The CopyKat - new ways to deal with those pesky pirates

The ever marvellous Out-law reports that in the United Kingdom parliamentary under-secretary of state for culture, media and sport Ed Vaizey has said in a statement in the House of Commons that the 'voluntary copyright alert programme’ (VCAP) could be operational later this year. Vaizey said that "significant technical obstacles" had held the government back from implementing new legislation, under the Digital Economy Act (DEA), which would, if established, see the creation of a new framework for enforcing copyright involving ISPs and rights holders. Whilst the government has not given up on implementing the new regime through new regulations, Vaizey said he welcomed the proposed VCAP plans saying ""It has been difficult to implement the details of the Digital Economy Act," Vaizey said, adding "The government have not resiled from it, but there are significant technical obstacles, including the fact that we were being sued by BT and TalkTalk for at least two years from the time when it was passed."


In a bid to protect authors, composers and performers of local artists a special Police team has been set up in Fiji to conduct investigations specifically looking at the issue of copyright infringements. Acting Commissioner of Police Ravi Narayan says local artists have been losing out to pirates which is why a team has been tasked to deal with local cases to bring those who are continuously breaching the Copyright Act to justice saying "We now have a team that have undergone training and have the capacity to deal with cases of copyright infringements and we will work closely with the Fiji Performing Right Association to protect local artists from losing their hard earned money”.

Research firm NPD Group has thrown the spotlight on the rising trend of smartphone-based music piracy, suggesting that it's on the humble mobile device that record companies and music publishers are facing their next big piracy challenge, as an increasing number of apps appearing on the scene that enable users to tap into free and usually unlicensed sources of music content. the most popular of these Android apps, Music Maniac, has been downloaded more than 10 million times — and affords free access to all 10 of the top songs listed on the current Billboard’s Hot 100 list. The Recording Industry Association of America said it has sent notices to Google requesting the app’s removal, claiming it enables song piracy. Google has thus far refused.

And the Department of Justice and the FBI have successfully concluded a case against two targeted high-profile Android app pirates: Nicholas Anthony Narbone and and Thomas Allen Dye, both formerly of the well-known piracy site Appbucket.net, were charged with one count of copyright infringement, and both entered guilty pleas. Dye will be sentenced on June 12th, Narbone on July 8th; the maximum possible sentence is five years in prison, but androidpolice.com say that both will probably receive a reduced sentence for their pleas. One alleged co-conspirator, Thomas Pace, has entered a not guilty pleas as has Kody Jon Peterson of Florida, who was allegedly associated with the SnappzMarket piracy site.

Michael Robertson, the former chief executive of defunct online music storage firm MP3tunes has been ordered to pay an estimated $41 million  after being found liable for infringing copyrights owned by record companies and music publishers once part of EMI Group Ltd (now Sony ATV). The verdict included $7.5 million in punitive damages, although it should be noted that the figures came from the claimant's lawyers. 

Merpel recently mentioned Finnish on the IPKat - and as luck or perhaps bad luck) would have it - it seems that Finland is now facing an invasion of "copyright trolls". TorrentFreak reports "Citizens of Finland are now being subjecting to pay-up-or-else letters, but the decision to target this Scandinavian country isn’t the most obvious one, thanks to less favorable laws than those in the US". Letters that have recently gone out to some Finnish Internet subscribers (translated example below, from a DNA customer)  accuse them of downloading porn using BitTorrent and include an offer to settle for ‘only 600 euros’ (about US$825). A "vague reference" to the police is also included,  "ratcheting up the pressure to comply" says TorrentFreak.

BoingBoing tells us that in Florida, District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro has dismissed a suit "brought by notorious porno-copyright trolls Malibu Media on the grounds that an IP address does not affirmatively identify a person, and so they cannot sue someone solely on the basis of implicating an IP address in an infringement." 

Back in the UK, the Bookseller reports that CILIP (The Chartered Institute of Library Professionals), the Wellcome Trust and the British Library, are among 50 organisations to sign an open letter urging business secretary Vince Cable to implement key reforms to copyright legislation, which they says they fear “could now be subject to delay”. The letter said the proposed new UK copyright exceptions were essential to allowing “today’s technology start-ups to compete with their European and US rivals” but that it seemed “highly likely that the government’s own deadline for the introduction” of legislation on copyright exceptions would be missed." Well yes, they admitted that themselves! And the lovely Eleonora (or e-LAWnora as we must now refer to our friend) updated us on  where Parliament is with all of this yesterday - The Regulations are set to come into force on 1 June, having been approved by a vote in both Houses of Parliament after Easter.

MP3 Tunes files for bankruptcy

MP3tunes, the cloud locker music service that has been engaged in a long and costly lawsuit with EMI, has filed for bankruptcy in federal court in San Diego. In court papers, it listed $7,800 in assets and $2.1 million in liabilities. MP3tunes was founded by Michael Robertson, the web entrepreneur who in the 1990s was one of the first to turn digital music into a big business, with MP3.com.

Last year, the Southern District of New York District Court held that the MP3tunes’ model did not violate copyright itself and was protected by the ‘safe harbour’ provisions of the DCMA - but the company, a number of executives and Mr. Robertson personally faced liability for individual songs uploaded without permission and for ‘contributory infringement’. EMI appealed the ruling, and hearings were scheduled to begin next week.

In a statement, an EMI spokesman noted that despite the bankruptcy, Mr. Robertson was still a defendant in the case – a potentially damaging claim as EMI have alleged Robertson personally loaded infringing material onto the service.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/digital-notes-dogged-by-lawsuits-mp3tunes-files-for-bankruptcy/

A Good Guardian Blog

There is an interesting Blog in the Guardian online titled "Behind the music: Why artists mustn't be drawn into an MP3 site's legal fight" which marries up the right of termination being actively pursued by a number of musicians and songwriters to reclaim copyrights from record labels and music publishers in the USA (the right to reclaim recordings 35 years old - notice must be filed within two years of the termination date) and the legality of so called digital cloud lockers - in particular EMI's claim against web entrepreneur Michael Robertson's MP3Tunes. Its all on the Guardian here

The cloud is the future - Google joins the EFF in MP3tunes' battle against EMI

Google have reportedly filed a paper with the New York District Court in support of MP3tunes.com in its ongoing legal battle with EMI, joining The Electronic Frontiers Foundation who had previously filed an Amici curiae brief in support of the company and its founder Michael Robertson. MP3tunes provides an online music “locker” service where users can store their music and access it from computers and mobile devices. MP3tunes also operates a music search engine called Sideload where users can find music tracks on other sites and then put them in their locker. EMI says the service makes mass copyright infringement easy by letting users upload music they didn’t buy and providing links to online songs that users can then “sideload” into their library and EMI claims that digital locker service such as MP3tunes infringes copyright unless licensed by rights holders . Robertson unsurprisingly argues that EMI’s position is an incorrect interpretation of copyright law saying that MP3tunes is shielded from liability by the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - because it doesn’t encourage copyright infringement and promptly removes infringing content when notified but EMI. Applying for summary judgment, said that “This case is about defendants’ unlawful exploitation of copyrights they do not own to advance their own business interests,” saying “Defendants’ plan was simple: Steal assets, build up a user base, and sell the company before copyright owners could obtain a judgment and shut the service down.” Robertson is a veteran of digital companies. He first tangled with the music industry a decade ago with his previous company, MP3.com which, whilst it was successfully sued by the major record labels, was brought by Universal Music. Last year Robertson sold his web based calling startup company Gizmo5 to Google for $30 million.

The case may well have an important bearing on the future of similar services and Google’s move is seen by some as confirmation of the web’s leading search engine’s (and owners of YouTube expanding) ambitions in the digital content space with a move to these called digital or “cloud-based” lockers and it is widely believed that when Google launches its long awaited music offer, a cloud based digital MP3 storage facility will be at its core.

EMI, which is one of a number of claimants brining the action, have already asked a New York federal judge to bar the EFF from filing their friend-of-the-court. EMI says the brief, supporting MP3tunes argument that it’s not responsible for what music its users store on its servers should be barred because it is “a pure advocacy piece, not a ‘friend of the court” further arguing that EFF’s brief is too long, thereby “circumventing” the court’s “page restrictions” causing “additional burden” to the court and “prejudice” to the EMI. Because EFF’s brief supports MP3tunes, EMI says, its arguments are “duplicative” and should not be allowed. In addition, EMI says, EFF’s brief “contains unsupported speculation that is not helpful to the Court”. The US Consumer Electronics Association, Home Recording Rights Coalition and IP lobbying group Public Knowledge are also expected to support MP3tunes in the case – EMI is joined as a plaintiff by a number of record labels and music publishers including Capitol Records, EMI Virgin songs and Jobete Music and has the support of the Recording Industry Association of America.

Although Google is thought to be talking to the four majors and big indie labels about licensing its digital music offer, Google must clearly recognise the importance of a win for MP3tunes for the future of cloud computing ansd one which would free them from the legal necessity of dealing with record labels, music publishers and collection societies. When the EFF launched their amicus brief, EFF senior staff attorney Corynne McSherry said ”The DMCA safe harbors were designed to encourage the growth of new internet innovations and expression by helping service providers manage their legal exposure, and they’ve been an extraordinary success,” adding “Without the safe harbor provisions, companies like YouTube, Facebook, and many others could have been shut down before they got off the ground. That’s not what Congress intended.”

Commenting on Google's submission Robertson told P2Pnet last week: "Since Google has bet their entire future on the cloud it's not a surprise to see them supporting MP3tunes. This will be a defining case about the future of cloud services" and told Wired.com “This case will define digital-media ownership in the 21st century” adding “Can companies assist their consumers in storing their possessions on the cloud where they can control them? That’s the issue at stake.”

Capitol Records, LLC. et al v MP3Tunes, LLC., and Michael Robertson
No. 07 Civ 9931 United States District Court Southern District of New York

EFF brief of amici curiae http://www.wired.com/epicenter/tag/eff/