3 Count: Embedding Battle

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1: Instagram Dodges Photogs’ Copyright Lawsuit Over Embedding Feature

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that a San Francisco court has dismissed a class action lawsuit against Instagram filed by a group of photographers that alleged Instagram committed widespread copyright infringement through the use of its embed function.

The issue is whether Instagram’s embedding feature, which lets outside sites embed images uploaded to the site on their pages, violates the rights of photographers by publicly displaying their images outside of Instagram. Several courts have ruled that such embedding can be unlawful, ruling against the “server test” that looks solely at where the image is hosted.

However, California is located within the Ninth Circuit, whose court of appeals created the Server Test. As such, the district court did not feel comfortable going against precedent in its district and ruled to dismiss the case.

2: Stream-Ripper Yout Refiles its Lawsuit Against the Record Industry, Argues its Pretty Easy to Eip From YouTube Without its App

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that the stream-ripping site Yout has re-filed its lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) seeking to certify that their service is legal.

Yout enables users to download content from YouTube, something the RIAA says is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) rules against circumventing copyright protection schemes. However, Yout alleges that YouTube’s “rolling cipher” is so ineffective that it doesn’t count as a copyright protection system under the law.

Yout previously filed a lawsuit after a DMCA notice to Google resulted in the site being delisted. However, the RIAA got that lawsuit dismissed. However, the court left the option for Yout to refile it, which they have.

3: U.S. Copyright Holders Want Tougher Anti-Piracy Measures in China

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak reports that the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has shared concerns about copyright enforcement in China with the US Trade Representative and is seeking stronger action against infringing sites based in the country.

The IIPA an umbrella group for various other industry groups, including those that represent record labels, movie studios and software developers. They are specifically asking for greater criminal enforcement of copyright in China, claiming that lawsuits are ineffective for addressing mass piracy issues.

According to the IIPA, even legitimate organizations, such as Baidu, can be uncooperative with rightsholders without legal action, and continue to be havens for pirated works. As such, they are asking the US Trade Representative to apply pressure on China to take stronger action across the board.

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