3 Count: Cloned Sharks

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1: A New Grooveshark is Online and Streaming Music

First off today, Jacob Kastrenakes at The Verge reports that mere days after Grooveshark shut down as part of a settlement with the music industry, a clone of the site has emerged. However, fans of the original Grooveshark will likely be more than a bit disappointed.

Grooveshark was a music streaming service that allowed users to upload tracks for others to stream. After years of litigation, the site was shuttered following a settlement with the various record labels last week just as it was preparing to face millions in damages. However, now another site bearing the name has emerged at a different domain, leading many to believe that former Grooveshark employees were behind the the resurgence.

However, after closer examination that doesn’t appear to be the case. According to the article, it appears that the site is simply a rebranding of another MP3 streaming site, MP3juices. The new Grooveshark does not allow users to upload tracks, instead functioning as an MP3 search engine for songs on other sites, and doesn’t have playlist, radio stations or any of the other popular Grooveshark features. However, the operator of the site claims both to have backed up the original Grooveshark and to be working on implementing the rest of the site’s features.

2: iiNet Dealt Another Blow in Dallas Buyers Club Piracy Case

Next up today, Ben Grubb at The Age reports that Australian ISPs, including iiNet, have been ordered to pay 75 percent of the legal expenses incurred by Dallas Buyers Club LLC, owners of the film Dallas Buyers Club, an amount that could be as high as $100,000 ($80,000 USD).

The case centers around Dallas Buyers Club LLC’s efforts to determine the identities of suspect pirates of its film. In other countries, the group will detect IP addresses that are downloading the film and attempt to compel their ISPs to reveal their identity so they can be targeted directly. ISPs in Australia fought back against this practice, but the judge eventually decided that they were required to identify the suspected pirates. That same judge would also have to approve any correspondence being sent to the users.

However, according to a different judge, since the ISPs took on an adversarial role and lost on most of the issues of contention, they should be compelled to pay the majority of Dallas Buyers Club LLC’s legal expenses. It should be noted that this ruling only applies to the legal expenses and not to the expenses incurred in determining the identities of the suspected file sharers as that dispute is ongoing in the original court.

3: Twitch Updates Appeals Process for Copyright Claims

Finally today, Ozzie Mejia at Shack News reports that Twitch has released an appeals process for those who have had their streams and recordings impacted by copyright claims.

Twitch is a live streaming site with a focus on video games and also hosts recordings of previous streams on its site. It recently implemented an automatic system to detect when copyrighted works were being used without permission and block the content. This led to widespread removal of content from Twitch, which outraged many long-time users.

However, Twitch has now implemented an appeal system that will allow its users to petition for the restoration of blocked media. Grounds for appeal include fair use and possession of a license. However, not included is in-game audio, as the audio of a game may be owned by different parties than the game itself.

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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