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1: Getty Sues Online Magazine for Copyright Infringement
First off today, Trademark and Brands Online reports that Getty Images has filed a lawsuit against the online magazine Her Campus claiming that the site uses thousands of their images without a proper license.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Massachusetts, Her Campus publishes pieces from students and encourages them to submit images with them. However, according to Getty, more than 2,000 of those images infringe the rights of works licensed by Getty. Though Her Campus might have enjoyed protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Getty also notes that the site “exercises full editorial control” over the content it posts, which ultimately makes them responsible.
Getty Images is seeking $150,000 per infringement, the maximum allowed under the law.
2: Eminem Song Owners Denied a Supreme Court Appeal in National Party Copyright Case
Next up today, 1NewsNow reports that, in New Zealand, the Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal requested by Eight Mile Style and, as such, will let a lower court ruling stand in the label’s case against the National Party.
Back in 2014, the National Party used a song entitled Eminem Esque in one of its campaign ads. The song, though not directly from Eminem’s work, was close enough that Eight Mile Style filed a lawsuit and initially won NZD $600,000 (USD $395,000) in damages. However, an appeals court reduced that to NZD $225,000 (USD $148,000).
This prompted Eight Mile Style to file an appeal with the Supreme Court but the Supreme Court has dismissed the application and further ordered Eight Mile Style to pay NZD $4,500 (USD $3,000) in court costs. With this decision, the appeals court decision (as well as the reduced damages) will stand.
3: Feds Seize Millions from Oregon Poker Player
Finally today, Dan Tilkin at KOIN reports that an unnamed Portland man has had nearly $4 million in cash and assets seized from him over allegations that he was operating a series of pirate websites.
According to court filings, the man had a lucrative operation with more than $6.3 million in deposits from his Stripe account. Those accounts were allegedly tied to a series of pirate websites including Superchillin, Movietv.to and Sti2play.com. As a result, Homeland Security petitioned a court to order the IRS to seize funds from various bank accounts as well as cryptocurrency valued at approximately $4 million.
However, a lawyer representing the man claims that he is a professional poker player, not a pirate site operator, and are saying that the seizure violates his fourth and fifth amendment rights. They are demanding a jury trial to fight attempts to force the forfeiture of his house.
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