copyright

Embedding copyright-infringing video is not a crime, court rules

Embedding a copyright-infringing video on another Web site is not illegal, a court ruled yesterday.

Judge Richard Posner ruled at the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that MyVidster, a social video bookmarking site, did not infringe the copyright of Flava Works, a porn production company, when it embedded copyright-infringing versions of Flava Works content from third-party Web sites.

The decision overturned a preliminary injunction from 2011, imposed by a lower court after Flava Works filed suit against MyVidster in 2010.

According to the Appeals Court ruling, MyVidster "doesn't touch the data stream" and therefore doesn'… Read more

SAP to pay $306M to Oracle after infringement fight

Oracle has won at least one legal battle this week. SAP is paying the hardware giant $306 million in damages resulting from a copyright infringement suit.

Unlike the fight against Google, it looks like victory over SAP really is a payday. SAP's bill to Oracle continues to get bigger as Oracle's general counsel Dorian Daley said in a statement that SAP will have to pay "a minimum of $426 million, including attorneys’ fees."

Oracle originally filed the lawsuit in 2007 against SAP, arguing that SAP downloaded and copied intellectual property. The case didn't go to … Read more

Grooveshark is an acquisition target

Avi Faliks, an executive with investment firm Spring Mountain Capital, has approached the often-sued music service Grooveshark about an acquisition, numerous sources familiar with the discussions told CNET.

Faliks spoke with leaders from Grooveshark and parent company Escape Media about a plan to take the service more mainstream -- that is, make it less of a magnet for copyright lawsuits. Grooveshark, which enables users to share music with one another, has at one time or another been sued for copyright infringement by multiple music publishers as well as three of the four major record companies.

According to sources, Faliks planned … Read more

Google must delete 'torrent' from autocomplete, court says

The French Supreme Court has ruled that Google may have to censor the words "torrent," "RapidShare," and "Megaupload" from its instant and autocomplete searches, according to TorrentFreak.

In its ongoing court case with French music industry group SNEP, Google has been accused of implicitly allowing copyright violations for not filtering out these words. The SNEP alleges that when users type in names of well-known musicians in Google search, file-sharing sites get added on with the autocomplete feature.

"We are disappointed by the court's ruling," a Google spokesperson told CNET. "Google … Read more

MegaUpload judge calls U.S. 'the enemy'

The judge overseeing the MegaUpload case in New Zealand doesn't sound like a supporter of the U.S. government's attempts to strengthen international copyright law.

According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, the United States is attempting to require New Zealand and other countries to adopt tougher copyright restrictions as part of a trade agreement and this prompted the judge to call the U.S. government "the enemy."

The Herald raised the question whether Harvey's comments were appropriate for the judge presiding over the MegaUpload case to make. According to a legal expert … Read more

Porn studios accused of shafting enthusiasts

People have needs.

There are those who attempt to make money out of satisfying those needs. And there are those who attempt to make money out of offering to hide people's embarrassment at having those needs in the first place.

Currently, certain porn producers -- normally rather nice people -- are being accused of the latter ruse.

Allegations are being laid that these porn producers are involved in shaking down alleged illegal downloaders, who may not be illegal downloaders at all.

According to Wired, the scheme is blessedly direct. Porn producers locate the IP addresses of those they believe … Read more

Kim DotCom extradition hearing postponed until 2013

The extradition hearing for MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom has been postponed to next year over questions about the legality of evidence seized with search warrants later declared invalid.

The hearing, which was scheduled to occur in August 6, was delayed Tuesday by a New Zealand judge until March 2013.

DotCom attorney William Akel told Reuters the postponement was due to two judicial reviews currently under way regarding the search warrants and evidence disclosure.

"It was inevitable that the hearing for August was going to be vacated because we have two existing cases in the High Court," Akel said. … Read more

EU court: Sale of used software licenses is just fine

The European Union's Court of Justice has reportedly crushed Oracle's hope of stopping a company from reselling its used software.

The Luxembourg-based court today ruled in favor of German company UsedSoft, which sells used software licenses. The court said that once a software company sells "a copy of a computer program," its "exclusive right of distribution" is eliminated, paving the way for other companies to sell the used licenses, according to The Wall Street Journal, which obtained a copy of the ruling. The rule applies to both physical media and copies of the software … Read more

U.K. Home Office won't block O'Dwyer extradition in copyright case

The U.K. Home Office has confirmed that Home Secretary Theresa May will not block the extradition of British student Richard O'Dwyer to the U.S., despite calls for her to intervene.

The 24-year-old is to be extradited to the United States to face copyright infringement charges related to a Web site he founded.

The site, which U.S. prosecutors claim generated up to $230,000 in advertising revenue, did not at any point host copyrighted material. Instead, it linked to other sites that hosted television shows and movies -- including content uploaded to YouTube.

While the U.K. … Read more