Displaying items by tag: Copyright

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and his legal team have won a fairly significant victory in the ongoing case with the US DoJ. A New Zealand Judge has ruled that the US MUST hand over all evidence it has against Dotcom. This is something that the US has resisted since the beginning for reasons known only to them, but there is speculation that they case was founded with no evidence at all. This type of blind accusation is actually something the MPAA and RIAA are used to. If you look back at their copyright lawsuits you will find that they often submit anonymous indictments which allow them to subpoena ISPs to get information on certain IPs. It seems they like doing things that way and have tried to push this to Megaupload.

Anton Vickerman, the owner of Tvstreaming links site SurfTheChannel was sentenced to four years in jail at Newcastle Crown Court. He was found guilty of consipracy to defraud for facilitating copyright infrigement. The operation was prosecuted by the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America) together with UK FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft). They were able to acquire evidence against the site operator. The site itself was one of most visited streaming link websites, averaging 400,000 visits daily. You could see many of the popular TV-shows on the site for free, illegally of course.

Kim Dotcom, the besieged Megaupload CEO, is taunting the MPAA and RIAA even as he waits for his extradition hearing (now slated for early 2013). Dotcom has not been one to sit back and wait as the industry tries to dismantle the company that he built and since access to the internet was returned to him by a New Zealand court (something we are sure Hollywood was not happy about) he has been engaging in a PR battle with the people he feels are responsible for his arrest.

Even though everyone was hoping for resurrection of one of the most famous torrent sites, things are looking pretty grim. The three domains on which Demonoid’s web page was available are currently for sale. There was a small hope that Demonoid had reserve servers to continue to work but Demonoid.com, .se, and .ph have been put on the market at Sedo. The responsibility for closing this tracker was taken by IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry).

We have all heard about Google’s new algorithm for demoting sites with too many takedown notices and complaints. This new method is supposed to help reduce copyright infringement by making the search for infringing material harder. When the announcement first hit we were more than a little surprised that Google had taken this step. Prior to this they had refused multiple requests from the MPAA, RIAA and other copyright holder to alter their search feature to suit their demands. Now things may have changed for the advertising/search giant.

Although not specifically related to technology we have some interesting information on the Kim Dotcom case. One of our Forum members Euonia posted a very interesting video that includes some new footage of the raid on Kim Dotcom’s home. When watching it we were more than a little shocked by the number of police vans, helicopters and other assets that were used to arrest Dotcom. Considering I can remember looking back on the raids I was on when working for DirecTV and I am shocked that they would use this level of force for a “low-level threat”

The MPAA, RIAA and in fact the entire copyright industry is a very interesting organization. On the one hand they fit an almost textbook definition of a Cartel (According to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act) but have been allowed to exist and act with impunity for many years. They have a revolving door with Government agencies in the US where many of their executives have come from our law making bodies or former executives now have positions inside those bodies. Their history of unethical and borderline illegal (many times actually illegal) actions has become the stuff of legend across many internet sites. Yet still they persist in trying to portray themselves as the victim in the cases that they are perusing around the globe.

We have said this before and we will say it again; we Love Judge Richard Posner. It is not just his no-nonsense behavior in the courtroom or his disgust with the way companies are abusing the patent system; it is for the fact that he actually uses common sense and good judgment. We have seen far too many judges that either do not have, or do not use, sound judgment in their findings. Far too often they seem to feel that they need to side with the big corporations. This time Poser’s ruling may have massive and far-reaching effects as it becomes precedent.

Well it looks like CISPA has been shot down in the US for now. This was thanks to a fairly big internet campaign to let people know that the vote was happening (it was voted on yesterday) and while most of the world was watching the antics of Samsung and Apple the Senate tried to vote the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act into law.  But to be honest with you toward the end (and as we get closer to the elections) we had a feeling this one would be scrapped. It was too much for many voters who already feel their privacy is being abused. The Senators knew that passing this would be a quick ticket back home as the popular opinion was against them.

Judge Lucy Koh has apparently decided the fate of the Samsung V Apple case all on her own. In fact she has even ordered evidence to be destroyed. Now correct me if I am wrong, but why on earth would ANY judge interested in making a sound and fair decision ask for evidence to be destroyed. The only reason I can think of is that Luck Koh knows that the evidence is valid and would hurt Apple significantly during this trial. It is apparently also something that Samsung knows as well. Samsung are the ones that leaked this rejected evidence to the press. The move was partly to prove the point that Apple borrowed from Sony for the iPhone design and also to show Judge Koh’s bias in the trial.