Note:For more recent news on this issue, read “Bomb-making tips, hit list behind Blogetery closure” Two services that enable users to blog or create online forums have disappeared from the Internet under mysterious circumstances. Blogetery.com, a blogging platform, went dark on July 9, less than a week before Ipbfree.com, a service that helped users create Web message boards, went offline. No one has said these situations are linked, but they nonetheless possess intriguing similarities. • Each of the services host loads of user-generated content. • Operators at[....]
Archive
Tag: copyright
Note:For more recent news on this issue, read “Mystery shrouds closures of blog, forum platforms.” Blogetery.com, a little-known WordPress platform used by more than 70,000 blogs, was shut down by its Web hosting company more than a week ago and nobody seems willing to say why or who is responsible. BurstNet, the Web-hosting company, informed Blogetery’s operator that service was terminated at the request of some law enforcement agency but wouldn’t say which one. As for the reason, BurstNet hasn’t made that clear either. In an e-mail to Blogetery’s[....]
Another day, another impending lawsuit brews on the horizon. While no briefs have been filed yet, it looks like WordPress is probably going to have to sue a successful theme developer in court in the (not to distant) future. Andrew Warner of Mix Energy fame was able to interview the founder of WordPress (Matt Mullenweg) as well as Chris Pearson (the creator of Thesis) over whether or not Thesis needs to embrace the way of GPL (or General Public License for you non-geeks). After watching (or rather listening) to the video for almost an hour, it looks as if the only ones who are going to[....]
Legal experts sympathetic to copyright owners as well as those known for supporting technology companies are criticizing a federal judge’s decision to lower a jury award in a high-profile lawsuit about file sharing. Joel Tenenbaum during an interview last year with CNN after a jury ordered him to pay $675,000. (Credit:CNN) A year ago, a jury found college student Joel Tenenbaum liable for willful copyright infringement for sharing 30 songs, and later set a damages award of $675,000. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner dramatically reduced the award to $67,500. Gertner[....]
Lime Wire founder Mark Gorton during the past decade made millions of dollars helping people share billions of pirated songs. Now, the big record labels claim in legal filings that Gorton has maneuvered to prevent the court from seizing his gains. In court papers last week, the Recording Industry Association of America once again asked the court to freeze Lime Wire’s and Gorton’s assets. The trade group for the four largest record companies alleged in a copyright complaint filed in 2006 that Gorton had for five years placed his assets in a trust that he, his wife, and two[....]
The music industry suffered another high-profile legal setback on Friday when a federal judge reduced a damages award against a file sharer found liable for copyright violations. A jury last year ordered Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University student, to pay $675,000, after being found liable of copyright infringement, to the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the four largest record companies. But U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that the amount was “unconstitutionally excessive,” according to a report in Boston.com, the Web site for The Boston[....]
Anyone who fears being sued on suspicion of pirating the Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker” can likely relax, at least for a little while. The law firm representing indie move producers, including the makers of ‘The Hurt Locker,’ won a big victory in court last week. (Credit:Voltage Pictures) The law firm representing Voltage Pictures, the producers of the Iraq war film, is suing people suspected of being illegal file sharers but is being delayed by watchdog groups. Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver, which is filing copyright complaints on behalf of at least a dozen[....]
The Internet has suffered a premature death–or at least that’s what aging rocker Prince believes has happened. “The Internet [is] completely over,” Prince told U.K. publication The Mirror, which published an interview with the music icon on Monday, the eve of the debut in that country of his latest CD, 20TEN. Perhaps not coincidentally the disc will be distributed in the pages of The Mirror. “The Internet [is] like MTV,” Prince said later in the Interview. “At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated.” It’s easy to see[....]
While YouTube managers do victory dances following their massive courtroom win in the copyright case brought against the video service by Viacom, the triumph appears to have done little to buoy file-sharing service Lime Wire. Lime Wire, the Web’s largest and most popular file-sharing service, has fended off allegations that it violated the copyrights of the four largest recording companies for four years, but U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood last month granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America. The court found Lime Wire and founder Mark Gorton[....]
The file-sharing community has gone on the offensive in its court fight with the makers of the Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker.” Jeff Kowalski, 28, filed an “Answer” to the complaint laid against 5,000 as yet unnamed people who the film’s producers allege have shared the movie illegally via peer-to-peer services. “Defendant Mr. Kowalski requests that Plaintiff’s complaint be dismissed,” Kowalski wrote earlier this month to U.S. District for the District of Columbia. One of the problems with Kowalski’s legal claims, however, is that[....]
Google CEO Eric Schmidt's side prevailed over Philippe Dauman's Viacom in this important copyright case. U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton, overseeing the longtime copyright fight between Viacom and Google over YouTube, on Wednesday granted summary judgment for the search company. “The court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement,” Google said on its site. “The decision follows established judicial consensus,” Google continued, “that online[....]
For years, file sharers have wondered why copyright owners don’t go after Google, when the search engine is as effective at finding pirated film and music content as The Pirate Bay or any other BitTorrent search engine. It seems as if someone at the British Phonographic Industry must have wondered about that too, as the trade group for the music industry in Great Britain has requested that Google remove links to some popular file-sharing sites, including Megaupload, 4shared.com, Zippyshare, and MediaFire. “We have identified the following links that are available via[....]
For years, file sharers have wondered why copyright owners don’t go after Google, when the search engine is as effective at finding pirated film and music content as The Pirate Bay or any other BitTorrent search engine. It seems as if someone at the British Phonographic Industry must have wondered about that too, as the trade group for the music industry in Great Britain has requested that Google remove links to some popular file-sharing sites, including Megaupload, 4shared.com, Zippyshare, and MediaFire. “We have identified the following links that are available via[....]
A group of music publishers on Wednesday filed a copyright complaint in federal court against LimeWire’s parent company and founder Mark Gorton, according to documents obtained by CNET. (Credit:Screenshot by Greg Sandoval/CNET) Eight members of the National Music Publishers’ Association, including the publishing arms of the four largest recording companies, were named as plaintiffs in the suit. They accuse Lime Group, parent of software maker Lime Wire, and Gorton with “copyright infringement on a massive scale.” The suit comes as LimeWire, the nation’s[....]
The heat is being turned up on the company representing the producers of “The Hurt Locker” as it wages a wide-ranging litigation campaign against illegal file sharing. Jon Harrison, an accused file sharer, says he noticed changes in the "Far Cry" and "Hurt Locker" copyright complaints. (Credit:Jon Harrison) In Arizona, a law firm called White Berberian recently began advertising on its site that it will defend those accused of illegal file sharing by Dunlap Grubb & Weaver. That is the firm, which also goes by the name U.S. Copyright Group, that is filing[....]
The music industry wants a federal court to order Lime Wire managers to stop streaming advertisements and collecting ad revenue, and to cease offering software upgrades, according to court documents. Mark Gorton, Lime Wire founder, in a YouTube interview. (Credit:Screenshot by Greg Sandoval/CNET) U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood could deliver a knockout blow to Lime Wire on Monday morning if she agrees to grant the music industry’s request–filed with the court on Friday–for a permanent injunction against the controversial file-sharing service. The top record companies[....]
LimeWire lives another day. The besieged file-sharing service will likely stay in business a minimum of two weeks. During a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood gave Lime Wire lawyers two weeks to respond to a motion filed Friday by the music industry to close down LimeWire. Last month, Wood granted summary judgment for the Recording Industry Association of America and found Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton liable of copyright infringement. In papers filed Friday, the RIAA told Wood that every day LimeWire is available to the[....]
Suing people for illegal file sharing appears to have made a comeback. "The Hurt Locker" won six Oscars but made only $16 million in U.S. box office sales. Without file sharing, would the flick have made more? News that Voltage Pictures, producers of the Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker,” filed a federal copyright complaint last week against 5,000 alleged file sharers caught many in the file-sharing community off guard. Hadn’t the film and music industries dumped a litigation strategy in favor of a much more subtle approach, one that didn’t drag fans[....]
Producers of Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker” have made good on a promise to file copyright lawsuits against people who illegally shared the movie via peer-to-peer networks. Voltage Pictures, an independent production company, filed a copyright complaint on Monday against 5,000 John Does in federal court in Washington, D.C. According to court records, next on the company’s to-do list is to learn the names of the John and Jane Does from their Internet service providers. Attorneys for Voltage wrote in the complaint that unless the court stops the people who pirate[....]
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood apparently goofed by suggesting that a prominent pro-technology attorney acted improperly in dealings with the firm that oversees LimeWire. Two weeks ago, Wood granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America in the trade group’s copyright case against Lime Group, parent of file-sharing service Lime Wire, maker of the LimeWire software. While Wood’s decision generated enormous interest from file sharers, as it likely means the end of LimeWire, according to legal experts, Wood’s written decision stirred[....]