copyright

Jury hands feds first guilty verdict for Web music piracy

For the first time ever, the federal government has successfully won a jury verdict against someone accused of illegally downloading music, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

A jury in Alexandria, Va, found Barry Gitarts, 25, allegedly a member of Internet music piracy group, Apocalypse Production Crew (APC), was found guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

Gitarts faces up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and must make full restitution, according to a statement released by the DOJ.

The Recording Industry Assoc. of America (RIAA), which said it helped … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 729: Wacky wireless Wednesday

It's all cell phones all the time: The FCC might make early-termination fees less of a problem, rural carriers want less exclusivity (and so do we), and no one wants cell phones on a plane except, strangely, Molly. Also, the second-generation $100 laptop will double as an e-book reader and cost $75, assuming it ever exits the realm of elaborate fiction. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 729

Microsoft offers cash back search http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7413099.stm http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-9949286-60.html

Microsoft demos Zune advertising service http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146109/ microsoft_demos_zune_advertising_service.html… Read more

Copyright fight brewing between TV networks and RedLasso

Three of the largest broadcast TV networks have sent a cease-and-desist letter to RedLasso , a little-known but rapidly growing video syndication site.

Fox News Network, NBC Universal, and CBS sent a letter on Monday, accusing the company of "building a business based on the unauthorized syndication of" the content owners' news, sports, and entertainment shows.

RedLasso records TV shows and then indexes clips so users can find, pull, and embed them on other Web sites. Reporter Liz Gannes over at Newteevee.com saw this one coming. Two weeks ago, Gannes noted that RedLasso had grown from 2 million … Read more

Orphan Works: Half a loaf

Editor's note: We're opening up our pages today to a guest post from James V. DeLong from the Convergence Law Institute. He is also special counsel at Kamlet Shepherd and Reichert.

Both houses of Congress are now considering legislation to ease access to "orphan works"--material under copyright for which an owner either cannot be identified or cannot be found (HR5889 & S2913).

The bills are good, but they solve only part of the problem: they help users who already knows what material they lust after. They do not help users search through the vast existing … Read more

Legal liability for YouTube viewers

Updated on 5/19/08 with comment from RealPlayer (see below)

Users of YouTube and other video-sharing sites could face $750 per clip penalties if they have watched a video that was uploaded without the copyright holder's permission.

Copyright infringement in the United States strict liability offense. What this means, is that users are liable when they illegally copy works, even if they're not aware that this is wrong, or that the work is protected by copyright.

As an example, let us consider the popular video sharing website YouTube.

Every week, 6 days after the show airs, HBO … Read more

There might be gold for techies in Tinseltown

The emergence of online video has begun enticing Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to Hollywood, and unlike an earlier migration during the dot-com era, the film industry is rolling out red carpets.

After spending three days at the Digital Hollywood conference, where I spoke with dozens of entertainment executives as well as tech CEOs, it's easy to spot what's going on: studio executives are more comfortable with online video and clip-playing gadgets than in the past. The entertainment sector also needs help figuring out how to make money from digital. On the other side, the geeks seem less dismissive of … Read more

QuickSilverScreen.com down; accused of copyright violations

Early this morning, Malaysian time, video-link aggregator QuickSilverScreen.com's site posted the following message: This morning we were falsely accused of hosting copyrighted content by the Malaysian government, in result our host (located in Malaysia) asked us to shutdown the QSS main site server. We still have full control over all our servers and are working with our host & the malaysian government to find a solution for this stupid mistake. We expect to be up and running within a few hours/days

More to come as the story develops.

Colleges fret RIAA push for state anti-P2P laws

The entertainment industry's controversial efforts to get universities to be more proactive about policing peer-to-peer piracy have begun to spread from Capitol Hill to the states.

Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Hollywood-backed proposal buried in a higher education reauthorization bill that would require universities receiving federal financial aid funding to devise plans for "alternative" offerings to unlawful downloading--such as subscription-based services--or "technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity."

That otherwise wide-ranging bill won't become law until House and Senate politicians agree upon a compromise version. Meanwhile, the debate … Read more

Former RIAA chief advising Project Playlist

SAN FRANCISCO--Jeremy Riney, CEO and founder of Project Playlist is optimistic he will eventually license music from the big four record companies.

He continues to harbor these hopes even after three of the four largest music labels filed a copyright lawsuit against his company last month, he said at the MusicTech Summit on Thursday.

What may be helping Riney keep his cool is that he has hired Jay Berman, the former CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to help shepherd Project Playlist past copyright issues, according to a source close to the company.

Berman is co-founder of … Read more

Musician sees irony in industry 'takedown' letter

SAN FRANCISCO--Apparently nobody--not even an artist--gets a pass from the music industry when it comes to copyright laws.

After unwittingly posting an unauthorized music file on his blog, Dave Allen, former bassist for Gang of Four, said he had received a cease-and-desist letter from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the group that represents the music industry worldwide.

"Talk about your irony of ironies," Allen said after participating in a panel discussion at the MusicTech Summit held here on Thursday. "But I understood completely. I was wrong. I removed the music."

Allen, a founding … Read more