3 Count: Quartz Watch

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1: Pirate Bay Proxy Closed After BPI Pressure

First off today, Max Smolaks at TechWeek Europe reports that the Pirate Party UK has taken down a Pirate Bay proxy server they were running following threats of legal action by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The proxy was set up by the Pirate Party after, in April, UK courts ordered all five major British ISPs to block access to the site. After the threats were first filed, the Pirate Party said that they would not agree to take down the proxy and, instead, launched a fundraising campaign to fight the order in court.

However, after receiving advice from their solicitors, Pirate Party members decided to close the proxy earlier this week. The Pirate Party UK had no comment on the issue.

2: NYT Says it Was ‘Simply Asking for Proper Attribution’ from Quartz

Next up today, Andrew Beaujon at Poynter reports that the New York Times and Quartz, an online news site owned by the publisher of The Atlantic, found itself the recipient of a cease and desist letter from The New York Times.

Specifically, the Times took issue with an article written by Quartz that highlighted their top ten charts of 2012. One of the charts was an interactive graphic created by the Times to chart the possible outcomes of the 2012 Presidential election, which Quartz showed a screenshot of.

The original letter demanded that Quartz “immediately remove the graphic”. However, according to the Times, they weren’t asking for removal of the screenshot, just proper attribution of it. Though Quartz did provide a link back to the original tool, it did not list the Times as the creator in the body, which Quartz has since added.

In the end, the Times seems satisfied with the new attribution and the matter appears to be resolved.

3: TPS Settles Lawsuit Over Copyright Breach

Finally today, Nolan Rosenkrans at the Toledo Blade reports that the Toledo Public School (TPS) Board has voted to settle a lawsuit by a publishing company, Align, Assess, Achieve, which was filed in January. The publisher claimed that that TPS had purchased teacher guidance materials and, without permission, had teachers transcribe the material and post them online, making them available to all teachers, including those not covered in the agreement.

The settlement will cost the district some $59,600 and includes $38,400 in books the school has agreed to buy plus $11,200 in consulting services from the publisher. The settlement also covers some $10,000 in attorney’s fees and the district has to acknowledge and apologize for the infringement.

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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