3 Count: To Group, or Not

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1: Zillow Only Wants to Be Fined Once for 2,700 Photo Copyright Infringements

First off today, Jason Schneider at PetaPixel reports that Zillow is asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reduce damages against them by ruling that a collection of 2,700 infringed photos should be treated as one infringement rather than 2,700 separate ones.

The lawsuit was filed by VHT, a real estate photography company that claimed Zillow infringed their rights in tens of thousands of their photographs. However, the case was paired down to some 2,700 photos that were both displayed and searchable on the site. This resulted in a summary judgment against Zillow and the awarding of $1.93 million in damages.

Initially, Zillow seemed happy about the verdict, calling it a “favorable decision.” However, they are now asking the 9th Circuit to rule that the 2,700 images should be treated as one infringement, rather than 2,700 separate ones. The National Press Photographers Association has already filed a brief in the case asking the court to reject Zillow’s argument, noting that the images were infringed separately, not as a group or database.

2: Viacom18 Pursues Legal Action Against Piracy of Laal Singh Chaddha

Next up today, Campaign India reports that, in India, studio VIacom18 has secured the arrest of an alleged pirate that they say was uploading and distributing copies of their film Laal Singh Chaddha.

Viacom18 registered a complaint at the Banaswadi police station. That complaint resulted in the arrest of an unnamed individual. After an investigation, the police believe the person is involved in a much larger piracy scheme, one that involves uploading a variety of illegal pirated content.

The company has been very active with its anti-piracy efforts and has already secured injunctions against some 12,000 websites or links. However, this case was somewhat different in that it resulted in the arrest of an individual rather than the blocking of alleged pirate sites.

3: Reddit Bans ‘/r/PiratedGames’ for Excessive Copyright Claims

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that Reddit has banned the community /r/PiratedGames due to the large number of copyright claims the subreddit received.

Before closure, the community had more than 300,000 members. However, as one might expect, the Subreddit drew unwanted attention from video game companies, which routinely filed DMCA takedown notices against the community.

According to moderators of the group, Reddit made the decision without consulting or warning them. The moderators have said that they plan to appeal but, if that appeal is not successful, they have no plans to start up a new community.

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