3 Count: Avatar Oops

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

1: No Decrease in Illegal Downloading, says BPI

First off today, A survey conducted for the British Phonographic Industry reports that, in the UK, illegal file sharing is on the rise, even as more legal downloading alternatives come online.

The survey found that, while file sharing on peer-to-peer services, such as Bittorrent, remained flat, illegal downloading on Web-based services, such as storage lockers, rose. According to the BPI, there is over one billion illegal downloads every year, compared to about 117 million single sales.

The BPI hopes to use this study to push for improvements to the Digital Britain legislation to help it focus more on Web-based technologies, rather than just peer-to-peer ones.

The survey involved polling some 3,000 people between 16 and 54 and found that those who were using illegal downloading services had no plans to switch to legal alternatives and, in fact, had plans to increase their illegal downloading.

2: DRM Fiasco Ruins James Cameron’s Avatar 3D Preview

Next up today, James Cameron’s new movie Avatar has been setting the box office on fire this weekend but an issue with the film’s DRM hampered an early screening of it late last week.

Attendees of a pre-release 3D showing of the film were saddened to learn that the DRM scheme designed to prevent the film from being leaked onto the Web failed to allow the theater to play it as planned. The system, which involves multiple layers including security certificates and timelocks, could not be accessed despite hours of trying.

The problems, however, were fixed in time for the public premiere of the film, which was Friday in the U.S., but there is no doubt that the debacle left many with a sour taste.

3: MediaCorp Wins Counter Claims of Copyright Infringement Against RecordTV

Finally today, MediaCorp, which a state-owned media organization in Singapore, has emerged victorious in a lawsuit against another Singapore company, RecordTV.

RecordTV, previously, allowed users to, as the name might indicate, record TV from their computer using their Web browser for later playback, functioning as something of a DVR. Among the channels users could record included three of MediaCorp’s channels, which prompted legal threats from the media giant.

RecordTV responded to those threats by filing a preemptive suit, which in turn led to MediaCorp filing a countersuit. The case made it all the way to Singapore’s Supreme Court, where the judge has ruled in favor of MediaCorp, granting the company an injunction against RecrodTV, which in turn appears to have shut down its service.

There is no word on any other damages and the justification for the ruling is due shortly.

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.