3 Count: Fair Circumvention

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1: Corellium Notches Partial Victory in Apple iOS Copyright Case

First off today, Kate Cox at Ars Technica reports that the security firm Corellium has secured a partial victory in their lawsuit against Apple as a judge dismisses part of the case but allows another part of it to move forward.

Corellium creates iOS environments that can operate on desktop computers for the purpose of testing security and development. Apple sued them in 2019 alleging both that the company was committing copyright infringement of their operating system and that they had violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) provisions against circumventing digital rights management (DRM) tools.

The judge, however, ruled that Corellium’s use of iOS was a fair use. That said, the judge said that fair use was no defense on the DMCA claims and, given that they did likely circumvent DRM to produce their products, those claims are continuing forward.

2: Nintendo Wants $15 Million in Damages from Pirate ROM Site

Next up today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that Nintendo has filed for a $15 million summary judgment in their lawsuit against RomUniverse.

RomUniverse was a site where users could download pirated copies of many video games, including ones owned by Nintendo. Nintendo sued in September 2019 but RomUniverse’s owner, Matthew Storman, initially put up a vigorous defense. However, after an early attempt to get the lawsuit tossed failed, Storman was asked to provide evidence that he said he was unable to provide.

Believing that evidence was willingly destroyed, Nintendo is asking to grant a summary judgment in their favor to the tune of $15 million. That amount would include $4.41 million in copyright damages and $11.2 million in trademark damages.

3: George Orwell is Out of Copyright. What Happens Now?

Finally today, DJ Taylor at The Guardian reports that, as the U.S. is reckoning with The Great Gatsby lapsing into the public domain, the UK is looking at what happens now that the works of George Orwell are in the public domain in their country.

Orwell died in January 1950 and, under UK law, his works pass into the public domain 50 years after his death. However, in the U.S., his works will not begin to lapse until 2030 as that marks 95 years after first publication.

What this means is that UK publishers wishing to exploit Orwell’s work will need to be careful as to how they go about it. However, there is optimism that stage and film producers may be able to exploit the works, something that both Orwell and his estate never allowed to happen.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.