3 Count: Fair and Balanced

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1: Sharron Angle Hit With R-J Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

First off today, Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has been hit with a lawsuit by the controversial Righthaven group, which is enforcing copyright for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Righthaven, as is typical for their suits, is demanding $150,000 and the forfeiture of her domain. Righthaven had previously sued the Democratic Party of Nevada, leading to claims of bias as Angle had used R-J content in a similar fashion on her site. Others said that her use of the content meant Righthaven had to sue her, a position Righthaven seems to have agreed with. Angle’s camp has not commented on the suit and this brings the confirmed number of Righthaven lawsuits filed to 117.

2: Police Swoop On 6,000 Song File-Sharer

Next up today, in a case that was overlooked due to yesterday’s raids against ISPs all across Europe, police in Sweden arrested an unidentified man who was, according to prosecutors, was sharing some 6,000 songs as part of a piracy ring. The person in question was using Direct Connect to share the files, which makes it easier for the police to detect mass online infringement. To date, prosecutors have largely ignored those who share files via Bittorrent.

3: Lessons In Smart Trademark Management: Free Licensing Of The Mark From Twitter

Finally today, TechDirt is highlighting Twitter’s trademark policy as an example of how to protect your trademarks while still encouraging widespread use. As the site points out, if trademarks are undefended, they can be lost so companies often times vigorously litigate trademark issues to avoid that risk. However, Twitter has offered a free license to use its “Tweet” trademark so long as it is used correctly and by those promoting the brand, thus limiting the need to litigate while still providing a means for developers to use the mark.

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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Tune in every Wednesday evening at 6 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

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