3 Count: Forced Settlement

Jonathan BaileyAugust 9, 2012

2 minutes read

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

1: Judge Orders Oron To Settle $34.8m Copyright Suit, Dismisses Case

First off today, Enigmax at Torrentfreak writes that, in a bizarre twist in the Oron.com cyberlocker lawsuit, the judge has ordered Oron to settle the case and has dismissed the lawsuit. The case pitted Oron against Corbin Fisher, a porn studio owned by Liberty Media, which sued the site for some $34.8 million for allegedly contributing to copyright infringement of Fisher’s content. However, some time ago the two sides began settlement talks though, according to Oron, there was never an agreement reached. However, Liberty Media and the judge disagree, saying that there was an agreement and the judge is now holding Oron to it. Under the agreement, Oron is to pay Liberty Media $550,000 plus attorneys fees and, in exchange, all claims against the site will be dismissed. Liberty will also publicly state that they believe Oron to be protected by the DMCA and that, after careful review, there was no child pornography on the site. In the meantime, however, Oron is down. WIth its assets frozen for the pending litigation, Oron has been unable to pay its hosting bills, though the settlement also calls for Liberty to seek the unfreezing of Oron’s assets.

2: Yahoo to Drop Copyright Countersuit Against Singapore Press Holdings

Next up today, Chun Han Wong at Dow Jones Newswires reports that Yahoo will be dropping its countersuit against Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) for alleged copyright infringement after the two sides have settled their disagreements over Yahoo’s claims. The lawsuit started after SPH sued Yahoo alleging that Yahoo had reproduced content from the company’s papers on its site without permission after negotiations for a license broke down. Yahoo countersued saying that SPH had actually used Yahoo’s content. Though Yahoo’s counterclaims are now resolved, SPH’s original claims are not and will be moving forward toward a trial, where SPH is seeking unspecified damages.

3: Video Released of Police Raiding Kim DotCom’s Mansion

Finally today, Dara Kerr at CNet reports that video captured during the raid on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s house has been released to public, raising questions about the tactics police used and the presence of the FBI. When New Zealand authorities raid Dotcom’s house, they used a helicopter, police offers armed with assault weapons, over 100 officers and, according to a newspaper report, FBI agents on the scene. The video doesn’t show anything that wasn’t already known, but Dotcom is alleging that he was “beat up” by the police as part of the raid. Dotcom is currently facing extradition to the U.S. but that extradition is on hold pending rulings on the validity of the evidence gained through the search warrants that were served.

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.