3 Count: Cold Hotfile

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1: $540K in Damages Upheld Against Feds Over Korean War Stamp

First off today, Marcia Coyle at The National Law Journal reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a $540,000 judgment against the United States Postal Service over the issuance of a 2003 stamp featuring the National Korean War Memorial.

The Postal Service was sued by sculptor Frank Gaylord, who created the sculpture “The Columns”, which features 19 soldiers walking, for the Korean War Memorial. The photo the Postal Service chose was taken by an amateur photographer, who was paid $1,5000 for his image. Originally the Federal Claims Court awarded Gaylord just $5,000 but that decision was remanded by the Federal Circuit, who ordered the court to determine a fair market value for a license.

The court eventually settled upon a $540,000 value, or approximately 10% of the revenue brought in by the stamp. The U.S. government appealed and now the appeals court at the Federal Circuit has upheld that amount, noting that The Columns is by far the most recognized memorial for the Korean War and was extremely valuable in the sale of the stamp.

2: Deadline Looms for Online Copyright Infringement Code

Next up today, Josh Taylor at ZD Net reports that, in Australia, the country’s Communications Minister, Malcom Turnbull, and Attorney-General, George Brandis have given ISPs and copyright holders until April 8 to work out the details of their plan to warn suspected file sharers.

Given that 30 of those days will be taken up by a statutory comment period, that leaves the two sides approximately 34 days to hash out all of the details of their plan. Currently, the two sides seem to agree on the need to warn suspected file sharers but there are wide rifts on how the effort should be paid for and what should happen to repeat infringers.

The Australian government is expected to introduce new legislation next year that will allow content creators to go to court to demand blockades of various sites, such as The Pirate Bay, which are hosted abroad but primarily used for copyright infringement. If the two sides fail to meet the deadline, such a system could be introduced in the legislation directly.

3: Hotfile Agrees to Settle Piracy Lawsuit with Major Book Publishers

Finally today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that the now-defunct file sharing site Hotfile has reached a settlement with major book publishers, bringing an end to the long-running lawsuit.

Hotfile was a popular cyberlocker service that was sued by the movie studios for contributing to copyright infringement. Hotfile shuttered its doors and settled its lawsuit with the MPAA. Shortly after the MPAA settlement though, the publishers followed suit and now that case has been settled as well.

The amount of the settlement has not been disclosed. At the time of the MPAA settlement, it was reported that it was worth $80 million though leaked emails purport to show that it was worth closer to $4 million.

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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