3 Count: Dutch Links

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1: Zynga Calls EA Lawsuit ‘Baseless,’ Countersues

First off today, Alex Pham at the LA Times reports that Zynga has filed a response to EA’s lawsuit against them and has also countersued saying that EA engaged in anticompetitive practices. EA sued Zynga claiming that Zynga’s game “The Ville” was an infringement of EA’s earlier game “The Sims Social”. Zynga has responded, saying that the suit has no merit and that EA unlawfully attempted to prevent its employees from working at Zynga through demands for no-hire agreements and legal threats. Several EA employees, including former EA executive vice president Jeff Karp, left EA to work for Zynga before the release of The Ville. EA has called the countersuit “a predictable subterfuge” that aims to distract from “persistent plagiarism of other artists and studios”.

2: Linking to Infringing Material Can Violate Copyright, says Dutch Court

Next up today, Loek Essers of PCWorld writes that a Dutch court has found that not only is it possible for a link to be illegal, but that it can also be copyright infringing. In a case that pits the Dutch blog GeenStijl against Playboy, the blog linked to images leaked online of local TV celebrity Britt Dekker. According to the court, a combination of factors led to the ruling including that the public would not have had access to the images without the link and that the blog is ad-supported, meaning that there was a profit motive. The blog has been ordred to remove the photos and will be penalized each day it does not. Damages have not been determined. The ruling also opens up new doors for copyright holders in the Netherlands as it may help streamline the removal of links to infringing material and also make it easier to recover expenses as a ruling of copyright infringement requires the defendant to pay the court costs of the copyright holder.

3: Appeals Court Confirms Fox’s Victory in ‘Percy Jackson’ Copyright Lawsuit

Finally today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that the Second Circuit Court ofAppeals has upheld the dismissal of a copyright lawsuit against 20th Century Fox and the Walt Disney Company over the “Percy Jackson” series of novels and film. Two authors, Robyn and Tony DiTocco tried to sue the companies claiming that the works were based on their books about a teenager named PJ, or Percy John and touted similarities between the stories. However, the lower court dismissed the lawsuit pointing out differences between the works and that dismissal has been upheld by the Appeals Court.

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.

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