3 Count: Textbook Piracy

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1: Shopify Settles Textbook Publishers’ Lawsuit Over Alleged Piracy

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that the ecommerce platform Shopify has settled a lawsuit filed by textbook publishers that alleged the service turned a “blind eye” to piracy on its platform.

The lawsuit was filed last year as the publishers accused Shopify of ignoring repeated notices that users on their platform were selling pirated digital textbooks and other materials. The lawsuit had asked for damages of up to $150,000 per work and $2 million for each counterfeited trademark. All in all, the case listed more than 3,400 works that were alleged to have been infringed.

Shopify strongly denied this and claimed to have a robust system for dealing with copyright and trademark issues. However, the two sides have now settled the dispute, with both calling the resolution “amicable” though the terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

2: Scripps Expands Channel Piracy Protection

Next up today, John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable reports that the INternation Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has signed up its first United States member, E.W. Scripps.

E.W. Scripps is an entertainment company that owns both a variety of local media channels and several networks including ION, Bounce, Grit and more. According to E.W. Scripps, they already have “robust” protections for their content, but are looking to supplement those efforts through IBCAP.

IBCAP specializes in monitoring streaming channels for alleged infringement and works to get those infringements shut down. Specifically, E.W. Scripps said that they are looking for protection from pirate sources that target multicultural products.

3: Supreme Court won’t review copyright fight over Paramount’s ‘What Men Want’

Finally today, Anousha Sakoui at the Los Angeles Times reports that the United States Supreme Court has declined to hear a case filed against Paramount Pictures over the film What Men Want.

The lawsuit was filed by screenwriter Joe Carlini, who claimed that the film was an infringement of his 2014 script entitled What the F is He Thinking. Paramount argued that What Men Want was actually a sequel to their 2000 film What Women Want and that Carlini’s script wasn’t registered until fifteen years after the first film.

The case was dismissed by a district court judge, and that dismissal was upheld on appeal. Carlini attempted to take the case to the Supreme Court, but the court has declined to hear it, letting the appeals court decision stand.

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