3 Count: No Bias Here

Jonathan BaileyJune 9, 2009

2 minutes read

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: Stockholm court: Pirate Bay judge wasn’t biased!

First off today, in a blow to The Pirate Bay admins, the district court has issued a statement saying that, despite the judge’s affiliations with several pro-copyright organizations, that there is no evidence of bias and that the memberships were “simply a means to gain increased knowledge of copyright legislation issues and are not therefore grounds to establish bias.”

The appeals court still has to rule on the matter of bias, a ruling for which is due any day now, but with the independent district weighing in, which did so at the direction of the appeals court, it seems far, far less likely that the ruling will be in favor of the defendants.

Still, even if the judge’s allegations of bias are tossed, there is still a lengthy appeals process ahead for this case.

The Pirate Bay site, at this time, remains active.

2: Music industry battles Spanish computer buff

Pablo Soto is a young computer lover that created the application Blubster, one of the most popular file sharing applications, and has built a small company around it. However, he is now the lone defendant in a copyright lawsuit filed by the Spanish music industry.

Though the case is similar to dozens of others that have taken place in the US and elsewhere in the EU, Spain has a reputation for being a pirate-friendly country and has routinely thrown out cases of piracy where there was no commercial gain.

According to Soto, his product is completely legal and he is confident of victory since his product can be used for legitimate purposes. The court, however, is expected to rule on that exact issue later this month.

3: Bon Jovi’s motion to dismiss defendant’s Lanham Act and misappropriation of name counterclaims denied

Finally today, in a link you just have to read, Bon Jovi and the Philadelphia Soul, an Arena Football League team he partially owns, have been involved in a messy and convoluted dispute with a ticket promoter over the cancellation of the 2009 season (and the way it was handled), which resulted in the team and Jovi suing over alleged trademark, copyright and other violations.

Well, out of mess sometimes comes beauty and what can only be described as judicial “win” the judge in the case has handed down a ruling laced with more Bon Jovi references per paragraph than previously thought possible. Spoiler Alert: Bon Jovi’s case was apparently “Living on a Prayer”.

Check out some of the ruling with the videos at the link above.

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.