3 Count: Street Settlement

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Aholsniffsglue, American Eagle Outfitters Reach Settlement in Copyright Lawsuit

First off today, Carlos Suarez De Jesus at Miami New Times reports that street artist David Anasagasti, who goes by the name Aholsniffsglue, has settled his dispute with American Eagle Outfitters over the use of his artwork in their promotions.

Earlier this year, AEO launched an ad and promotional campaign featuring models in front of one of Anasagasti’s best known-murals. The campaign included ads, in-store displays and billboards. This prompted Anasagasti to sue over misappropriation of his artwork.

However, rather than taking the dispute to a trial, the two sides have settled the case. The terms were not disclosed but it is widely believed that AEO paid Anasagasti a sum for the use of his artwork. Anasagasti, for his part, said he was simply happy to have the lawsuit behind him.

2: FilesTube Transforms ‘Piracy Haven’ Into Licensed Movie Aggregator

Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that the Polish site FilesTube has relaunched itself, attempting to leave behind it’s copyright infringing ways and become an aggregator of legitimate content.

FilesTube has long be dubbed one of the largest pirate sites on the Web and an easy way to search for infringing content. It has been the subject of millions of removal requests with Google and has suffered recently as Google penalized the site over them. The site has also been blocked in several countries, including the UK.

However, the site has shuttered its search engine and lists only legitimate films, mostly lesser-known works. It’s also removed all mentions of music, books, games and other types of content. The site hopes that the shift will get it back into the good graces of copyright holders and that they can grow a legitimate business, one fueled by higher-quality advertising.

3: Kim Dotcom Plans U.S. Internet Party After New Zealand Failure

Finally today, Matthew Brockett at Bloomberg reports that Kim Dotcom is preparing to bring his political party, the Internet Party, to the United States in 2015.

Kim Dotcom was arrested in January 2012 for his part in running Megaupload, then the largest cyberlocker site. Dotcom is facing extradition to the United States but, due to a series of delays, the hearing won’t be until June 2015. In the meantime, Dotcom has kept busy with multiple activities, including launching a political party, the Internet Party, in his home country of New Zealand. However, the Internet Party, failed to gain a single seat in Parliament.

According to Dotcom’s tweets, he will be bringing the party to the United States in 2015 but, unlike his New Zealand efforts, he will not be providing funding. Instead, he will be limited to public relations duties. The party’s platform, in New Zealand, included a variety of proposals including providing copyright reform and greater privacy on the Web.

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.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.