3 Count: We’re Back!

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

1: Apple, Psystar Strike Deal in Copyright Case

First off today, court rivals Apple and Psystar have reached a partial settlement in their battle. Psystar, a computer maker, had been selling “Hackintosh” computers with Apple’s OSX preinstalled on them in violation of Apple’s license, which limits OSX only to Apple computers. Apple sued Psystar and, even though the company only used legitimately purchased copies of OSX, was successful in at least one case as the court found Psystar liable for violating the license and the DMCA due to their circumvention of Apple’s copy protection.

The two sides have reached a partial agreement in their suit. Psystar has agreed to stop preinstalling OSX on their computers and pay an undisclosed amount of damages once appeals are exhausted. This follows a request for an injunction against Psystar that would shutter the company completely and order them to pay $2.1 million in damages.

However, this isn’t the end for Psystar nor their selling of computers with OSX as an option. Psystar has hinted in court filings that they are shifting the responsibility of installing OSX from themselves to the user and are now looking to bundle Rebel RFI, a $50 utility the company made, to help users install OSX on their Psystar-purchased machines.

No word yet on where Apple will stand on that, but it seems unlikely that Apple will agree to allow that to continue either, possibly adding yet another lawsuit to the list in the Apple/Psystar war.

2: Mininova Limits its Activities to Content Distribution Service

Next up today, Bittorrent tracker Mininova, second in popularity only to The Pirate Bay, has pulled all infringing torrents off its site and limited its sharing activity to its Content Distribution Service (CDS), thus ending its reign as a pirate haven.

This follows a decision in a Dutch court that prohibited Mininova from hosting torrents for certain titles or similar works. After testing several filtering systems, Mininova has decided that the only way to completely comply is to remove all non-CDS torrents from the site.

Mininova’s CDS system was started in 2007 as a way for producers to quickly distribute their files over the network and has been used by filmmakers and bands alike to distribute their work for free over the Mininova system.

3: AFACT v iiNet: Epic BitTorrent Copyright Case Concludes

Finally today, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and local ISP iiNet have concluded their case. The two sides presented closing arguments last week and have turned the case over to the judge, who is expected to rule some time next month.

The case began after AFACT attempted to have iiNet send notices of copyright infringement to some of its subscribers that AFACT accused of illegally downloading content. iiNet refused, citing several Australian laws that protect them, prompting AFACT to sue.

The case, if ruled in favor of AFACT, could cause a major shift in the responsibilities of ISPs in Australia.

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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