Oracle has now essentially bet the farm on its claim that Google violated its copyrights in cloning its Java application programming interfaces (APIs).
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/05/oracle-google-truce/
Category Archives: Litigation
IMAGiNE Member Pleads Guilty to Criminal Copyright Infringement
Last month the feds arrested four alleged members of the prominent BitTorrent release group IMAGiNE . One of them has struck a deal with the US Government and pleads guilty to one of the charges. The remaining three plead not guilty. Recent documents filed at court further reveal that the MPAA was the tipster that initiated the investigation.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/imagine-member-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-copyright-infringement-120516/
Fredrik Neij, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay, takes his case to the European Court of Human Rights
Pirate Bay is mostly used to share illegal, copyrighted content, which is stimulated by its founders (hence the pirate reference in it’s name). It is now up to the European Court to decide if Neij’s share in offering the Pirate Bay service is protected under the right to receive and impart information under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Dutch Advocate General proposes to submit prejudicial questions to the ECJ about the private copying levy
Advocate General Huydecoper of the Dutch Supreme Court proposes to submit prejudicial questions to the European Court of Justice about private copying levies. If the Supreme Court agrees with this, the ECJ will decide if the private copying exception is in compliance with the Berne three-step test, which is also laid down in the European Copyright Directive (2001/29/EG).
The European Copyright Directive provides a limited list of allowed limitations and exceptions for the use of copyrighted works without consent of the copyright holder. Member states can choose which limitations and exceptions they want to implement in their national laws. The three-step test sets boundaries to those limitations and exceptions. Limitations and exceptions are only allowed in (1) certain special cases (2) that do not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work and (3) do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder.
In the underlying case, the question arises whether only copies from works obtained from ‘authorized’ sources should be taken into account in the calculation of the private copying levy, or also copies from works obtained from ‘illegal’ sources. If works from illegal sources should be taken into account, the private copying levy will be higher. The Advocate General states that in order to answer these questions, it is necessary to submit a few prejudicial questions to the ECJ.
Judge: Ample evidence that Apple “knowingly joined” e-book conspiracy
Rick Falkvinge (aka Dick Greger Augustsson or Dick W. Augustsson) Rallying The Mob Against Copyright Industries
Don’t ever accept the resigned position that the copyright industries determine law. They don’t. They’ve gotten away with wishlists because politicians haven’t cared. They do care when tens of thousands of people make noise, and we can do that. We know absolutely well that we’re capable of that and much more.
If the copyright industry collapses – who cares?
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/why-are-people-resigning-before-the-copyright-industries-will-120513/
Pirate Bay’s Alexa Rank For UK And NL Continues To Drop After Blocking Measures
In the UK, The Pirate Bay website – before the blockade – was more popular than the websites of Virgin Media, NatWest and The Sun. That no longer seems to be the case.
back then:
now:
http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;1/GB
In The Netherlands The Pirate Bay website was the 27th most popular website before the blockade and the name change from thepiratebay.org to thepiratebay.se. It then dropped to the 41st spot and is now the 43rd most popular website in The Netherlands. As such it is no longer more popular than the websites of Microsoft, Apple or Amazon.
back then:
now:
Dutch Provider ZeelandNet Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay Website. Says It Does Not Want To Act Like “Internet Police”
The provider also argues that any issues should be taken up with The Pirate Bay website itself, which is an interesting statement considering the fact that The Pirate Bay website itself has already been declared illegal in The Netherlands and follow up blocking verdicts have been based on that legal assessment. Also, in Sweden, the founders of The Piratebay have been convicted and are now being sanctioned for their crimes.
Dutch copyright enforcer BREIN has decided to now go and sue ZeelandNet. This situation does make one wonder whether complainants in The Netherlands will always have to go and sue each and every internet service provider individually, even if a judge has already decided that a certain website is illegal. Will this require laws to be changed, or will complainants just have to sue all the Dutch ISPs in one go, for any nation-wide blockade to be put in place?
At this point in time Ziggo, Xs4all, KPN, UPC, T-Mobile, Tele2 and Telfort have been ordered by the Dutch courts to block The Pirate Bay website.
Dutch language news articles:
http://www.omroepzeeland.nl/nieuws/2012-05-11/119964/zeelandnet-geen-blokkade-op-pirate-bay
http://www.nu.nl/internet/2809109/zeelandnet-aangeklaagd-weigering-pirate-bay-blokkade.html
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/81929/brein-daagt-zeelandnet-om-the-pirate-bay-ook-te-blokkeren.html
See also:
Dutch Court: Piratebay has to cease activities in The Netherlands
http://vrritti.com/2010/07/16/dutch-court-piratebay-has-to-cease-activities-in-the-netherlands/
Dutch Internet Provider Greenhost Offers WordPress Plug-in To Circumvent Pirate Bay Blockade
http://vrritti.com/2012/01/19/dutch-internet-provider-greenhost-offers-wordpress-plug-in-to-circumvent-pirate-bay-blockade/
In its lawsuits against hundreds of alleged BitTorrent users, book publisher John Wiley and Sons has met unexpected resistance from Internet provider Verizon
For a variety of reasons including privacy concerns, the ISP is refusing to comply with a subpoena which orders the company to hand over the personal details of subscribers who are accused of pirating “For Dummies” books.
http://torrentfreak.com/verizon-refuses-to-identify-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-120511/
Bankruptcy will not protect MP3tunes.com or founder Michael Robertson from answering for the copyright violations they allegedly committed
CNET broke the news today that MP3tunes.com, a music locker service that let users store songs on the company’s servers and then access them from Web-connected devices, filed for bankruptcy protection.
The service was noteworthy for being one of the first unlicensed music locker services and helping to pave the way for similar services offered by Google and Amazon. But MP3tunes.com was probably best known for the copyright fight it waged with EMI.
The Dutch Court has forbidden the Dutch Pirate Party from linking to, operating or listing websites that allow the public to circumvent a local Pirate Bay blockade
Hackers and pirates are doing Big Brother and Big Content a huge favor. Big Data is watching closely
The Court specifically ruled that the Party’s reverse proxy has to remain offline. It was further ordered that Pirate Bay domains and IP-addresses have to be filtered from the Pirate Party’s generic proxy. In addition the Pirate Party can’t link to other websites that allow the public to bypass the blockade. These orders are only valid when paired with an encouragement to circumvent.
Should the Pirate Party fail to comply with the Court’s ruling it faces fines of €5,000 per day to a maximum penalty of €250,000.
http://torrentfreak.com/court-forbids-linking-to-pirate-bay-proxies-120510/
5 Dutch ISPs Given 10 Days To Censor The Pirate Bay. Are Judges Expecting Domain Name, File, URL And IP Address Specific Litigation?
Today the Court of The Hague ruled that BREIN’s latest ISP targets – UPC, KPN, Tele2, T-Mobile and Telfort – must also block The Pirate Bay.
The blocking order is broad covering 20 specific domains including ThePirateBay.org, ThePirateBay.se, ThePirateBay.com, DePiraatBaii.be and TheMusicBay.net. BREIN also asked for a total of three IP addresses to be blocked, but the Court only granted a block against two after it decided that one of addresses carried only Pirate Bay-owned content such as website images and CSS files.
A request from BREIN to be permitted to add further IP addresses and domains to the ruling was opposed by the ISPs and ultimately denied by the Court. This means that The Pirate Bay could simply add a new domain or IP-address to circumvent the block.
http://torrentfreak.com/five-more-dutch-isps-given-10-days-to-censor-the-pirate-bay-120510/
A spokesperson for the Argentinian Pirate Party told TorrentFreak that Cuevana.tv provides an important alternative distribution platform for local independents competing against Hollywood domination
The larger players can afford to buy patents to deter the trolls, but the smaller players – the innovative startups – can’t
Instead, they have to settle out of court. Patent trolls take advantage of this weakness.
Judge nixes “Oil Orgy” scheme to scare P2P users into quick settlements
Major Cyberlocker Movie Pirate Faces 5 Years In Prison
Later this month an individual who allegedly uploaded thousands of movies and TV shows to cyberlocker services will face trial and a possible 5 year prison sentence. The 29-year-old, who was also the moderator of a warez forum, committed the alleged infringements over a period of more than 4 years. The movie industry claims he cost them nearly $4.2m but the Pirate Party reject the damages calculations as “simply ridiculous.”
Initially Stainless is reported to have used RapidShare and Hotfile, but later used a web service called Multiload to upload to several sites at once. One of the main sites listed by Multiload is Hellshare and Stainless reportedly had around 11,500 files stored there.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/major-cyberlocker-movie-pirate-faces-5-years-in-prison-120508/
Google guilty of infringement in Oracle trial; future legal headaches loom
In what could be a major blow to Android, Google’s mobile operating system, a San Francisco jury issued a verdict today that the company broke copyright laws when it used Java APIs to design the system. The ruling is a partial victory for Oracle, which accused Google of violating copyright law.
But the jury couldn’t reach agreement on a second issue—whether Google had a valid “fair use” defense when it used the APIs. Google has asked for a mistrial based on the incomplete verdict, and that issue will be briefed later this week.
The results aren’t clear going forward. Both sides are going to write briefs arguing how to proceed from here, with Google likely arguing the verdict needs to be thrown out, while Oracle somehow tries to hang on to its win on question 1A, the fundamental question about whether Google infringed copyright.
New Zealand to Probe Kim Dotcom Political Donation (MegaUpload)
How did the American legal system get 18 domain names related to MegaUpload deactivated?
Management of the virtual domain rests mainly with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), a private non-profit corporation, based in California, that is responsible for the Internet names and addresses systems, including the domain names system (DNS).
As the organization in charge of allocating .com, domain names, ICANN delegated the management of .com domain names (which represent approximately 95 million Internet sites) to the corporation VeriSign. Thus, in the Megaupload matter, instead of attacking the various servers scattered all over the world, the American legal system enjoined VeriSign to intervene directly with respect to the 18 domain names that were the subject of the intervention.
Therefore, servers are still operational, but it is from now on impossible to get to them, for lack of a valid address. It remains to be seen whether the closing down of this network will have a deterrent effect on illegal downloading.
Uggs Wins $686 Million Judgment in Counterfeit Cases Against Over 3,000 Knock Off Sites
Professor Goldman, director of High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law, argues that the shutdown of Megaupload was simply a gift to the lobbyists of the entertainment industry that has not adapted to new realities
Would be nice if he also proceeded to list Kim Dotcom’s gifts to others
http://rt.com/news/megaupload-american-content-industry-555/
Alleged “mastermind” of #Antisec added to indictment for Stratfor hack
Jeremy Hammond, the former LulzSec member alleged to have been at the center of the hacking of private intelligence company Stratfor, has now been formally indicted on that charge, as well as the hacking of the website of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. While he was arrested in March, the indictments unsealed in federal court on March 6 named, but did not charge, Hammond, known by the handle “Anarchaos” among others.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/new-charges-unsealed-against-antisec-hacker.ars
White spaces and happy faces: TV stations drop lawsuit against “super WiFi”
eLaw Expert: “I do feel that the actions of the Pirate Party are wrong and even pose a threat to the rule of law”
Designer group Hermès obtains $100M award against alleged counterfeiters
Not just the pirates: Brazilian rights holders indicted for ripping off artists
Fifteen officials of ECAD, the Brazilian organization in charge of collecting copyright licensing fees for music, face indictment after a Senate investigation there. The organization is the Brazilian counterpart to American collecting societies such as ASCAP and BMI. The Senate committee also recommended new legislation to overhaul the copyright licensing system in Brazil.
In the political arena, copyright debates are often portrayed as morality plays with industry incumbents as the good guys and file-sharing firms like Megaupload and the Pirate Bay wearing the black hats. Yet the controversy in Brazil is a useful reminder that the picture isn’t always so black and white. Incumbents in Brazil and elsewhere have also skirted the law, taking money that rightfully belongs to artists or consumers.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/copyright-cops-behaving-badly.ars
MegaUpload’s Kim Dotcom claims to have donated NZ$50,000 ($41,000) to John Banks, the head of the ACT New Zealand political party and the current minister for Small Business and Regulatory Reform, during his 2010 campaign for mayor of the city of Auckland
Dotcom told the newspaper that Banks asked him to divide the payments into two installments of NZ$25,000 each so as to conceal their origin, and that the local politician called him personally to thank him. However, in a statement on his website, Banks denied calling Dotcom for the mayoral donations, adding: “I could not have, as any such contribution was anonymous.”
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, with whom Banks’ ACT New Zealand party is in political coalition, also stepped into the fray over the weekend, saying that he trusted Banks, and that the police should investigate any potential wrongdoing.
High Court has ruled that several UK ISPs including Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must block The Pirate Bay website
This means that millions of Internet users will be prevented from accessing the popular BitTorrent site in the weeks to come. The Pirate Bay say they aren’t concerned by yet another court-ordered blockade, and point out that there are plenty of ways to circumvent such censorship
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-must-censor-the-pirates-bay-high-court-rules-120430/
See also:
In November 2011, the BPI asked the group of ISPs to voluntarily block access to the site. The request followed a court order to block Newzbin 2, a site also offering links to download pirated material. The ISPs said they would not block the site unless a court order was made, as is now the case. Virgin Media told the BBC it will now comply with the request, but warned such measures are, in the long term, only part of the solution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17894176
The PirateBay is currently the 39th most popular website in the United Kingdom:
Consumers around the world want a hassle-free way to record free, over-the-air television and play it back on any Internet-connected device. But every time a company creates such a service, it gets sued by copyright holders
Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom Gets $750,000 Back. The extradition hearing is scheduled for September
The Megaupload founder is allowed to keep his $20,000 a month spending budget and regains use of his Mercedes-Benz G55AMG, a luxury car worth $250,000 that sports “Police” on its license plate. A bank account containing $301,000 was also returned.
Dotcom’s wife Mona will have her expenses covered and can have use of a Toyota Vellfire.
The extradition hearing is scheduled for September. In the meantime Megaupload’s defense team is preparing a response to the US indictment, which is expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/megauploads-kim-dotcom-gets-750-000-back-120428/
Previously:
When Facing Online Crimes, Are Proactive “Disruption Of Service” And Immediate “Seizure Of Funds” Better Sanctions In The Internet Age When Compared To “Old School” Civil Litigation Or Criminal Prosecution?
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/26/when-facing-online-crimes-are-proactive-disruption-of-service-and-immediate-seizure-of-funds-better-sanctions-in-the-internet-age-when-compared-to-old-school-civil-litigation-or-criminal/
US Music Pirates Face New $150,000 Damages Claims
Indicted BitTorrent group used FM, infrared receivers to record movies in theater
Specifically, the group is charged with seeding copies of The Men Who Stare At Goats, Avatar, Clash of the Titans, and others. In some cases, they took advantage of the movie theater’s infrared or FM audio system, usually used by people with hearing impairments. Both systems work by transmitting the audio from the control room to individual headsets equipped with a receiver.
In the indictment, Perkins, 40, is quoted as telling Lambert on the group’s message board in July 2010:
“I called every local cinema to see what they broadcasted in,” adding that “I told them a bs sob story bro…told the manager i had a hearing impaired daughter and she had a phobia about other peoples heads being on there in house equipment so i told them i was going to buy her one, so they would find out and tell me then…”
It appears that the group would often bring their own infrared receivers and would record audio directly from that device. Five days later, Perkins told the group to “wear the IR receiver high around your neck and just put the plugged in recorder in your pocket or somewhere hidden.”
More:
Absent an appeal to the High Court, Optus’ TV Now service infringes copyright
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has hired Beth Wilkinson—the lead US prosecutor in the OK City Bombing case against Timothy McVeigh—to take over the Google investigation
When Facing Online Crimes, Are Proactive “Disruption Of Service” And Immediate “Seizure Of Funds” Better Sanctions In The Internet Age When Compared To “Old School” Civil Litigation Or Criminal Prosecution?
MegaUpload vs. The Pirate Bay
Dotcom’s lawyer confident client won’t be extradited
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbnat/796323623-Dotcom-s-lawyer-confident-client-won-t-be-extradited
Megaupload data negotiations set to begin
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/6812654/Megaupload-data-negotiations-set-to-begin
Megaupload case involves some 1100 servers. No-one wants to incur the cost to house and maintain such a large number of servers, so they are in legal limbo until the court makes a ruling
http://www.mondaq.com/canada/x/174718/Cloud+Computing/The+Cloud+What+Goes+Up+Must+Come+Down
Watch Kim Dotcom Race An F1 Driver In Video ‘Seized By The FBI’
http://jalopnik.com/5905421/watch-kim-dotcom-race-an-f1-driver-in-video-seized-by-the-fbi
See also (Dutch language & English language):
