3 Count: Double Dipping

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1: Court Confirms $1 Billion Piracy Damages Verdict Against Cox

First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that a federal court in Virginia has reversed an earlier decision that would have lowered the $1 billion judgment against Cox and has fully reinstated the original jury award.

Back in December 2019, a jury found that Cox’s policies for handling repeat infringers and other infringement on its network was inadequate and awarded record labels a total of $1 billion in damages. Though the efforts by Cox to either reduce the award or seek a new trial failed, they did successfully convince the court that the damages should be per work, not per copyright. That would have removed some 2,438 works from the case and reduced the total damages by just over $240 million.

However, that decision has been tossed as the record labels argued that the time for Cox to raise such issues was during the trial. Though Cox did raise the issue in a motion for summary judgment, it was never brought before the jury. Further appeals are expected.

2: Bloodborne Streamers Hit with DMCA Takedowns, Claims the Entire Soundtrack Is A Song Called “Vigor (Ft. Jet Engine)”

Next up today, Sean Murray at TheGamer reports that streamers of the game Bloodbourne are facing Content ID claims on YouTube alleging that the game’s soundtrack is a completely unrelated song.

The claims are being filed by Live Nation Video Network and they appear to be the result of automated Content ID matches. However, attempts to find the song in question, Vigor (ft Jet Engine), have proved fruitless as the only copy of the song online is a private video on YouTube.

Whether this is a bad actor misusing the Content ID system or a mistake by a legitimate user is unclear but the result is some users seeing thousands of videos falsely claimed over the song.

3: Twitch Streamer LilyPichu Offers Copyright Free Music for Streamers Even After Rust Drama

Finally today, Shwetang Parthsarthy at Essentially Sports writes that one Twitch streamer has taken a loud backlash and turned into something useful, namely a collection of free music that streamers can use their channels.

The streamer in question is Twitch user LilyPichu who is a member of the OfflineTV group. She recently made the decision to take a day off from streaming but followers, upset that they wouldn’t get their free in-game drops for her stream, took it as an excuse to hurl abuse at her.

She responded, however, not with vitriol but by releasing an hour of beats and background music that she is making available to Twitch streamers to use without fear of takedown notices or other copyright action.

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