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  • Mar 27, 08

    Long at loggerheads, cable provider Comcast Corp. and popular file-sharing company BitTorrent Inc. now are working together.

    The deal comes as BitTorrent, which became known for developing software technology widely used to illegally share files, is trying to reinvent itself.

    online.wsj.com/...SB120658178504567453.html 52 bittorrent comcast net neutrality

    • The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent's technology more smoothly on Comcast's broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast's chief technology officer.

  • Mar 28, 08

    www.torrentspy.com 52 bittorrent shutdown torrentspy

    • We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring  the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down  worldwide on March 24, 2008.

       

      The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and  links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the  last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of  our users and ourselves.  

      Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with  our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore,  we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for  our users - permanent shutdown.

  • Mar 28, 08

    However, justice works swifter in Iceland than it does in the US, and after only 4 months, the case has been to court.

    The decision, however, was as surprising as it was swift. Instead of deciding for or against the defendants, the court simply dismissed the case. It is likely, however, that the plaintiffs will appeal the decision to the Icelandic ‘Supreme Court’ (Hæstiréttur).

    torrentfreak.com/orrentis-case-dismissed-080328 52 bittorrent decision iceland lawsuit mpaa

    • The verdict, (available in Icelandic here) seems to hinge on the fact that under Icelandic laws,  searching for files, or providing accessibility to them, is legal, as long as  the files provided by the service are not themselves copyrighted. Torrent files,  are not themselves copyrighted, but are instead metadata – data about data-  describing copyrighted material, as indeed are reviews.

       

      Svavar Lúthersson, owner of torrents.is, told TorrentFreak in a response to  the court ruling “I’m very glad they came to this decision although it came as a  surprise for myself and the plaintiffs. I will have to consult with my lawyer as  to what this decision means regarding the preliminary injunction but currently  it’s still in effect.”

    • However, justice works swifter in Iceland than it does in the US, and after only 4 months, the case has been to court.

      The decision, however, was as surprising as it was swift. Instead of deciding for or against the defendants, the court simply dismissed the case. It is likely, however, that the plaintiffs will appeal the decision to the Icelandic ‘Supreme Court’ (Hæstiréttur).
       - Jonathan Bailey on 2008-03-28

  • Mar 28, 08

    Now that the IFPI has realized that it can’t sue every file-sharer in the world, it tries to force ISPs to block their customers from accessing filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay. The IFPI recently forced an Israeli ISP to block access to HTTPShare.com - which boosted its visitors significantly - but it’s the block it achieved against The Pirate Bay in Denmark that is currently being used as leverage against other ISPs, this time in Sweden.

    torrentfreak.com/ses-to-block-pirate-bay-080327 52 ifpi isps net neutrality sweden

    • One such ISP is Telia Sonera, the dominant  internet provider in Sweden with a total of 106 million subscribers across  Europe. According to a report,  they have received a letter from the IFPI which states that legal measures will  be taken against them unless they block The Pirate Bay initially, and also some  other (as yet unnamed) sites connected to it.

       

      However, Telia is highly experienced in its field and has a very clear  understanding of its obligations under the law, law which does not require them  to block sites or filter content.

    • Now that the IFPI has realized that it can’t sue every file-sharer in the world, it tries to force ISPs to block their customers from accessing filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay. The IFPI recently forced an Israeli ISP to block access to HTTPShare.com - which boosted its visitors significantly - but it’s the block it achieved against The Pirate Bay in Denmark that is currently being used as leverage against other ISPs, this time in Sweden. - Jonathan Bailey on 2008-03-28

  • Mar 26, 08

    Cliff Thompson, a San Antonio resident sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement, has asked the Supreme Court to decide whether the record labels should be forced to pay attorneys' fees in cases where they voluntarily dismiss copyright infringement cases. Thompson was sued by the RIAA in 2006 for allegedly using KaZaA to distribute music, but the labels dismissed their case against him once it became apparent that his adult daughter was the KaZaA user in question.

    arstechnica.com/...scotus-for-attorneys-fees.html 52 lawsuit riaa scotus

    • Thompson sought an award of attorneys' fees, arguing that since he was the prevailing party in the copyright infringement lawsuit, he was entitled to have his legal bills paid for by the RIAA. The problem is that different courts do not handle attorneys' fees in copyright infringement cases uniformly. The judge in Virgin v. Thompson denied his request, citing a "purported lack of responsiveness," and Thompson was thwarted once again at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • Mar 26, 08

    Two ongoing cases illustrate the point. First, the European Union is pushing for the US to change a pair of rules that it calls "long-standing trade irritants." Despite World Trade Organization rulings against it, the US has not yet corrected either case for a period of several years. Ambassador John Bruton, who represents the EU in the US, said in a statement late last week that he wants to see the matters resolved.

    arstechnica.com/...rulings-only-when-it-wins.html 52 treaty united states wipo wto

    • Two ongoing cases illustrate the point. First, the European Union is pushing for the US to change a pair of rules that it calls "long-standing trade irritants." Despite World Trade Organization rulings against it, the US has not yet corrected either case for a period of several years. Ambassador John Bruton, who represents the EU in the US, said in a statement late last week that he wants to see the matters resolved.

  • Mar 26, 08

    Van Heuen is very optimistic that the Blu-ray Disc Association won't be able to squash this crack using technological methods. But what about the law? SlySoft is based on the isle of Antigua, where the only "heat" SlySoft can expect is from the sun.

    arstechnica.com/...finitively-cracked-update.html 52 blu ray crack drm

    • Although the BD+ scheme is designed to be dynamically updated, van Heuen isn't worried. Noting that the entire BD+ scheme is "not economical to be done even once," he wryly points out that "the customer pays the additional cost." There are some "attacks" against SlySoft's crack that the BDA could roll out, but Slysoft is prepared to address them, van Heuen added.

  • Mar 26, 08

    I recently followed Lifehacker's guide to BitTorrent and set my laptop up with the uTorrent program. Using a combination of PizzaTorrent and uTorrent, I downloaded several movies and albums, perhaps 30 in all. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail from Cablevision (my ISP) saying that Paramount/Dreamworks had filed a complaint with them regarding my illegal download of one of their films.

    lifehacker.com/...g-copyrighted-materialnow-what 52 bittorrent comcast isps mpaa

  • Mar 26, 08

    'The simplest option would be a flat rate under which a monthly payment would provide access to our entire music catalogue for all digital players, including Apple's Ipod,' he added.

    money.cnn.com/...AFX-0013-23994410.htm 52 music sony subscription

    • BERLIN Thomson Financial - Music company Sony (NYSE:SNE) BMG wants to launch a subscription plan to give clients unlimited access to its digital catalogue, chief executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz said.

  • Mar 23, 08

    With Hulu going live this month, the portals that are distribution partners for this NBC Universal-News Corp. online video joint venture continue to focus on streaming full-length episodes and building out content around popular TV shows.

    www.hollywoodreporter.com/...acf24cbb5b53e8db3f515f2e2f9438 52 hulu portals tv

    • With Hulu going live this month, the portals that are distribution partners for this NBC Universal-News Corp. online video joint venture continue to focus on streaming full-length episodes and building out content around popular TV shows.
    • For AOL TV, streaming full episodes is a new endeavor. The Time Warner-owned site -- the only portal to offer ABC primetime shows in addition to Hulu and CBS content -- started streaming Feb. 14, and AOL TV and Moviefone publisher Kristin Rolla said "30 Rock" and "Jericho" have been the most popular shows thus far.

  • Mar 23, 08

    What may not be so widely recognized, however, is that ABC obtains rates for video ads streamed in association with its content that “are comparable to TV rates.” In excess of $20-per-thousand, in fact.

    mashable.com/abc-hulu 52 abs fox hulu nbc

    • What may not be so widely recognized, however, is that ABC obtains rates for video ads streamed in association with its content that “are comparable to TV rates.” In excess of $20-per-thousand, in fact.

  • Mar 25, 08

    torrentfreak.com/esses-sell-more-product-080324 52 music piracy videos

    • If you are downloading stuff you wouldn’t have bought in the first place, according to economist Karen Croxson, you are probably doing the company that created the product a big favor. You, Mr ‘Good’ Pirate, are telling your friends, adding to the media ‘buzz’ and driving up sales.
    • Imagine a situation in the future where Internet pirates are accepted - maybe even recruited - to replace expensive marketing and consumer awareness teams when bringing a product to market. Imagine the reward for the pirate was a free copy of the software/media he agrees to promote. According to an economist, it could be happening right now. - Jonathan Bailey on 2008-03-25

  • Mar 23, 08

    But reading his opinion piece published in today’s New York Times concerning what he calls “the royalty scam” conducted by Internet music portals like MySpace and Bebo, I can’t help but say: wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

    mashable.com/...bragg-bebo 52 bebo billy bragg music myspace

    • Don’t get me wrong. I believe in just payment to musicians on radio, whether over-the-air or over-the-Web, as well as through CD and download sales. I think that the record companies have provided the majority of working musicians with ridiculous contractual conditions and have not delivered what I would consider to be a fair percentage of retail income. I think a good portion of “signed” artists deserve more. A lot more. But as far as social networks like MySpace and Bebo are concerned, there’s really no basis to demand that they provide royalties. They didn’t start their businesses with the aim of directly sustaining musicians,

  • Mar 22, 08

    The most enthusiastically glum was Gerry Faulhaber, a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the former chief economist for the FCC. According to Faulhaber, copyright is a dead letter.

    www.contentagenda.com/...630023663.html 52 business fcc

  • Mar 26, 08

    The makers of World of Warcraft are locked in a legal battle with a firm that has produced a tool to automate many actions in the virtual world.

    Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly, the creator of the MMO Glider program, which performs key tasks in the game automatically, such as fighting.

    news.bbc.co.uk/...7314353.stm 52 virtual worlds warcraft world of warcraft wow

    • Mr Donnelly says his tool does not infringe Blizzard's copyright because no "copy" of the Warcraft game client software is ever made. 

       Blizzard has said the tool infringes copyright because it copies the game into RAM in order to avoid detection by anti-cheat software. 

       The two parties are now awaiting a summary judgement in the case.

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