3 Count: WTF HTC

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1: HTC Cracks Down on ROM Hackers With Cease and Desist Letter

First off today, Taiwanese phone maker HTC, known for its liberal approach to ROM and other hacking of its phones, has sent a cease and desist letter to one ROM hacking community accusing the site of unlawfully distributing the phone’s proprietary code and art work. This move came as quite a shock to many in the community and has led to a backlash against them. HTC has followed up to say they are still “hands off” when it comes to modding but that the site in question’s “sole purpose [is] to make HTC’s content available for download from a source other than HTC.”

2: 2nd Circuit Seeks Answers in Penguin Copyright Case

Next up today, an ongoing case between publisher Penguin Group USA and an online “library” is raising jurisdictional issues important to all copyright holders. The case saw Penguin sue the American Buddha Online Library over allegedly posting their work to an online site. The library, which is based in Oregon with servers in Arizona, was sued in New York, leading the district court to dismiss the claim on jurisdictional grounds. However, Penguin has appealed and the Appeals Court is taking up the matter, which could affect jurisdiction on copyright issues across the nation.

3: Budapest Police Seize 50 Servers on Copyright Infringement Charges

Finally today, police in Hungary have seized some 50 servers and over 500 TB of data over, making it the biggest anti-file sharing operation in the nation’s history. The seizure included servers at the College of Engineering, which were allegedly hosting major local and international file-sharing Web sites. No word on if further charges may be pending.

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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