge to Internet-Domain Seizures

First off today, the Spanish company Puerto 80 is suing the U.S. government over its recent seizure of their American Rojadirecta domains. According to the company, the site had done nothing illegal and that its property was taken from it unlawfully. The company also says that its site has lost 1/3 of its traffic since the seizure.

2: Songwriter Wins Round in “Twilight” Legal Battle

Next up today, musician Matt Heart’s lawsuit against Summit Entertainment, the distributors of the “Twilight” films, will live to see another day (or night). Heart sued after Summit got one of his songs, “Eternal Night”, was booted off YouTube, iTunes and Amazon among other sites following an infringement claim from Summit. However, the song itself was written in 2002 though Heart had republished it with new CD art and descriptions that implied it was inspired by Twilight, which came later. The judge dismissed parts of Heart’s lawsuit but allowed his core case, that Summit had overstepped copyright by filing for the takedown. Summit had argued that they were forced to use the copyright takedown process as it was the only one offered.

3: Anonymous Targets Malaysia Over File-Sharing Censorship

Finally today, Anonymous is taking aim at Malaysia’s government after a leaked memo indicated that the government is pushing local ISPs to block access to certain sites it accuses of copyright infringement. According to an announcement, the group is planning to launch a denial of service attack on the governments main site tomorrow. There is no word on how long the attack is expected to last.

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: Pirate Bay Founders Granted Appeal Against Operating Ban

First off today, The (former?) Pirate Bay admins Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij scored a win in a Swedish court, though not regarding their recent criminal convictions. The Swedish appeals court has agreed to hear arguments in a district court ruling that would have barred them from administering the site, to the tune of $71,000 every day they were not in compliance.

Currently neither of the men reside in Sweden nor is The Pirate Bay hosted within the country (following a different court action that forced it to move). It is also unclear if the pair are working on the site in any way still, especially following their convictions.

Despite all of the legal setbacks, the site currently remains open and even discontinued its tracker to make it less likely to be shut down in the future.

2: Court Refuses To Order Shutdown of OpenBitTorrent

Next up today, in a somewhat related victory for the file sharing community, a Swedish court has refused to shut down OpenBittorrent, which movie studios had accused of being a “rebranded” version of The Pirate Bay.

OpenBittorrent is merely a tracker and does not host any torrent files nor is it connected with any particular site. It also has a DMCA-style takedown policy for removing infringing torrents. However, despite that, movie industry attorneys filed suit in Sweden against the company’s host, Portlane, demanding the closure of the site.

The Swedish court, in its preliminary ruling, rejected the request and has scheduled the matter to be looked at in depth sometime next year.

The movie studios were clearly disappointed, especially that the court did not address their alleged link with The Pirate Bay, but the case continues where, most likely, such elements will be given a closer look.

3: Judge Dismisses Plagiarism Suit Against Stephenie Meyer

Finally today, “Twilight” author Stephanie Meyer has had a plagiarism lawsuit against her dismissed. Jordan Scott had accused the author of copying her work “The Nocture” in Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” the fourth book in the Twilight series.

However, the judge in the case has tossed the suit with prejudice, which prevents Scott from refiling, saying that the works were not similar enough to warrant such an accusation and further admonished Scott for “deceptive presentation of the alleged similarities.”

There were also rumors previously that Meyer was being sued for plagiarism by a former roommate, an accusation that had allegedly halted production of “New Moon”. But that allegation turned out to be a hoax.

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.

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

1: The Pirate Bay Tracker Shuts Down for Good

First off today, The Pirate Bay has announced its plans to shut down its tracker for good. However, it isn’t for copyright reasons, but rather, to encourage file sharers and other bittorrent sites to switch a decentralized method of distributing content, one that doesn’t require torrent trackers.

According to The Pirate Bay, advances in bittorrent technology have made centralized trackers obsolete and they are looking to force downloaders to use newer solutions, including DHT and PEX. Most bittorrent clients already support “magnet links”, which enable trackerless and torrentless bittorrent downloads, though the alternatives have not caught on with the bittorrent community.

As a side effect of this switch, many hypothesize that it will be more difficult for copyright holders, including the MPAA and the RIAA to track downloads though there is some evidence that it may increase the liability of torrent search engines, who have traditionally avoided hosting torrent files. In these cases, pointing to the link could be very similar to hosting the torrent file legally, at least in theory.

It remains to be seen how the bittorrent community will respond to this move and how copyright holders will address it.

2: ‘Twilight’ Town Tempts Copyright, But Summit Doesn’t Bite

Next up today, the tiny town of Forks, Washington (population 3,000) has seen a windfall of tourism and business since the start of the “Twilight” book series. The stories take place in the town, positioned on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, prompting fans to flock to it.

Though not the setting for the movies, the next in the series opens this week, many locations in the town are identifiable in the books and the town has capitalized on its fame, opening up shops and restaurants with a Twilight theme and selling merchandise related to the series.

Summit, the publishers of the books, have remained quiet on the issue. Though residents claim they sent a lawyer to investigate the town, Summit denies this and, either way, no lawsuits or complaints have been filed. This is in stark contrast to efforts by other authors, including JK Rowling and George Lucas, to prevent all for-profit use of their material.

The town admits that they are walking a line with what they do, trying to avoid being an infringer while profit from their attention, but it seems that, at least in the world of Twilight, these issues are less of a problem.

3: Iconic Pirate Bay Ship Logo Hijacked By Private Company

Finally today, was The Pirate Bay logo pirated? That’s the accusation one Swedish company, Sandryds Handel AB, which registered the famous trademark as their own after finding that The Pirate Bay had not registered it.

To be clear, The Pirate Bay allows use of its logo for almost any purpose, but is against this particular registration as it restricts others ability to use it.

The company, which has no affiliation with The Pirate Bay, says it plans to sell USB drives with the logo on it and the Swedish patent and trademark office said that, since they were unable to find any evidence The Pirate Bay owned the rights, they were able to award it to Sandryds.

The Pirate Bay has said it is going to attempt to get the decision annulled, calling it a “mistake” on the part of the patent and trademark office.

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: “Twilight” author accused of plagiarism

First off today, the author of the “Twilight” series, Stephanie Mayer, is facing accusations of plagiarism, this time from author Jordan Scott, who wrote the book “The Nocturne”, which was released in 2006 but available, in part, online before that. According to Scott, many of the plot points and scenes in the Twilight books bear striking resemblance to her work though there are “few” word-for-word cases of plagiarism.

Mayer’s attorney said that she was unaware of “The Nocturne” and accused the author of attempting to “ride the coattails of such success.” Scott has filed a cease and desist letter with the publisher of the “Twilight” series and is planning on filing a copyright lawsuit next week.

This isn’t the first time that Mayer has faced accusations of plagiarism. In April, a former roommate of Mayer accused her of plagiarism, an accusation that was rumored to have shut down production of the “New Moon” film, a rumor that proved to be false.

2: MGA Rolls Out New Doll Line

Next up, MGA, the makers of the famous “Bratz” line of dolls, is releasing a new line entitled “Moxie Girls” that is set to hit shelves August 15. This might not sound much like copyright news, but considering that a judge has ruled the Bratz line to be property of Mattel, due to the fact its creator was working at the company when he created the idea, the move seems to be an attempt to stave off near-certain death.

The court has ordered MGA to turn over all trademark, related products, designs, customer information and plans for the Bratz line in 2010, meaning the end of the line for MGA with that particular series.

3: Oldest BitTorrent Site Targeted by Police, Owner Arrested

Finally today, the home of one of, if not the, oldest Bittorrent site on the Web, FileSoup, had his home raided and was arrested.

Known online as TheGeeker, he has run UK-based FileSoup since it was established in 2003, making it possibly the longest-running site of its kind, outliving The Pirate Bay by nine months. Though the site is still in operation, the owner was placed in jail, with very strict instructions on treatment, and, according to Geeker, he was unable to contact an attorney or make a phone call for over 7 hours.

It appears that much of this criminal case is being backed up by FACT, an MPAA-sponsored anti-piracy group, who had members present for the raid.

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: Pirate Bay lawyer calls for retrial

First off today, allegations of bias have come up against the judge who ruled on The Pirate Bay case.

It appears that the judge who recently found the four founders guilty and sent them to jail for a year apiece was also a member of at least three pro-copyright organizations, including one that also has some of the the attorneys that represented the entertainment industry in the trial as members as well.

According to experts on Swedish law, this represents a conflict of interest and may be grounds for a retrial, something that at least one of the defendant’s attorneys is demanding. The retrial request is part of the usual appeals process and will be ruled on by the appellate court.

In the end, what this does is make the possibility of a retrial much more likely and could result in the verdict being thrown out.

2: British singer Bragg blasts EU copyright extension

Next up today British Singer Billy Bragg has come out against the proposed EU copyright extension, which would extend the copyright on music recordings from 50 to 95 years, but not for the reasons many might expect.

Bragg said that the extension would, “simply perpetuates recording contracts that were signed in the last 50 years.” He instead threw his support behind a Green Party amendment that would extend the term to 95 years but, after the first 50, would turn the rights over to a national agency to divide the royalties among artists and performers.

He also said that he is against “criminalizing fans” and wants copyright law to focus more on commercial use.

3: Twilight plagiarism lawsuit declared Internet hoax

Finally today, a lot of reporters and newsmen are winding up with some egg on their face, including me, as the report of plagiarism lawsuit over the Twilight series appears to have been a hoax.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about how this story made it into so many large news outlets, including the MSNBC story I linked to yesterday, but it appears at this time that there is no such lawsuit and no threat to the new movie, due out in November.

News that I am certain makes Twilight fans very happy.

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.