3 Count: Settle This

Jonathan BaileyMarch 9, 2011

2 minutes read

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Lime Wire Settles Copyright Suit with Publishers

First off today, the former file sharing service Lime Wire has settled one of its ongoing cases, this one involving some 30 music publishers. The details of the settlement are not available but this case, filed in June of last year, had already forced the closure of Lime Wire as a service last year and was against both the company and its founder Mark Gorton. However, a separate lawsuit involving another group of publishers is still ongoing and is due to head to court on May 2nd, leaving intact the possibility of a court verdict.

2: Google Fined In French Court For Not Stopping Video Copyright Abuse

Next up today, Google suffered a legal setback in France where a court ruled that Google owed €430,000 in damages to a documentary filmmaker named Mondovino who claimed that one of his works kept appearing both in Google Search and Google Video despite his desire for it not to. The EU, of which France is a member, does have a safe harbor provision similar to that in the U.S., one that prevents hosts from being liable for when users upload infringing material, but the court ruling seems to hinge on the fact that the work kept reappearing on the sites, even after all parties were notified. Details on this case are scant at this time and I will have more as I learn it.

3: Supremes to Decide if Public Domain Works Can be Re-Copyrighted

Finally today, the Supreme Court will be taking a look at the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which changed the way the U.S. approaches the copyright terms on certain foreign works, including pulling some works out of the public domain in the U.S. that had been there previously. Specifically at interest is the works by many Russian composers, which had no copyright protection in the U.S. before the act was passed but were given it after the fact. This lead to what many are calling a free speech issue and are suing to have those works placed back into the public domain.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.