3 Count: 10 Million Down

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1: Site Plagiarizes Blog Posts, then Files DMCA Takedown on Originals

First off today, John Timmer at Ars Technica reports that the blog Retraction Watch, a blog that covers retractions and corrections in academic research, has been the subject of a false DMCA takedown attack.

The site’s host, Automattic, received a DMCA takedown notice from a company reporting to be an Indian news service that claimed 10 articles on the site were infringing. The ten articles all pertained to Indian researcher Anil Potti and his research trouble.

However, the “original” site appears to be a crudely-made blog that, most likely, just plagiarized the content from Retraction Watch before filing the notices. Retraction Watch has said that they are in contact with an attorney and are looking to file a counter-notice to get the posts restored.

2: James Cameron Wins ‘Avatar’ Theft Lawsuit

Next up today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter writes that James Cameron has won at least one of his Avatar-related lawsuits, this one against artist Gerald Morawski, who sued in December 2011 claiming that he had pitched the idea for the 2009 movie in a 1991 meeting.

The judge, however, disagreed and said that the evidence provided by Cameron overwhelmingly shows that he created the idea for the movie independently and dismissed the lawsuit with a summary judgment.

However, another lawsuit, this one filed by Eric Ryder, claims that he wrote the story for Cameron’s company. Cameron has said he never met Ryder and asserts in that case that Avatar is his own creation but the judge has asked Cameron to turn over prior versions of the script to provide evidence.

3: RIAA Copyright Takedown Requests to Google Reach 10 Million

Finally today, Jon Fingas at Engadget reports that, according to Google’s transparency report, the total number of URLs that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has requested removed is nearing 10 million.

The number, currently about 20 thousand shy, has been growing steadily since Google introduced its transparency report and made backend improvements that made it easier for large copyright holders to file bulk DMCA notices.

The RIAA is currently the most active filer of DMCA takedown notices. However, other groups have also been very active including Microsoft with over 7 million URLs requested removed and Fox with nearly 4 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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