3 Count: Out of Popcorn

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1: Popcorn Time & YTS Global Outages Cause Concern

First off today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes that the most popular variant of the popular BitTorrent streaming application Popcorn Time has had its site, Facebook and Twitter all go offline and, even worse for its users, the system it relies upon to operate is also down.

Popcorn time has risen to prominence as a “Netflix for pirates”, an application that makes it easy for users to stream pirated films to their computers. The service depends upon YTS, a curated list of BitTorrent list operated by the YIFY group. That site is also offline meaning that, if Popcorn Time’s site returns, the application will still likely not work.

Popcorn Time and YTS have been frequent targets for copyright holders. However, it is unclear at this time if the current outage is related to any action by copyright holders or law enforcement. Recently, a divide among the team that maintains Popcorn Time prompted a split that saw several core members leave the project.

2: No Copyright Exists on the Title of Literary Work: SC

Next up today, The Economic Times reports that, in India, the Supreme Court has ruled that there is no copyright protection in the title of a book, saying that the only protection that is available is limited to trademark.

The ruling overturns a lower court decision that refused to dismiss a complaint filed by writer Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta. Devkatta had claimed that a film entitled Desi Boyz was a copyright infringement of his book Desi Boys, which he claimed to have sent an early concept of to a friend who then forwarded someone else that would go on to produce the film.

Devkatta had claimed that the film was an infringement of his title and the lower court had refused to toss the case. However, the Supreme Court ruling has made it clear that there is no copyright protection in the title of a work. Devkatta has said he has not seen the film and has can not comment if the content of the film is infringing.

3: Janet Jackson Concert Pics Deleted from Instagram

Finally today, Mara Siegler at the New York Post reports that fans of Janet Jackson are claiming that photos they’ve taken at the singer’s concerts have been repeatedly removed from Instagram and, in some cases, their accounts have been deleted.

Jackson has drawn criticism in recent weeks for a strict photographer agreement that requires all professional concert photographers to sign over all copyrights in their images to her and only shoot during the first 30 seconds of the first song. However, fans in the stands who have posted short videos or images are also reporting their content is being removed.

Instagram, however, claimed that the issue was a “bug”, saying that they are in the process of restoring removed works and accounts and will only ban the accounts of repeat infringers.

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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