3 Count: Undermine Craft

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1: Turnbull Admits Unanimous Opposition to Copyright Law Proposal

First off today, Matthew Knott at the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull says that “unanimous” opposition to the proposed changes to the nation’s copyright law will force it back to the drawing board.

According to Turnbull, both content creators and telecommunications companies are concerned that the proposed changes, which include a graduated response system to punish repeat file sharers and required site blocking, may be overstepping and could have unintended consequences.

Content creators, by in large, still feel that ISPs should be required to carry some of the burden of reducing piracy but local pay television provider Foxtel said in its comments that the proposal was “broader than it needs to be”. Other issues, such as who pays the costs for implementing the systems, have also been sticking points.

2: Libraries May Digitize Books Without Permission, EU Top Court Rules

Next up today, Loek Essers at PC World reports that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that public libraries can digitize in-copyright books without permission, however, it limited the ways in which libraries can use those scanned copies.

The lawsuit pitted Eugen Ulmer, a German publisher, against the Technical University of Darmstadt, which was scanning books to make available at electronic reading posts. Eugen Ulmer sued after the library refused to license its scanning and the publisher both sought to end the practice and also prevent other activities such as printing out the book and copying it to a USB stick.

The CJEU ruled that EU copyright does not prevent member states from allowing libraries the right to digitize their collections and making them available for private research and study within the library. However, the CJEU ruled that libraries can not make such copies available for print or download as those actions create a new copy, which would be an infringement.

3: Minecraft Players Shocked at Potential Sale to Microsoft

Finally today, Lisa Fleisher and Sven Grunberg at The Wall Street Journal report that players of the popular game Minecraft are expressing concern as rumors are swirling that the Swedish company behind it, Mojang AB, may be selling to Microsoft for approximately $2 billion.

Mojang is headed by the original developer of Minecraft, Markus Presson (commonly known as Notch), who has been fiercely independent with his operation. He has also been highly critical of Microsoft in the past, in particular their handling of Windows 8, and has also made statements condoning piracy.

This has led many of Minecraft’s fans to disbelieve the widely-reported rumors but others are worried that, if they turn out to be true, what will become of the game when it’s under Microsoft’s stewardship.

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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