3 Count: Godzilla Attack!

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1: Godzilla Creator Sues US Studio, Alleges Copyright Violation

First off today, the Associated Press is reporting that the Japanese movie studio Toho Co. has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. studio Voltage Pictures over what it sees as copyright infringement in an upcoming film Voltage Pictures is said to be working on.

Toho created the iconic movie monster Godzilla in 1954 and continues to hold the rights to the character today. According to the lawsuit, Voltage is attempting to create attention for an upcoming film by director Nacho Vigalondo, Colossal, which Toho says uses Godzilla images without a license.

Production on Colossal has not begun but Toho claims that Voltage has used various Godzilla images in promotional pieces sent out. In 2014 Vigalondo said that he was interested in creating a Godzilla movie, but one that looks at the experience of being in the rubber suit that was used to create the monster in the earlier films.

2: Free Legal Advice from iiNet and $10 Fines Expected for Dallas Downloaders

Next up today, Stan Beer at ITWire reports that Australia ISP iiNet has announced that it is partnering with a local law firm to provide fee legal advice to anyone who receives a copyright infringement notice from the U.S. film studios Dallas Buyers Club LLC (DBCLLC) and Voltage Pictures.

The two U.S. film studios recently won the rights to force Australian ISPs to send on their notices to subscribers suspected of committing copyright infringement. However, it is unclear what the notices will look like as the judge in the case has reserved the right to approve them before they are sent to avoid abuse.

iiNet warned that they will be forced to turn over the identities of suspected infringers tomorrow and that it expects the notices sent out will include a demand for settlement. However, the company predicts that the demand will be small, likely for the amount the film would have cost if it had been purchased.

3: TiVo Inches Towards Legal Aereo

Finally today, Bill Rosenblatt at Forbes reports that TiVO has sent out an announcement to all of Aereo’s former customers informing them that they can replicate Aereo’s functionality legally through their products by combining the Roamio OTA with TiVO Stream.

Aereo was a TV streaming service that used a series of tiny antennas, one per customer, to capture and record over the air broadcast television and stream it to customers over the Web. The broadcasters sued and, despite some early legal victories for Aereo, the Supreme Court ruled against them, forcing Aereo into bankruptcy. Once in Bankruptcy, Aereo sold its customer list, trademarks and other intellectual property for $1 million to TiVO.

According to TiVO, their service can replicate Aereo by using the Roamio OTA to capture and record over-the-air broadcast TV and then use TiVO Stream to send it to various devices by the web. However, TiVO’s product costs approximately $20 per month, where Aereo was only $8 per month.

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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