3 Count: Zero the Hero

This is daily column on Plagiarism Today where the site brings you three of the days biggest, most important copyright and plagiarism news links. If you want to offer your feedback on the column, use the contact form or just follow me on Twitter at @plagiarismtoday.

1: Psystar’s bankruptcy filing to affect Apple’s copyright infringement suit

First off today, the famous “Hackintosh” maker Psystar has filed for bankruptcy protection, likely putting a serious crimp on Apple’s lawsuit against the company, which accuses it of violating copyright in making unofficial Mac computer.

The feud between the two companies has been long and drawn out, including anti-trust and copyright abuse claims by Psystar against Apple, but it seemed that Apple had the upper hand in the lawsuit. Now though, it may be very difficult for Apple to collect any damages that it is awarded as it will likely be treated as an unsecured creditor, meaning most, if not all of its damages will be discharged in the bankruptcy.

2: MGA asks appeals court to halt transfer of Bratz

Next up, the MGA/Mattel case is back in the news today as MGA has filed a petition to halt the transfer of the Bratz line to Mattel while it appeals the lower court ruling,

MGA is asking the judge, which ruled that the Bratz dolls, marketed by MGA since 2001, are actually the property of Mattel since the creator of the dolls was employed by Mattel at the time of conception. MGA is appealing the ruling and is asking the appeals court to hold of on the ordered transfer, which MGA says would do irreparable harm, until the appeals process plays out.

No word on when a ruling is expected but it seems likely that the court will side with MGA on this one and postpone the transfer.

3: Digg Content is Now Public Domain Internationally

Finally today, Digg has changed the license it places all user-submitted content under from its generic public domain dedication to a CC0 license in a bid to make the license more applicable international.

In terms of licensing, the CC0 license is functionally the same as a public domain dedication, waiving all rights to enforce ones copyright, however, the CC0 license works better in countries without specific public domain dedication procedures or countries where such rights are inalienable.

All in all, it is a minor change for Digg, but definitely a coup for the CC0 license as Digg now becomes by far the license’s biggest user.

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.

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