3 Count: For Whom the Bell Bleep Bloops

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1: ISP Cox appeals Record $1bn Damages Award

First off today, Muireann Bolger at the World IP Review reports that Cox Communications has filed an appeal of the $1 billion judgment against them in hopes of either overturning the judgement wholesale or reducing the amount.

The judgment stems from a 2018 case where the major record labels sued Cox alleging that the ISP wasn’t doing enough to stop piracy on its network. In December 2019, the court awarded the record labels more than $99,000 per work, totaling $1 billion in statutory damages.

Cox has been awarded a stay on paying the judgment pending the appeal saying that the amount is “unwarranted, unjust and beyond excessive.” They are asking the Fourth Circuit to either overturn the award or reduce the amount.

2: Virgin Media and Eir Settle Alleged Breach of Copyright Action

Next up today, Aodhan O’Faolain at the Irish Times reports that, in Ireland, Virgin Media and Eir have settled their copyright dispute over Eir’s inclusion of Virgin’s channels on their version of the Apple TV set-top box.

The dispute began in late 2019 when Virgin Media sued Eir for copyright infringement. According to the lawsuit, Eir used its position as an internet service provider to sell a version of the Apple TV that included Virgin Media free-to-air channels without authorization. Eir, however, argued that Virgin was required to offer those channels to them as part of the 2009 Broadcasting Act.

Before a judge was able to issue a ruling in the case, the two sides reached a settlement. The details of the settlement were not disclosed but both sides have consented to the case being dismissed.

3: Some Viewers of Metallica’s BlizzCon Performance Heard the Least Metal Music Imaginable

Finally today, Chris Welch at The Verge reports that Metallica’s performance at the BlizzCon virtual event took an unusual turn as one of the streams of the event had the music replaced by very un-metal 8-bit tunes.

Most of the streams, including BlizzCon’s channels on both YouTube and Twitch, had no issues with the livestream. However, those watching on the Twitch Gaming Feed watched as the audio feed cut out during the song For Whom the Bell Tolls and the music was replaced folksy chiptune music instead.

It is speculated that Blizzard obtained the rights for their channels but that those rights did not extend to Twitch’s channel. Meanwhile, the full version of the performance is available on both Blizzard’s YouTube and Twitch channels.

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

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