3 Count: Felony Conviction

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1: Copyright Office Joins In: Let’s Make Illegal Streaming a Felony

First off today, as her first day as Register of Copyrights, Maria Pallante is making a splash by testifying before the House Judiciary Committee that illegal streaming needs to be upgraded to a felony, bringing it inline with unlawful reproduction and distribution. Pallante’s testimony, which supports the White House’s IP Czar Victoria Espinel, says that technology has changed and unlawful streaming needs to be treated the same as a distribution of a copyrighted work, not a public performance, holding it to the higher criminal standard. The move comes as the rise of streaming services have, in many circles, replaced traditional piracy techniques for obtaining unlawful music and movies.

2: Filesharing Laws ‘Breach Human Rights’

Next up today, a report being filed with the UN says that “three strikes” laws, such as those passed in the UK and France, are a violation of human rights and need to either be amended or repealed. According to the report, the laws, which disconnect alleged file sharers from the Web after a certain number of notices, are disproportionate in nature. The report contradicts a recent high court ruling in the UK that found the laws to be proportionate and proper.

3: Baidu Appeals Copyright Defeat

Finally today, Chinese search engine Baidu has appealed its recent 500,000 yuan ($77,128) court defeat Shanda Literature, who successfully sued them over their documents project. Baidu documents search, unlike its MP3 search, is hosted on Baidu’s servers. Shanda Literature sued Baidu for documents of theirs that were on the service and won in the lower court, prompting the appeal. The appeal is to start no earlier than June 13.

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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