3 Count: Ad-Free Version
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1: No Ads, Domain Seized and No Anonymity For Pirate Site, Judge Rules
First off today, two book publishers, Elsevier and John Wiley & Sons have successfully convinced a Massachusetts to bar two advertising networks, Clicksor and Chitika and a domain privacy service, ENOM, from providing services to a suspected pirate site. The publishers sued the companies, claiming that they provided services to Pharmatext, a site they claimed was making illegal copies of their books available for download. Pharmatext, however, has already been shut down, making this ruling fairly meaningless beyond the potential precedent value, which could be very big as other copyright holders target advertisers and domain registrars.
2: Canadian-Uploaded YouTube Video Doesn’t Infringe in US–Shropshire v. Canning
Elmo Shropshire, co-performer of the Christmas novelty song Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, has lost a legal battle with a YouTube uploader who had put a cover of the song in the background of a video she had posted. Shropshire had posted filed a takedown on the video but the uploader, a Canadian named Aubrey Canning, filed a counter-notice and got the video restored. Shropshire sued Canning but lost on both of his claims. The first claim, regarding the video itself, failed because the creation and upload took place entirely in Canada. The second, which claimed a false counternotice, failed when Shropshire could not point a material misrepresentation in the counternotice and failed to bring in a second plaintiff to avoid risking double or triple damages. Shropshire and Canning have been operating pro se in this case and Shropshire can amend his claims and refile.
3: Corbin Fisher Sues Hotfile, John Does for Copyright Infringement
Finally, the parent company of Corbin Fisher, a gay adult content provider, has filed suit against file hosting service Hotfile, PayPal and some 1000 “Does” claiming infringement for uploading their content to the service. According to Corbin fisher’s filing, the parties have been involved in a “theft scam” and are a “a confederation of intellectual property thieves”, though PayPal isn’t included in the latter. The plaintiffs are seeking reasonable attorneys fees and statutory damages of $150,000 per infringed work, which, considering the 800 works listed in the lawsuit, would make the maximum damages $120 million.
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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