3 Count: Tick Tock

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

1: Deadline Arrives In Google Book-scan Deal

First off today, it’s a big day in the Google Book Search case as it is the deadline for when the two parties have to come up with a new settlement.

The lawsuit famously began after publishers and authors sued Google for its scanning and indexing of books on its site. The initial, rejected, settlement would have allowed Google to continue scanning, displaying and even selling copies of in-copyright but out-of-print works in exchange for a royalty paid to publishers and authors who signed up to participate.

However, that settlement was rejected due to antitrust concerns from the Department of Justice and the two sides were sent back to the drawing table, with today being the deadline for a new proposal.

Needless to say, authors are waiting breathlessly to see what the two sides have come up with, if anything.

2: News Corp Likely To Remove Content From Google

Next up today, Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp, which owns the Wall Street Journal and the Fox network in the U.S., said in an interview with Australia’s Sky News that he is planning to pull his sites out of the search engines and start charging for them. He also said that fair use could be wholesale overturned in the U.S. with the right case, especially as it pertains to linking.

This is not the first time Murdoch and News Corp has made these particular comments and threats. There has been much discussion from the company about “raising the paywall” around its content and about Google “ripping them off”.

It remains to be seen if News Corp will actually take the drastic step of blocking Google from its robots.txt but it has not happened yet and many feel it isn’t likely to happen in the future.

3: Anti-Piracy Group Reports Torrent Site Users to the Police

Finally today, the police in Lithuania are likely pulling their hair out today as they are caught in the middle of a dispute between local bittorrent tracker LinkoManija.net and local anti-piracy outfit LANVA.

LANVA, using torrent tracking technology, reported some 106 IP address connected to the tracker for illegally downloading/sharing Windows 7. Though the evidence may be dubious as it is unclear if they have more than evidence that the IP address was accessing the file, it prompted the tracker admins to both promise to support any users who find themselves in legal trouble due to this, but to also turn around and report LANVA to the police for violating their terms of service by accessing the site illegally. Their disclaimer prohibits anti-pirate organizations from using the service.

The police have not said what, if anything, they plan on doing about either of the complaints but this is just another chapter in the, at times, very heated exchange between the two sides.

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.

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