BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music’s lawsuit against Cox Communications puts an unfair burden on ISPs, said copyright experts who support ISP flexibility under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The music publishers allege that Cox has failed to uphold its end of the bargain under Section 512 by not terminating the Internet services of repeat copyright infringers. But copyright owners don’t have the authority to make such demands of ISPs, said Mitch Stoltz, Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney. The case was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The docket number is 14-cv-01611.
The difference between “specific knowledge” and “general knowledge” of infringing content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) will likely thwart any chance of a successful lawsuit against Google for allegedly hosting recently hacked photos of celebrities, said copyright experts Thursday. Google executives received a letter Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1pJapJM) from Martin Singer of Lavely & Singer threatening the company with a lawsuit potentially in excess of $100 million for hosting the photos (WID Sept 12 p8). The letter didn’t clearly distinguish between the identified links via notice and takedown requests that Google is mandated to remove under the DMCA’s safe harbor laws and the unspecified links that Google isn’t required to delete, said copyright experts.
The Copyright Alert System (CAS) could pose potential problems for consumers with the Internet of Things (IoT), said copyright and software experts in interviews. The first CAS report, of the system’s first 10 months (http://bit.ly/1isdnzM) (WID May 29 p1), revealed a relatively low number of multiple alerts -- of the 1.3 million notices sent, only 60,477 accounts were each sent five notices -- and 265 challenges to all notices. The report doesn’t indicate how CAS affects consumer behavior, or consumer reaction to the program, said experts.
The Copyright Alert System (CAS) could pose potential problems for consumers with the Internet of Things (IoT), said copyright and software experts in interviews. The first CAS report, of the system’s first 10 months (http://bit.ly/1isdnzM) (CD May 29 p4), revealed a relatively low number of multiple alerts -- of the 1.3 million notices sent, only 60,477 accounts were each sent five notices -- and 265 challenges to all notices. The report doesn’t indicate how CAS affects consumer behavior, or consumer reaction to the program, said experts.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will likely uphold last year’s decision by Judge Denny Chin to allow Google’s public indexing of copyrighted books under the fair-use doctrine in Authors Guild v. Google, said fair-use backers in interviews. The Authors Guild filed an unsealed, heavily redacted appeal with the 2nd Circuit Friday to have Chin’s ruling overturned, according to court documents (http://bit.ly/Q7qIpZ). Chin kept oversight of the cases in the U.S. District Court in New York after his 2010 appointment to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Some authors, including Malcolm Gladwell, filed a joint amicus brief Monday on behalf of the Authors Guild, according to court documents. The Authors Guild wants the case remanded to the U.S. District Court in New York, said the appeal. “We had to appeal because the ruling is a disaster for authors” and the publishing industry, said James Gleick, an author and member of the Authors Guild board, in an interview.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will likely uphold last year’s decision by Judge Denny Chin to allow Google’s public indexing of copyrighted books under the fair-use doctrine in Authors Guild v. Google (WID Nov 15 p1), said fair-use backers in interviews. The Authors Guild filed an unsealed, heavily redacted appeal with the 2nd Circuit Friday to have Chin’s ruling overturned, according to court documents (http://bit.ly/Q7qIpZ). Chin kept oversight of the cases in the U.S. District Court in New York after his 2010 appointment to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (WID June 4/12 p2). Some authors, including Malcolm Gladwell, filed a joint amicus brief Monday on behalf of the Authors Guild, according to court documents. The Authors Guild wants the case remanded to the U.S. District Court in New York, said the appeal. “We had to appeal because the ruling is a disaster for authors” and the publishing industry, said James Gleick, an author and member of the Authors Guild board, in an interview.
The safe harbor and notice-and-takedown provisions of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act still need refining, said DMCA experts and copyright stakeholders in interviews after Viacom settled its lawsuit against Google’s YouTube Tuesday. The case began in 2007 when Viacom filed a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube (CD May 2/07 p12). The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in favor of YouTube last year made Tuesday’s settlement “inevitable,” said Derek Bambauer, a University of Arizona law professor specializing in Internet law and intellectual property.
The safe harbor and notice-and-takedown provisions of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act still need refining, said DMCA experts and copyright stakeholders in interviews after Viacom settled its lawsuit against Google’s YouTube. The case began in 2007 when Viacom filed a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube (WID May 2/07 p8). The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in favor of YouTube last year made Tuesday’s settlement “inevitable,” said Derek Bambauer, a University of Arizona law professor specializing in Internet law and intellectual property.
The legal parameters of copyright ownership may have changed dramatically due to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling in Garcia v. Google, which was released Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1hV5Dvg), said copyright advocates and academics in interviews and blog posts. The court ordered Google to remove all copies of the Innocence of Muslims -- a film associated with the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya -- from Google-owned YouTube, after Cindy Lee Garcia asked Google to take down the video once she began receiving death threats due to her minor acting role in the movie.
The legal parameters of copyright ownership may have changed dramatically due to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling in Garcia v. Google, which was released Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1hV5Dvg), said copyright advocates and academics in interviews and blog posts. The court ordered Google to remove all copies of the Innocence of Muslims -- a film associated with the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya -- from Google-owned YouTube, after Cindy Lee Garcia asked Google to take down the video once she began receiving death threats due to her minor acting role in the movie.