3 Count: Arista Victory

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

1: U.S. Jury Sides with Arista Over Cisco in Copyright Battle

First off today, Dan Levine at Reuters repots that a California jury has sided with Arista Networks Inc in their long-running dispute with Cisco, saying that the company does not owe damages to its larger competitor.

Cicso filed the lawsuit in 2014 alleging that Arista, a competitor selling network switches, infringed copyright in both its manuals and source code. Cisco had been seeking some $335 million in damages for copyright and patent infringement but the jury ruled that, though Arista did copy some elements, they were “Scènes à faire”, meaning essential parts to make the product work.

The lawsuit is one of two that Cisco filed against Arista. The other one is before the International Trade Commission (ITC). There, the ITC has ruled in favor of Cisco, saying that Arista violated Cisco’s patents. However, that case must be reviewed by the full commission before it is final.

2: Pirating Sites to be Blocked After Judge Rules in Movie Studios’ Favour

Next up today, Lucy Battersby at The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a federal court in Australia has ruled that internet service providers in the country will be forced to block access to a series of pirate sites and direct customers to a page created by the movie studios.

Among the sites to be blocked include The Pirate Bay, Torrent House, IsoHunt and SolarMovie. All in all, some 61 sites are listed.

Rightsholders will have to pay ISPs $50 for every site they want blocked and have five days to create a website to forward visitors to. The movie studios involved in the lawsuit include Roadshow Films, Colombia Pictures, Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

3: ‘Anastasia’ Producers Sued for Plagiarism

Finally today, Kaja Whitehouse at The New York Post reports that producers for the upcoming Broadway musical Anastasia have been sued by the heir to the author of an earlier play on the same subject.

Jean-Etienne de Becdelievre has filed a lawsuit against the production and its writer, Terrence McNally, saying that it stole the plot and other elements from Marcelle Maurette, who wrote a version of the story that debuted in 1952. However, according to the defendants, their version is based on the Disney animated film by the same name and the historical life of Anastasia Romanov.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop the show until a licensing agreement can be reached. The producers of the musical say that the lawsuit is wholly without merit.

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.