3 Count: Billion Dollar Battle

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

1: Google to Face Off Against Oracle Next Week in $8.8 Billion Lawsuit

First off today, Reuters reports that a retrial in the battle between Google and Oracle over the JAVA API is scheduled to begin today, with as much as $8.8 billion in damages on the line.

The case began when Oracle sued Google alleging copyright and patent infringement of its JAVA programming language in Google’s Android mobile operating system. However, Google claims it only copied the APIs (the interface that allows programs to interact with the language) and not the language itself. Google argued that APIs, since they are a set of instructions, are not copyrightable and, though the court initially agreed, an appeals court overturned that decision.

A jury in 2012 took the case up and was unable to decide if Google’s use of the code was a fair use or not. The jury this week is scheduled to take up that issue and, if they find Google infringed, will move into determining damages. In addition to the damages, Oracle is seeking an injunction against Google to prevent further distribution of Android. However, that would be up to the judge and most feel that such an injunction is unlikely.

2: Telstra Argues Against Compliance Costs for Piracy Website Blocking

Next up today, Corinne Reichert at ZDNet reports that, in Australia, local ISP Telstra is arguing that it should have to pay the costs of compliance for site blocking and is asking the courts to force copyright holders to pay those expenses.

Recently, Australia passed site blocking legislation that enables rightsholders to petition a court to compel local ISPs to block access to foreign sites that exist primarily to infringe copyright. Several local companies launched their first campaigns recently, seeking blockades of The Pirate Bay and a handful of other domains.

ISPs, however, don’t wish to pay the cost for implementing those blockades. They claim that the costs are prohibitive, several thousands of dollars for the currently-desired blocks but rightsholders claim that the number is much smaller, ranging from a few hundred dollars to under 100. However, rightsholders are asking the court to set aside the issue of costs for the time being to allow it to focus on the question of whether the sites involved should be blocked, before deciding who pays for the blocks and how much they pay.

3: Rolling Stones Tell Donald Trump to Stop Playing Their Songs at Events

Finally today, Fox News reports that the Rolling Stones have released a statement asking U.S. Presidental candidate Donald Trump to stop playing their music at his rallied and events.

The Rolling Stones join Adele, Neil Young Steven Tyler and others who have asked Trump not to use their music. Though Trump has no obligation to so long as the locations the rallies are held at have licenses from the performing rights organizations, Trump has complied in all of the cases where he has been asked.

Trump has recently used the band’s songs You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Start Me Up at rallies, likely prompting the request.

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.