3 Count: Cards Against Copyright

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1: Game of Thrones Pirates Arrested For Leaking asrpisode Early

First off today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes that, in India, four people have been arrested in conjunction with the leak of a new episode of Game of Thrones.

With the new season of the hit TV show underway, the fourth episode, entitled The Spoils of War, was leaked a few days before its scheduled premiere. The episode contained watermarks on it that said “For Internal Viewing Only” and “Star India Pvt Ltd”.

Now, 10 days later, police have claim they have tracked down those that are responsible and have arrested four people connected with a local company Prime Focus Technologies. The police claim at least some of the men had login credentials for the series and then abused that access for the purpose of leaking them online. The men are being held until August 21 while the investigation continues.

2: Trump Orders an Investigation Into China’s Intellectual Property Practices

Next up today, Reuters is reporting that U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized a Section 301 investigation into China’s alleged intellectual property violations.

China has long been a concern for U.S. companies, which accuse the country of being tolerant of copyright, patent and trademark violations. U.S. companies, including tech giants such as Microsoft, Apple and Google have expressed hope that China will take the investigation seriously but the Chinese government has said that it will “poison” U.S.-China relations.

The U.S. Trade Representative will have a year to look into whether a formal investigation is needed. Some speculate the long lead time could be a means to give the U.S. and China to discuss other issues, including the dispute with North Korea.

3: Cards Against Humanity Granted Injunction in Copyright and TM claim

Finally today, Kaan-tanman at the World Intellectual Property Review reports that  at U.S. court has granted the makers of Cards Against Humanity and injunction against a company that they say was making counterfeit versions of the popular game.

The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Missouri by The Cards Against Humanity company against Skkye. According to the lawsuit, Skkye was selling counterfeit versions of the game and, when pressed, claimed to have earned just $241.13 in profits from their sales.

Cards Against Humanity disputed that, saying they believed that the profits were much higher. The judge seemed to side with them awarding Cards Against Humanity $60,000 in damages for copyright infringement, another $60,000 in damages for trademark infringement and ordered an injunction against Skkye that both bars the sale and requires the destruction of infringing goods. The judge also awarded attorneys fees in an amount to be determined later.

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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