Thursday, August 28, 2008

Io v. Veoh copyright case dismissed based on video-sharing website's compliance with DMCA

Thanks to Kip Patterson for bringing this to my attention.

In a California copyright infringement case, Io Group v. Veoh Networks, the Court has granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment, on the basis of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), holding that the defendant's video-sharing web site complied with the DMCA and was entitled to the protection of the statute's "safe harbor" provision.

In its 33-page decision, the Court noted, among other things, that the DMCA was "designed to facilitate the robust development and world-wide expansion of electronic commerce, communications, research, development, and education in the digital age", and rejected that plaintiff's contention that Veoh had failed to reasonably impement its notification policy for repeat offenders.

Interestingly, Viacom -- which is suing YouTube in Viacom v. YouTube in a very similar case -- tried to submit an amicus curiae brief in Io v. Veoh; Judge Lloyd denied its request.

August 27, 2008, Order and decision granting defendant's motion for summary judgment
Order denying Viacom motion for leave to file amicus curiae brief

Commentary & discussion:

Reuters
Slashdot
p2pnet.net
Afterdawn.com (Finnish language version)



Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Motion for sanctions to be granted in Atlantic v. Howell

According to a minute entry in Atlantic v. Howell, the Court will be granting the RIAA's motion for sanctions based on spoliation of evidence.

The entry reads as follows:

The Court finds that the destruction of the evidence after repeated and explicit warnings about the obligation to preserve evidence was in bad faith and therefore warrants appropriate sanctions. The extent of sanctions is within the Court’s discretion. The Court will issue a written order on the pending issues. The Motion for Sanctions is taken under advisement. A written order will issue regarding the pending Motions to Dismiss.
According to an article in Ars Technica, the RIAA has won the case.

August 25, 2008, Minute Entry

Found via Ars Technica.


Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net
p2pnet.net




Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Discovery schedule established in Atlantic v. Boyer

In Atlantic v. Boyer, the Tampa, Florida, case in which the legal sufficiency of defendant's counterclaim for civil conspiracy to commit crimes, and other counterclaims, has been upheld, the RIAA has filed its answer to the counterclaims, the parties have submitted a joint case management report, and a scheduling order has been entered calling for a pretrial statement to be filed in May, 2009.


Answer to counterclaims
Case management report
Scheduling order

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Monday, August 25, 2008

No discovery schedule at this time in Warner v. Cassin

Judge Robinson has ruled that no discovery schedule will be set at this time in Warner v. Cassin.

The RIAA had requested a discovery schedule, defendant had opposed it.

August 25, 2008, Order ruling that no discovery schedule will be set at this time

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Linares declaration evolving to evade detection?

One of our readers, who wishes to be known only as "Concerned Citizen", did an analysis of the Linares declaration filed recently in LaFace v. Does 1-7 in Michigan, comparing it to the Linares declaration used in an earlier Michigan case, LaFace v. Does 1-5. These were Concerned Citizen's findings:

There are some changes that have been made in the Carlos Linares Declaration from last September 11. 2007 (LaFace v. Does 1-5 NMU) and the Current July 8, 2008 LaFace v. Does 1-7 U of M. version. They include the following changes.

(1). "I am an attorney and...", to Linares opening statement. Not a big surprise , but per Michigan's new Professional Investigator law, the attorney needs to be licensed to practice law "in Michigan" in order to exempt an investigator for the requirement of licensing.

(2) the Addition of "Allows users to further distribute files to other users..." in paragraph # 7 section 4

(3) the addition of "In some cases more that one computer can access the internet over a single IP address by using Network translation..." in Paragraph 12 page 5

(4) Removal of the word "Illegal" and "downloaded music files" from the most recent declaration Paragraph 15. In the September 2007 version as Linares referred to the copies as "Illegal copies of sound recordings", but that language has now been changed to "copies of sound recordings" (the word Illegal does not appear in the most current declaration anywhere that I could find)

(5) Replaced the term "Offered for download" and "were offered" with "Distribute" the new boilerplate language.

(6) Added a new paragraph # 24 to the mix claiming that "...Fourth, computer evidence by its very nature is subject to being overwritten. At times, plaintiffs have sought evidence from defendants computers only to find that the evidence of infringement was destroyed (intentionally or unintentionally). Expedited discovery is critical to allow Plaintiffs to put Defendants on notice of the need to preserve the electronic evidence and avoid the loss of evidence.



Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Friday, August 22, 2008

MediaSentry ignored DLEG investigation in Michigan, continued investigating without license

We have learned, from court papers filed in a Michigan "John Doe" case, LaFace v. Does 1-7, that MediaSentry continued conducting Michigan investigations without a license even after it was being investigated for that practice by Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Growth an investigation in which it has made false and inconsistent statements.

Complaint in LaFace v. Does 1-7

Commentary & discussion:


p2pnet.net
Slashdot
Ars Technica
Digital Copyright Canada




Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Warner v. Cassin "John Does" "related case" motion to be heard on September 5th

A hearing has been scheduled in Warner v. Does 1-4, the "John Doe" case which the RIAA commenced after submitting a notice of dismissal of Warner v. Cassin. The hearing is for oral argument of Ms. Cassin's motion to designate the cases as "related", which the RIAA previously indicated it did not oppose.

The Judge's chambers telephoned plaintiffs' counsel and indicated that the parties should file a notice of motion. Ms. Cassin's notice of motion was filed today.

Notice of motion by Joan Cassin to designate case as related to Warner v. Cassin


Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Have copyright owners gone mad?

I was just reading this article on The Industry Standard, Is the RIAA targeting the Electronic Arts-owned Sims karaoke site?, and thought to myself: "Have the content owners gone completely mad? Are they actually trying to destroy our love of music?"

-R.B.


Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Motion to dismiss complaint denied in case against Universal Music over misrepresentation in DMCA notice

David Kravets of Wired.com reports that, in Lenz v. Universal, the case against Universal Music based upon its issuance of a false DMCA notice, the defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint has been denied.

The court held that in issuing a DMCA notice, one must take into account whether the use is a "fair use" under the Copyright Act.

We first learned of the Wired.com report through Slashdot.


Commentary & discussion:

Switched



Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Audrey Amurao files answer in Lava v. Amurao II

In the case against Rolando Amurao's daughter, Lava v. Amurao II, the defendant has filed her answer, containing a number of affirmative defenses.

Answer

As in Elektra v. Barker, defendant is challenging the constitutionality of the RIAA's statutory damages theory, and will be filing a Notice of Constitutional Question.

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Counterclaims dismissed in Missouri case, Atlantic v. Raleigh

We have just learned of a case that has been pending in Missouri since November, 2006, Atlantic v. Raleigh.

The complaint is one of the RIAA's old-style "making available" complaints, since it was filed almost a year before Interscope v. Rodriguez.

The answer contains information about the facts of the case, and interposed a number of counterclaims. However, the counterclaims were dismissed by the Court in an order dated August 18, 2008.

From an examination of the docket it appears that discovery has been on hold, and the parties are now scheduled to appear at a conference on September 11th.

Complaint
Answer and Counterclaims
August 18, 2008, Order and Opinion Dismissing Counterclaims
August 19, 2008, order scheduling conference September 11, 2008

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

RIAA executive Kenneth Doroshow moves from record industry to gaming industry

I guess we may have to rename this blog "Gaming Industry vs. The People" some day, as we have just learned that Kenneth Doroshow -- the RIAA executive who was supposed to debate the statutory damages issue with me back in March, but who chose to avoid that subject and instead recounted his opinion of the facts in Capitol v. Thomas, and who later inserted some paper he'd written into the transcript of the conference instead of allowing his talk to be reported -- has left the RIAA and joined the ESA (the "Entertainment Software Association").

If he accomplishes for game manufacturers what he accomplished for the recording industry, I would say the industry's prospects are bleak.


Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net
Slashdot
GamePolitics.com
p2pnet.net



Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Judge Trager dismisses counterclaims and copyright misuse defense in Elektra v. Torres and Maverick v. Chowdhury

All of the counterclaims, and the copyright misuse defense, asserted by defendants in Elektra v. Torres and Maverick v. Chowdhury, both cases pending in Brooklyn against Queens defendants, have been dismissed by Judge David G. Trager.

August 19, 2008, Decision Dismissing Counterclaims and Defense

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player