3 Count: Bitcoin Battles

Shouldn't the copyright be in the blockchain?

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1: Man Who Claims To Be Bitcoin’s Inventor Registers Copyright for Its Code

First off today, Olga Kharif and Christopher Yasiejko at Bloomberg report that Craig Wright has filed a copyright registration fro the whitepaper and early computer code for Bitcoin in a bid to bolster his claim to be the true inventor of the cryptocurrency.

The move comes amid a battle within the Bitcoin community. Wright is claiming that he wrote the original code under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. He further claims that the cryptocurrency known today as Bitcoin shouldn’t be using the moniker, claiming that it doesn’t follow the vision in the original whitepaper. Instead, he claims that a verion he backs, Bitcoin SV (itself a split from Bitcoin Cash, which was a split from Bitcoin), is the true heir to the name.

The announcement of the registration caused Bitcoin SV to surge 56%, rising to $96. However, as others have pointed out, a copyright registration is simply filling out a form and does not represent any significant investigation by the United States Copyright Office. Still, the move comes amid a tense legal climate where Wright has threatened critics with libel lawsuits for disputing he is not Satoshi Nakamoto.

2: Copyright Advocates Applaud Canada’s Parliamentary Review of Modernization Act

Next up today, Porter Anderson at Publishing Perspective reports that, in Canada, a parliamentary committee has released its recommendations regarding copyright reform and is recommending sweeping changes in the country.

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage issued its Shifting Paradigms report that, among other things, recommend undoing many of the changes of the 2012 Copyright Modernization Act. Those include making it so that the broad fair dealing exemptions for educational institutions do not apply when a work is commercially available, a return to collective licensing and to review and harmonize statutory damages for non-commercial infringements.

Other recommendations include to establish an artist’s resale right, increase efforts to combat piracy and to pursue the government’s earlier commitment to extend copyright from 50 to 70 years after the creator’s death. This report has been heralded by rightsholders, in particular in the publishing industry. However, we are expecting to see a similar report from the Standing Committee on Industry, Science & Technology, which may come to very different recommendations.

3: Popular Streaming Site Pelispedia Shuts Down, Operators Arrested

Finally today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that Uruguayan authorities, along with Interpol and the US movie industry, have shuttered the streaming website Pelispedia and arrested two people that are alleged to have been behind the operation.

The two people, identified only as JAGR and MJHG, will remain in custody for 30 days and are being charged with criminal copyright infringement. The site had stayed up for a short time after the arrest but closed quickly thereafter. A sister site, Pelisplus, is still accessible though most believe it won’t be as such for long.

The two are believed to have made approximately $5,000 per month from the website. The police also seized a large number of items including two cars, a small amount of cash and computer hardware.

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