3 Count: Pirate’s Return

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1: The Pirate Bay Rises Again, Back Online Two Months After Swedish Police Raid

First off today, Alyssa Newcomb at ABC News reports that The Pirate Bay has appeared online again following more than 50 days of downtime that itself followed a raid on a Swedish datacenter.

However, though the site is operational, technical issues plagued the launch, including slowness and server errors. Also different is that the site is now being run by a single administrator, known as WTC-SWE. All of the other moderators and administrators have been forced out.

Even though the site has only been online about 24 hours, already it has been flooded with fakes and torrents of dubious quality, leaving many to wonder if the site will go on to reclaim its top spot among file sharers.

2: Pharrell Williams Camp Ridicules “Desperate” Appeal Bid in ‘Blurred Lines’ Lawsuit

Next up today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke have responded to a request by the Marvin Gaye Estate to appeal recent decisions in the Blurred Lines trial, calling the move “desperate” and downplaying the importance of the issues.

Williams and Thicke proactively sued the Gaye Estate after it accused the duo of basing Blurred Lines on Gaye’s song Got to Give it Up. However, since the estate only has a copyright registration for the composition, the copyright lawsuit has been limited to that and the full version of Got to Give it Up has been barred from being played at the upcoming trial, though edited versions will be permitted.

The estate is asking for a postponement to appeal on that issue, saying that the copyright registration on the composition should also protect the recorded version. The estate went on to say that other musicians, such as the Beatles and Elvis Presley, could have their work misused if the ruling stands. However, Williams and Thicke have now hit back saying that this is simply how the law works and that, if the components the estate wished to include were important to composition, they should have been written in. The judge is expected to rule soon on the motion.

3: Aston Martin Sues Supplier for Allegedly Stealing its Designs

Finally today, Victoria Ward at The Telegraph reports that car manufacturer Aston Martin has filed a lawsuit against Envisage Group, a supplier, over infringement of copyright, design rights and trademarks.

At issue is a video created by Envisage that, according to Aston Martin, has a car that bears too close a resemblance to the wheel and headlamp design of their iconic design. The video also makes use of Aston Martin’s logo, prompting the trademark dispute. Aston Martin believes that Envisage plans on releasing its own car patterned after their creations.

Though car designs can not be copyrighted in the U.S., in the UK they can. As such, the lawsuit features a copyright complaint in addition to trademark and design infringement complaints.

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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