3 Count: Ticketbotster

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

1: Ticketmaster Sues Brokers for Using Bots to Gain Advantage

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Ticketmaster has filed a lawsuit against Prestige Entertainment, Renaissance Ventures and two individuals for their alleged use of bots to buy tickets on the Ticketmaster website.

The defendants are the same ones that reached a settlement with the New York state attorney general over the issue. To that end, they had paid a multi-million dollar settlement and agreed to not use bots to purchase tickets.

However, according to Ticketmaster, the defendants have already breached that agreement and resumed using bots. As such, Tickemaster has sued for a myriad of claims including breach of contract, tortious interference and copyright infringement over alleged violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That is due to digital rights management protections that Ticketmaster puts on its website that the defendants are alleged to have circumvented.

2: Judge Recommends ISP and Search Engine Blocking of Sci-Hub in the US

Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that a magistrate judge in Virginia has recommended one of the strongest anti-piracy injunctions to date against Sci-Hub, a site that distributes scientific research for free, against the will of the copyright holders.

The injunction stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Chemical Society (ACS), a non-profit organization that publishes a large number of journals. They sued Sci-Hub and its operator, Alexandra Elbakyan, for copyright infringement. However, the defendants have not shown up in court and, instead, have become the subject of a default judgment.

In that judgment, the judge agrees that the site is liable for copyright and trademark infringement to the tune of $4.8 million in statutory damages but he is also recommending a broad injunction that would require search engines to de-list the site and ISPs to block access to Sci-Hub’s domains. If the U.S. District Court judge adopts these recommendations, it could be one of the most sweeping anti-piracy injunctions in U.S. history.

3: Facebook Connects Video Copyright-Flagging System to Third-Party Tools

Finally today, Todd Spangler at Variety reports that Facebook is now promising to make it easier for rightsholders to block or disable access to infringing video on its platform by opening up its Rights Manager tool to third party services.

Rights Manager is Facebook’s answer to Content ID, which automatically detects infringing videos as they are uploaded to Facebook and takes appropriate action. According to Facebook, they are currently integrating this service with various third party services including Zefr, Friend MTS, and MarkMonitor to provide new ways for creators to get their work into Rights Manager.

That, in turn, has been one of the biggest complaints about Rights Manager is that, much like Content ID, it’s difficult to get work into. This has led to Facebook being viewed as a haven for piracy, an image that Facebook is hoping to shed through this move.

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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