The COPYKAT delves into the Oracle for a glimpse of the true part of copyright

Oracle and Google Dispute Over the Use of API’s is Not Over Yet

The dispute between Oracle and Google over Google’s use of copyrighted Java application programming interfaces (APIs) to design the Android operating system has reached another stage. The case which was initially filed in 2010 and included patent infringement claim, has generated a lot of attention in the technology industry [as reported previously here] as it deals with the question whether the use of Java programming language can be considered as fair use and it may have a significant chilling effect on software developers.

Following the jury trial in 2016, which found that the use of APIs by Google was acceptable, last week the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington DC has reversed their ruling and decided to send the case back for trial in San Francisco in order to determine the amount of damages. The main issue that was considered by the court was whether Google’s use of copyrighted material was transformative, in order to qualify for the fair use defence. Google argued that it took selected parts of the API code and created its own interpretation for the purpose of creating new functionality. In the view of the appellate court, Google’s actions cannot be considered as transformative as “the copying is verbatim, or an identical function and purpose, and there are no changes to the expressive content or message”. Additionally, the fact that there is a mere change in the format  “(e.g., from desktop and laptop computers to smartphones and tablets) is insufficient as a matter of law to qualify as a transformative use”. Nonetheless, the court has not dismissed the possibility of using a fair use defence where the case involves copying of the computer code. As estimated in 2016 by IP research company Ocean Tomo, Oracle was seeking $9 billion in damages and profits from Google for selling allegedly infringing product. At the same time Google has made over $42 billion in revenues from advertising on Android. With the trial on the issue of costs in the Ninth Circuit, this is the space to watch.

A Google spokesperson commented on the judgment that “[t]his type of ruling will make apps and online services more expensive for users” and said that it is considering next steps in the case. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) believes that this case “should never have reached this stage” as the works should not be eligible for the copyright. As observed by Corynne McSherry, legal director for the EFF, this decision will have a great implication for small software firms and brings legal uncertainty for large number of software developers. In effect, the uncertainty can result in reduced rate of innovation.

The EU Commission Publishes Notice to Stakeholders on the Effects of Brexit in the Field of Copyright

The EU Commission has published a document outlining the effects of Brexit in the field of copyright. Subject to any transnational agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union, as of withdrawal date, i.e. 30 March 2019 00:00 (CET), the EU rules in the field of copyright “will no longer apply for the United Kingdom”. Unless the parties to the negotiations will not agree otherwise, the relationship between them will be governed by the multilateral, international treaties, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT), the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Accordingly, the principles of ‘most favoured nation’ and ‘national treatment’ under TRIPS agreement will apply.

The paper notes that that under the obligations of the multilateral treaties and with no “counterpart in the international conventions”, the level of protection will differ in relation to certain rights and where applicable “exceptions or limitations to those rights as that set out today in the EU copyright acquis”. On of examples is Directive 93/83/EEC, which allows broadcasters to clear the copyright only in the Member State where the signal is introduced. Following Brexit, the UK broadcasters will no longer benefit from this mechanism when providing cross-border transmissions and will be obliged to clear the rights in each of the Member States where the transmission occurs. Similarly, broadcasters in the EU providing cross-border satellite broadcaster services to the UK customers will have to secure the rights of the relevant rightholders. Additionally, after the Brexit date the EU collective management rights organisations will no longer be obliged to represent collective management rights organisations based in the UK for multi-territorial licensing. Orphan works which have been recognised in the UK will no longer be recognised in the EU under Directive 2012/28/EU. Persons from the UK will not be able to obtain accessible format copies from authorised entities in the EU under Directive (EU) 2017/1564 which allows on certain permitted uses of certain works for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled. UK nationals will no longer be entitled “to maintain or obtain a sui generis database right in respect of databases in the EU” and correspondingly EU Member States nationals will not be able to obtain such right for the databases in the UK. The withdrawal of the UK from the EU will also affect the effect of Regulation (EU) 2017/1128 (entered into force on 1 April 2018) for UK nationals who will not be able to benefit from their digital content subscriptions when travelling to the EU.

UK Government Releases New Strategy Plan for Tackling Copyright Infringement Online 

Countries are taking more and more steps  to tackle piracy online - where a number of internet users distribute massive file-sharing infrastructure or share pirated live sports streams.

Last week has seen the publication of ‘Industrial Strategy’ plan in the UK which outlines strategy on how the Government and the creative industries can work together to protect rights of copyright holders. As observed in the document “online piracy continues to be a serious inhibitor to growth in the creative industries. Technologies like stream ripping and illicit streaming devices enable illegitimate access to content without rewarding its creators”. Such situation creates a growing concern for right holders about how their works are exploited online. In order to tackle the problem, the Government plans to host a series of roundtables with rightholders, social media companies and online marketplaces with the aim of brokering voluntary anti-piracy agreements. The measures to be introduced, one of which includes upload filters, “could include proactive steps to detect and remove illegal content, improving the effectiveness of notice and takedown arrangements, reducing incentives for illegal sites to engage in infringement online and reducing the burdens on rights holders in relation to protecting their content”. If such measures will fail to produce the desired outcome by 31 December 2017, the Government will consider further legislative actions in order to strengthen the UK copyright framework. At the same time, the UK Government is planning to address the problem of the so-called ‘value gap’ [read here] in both the UK and in Europe and is planning to make an additional £2 million available to support ‘Get it Right’ campaign. The aim of the action is to “educate consumers on the dangers of copyright infringement and direct them towards legitimate sources of creative content online”. The Government hopes that its action will help to build on the “UK’s position as a global leader and strengthen its advantage as a creative nation by increasing the number of opportunities and jobs in the creative industries across the country, improving their productivity, and enabling (…) to greatly expand our trading ambitions abroad”.

Australian Rightholders Want to Force Search Engines to De-list Pirate Sites

Similarly, Australian Government aims to tackle the problem of copyright infringement online and in February it has announced a review of its pirate site-blocking laws. The Department of Communications asked for feedback on how effective is the mechanism that was introduced in the Copyright Amendment (Online infringement) Act 2015. So far there were several responses from rightholders, which mainly came from the entertainment industry with the aim to expand the scope of the protection. As reported by Torrentfreak, one of the most ‘aggressive submissions’ arrived from the movie group Village Roadshow and TV provider Foxtel. Both entities were successful in having a number of websites blocked by local ISPs in Australia and now they would like to expand the law that would require online service platforms to block the websites with infringing content. As written by Graham Burke, Village Roadshow co-chief, “with all major pirate sites blocked in Australia, the front door of the department store is shut. However, pirates, facilitated by Google and other search engines, are circumventing Australian Laws and Courts and opening a huge back door”. In his view search engines and online platforms should be required to take reasonable steps in order to stop facilitating searches that lead to pirate sites. With an increasing number of links to illegal content appearing on online platforms, the rightholders want to include them in the scope of the legislation. Foxtel also observed a need to improve tackling live streaming, basing its observations on the framework of injunctions obtained in the UK last year by the Premier League and UEFA, which enable to block websites with pirated live sports streams. In their view similar framework should be available in the Courts of Australia.

Owner of Sharebeast.com Sentenced for Illegally Distributing Copyrighted Materials

In the US, Artur Sargsyan, owner of the  Sharebeast.com, Newjams.net and Albumjams.com, has been sentenced for the crime of criminal copyright infringement for private financial game. His website has contained an enormous file-sharing infrastructure consisting of around 1 billion copies of copyrighted musical works that were available for download. At the same time the websites contained pop-up advertisements, which allowed Sargsyan to make a significant profit from the number of visitors downloading works from his websites. US District Judge Timothy C Batten has sentenced Mr Sargsyan to five years imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Additionally, he will be required to pay restitution in the amount of $458,200 and forfeit $184,769. As observed by US Attorney Byung J Pak, “Sargsyan operated one of the most successful illegal music sharing websites on the Internet”. The case was investigated by the FBI and a number of warnings have been sent to Mr Sargsyan to stop violating the law by illegally hosting and sharing copyrighted works. David J LaValley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta says that Mr Sargsyan’s sentence “sends a message that no matter how complex the operation, the FBI, its federal partners and law enforcement partners around the globe will go to every length to protect the property of hard working artists and the companies that produce their art”. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has estimated the total monetary loss to its member companies at $6.3 billion.

Judge has Rejected Motion to Dismiss Copyright Lawsuit Over LeBron James Tattoo

Can a tattoo be protected by copyright? That is the issue which is at stake in in a multi-million dollar lawsuit between Solid Oak Sketches (which claims to acquire rights from various tattoo artists linked with NBA superstars) and Take-Two, publisher of the NBA 2K video game [as we have previously reported here]. Until 2016, when the case was brought, there was no decision rendered that would declare that tattoo designs can be considered as copyrightable work. Take-two in response to the lawsuit has filed a motion to dismiss the action as according to them the use of tattoos “was too fleeting to be considered an infringement” and was displayed briefly. As contented by the Plaintiff, “if an NBA2K player selects Messrs. James, Martin and Bledsoe in a (…) game (…), or 'employs the broad range of the video game’s features to focus, angle the camera on, or make the subject tattoos more prominent,' 'the overall observability of the subject tattoos can be fairly significant”. The US District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain having heard both parties was not ready to adjudicate on the issue quickly. Therefore, she denied the motion to dismiss lawsuit on the basis of de minimis use and ordered more fact-finding in order to resolve the matter at a later stage of the case. In relation to fair use defence, the defendant argued that with their motion being denied, Solid Oak will now be able “to use that decision to shakedown each of the publications and television programs in which those players have appeared”. Despite those arguments, because of the difficulties inherent in conducting a side-by-side comparison of the video game and the Tattoos,” the judge has refused to dismiss the case. Therefore, she decided to order gathering of further evidence in connection with “the fact-intensive question of the applicability of the fair use defense”. It will be interesting to watch the further developments in the case as it might set a precedent on whether tattoos can be protected by copyright and how such protection can affect its bearers and companies willing to creatively depict them. 

Gospel-shocker

In South Africa an almighty row is brewing over a rights scandal alleged to be the "biggest music rights scam in South African history". At the heart of the complaint is SAMRO, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation established by the South African Copyright Act: now the South African Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa has noted "with grave concern" the article published in City Press and News 24 Online News platforms on 1st April 2018 into what is “alleged to be the biggest music rights scam in South African history involving the legendary and multi-platinum selling gospel artist Hlengiwe Mhlaba. The report goes into worrying detail into the alleged theft over a period of years of royalties amounting to millions of rand due to the artist in question."

The Minister has given a directive to the legal unit of the Department of Arts and Culture to immediately initiate a process which will culminate in the appointment of a Commission that will be headed by a retired Judge. More here on the allegations made against SAMRO here https://city-press.news24.com/News/gospel-shocker-how-black-musicians-got-screwed-20180401 and the Chief Executive of SAMRO, Nothando Migogo, responds here  http://www.samro.org.za/news/articles/samro-ceo-response-media-reports

This update by Mateusz Rachubka 

The CopyKat.

The decade-long legal fight over Google’s effort to create a digital library of millions of books is finally over ... the Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge from authors who had argued that the tech giant’s project was ‘brazen violation of copyright law’ — effectively ending the legal battle in Google’s favour. Without the Supreme Court taking up the case, a federal appeals court ruling from October, which found that the book-scanning program fell under the umbrella of fair use, will stand.” More here

Getty Images has filed a formal antitrust complaint with the European Commission about Google image search. According to reports, Getty claims that high-resolution Google image search results, “scraped” from its customers’ sites, are “siphoning traffic and profits from photographers.” Getty argues, because people can view high-quality versions of its photos in image search results, consumers don’t need to click through to publisher sites, and traffic and revenues are suffering accordingly.  Google and Getty Images had been in talks for some time over Getty’s concerns about high-resolution images in Google image search. However, Getty says that Google ultimately told the company to “accept the new image format or opt out of image search”. According to the Financial Times Getty said it felt coerced by Google’s market power into participating. Something it clearly now regrets doing. More here.

According to the IFPI's head of anti-piracy, calling illegal downloading "piracy" has become somewhat of a negative. The problem is that the concept of piracy is, well, just too 'romantic' and exciting. What's not to like about Pirates of the Caribbean (well quite a lot BUT the franchise got Keef in it). Graeme Grant is suggesting a name change -  but can simply changing the name of something really change the beast?

Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe, the UK's Minister for Intellectual Property, has confirmed that the British government is leaning toward the idea of increasing the sentence for online piracy,  to bring it into line with that for physical infringement: “Last year the government consulted on increasing the maximum term to 10 years. We received over a thousand responses, which have played a significant part in helping to shape the discussion” she said.

Baidu, China’s largest search engine, has signed a formal agreement with the United Kingdom concerning the platform's management of intellectual property rights. There are no clear details of the new Memorandum of Understanding about IP infringement, except that the signing was witnessed by Dr Ros Lynch, Director of Copyright and Enforcement at the UK Intellectual Property Office, who is currently in China to promote UK-China copyright week, and that also attending were Baidu president Ya-Qin Zhang and Robin Li, Baidu’s co-founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu. The MoU concerns ‘Copyright Protection Collaboration’. We await details in the next IPO China newsletter! More here!

Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte has put out a statement and a video claiming that the House Judiciary Committee which he chairs is finally ready to start releasing some proposals in response to US Copyright Registrar Maria Pallante's call for Congress to create the "next great Copyright Act". Goodlatte says he is currently focussing on reforms where there is consensus, saying: "In the weeks ahead, we will identify areas where there is a likelihood of potential consensus and circulate outlines of potential reforms in those areas. Then we will convene stakeholders for further work on these potential reforms.  And you have my personal commitment that as the review shifts to more focused work on potential reforms, the process will be transparent and the Committee will continue to ensure that all interested parties have the opportunity to weigh in on issues of concern to them. Our copyright system deserves no less." and "...it is critical that Congress understand the overall impact of any changes in copyright law before proceeding with formally introduced legislation. It is also clear that neither a solely copyright owner focused bill, nor a copyright user focused bill, could be enacted by Congress today, nor should they be. Goodlatte said that the review of the country’s copyright law, which included 20 formal hearings as well as public roundtables in Nashville, Santa Clara and Los Angeles, helped "develop a comprehensive record of the issues facing the American copyright system today.” TechDirt has its own opinion here and more on MusicWeek here.

Spotify now available in Italy: this is the way to go

It was only yesterday that I wrote a post in which I ventured to say that the future of entertainment industry relies on the introduction of innovative services, rather than anti-piracy campaigns that in some cases have come to resemble Don Quixote-sque attacks on digital windmills. So I have to say that I was quite delighted when I read on main Italian newspapers (eg here and here) that since yesterday Spotify is available also in the Bel Paese (the country, not the cheese). Indeed, as commented by the Huffington Post, for Italian music lovers the launch of Spotify felt like Chistmas day.

Besides Italy, yesterday the popular music-streaming service which was first launched in Sweden in 2008 became available also in Portugal and Poland, thus reaching the number of 20 countries around the world where consumers can access it.

This service is fully licensed and, according to IFPI (the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), in Europe in 2011 Spotify was the second single largest source of digital music revenue for record labels.

There are three ways to enjoy the music available on Spotify: Spotify Free (free instant music on users' computers, featuring ads), Spotify Unlimited (ad-free music available at the price of EUR 4,99 per month) and Spotify Premium (downloadable music which can be accessed everywhere from any device and is available at the price of EUR 9,99 per month).

The model proposed by Spotify has become highly successful. According to Wikipedia, total users reached 20 million by December 2012, one quarter of them being subscribers to Unlimited or Premium.

Streaming music does not
necessarily involve
24/7 performances

As far as the Italian market is concerned (and with which this blogger is slightly more familiar than the Portuguese or Polish ones), the launch of Spotify is almost revolutionary, as the presence of on-demand audio streaming services is still limited in this country.

As reported by IFPI, it was just in 2011 that services such as rara, Sony's Music Unlimited and Telecom Italia's Cubomusica were launched, while French Deezer became available in 2012, together with Samsung's Music Hub.

Although in the past decade the trade value of recorded music sales has more than halved in Italy, according to FIMI (the Italian Music Industry Federation) in the first half of 2012, sales of digital music (download or streaming) raised by 43% and currently the trade value of digital music amounts to 33% of the entire Italian music market.

The launch of Spotify may result in these numbers getting even higher. According to Enzo Mazza, FIMI chairman, "according to latest statistics, in Italy streaming represents a huge opportunity: in fact in 2012, trade revenues from streaming music were up 77%."

As also demonstrated by some recent case studies, the presence of a digital sales channel is important to encourage the legal acquisition and use of works. In fact, when a digital sales channel is not available, users will probably turn to piracy and begin to consume much more content through illegal channels than they had previously purchased legally. This is because piracy has high fixed costs but negligible variable ones, the fixed costs being those associated with the purchase/rental of copying devices and the variable ones those influenced by the level of output, ie the amount of pirated material. Once the fixed costs have been paid, it is unlikely that users, who have the choice between free pirated and lawful fee-paying content, will decide to switch back to obtaining content lawfully.

These considerations demonstrate the importance (which has been recognised also by EU Commission President José Barroso) of developing a level playing field for new business models and innovative solutions for the distribution of creative content in order to counteract the growth and spread of pirated works.

So, good luck to Spotify and similar innovative services!

Online piracy, Content ID and the role of intermediaries: is this the right direction?

A few days ago the Wall Street Journal - this serious blogger's favourite and only (well, sort of) publication in her spare time - published an interesting article discussing the presence of illegally uploaded films on YouTube and asking a question which also 1709 Blog readers might have had for some time now: why isn’t YouTube's Content ID used by rights owners as widely as one might expect to identify and block illicit contents from YouTube?

As explained on the relevant page, since 2007 YouTube has made available for free use an advanced set of copyright policies and content management tools to give rights holders control of their content. Content ID allows rights owners to:

·         Identify user-uploaded videos comprised entirely or partially of their content and

·         Choose, in advance, what they want to happen when those videos are found. Make money from them. Get stats on them. Or block them from YouTube altogether.

Rights holders deliver YouTube reference files (audio-only or video) of content that they own, metadata describing that content, and policies on what they want YouTube to do when a match is found. YouTube compares uploaded videos uploaded against those reference files, and applies the requested policy: monetise, track or block content.

According to the latest Content ID statistics,

·         Content ID scans over 100 years of video every day

·         More than 3,000 partners use Content ID, including every major US network broadcaster, movie studio and record label

·         YouTube has more than eight million reference files (over 500,000 hours of material) in its Content ID database; 

·         Over a third of YouTube's total monetised views come from Content ID

·         More than 120 million videos have been claimed by Content ID.

Apparently, however, these numbers are not high enough. According to the Wall Street Journal, illegally uploaded copies of well-known films such as Disney's animated classics (including "Peter Pan," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," and "Fantasia") have been available on YouTube to watch for as long as a year.

  

While the conditions under which liability of intermediaries such as YouTube may arise under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have been recently clarified in a landmark decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (on which see Ben's posts here and here), and YouTube has recently implemented a new appeals process to dispute Content ID claims (here), piracy levels remain high on platforms like YouTube.

While video scanning is not effortless,
it has to be graceful

"Hit one, countless others appear. Quickly. And the mallet is heavy and slow" summarises the New York Times.

For example, to get around Content ID, some YouTube users have started placing copyrighted videos inside a still photo of a cat that appears to be watching an old JVC television set. The Content ID algorithm has a difficult time seeing that the video is violating any copyright rules; it just sees a cat watching TV.

Besides this, rights owners have been increasingly involving intermediaries in their fights against online piracy. Just think about the high and growing numbers showed in the Google Transparency Report or the implementation of the so called 6-strikes enforcement plan in the US (here, here, here, here ...). 

But does all this work?

Do you need magic to contrast online piracy?
Perhaps some Fantasia is required first ... 

According to the co-director of Fight for the Future, "There’s a clearly established relationship between the legal availability of material online and copyright infringement; it’s an inverse relationship ... The most downloaded television shows on the Pirate Bay are [were?] the ones that are not legally available online.”

While rights owners are having a tough time in curbing online piracy, and infringers themselves are finding new ways to get around piracy detectors, this blogger ventures to say, not only (and very originally indeed) that "the answer to the machine is in the machine", but also that the most effective way to contrast piracy would be to develop innovative services which allow users to enjoy copyright-protected materials legally, but also easily and at a reasonable price. Is this too banal? Yes, but it seems that not everybody has got it yet …

The Big Online Rip-Off: can authors and copyright owners fight back?

The latest issue of the UK's Authors' Licensing and Copyright Society's ALCS News carries a lively pulls-no-punches piece, "The Big Online Rip-Off", by writer and publishing analyst Danuta Kean. In this article Danuta examines the current state of play in the currently one-sided battle between authors and online pirates, offering some practical tips as to how authors can "stage the fight back". Explaining the nature and scale of the adversary, she writes:

"Contrary to popular belief, illegal filesharing sites are not shoestring operations run by penniless kids. They require vast servers to host stolen content. They also require huge bandwidth to handle the illegal downloads. Even start-ups – let’s call them small town dealers – need computer equipment, software and broadband services that cost considerable amounts of money. To pay for their operations, traffickers use two revenue models: paid-for premium subscriptions that enable faster downloading; and display advertising – often supplied through Google Ads – which appears as content downloads.

The revenue raised is eye-watering. When the executives behind file-sharing site Megaupload were indicted for copyright violations, racketeering and money-laundering, the indictment left many authors (average income £7,000 and falling) slack-jawed at the money involved. The FBI accused the seven executives, including CEO Kim Dotcom (yes, seriously, that is his name) of amassing $175m since the site launched in 2005. In 2010 Dotcom took home $42m; another executive earned $9m. Among seized assets were a Lamborghini, a Maserati and 15 Mercedes cars with personalised number plates including the legends "STONED", "GOOD", "BAD", "EVIL" and "GUILTY". Oh, and a Rolls-Royce Phantom (list price £250,000 to £300,000) bearing the number plate "GOD"".

On the assumption that this isn't a sufficiently mouth-watering proposition to encourage authors to say, "if you can't beat'em, join'em", she then lists her suggestions for tackling the phenomenon:

• Contact: Companies whose advertising or services benefit trafficking sites. When you find ads for companies on filesharing sites contact those companies through the "investor relations" pages on their website and point to the specific places in which their advertising revenue is being used to support illegal sites. Ads are usually supplied by services such as Google; again use the investor relations page to contact the provider and point out that its service is helping fund a trafficker [it would be good to hear of any empirical evidence that this has any effect. Where advertisers are not public companies with a corporate conscience -- for example small retailers and etailers who are selling big brand products that may be grey goods or infringements in any event -- this may either be impossible or unlikely to bear any fruit]. 

• Note: Every time you search for a piece of music, book or film and the first result page that appears is illegal downloads, inform the copyright holder and the search engine. One of the issues faced by copyright holders is the ease with which illegal sites get their content to the top of search results, making it easier to entice punters into stealing [Again, it would be good to know how effective this is.  Other than depressing copyright owners, who are generally aware when this is the case if they're commercial enterprises or unable to do much about it if they're not, it's not clear what effect this has]. 

• Lobby: The Open Rights Movement has massive lobbying power. They put their case to MPs and MEPs through lobbyists based in London and Brussels. Counter their arguments and contact your MP, MEP and relevant ministers to show how copyright infringement is undermining creativity, not feeding it [the Open Rights Group does call for an evidence-based overhaul of copyright law, as its website indicates, which rather leaves open the question as to what its final policy might be on the subject. Given that MPs and MEPs generally know little and care less about IP, which is never a vote-winner, it might be more effective for authors and copyright owners to join the Open Rights Movement and debate the issues with it from the inside]. 

• Join: Organisations like ALCS, the Publishers Association and the Society of Authors can keep you updated on what is needed, such as changes to search engine protocols to stop traffickers ranking top in searches [this isn't going to change the world, not at least initially, but a better-informed author or copyright owner can be expected to make better decisions]. 

• Publicise: No company wants bad publicity. Use shareholders' meetings, blogs and articles to point out how specific businesses are profiting from the Big Rip Off of Writers [blogs, tweets, Facebook and the social media in general have had some notable successes in influencing corporate behaviour, and sometimes even policy.  The big problem here is the risk of an action for defamation if authors and copyright owners get the facts wrong]. 

• Argue: A recent study of BitTorrent traffic showed that 35.8% was pornographic. Ask these businesses if they know they are making money from sites that include the exchange of child pornography. Ask filesharing friends about the company they keep" [Again, brand owners who are sensitive about their image may not be able to influence the marketing and sale of products once they have been placed on the open market -- but it can do no harm to draw this to their attention].

Danuta closes with the following sentiment:

"This is not an easy fight, but writers and other artists should not assume they cannot fight back. We can. We know we can, because we have been in a world where ripping off writers was endemic before. It was the active and vocal campaigns of writers in the 19th Century that established copyright in the first place. It’s time we brought our fighting skills up to date".

This is true, but back in the 19th century authors like Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo had an easier time of it than did the authors of today.  It was a time when much if not most of the debate over the existence and extent of copyright focused on moral issues, not purely economic ones -- and the public sense of what was right and wrong, fair and unfair, was probably a good deal more pronounced in those days than it is now.

US authorities target app pirates

In the USA, Federal authorities have seized three domains which they believe are involved in the illegal distribution of pirated Android apps.  The three domains are applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com. Anyone visiting those sites will now see this alert:

US Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said “Criminal copyright laws apply to apps for cell phones and tablets, just as they do to other software,music and writings. These laws protect and encourage the hard work and ingenuity of software developers entering this growing and important part of our economy. We will continue to seize and shut down websites that market pirated apps, and to pursue those responsible for criminal charges if appropriate". The Department of Justice said this was the first time it had seized websites to prevent the infringement of copyrighted mobile device apps. 

During the operation, FBI agents downloaded thousands of copies of popular copyrighted mobile device apps from the alternative online markets suspected of distributing copies of apps without permission from the software developers who would otherwise sell copies of the apps on legitimate online markets for a fee. In most cases, the servers storing the apps sold by these alternative online markets were being hosted in other countries, and so international law enforcement partners assisted in obtaining or seizing evidence stored on these servers in countries including the Netherlands and France.  The DOJ said nine search warrants were also executed in six different districts across the US as part of the operation. 

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/August/12-crm-1033.html

Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) predictions here and more on apps here  by clicking on 'telecommunications' and find "So many apps, so little to download"