3 Count: Lyrically Challenged

Jonathan BaileyOctober 12, 2012

2 minutes read

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

1: Music Publishers Win $6.6 Million in Song Lyrics Copyright Case

First off today, Eriq Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter reports that music publishers have won their case against LiveUniverse and its founder Brad Greenspan. LiveUniverse, in its stable of sites, owned several dedicated to music lyrics, including lyricsdownload.com and lyricsandsongs.com, which displayed lyrics for many popular songs. LiveUniverse had claimed that the use of the lyrics were a fair use but a judge found enough evidence to warrant an injunction that eventually resulted in the sites being seized for the publishers. However, more recently, the publishers received a default judgment against LiveUniverse that orders the company to pay $6.6 million in damages for posting the lyrics to some 528 songs. However, the case was fraught with legal difficulties as Greenspan reportedly went through three different law firms and often represented himself in the case. Greenspan was also hit with three contempt of court orders over the course of proceedings. There is no word if LiveUniverse plans on appealing.

2: Cisco says Huawei Misstated Facts in 2003 Copyright Case

Next up today, Reuters is reporting that Cisco, the largest makers of routers, is releasing previously sealed evidence used in its 2003 case against Huawei Technologies, the world’s second-largest maker. The case centered around source code Cisco alleged was copied from its routers and used in Huawei products. Though the lawsuit between them was eventually dropped, Cisco, in a blog post, published portions of expert testimony that Cisco claims prove Huawei used code from Cisco in its products. Huawei, however, claims to have received the code from a third party. Huawei, due to security concerns, is already banned in Australia from providing routers for that country’s broadband infrastructure and the U.S. government also recently recommended that companies stop doing business with Huawei.

3: SOPA Is Back! … As a Ransomware Virus

Finally today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that a new piece of ransomware for computers is trading on the SOPA name. Called the Stop Online Piracy Automatic Protection System, which is really SOPAPS but virus authors aren’t known for catchy acronyms, locks down a user’s computer and holds their files hostage, under the disguise of a piracy enforcement regime. Those affected are told to pay $200 within 72 hours or their computer will be erased. Those affected by the malware can remove it without paying the “fine” using a variety of systems available online after a quick search.

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.