Following the stalling of the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy measures in the US Congress, largely in response to activist claims of Internet censorship, Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has continued to offer a more conciliatory approach to the technology community, while still stressing the importance of […]
The founder of the filesharing website Megaupload has been granted bail and released after a New Zealand judge determined that authorities have seized any funds he might have used to flee the country. Kim Dotcom, who US authorities allege facilitated millions of illegal downloads through his company, has been in custody since his arrest on […]
File-sharing site The Pirate Bay has said that it will adapt rather than die if blocked in the UK. The High Court ruled that the site facilitates copyright infringement and will decide in June whether ISPs must block UK customers from accessing the site. In response, The Pirate Bay said it would use other methods […]
The European Commission has asked the EU’s highest court to rule on the legality of a controversial treaty covering copyright, counterfeiting and Internet freedom. The EU executive said in a statement “[we have]…decided to ask the European Court of Justice for a legal opinion to clarify that the ACTA agreement and its implementation must be […]
The Pirate Bay site could be blocked in the UK, after a High Court judge ruled that the torrent site and its users are committing copyright infringement. The case was brought before the court by a coalition of major record labels, including Sony, EMI and Universal. They want the court to force ISPs to block […]
A US judge has ordered the operators of a popular adult website to pay $4 million for copyright infringement to an Iowa-based adult film company. US District Court entered the judgment against PornVisit.com. It was ordered to pay the maximum damages of $150,000 per infringement to a subsidiary of Private Media Group, and to stop […]
US federal authorities have added charges and broadened their case against the defendants in one of the largest anti-piracy operations. The 90-page superseding indictment adds counts of criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud against Megaupload.com and Megavideo.com. The indictment alleges that the defendants reproduced copyrighted works from third-party websites, including […]
Social networking websites cannot be forced to install anti-piracy software in a bid to stop members illegally file-sharing. The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is in a case between Belgian-based social network Netlog and SABAM, a music royalities collection firm also based in Belgium. “The owner of an online social network cannot […]
Following the stalling of anti-piracy measure Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act in Congress towards the end of January, industry lobbies and entertainment companies are considering revised campaigns to help recast the policy debate and reinforce the message that piracy of music and movies is theft. “We can’t throw any old message […]
Sky is signaling a new hardline approach to pubs using foreign satellite services for Premier League football with ads in the licensing trade press warning of a campaign of prosecutions. The approach follows a court judgment earlier this month in which said use of foreign decoders to show Premier League games does breach Sky’s copyright […]