3 Count: Not-so Goldin Touch

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1: Netflix’s ‘King of Collectibles’ Hit with Copyright Infringement Suit

First off today, Michael McCann at Sportico reports that Ken Goldin, the founder of the sports memorabilia company Goldin Auctions, is facing a lawsuit from two former employees over the idea for his new TV series.

The lawsuit was filed by Gervase Peterson, Richard Berger and Skye Dennis. Berger and Dennis claim that they came up with the idea for a reality show entitled The Goldin Boys, which would feature Ken Goldin and his company dealing with rare sports memorabilia products. They further claim that they worked with Goldin and his company to bring the product to fruition, but were greeted with “radio silence” after a time.

A few years later, the plaintiffs say that they saw a video of Netflix promoting a similar series, entitled King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch, after which they decided to file the lawsuit. The plaintiffs further claim to have registered their treatment of the concept with the United States Copyright Office. Neither Goldin nor Netflix offered any comment on the case.

2: Google Bans Downloader App After TV Firms Complain it Can Load a Pirate Website

Next up today, Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica reports that Google has removed an app named Downloader from its app store following a copyright infringement claim from a media company.

According to the app’s developer, it is simply a web browser paired with a file manager, which makes it easy to download elements from various sites. While it obviously can and is used for piracy, the developer notes that it doesn’t do anything that can’t already be done with Android’s browser.

The developer did say that they filed a counternotice but that, so far at least, Google has declined to restore the app. The app remains available on the Amazon app store as well as on the developer’s website.

3: U.S. Govt Launches Consultation on Future Anti-Piracy Strategies

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced an upcoming public roundtable to discuss anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting strategies.

Though the USPTO focuses on trademark issues, not copyright, the planned roundtable focuses heavily on piracy and, in their seven questions, asked about the current state of the fight against counterfeiting and piracy as well as ways that the process could be improved.

Ideas being looked at include no-fault injunctions, which would make it easier to get sites blocked in the United States. However, the questions are broad in general, making it difficult to plan where the conversation is likely to go from here.

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