3 Count: Russian War

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1: Police Declare War on BitTorrent Sites, Operators and Users

First off today, police in Russia have declared “war” on torrent trackers operating from within the country. This comes after famous tracker torrents.ru was shut down by police in the country only open up under a new name. However, what makes this push more unusual is that they are not just going after owners and operators of such services, but also after users, including Nikolay Nazimok, head of Moscow police’s Economic Crime Department, saying that file sharers should be treated the same as criminal counterfeiters.

2: Artist Files Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Green Day

Next up today, Los Angeles artist Dereck Seltzer has filed a lawsuit against the band Green Day claiming that the band unlawfully used his graphic image, entitled Scream Icon, for the backdrop of their recent concert tour along with promotional material. He also claims that the band continued to use the work after being notified of the infringement and even offered him concert tickets as settlement. The suit is seeking between $30,000 and $150,000 per infringement.

3: Filmmakers Fake Piracy Threat to Boost Sales

Finally today, Danish filmmakers Regner Grasten Film, the makers of the film Winnie & Karina have found themselves in hot water after they accused the Danish copyright reform group Piratgruppen of stealing a DVD of their movie and threatening to release it over YouTube. This came out over a series of press releases before the filmmakers admitted that it was a hoax, after almost no media coverage, and admitted that they did it as a stunt to boost the DVD release after weak ticket sale and reviews.

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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