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Google Book Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval; Hearing in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 11:02am.
New York - The judge overseeing the settlement agreement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over the direction of its massive book-scanning project has pushed a hearing on a revised settlement back to Feb. 18, while at the same time granted preliminary approval to the new deal. "The preliminary approval order sends a positive initial message; this agreement promises to benefit readers and researchers, and enhance the ability of authors and publishers to distribute their content in digital form," Google said in a statement.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Google | Copyright | E-Books | Publishing | Books | Authors Guild | Google Book Search |

Studios Sue Swedish ISP, Demand Closure of OpenBitTorrent

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 18, 2009 - 11:54am.
Los Angeles - Several Hollywood movie studios have filed suit against a Swedish ISP that is hosting OpenBitTorrent, an independent BitTorrent file-sharing tracker site that was launched in the wake of the The Pirate Bay's announced sale to Global Gaming Factory, TorrentFreak reported. The studios sued hosting provider Portlane, demanding that it shutter the OpenBitTorrent website.
tags: Video | Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | Copyright | The Pirate Bay | OpenBitTorrent | Portlane |

The Pirate Bay Permanently Shutters File-Sharing Tracker

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 17, 2009 - 8:41am.
Stockholm, Sweden - Marking "the end of an era," the operators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay on Tuesday shut down their BitTorrent tracker, which grew over six years to become the largest hub for finding copyrighted materials for download in the world, TorrentFreak reported. "Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down! It's the end of an era, but the era is no longer up2date," the Pirate Bay wrote on its blog. "We have put a server in a museum already, and now the tracking can be put there as well."
tags: Video | Law | P2P | TV | Music | Movies | Sweden | Copyright | BitTorrent | The Pirate Bay |

Digital Media Association Head Jon Potter Resigns

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 12:09pm.
Washington - Jonathan Potter has resigned as executive director of the Digital Media Association (DiMA), a trade group representing the interests of larger webcasters and technology firms that he founded in 1998. "I am grateful to DiMA's member companies for allowing me to serve them -- and their innovative technologies and services and their passionate people -- for so long and in so many exciting ways. I hope that my next adventure is as challenging and rewarding," said Potter. DiMA general counsel Lee Knife will serve as interim executive director while the organization searches for a replacement.

tags: Law | Policy | Music | Moves | DiMA | Webcasting | Jonathan Potter |

Judge Shutters Websites Selling "Re-Recorded" Beatles Tunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 11:17am.
Los Angeles - A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against two websites, BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com, that had been selling unauthorized downloads of songs from the Beatles and other artists on the cheap, the Associated Press reported.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Beatles | Copyright | EMI | Hank Risan | BlueBeat.com |

Senate Judiciary Approves Copyright Czar Nominee

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 10:56am.
Washington - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to approve President Barack Obama's nomination for the newly-created position of copyright czar, Victoria Espinel.
tags: Law | Policy | Copyright | Barack Obama | Victoria Espinel |

Digimarc Files Patent Claims Against Music ID Firm Shazam

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 17, 2009 - 11:49am.
Beaverton, Ore. - Digimarc (NASD: DMRC), a developer of digital watermarking and other technologies, has filed patent infringement claims against Shazam, the maker of mobile music identification software.
tags: Mobile | Law | Lawsuits | Music | Patents | Digimarc | Shazam |

NBC Universal Among Authors of Verizon Copyright Letters

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2009 - 12:05pm.
San Francisco - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) is among the studios on whose behalf Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is sending its ISP subscribers notices that they are suspected of violating copyrights on filesharing networks, CNET News.com reported, citing multiple unnamed sources. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was reported last week to have engaged Verizon to deliver copyright letters on its behalf; an undisclosed number of other studios and copyright owners have made similar requests.
tags: Law | Policy | TV | Verizon | Music | Movies | RIAA | Copyright | NBC Universal |

Google, Authors Submit Revised Book Settlement to Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2009 - 11:49am.
New York - A revised settlement agreement was submitted on Friday, in the closely-watched case of Google (NASD: GOOG) and the authors who sued the company over the details of its plans to scan the world's books into a digital index. The revised settlement addresses many key issues raised by the U.S. Justice Dept., copyright and consumer advocates, although some concerns remain. Under the agreement, the scanning of out-of-print books will now be limited to works published in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Google | Copyright | E-Books | DOJ | Publishing | Books | Creative Commons | Authors Guild | Google Book Search | Book Rights Registry |

RealNetworks Appeals Injunction Against Sales of RealDVD

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 11, 2009 - 11:20am.
San Francisco - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) has filed an appeal of a judge's injunction against the sale of the company's RealDVD software, which can make copies of DVDs, CNET News.com reported.
tags: Video | Law | Lawsuits | Movies | DVD | RealNetworks | MPAA | DMCA | Copyright | RealDVD |

Swedish ISP Black Internet Appeals Pirate Bay Shutdown Order

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 10, 2009 - 10:36am.
Stockholm, Sweden - The Pirate Bay's former bandwidth supplier, Black Internet, has been given leave to appeal a Swedish court's order to disconnect the file-sharing hub, TorrentFreak reports.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Sweden | Copyright | The Pirate Bay | Black Internet |

Google Book Settlement Parties Ask Court for Extension

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:47am.
New York - Facing a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement on Monday, attorneys hammering out a new deal between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over Google's massive book-scanning project have asked the judge for an extension until Friday, The New York Times reports.
tags: Law | Google | Copyright | E-Books | Publishing | Books | Authors Guild |

Norwegian Court: ISP Telenor Need Not Block The Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:57am.
Oslo, Norway - International record label trade group IFPI has lost its court case that sought to compel Norwegian ISP Telenor to block its subscribers' access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak reported.
tags: Video | Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | Copyright | IFPI | The Pirate Bay | Telenor |

Judge Orders Site Selling Beatles Tracks to Cease

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:04am.
Los Angeles - A federal judge has ordered BlueBeat, a company selling unauthorized Beatles recordings online, to immediately cease the practice.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Beatles | Copyright | BlueBeat | Hank Risan |

Skype Litigation Settled; Sale by eBay to Investors to Proceed

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 8:35am.
San Jose, Calif. - Skype parent company eBay (NASD: EBAY) announced on Friday that litigation between an investor group looking to acquire Skype and the creators of the Internet telephone service has been settled, and that its sale of a majority stake in Skype will now proceed. As a result of the settlement, the acquisition deal has been restructured, and Skype creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis will now join the investor group, led by Silver Lake, and make a "significant capital investment" in exchange for a 14% stake in Skype.
tags: Deals | Law | Lawsuits | eBay | Acquisitions | Skype | Joost | Mike Volpi | Silver Lake Partners | Andreessen Horowitz | Janus Friis | Niklas Zennstrom |

E.U. to Allow "3-Strikes" Laws in New Telecoms Regulation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 12:35pm.
Brussels - The European Union has dropped language from proposed telecoms regulation that would have established Internet access as a "fundamental right," providing new leeway for countries like France and Great Britain that have enacted or are considering "three-strikes" laws that suspend repeat copyright infringers' Internet connections, according to published reports. The issue had been a sticking point holding up the telecoms regulation, and the new version represents a compromise between copyright and consumer interests.
tags: Video | Law | Policy | Music | Copyright | European Union | Three-Strikes | La Quad | Viviane Reding |

No Doubt Sues Activision Over Avatars in "Band Hero"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 11:13am.
Los Angeles - The rock band No Doubt has filed a lawsuit against "Band Hero" video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), alleging the company overstepped the permission granted by the band to include their likenesses within the game, Reuters reported. According to the lawsuit, the band did authorize its likenesses to be used to create avatars to perform its own songs within the game, but did not authorize the No Doubt avatars to perform songs by other bands.
tags: Games | Law | Lawsuits | Music | Activision | Band Hero | No Doubt |

Pirate Party Gains Second Seat in European Parliament

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 12:28pm.
Brussels - The Pirate Party, a political party centered on less-restrictive copyright schemes, has won its second seat in the European Parliament, TorrentFreak reported. Following the election of a Swedish Pirate Party candidate to a seat in the European Parliament in June, the signing of the Lisbon Treaty by all EU member states this week means that 22-year-old Swede Amelia Andersdotter will take the Pirate Party's second seat in Parliament.

tags: Law | Policy | Sweden | Copyright | EU | European Parliament | Pirate Party | Amelia Andersdotter |

Beatles to Release Re-mastered Catalog on $279 USB Drive

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 10:38am.
London - The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, and EMI Music have announced plans to release a limited edition apple-shaped USB drive, containing the entire Beatles re-mastered catalog in FLAC and MP3 format. The 30,000 USB apples will become available on Dec. 7 in the U.K. and Dec. 8 in North America, with a price tag of $279.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Copyright | EMI | Apple Corps | The Beatles | BlueBeat | Hank Risan |

Report: Skype Creators, eBay, Investors Near Settlement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 9:29am.
San Francisco - Litigation between the inventors and former owners of Internet phone service Skype, current owner eBay (NASD: EBAY), and an investor group looking to acquire Skype from eBay, could be nearing a settlement, The New York Times reported, citing several people who have been briefed on the situation. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis -- the inventors of Skype and the peer-to-peer technology behind file-sharing service Kazaa and video portal Joost -- sued the investor group in a bid to block their acquisition of Skype from eBay.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | P2P | eBay | Skype | Joost | Mike Volpi | Janus Friis | Niklas Zennstrom |
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