3 Count: Hateful Retreat

Jonathan BaileyMay 8, 2014

2 minutes read

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

1: Quentin Tarantino Withdraws Lawsuit Against Gawker Over ‘Hateful Eight’ Leak

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Quentin Tarantino has unexpectedly withdrawn his lawsuit against Gawker over the Hateful Eight script leak, a lawsuit that he had just refiled last week.

The Hateful Eight was a movie in production by Tarantino but, when a early copy of the script leaked on various file hosting sites, Tarantino sued Gawker for linking to copies of the script online. The first lawsuit was dismissed because it failed to make allegations of direct copyright infringement upon which Gawker allegedly contributed but he was given leave to refile, which he did last week with additional allegations.

Now he has withdrawn that lawsuit without prejudice, meaning that he is free to refile it later if he wishes, something the dismissal hints at. Gawker, however, had not responded to the refiled lawsuit.

2: Private Copying Under Threat? Government Delays Legalizing Ripping from CDs

Next up today, Nicole Kobie at PC Pro reports that impending legislation in the UK to legalize private copying and parody of copyrighted works has been delayed and will not be implemented on June 1st as planned.

The two changes were supposed to be part of a five point discussion in the House of Lords committee but it was not raised due to time constraints. It is now expected to be discussed on the 14th of May, though that will push back the implementation of the changes past the June 1st target date.

The rule changes are part of sweeping copyright reform in the UK which followed the Hargreaves Review, which proposed the changes to parody and private copying. However, the government has said that they are still committed to implementing the changes as soon as possible.

3: Google Blocks Demonoid for Spreading Malicious Software

Finally today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes that the popular BitTorrent site Demonoid has been flagged by Google as a site that distributes malware and has been blocked in Google Chrome and Google search.

The issue comes from third-party ads featured on the site. Google says that some 59 pages on the site featured malware that attempted to harm users’ computers. Demonoid has announced that it will remove all ads from the site until it can resolve these problems.

The move comes after a report stated that 90% of all the top 30 “pirate” sites contained malware. In the meantime, Demonoid is said it is doing what it can to have the blocking removed.

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.