3 Count: Over-Installed

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1: Irving Software Firm Settles Suit with U.S. Army for $50 Million

First off today, Michael Lindenberger at the Dallas Morning News reports that Apptricity Corporation, a Dallas-area firm that specializes in logistics software, has reached a $50 million settlement with the U.S. Army over alleged infringement of software created by the company.

According to the suit, Apptricity was brought on by another defense contractor, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), to provide software to track people and equipment. The Army, through CSC, paid for licenses to run the software on three servers, at $1.35 million each, and several cheaper licenses for workstations. However, according to Apptricity, the Army went on to over-install the software, up to 98 servers and nearly 11,000 workstations.

The suit, filed in February of 2012, initially sought $224.5 million in damages but the two sides have now settled for the $50 million, which the Army has confirmed that it has paid.

2: Pandora Abandons Internet Radio Fairness Act, Turns To Copyright Royalty Board

Next up today, Clyde Smith at Hypebot writes that music streaming service Pandora has announced that it is abandoning legislative approaches to reducing the royalties it pays, including its support of the ill-fated Internet Radio Fairness Act, in favor of working with the Copyright Royalty Board to lower rates in the future.

Pandora has long raised the ire of musicians and songwriters for pushing to pay lower royalty rates but Pandora has claimed that it is being discriminated against and forced to pay higher rates than terrestrial radio stations.

The Copyright Royalty Board will convene in January to determine royalty rates for 2016-2020 and Pandora has said it will focus on those discussions rather than legislative solutions. However, Pandora also said that it may be willing to negotiate directly with rightsholders if needed.

3: FilmOn X Goes On Offensive, Sues PBS Affiliate In Illinois

Finally today, Wendy Davis at MediaPost reports that TV streaming service FilmOnX has filed a lawsuit in Illinois against a local PBS affiliate and is seeking a declaratory judgment that it doesn’t infringe the station’s copyright.

FilmOn X, like Aereo, is a TV streaming service that uses a series of tiny antennas, one per customer, to catch and rebroadcast over-the-air television to user devices via the Web. While both believe that their services are legal due to their setup, where Aereo has scored a series of legal victories, FilmOn X has suffered a string of defeats, including an injunction in Washington D.C. that bars them from operating in most of the country.

The Seventh Circuit, which includes Illinois, has not ruled on any issues related to FilmOn X or Aereo but it is widely seen as having a permissive stance on public performance, which could favor FilmOn X in this case.

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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