3 Count: Out of Bloom

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Copyright Law Puts Brakes on Internet Traffic

First off today, as the dust settles from New Zealand’s “three strikes” law, in which repeated file sharers can be fined and banned from using the Internet, it seems that it has had at least some impact. According to one industry insider, P2P traffic coming into the country has dropped by about 10%, though they emphasize that it’s too early to tell if that’s a trend. According to the same report, despite being in force since the beginning of the month, ISPs have not yet started receiving infringement notices.

2: Bloomberg LP Must Defend Swatch Analyst Call Case

Next up today, Bloomberg will have to defend itself against a lawsuit filed by Swatch, which accuses the magazine of infringing their copyrights over an analyst call. According to Swatch, Bloomberg recorded an analyst call and posted the transcript on their site. The court ruled against Bloomberg’s motion to dismiss saying that the work did qualify for copyright protection since Swatch recorded the call on their own. The motion to dismiss, however, did not rule on the merits of the infringement claim, just stated that Swatch had grounds to move forward with the suit.

3: Telstra Calls on Attorney-General Over Copyright

Finally today, Australian telephone company Telestra has lost a critical ruling saying that its phone directory division, Sensis, can not claim copyright in its phone book. Sensis sued a competitor, Phone Directories Company, over the company’s alleged copying of their directory information to release a competing phone book. The judge ruled that Sensis’ product does not qualify for copyright protection because it was, for the most part, compiled automatically and not by humans. The company is queueing up to talk with the country’s Attorney-General Robert McClelland to seek copyright reform to better protect electronic databases.

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 5 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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