3 Count: Cash Infusion

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1: Aereo, Broadcasters’ Foe, Just Got a Huge Cash Boost

First off today, Sam Gustin at Time reports that Aereo, the repeatedly-sued TV streaming service that has drawn the ire of broadcasters, has raised a new round of investment capital funding worth $34 million.

Aereo is a TV streaming service that uses a series of tiny antennas, one per customer, to capture over-the-air broadcast television and stream it via the Internet. However, it has been repeatedly sued by various broadcasters as it has attempted to expand to new cities, however, none of the courts have issued an injunction against it, though one case was recently appealed to the Supreme Court.

Aereo has said it is hoping to use the new cash to expand beyond its current 10 cities and help fund its ongoing legal battles.

2: MPAA Joins Web Standards Group Amid Video DRM Dispute

Next up today, Stephen Shankland at CNet reports that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is a group responsible for creating many Web standards, including much of HTML.

The MPAA, which is a trade organization representing the major movie studios, joins the W3C right at an interesting time for the evolving HTML standard. Originally, the HTML5 method for directly embedding and playing video offered no digital rights management (DRM) features, meaning the video was free to copy. However, a recent workaround by Microsoft, Google and Netflix name Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) to add those protections. However, the new tool has been controversial to many, including Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox.

The MPAA said in a twee that “We’re excited to join W3C and look forward to listening, learning and contributing.”

3: Google, Des Moines Firm Clash Over Photo on Satirical Website

Finally today, Joel Aschbrenner at The Des Moines Register reports that ARAG North America, an Illinois insurance company, is suing Google claiming that Google failed to remove an infringing image even after being properly notified.

The issue stems from a now-abandoned site on Blogspot, which is a Google-owned blogging service, that features photos of “sexy executives”. One of the photos on the site is Ann Dieleman, an executive at the company.

ARAG, which owns the copyright in the photo, sought to have it removed, filing DMCA notices. Google declined to comply, first demanding ARAG prove ownership of the photo and then encouraging them to try and resolve the matter with the blogger directly.

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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