Weather Reports

Careful What You Download - What You Don’t Know Can Cost You

David Abrams, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, March 5, 2010
Abstract: A second federal appeals court has now eviscerated the “innocent infringer” defense for copyright infringement, this time for residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The court concluded that, as long as a copyright notice appears on a physical CD somewhere, anyone who illegally downloads that music from the Internet is subject to the higher $750 statutory minimum damages; even if that person believed he or she had permission to download the material. In 2005, a different appeals court made a similar ruling affecting residents of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
more

Viacom Tells YouTube: Hands Off

GERALDINE FABRIKANT AND SAUL HANSELL, New York Times, February 3, 2007
Abstract: In a sign of the growing tension between old-line media and the new Internet behemoths, Viacom, the parent company of MTV and Comedy Central, demanded yesterday that YouTube, the video-sharing Web site owned by Google, remove more than 100,000 clips of its programming. Viacom, along with other major media ...
more

Copyright Questions Dog YouTube

Verne Kopytoff, San Francisco Chronicle, October 27, 2006
Abstract: The proliferation of pirated video and music uploaded by users -- everything from concert footage of pop band Death Cab for Cutie to clips of "Gone With the Wind" -- has made YouTube a target of the entertainment industry, which fears that the illegal free-for-all will crimp its profits.
more

We're Google. So Sue Us.

KATIE HAFNER, New York Times, October 23, 2006
Abstract: Google's growth has brought company increasing number of lawsuits involving copyright violation, trademark infringement and its Web site ranking methods; company has spent millions in legal fees over last few years; legal department has grown from one lawyer in 2001 to almost 100, including some overseas; Google must be aggressive in fighting lawsuits that may reveal too much about its proprietary technology in court.
more

Music Companies Grab a Share of the YouTube Sale

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN AND JEFF LEEDS, New York Times, October 19, 2006
Abstract: Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group each quietly negotiated to take small stakes in YouTube as part of video- and music-licensing deals they struck shortly before sale to Google; music companies collectively stand to receive as much as $50 million from these arrangements; Web site had been considered litigation land mine because of significant portion of videos posted to YouTube contain copyrighted songs or video material; Universal ahs filed suits against Bolt and Grouper, smaller video-sharing sites, for allowing users to post hundreds of pirated music videos of its artists; deals that music companies struck for stakes in YouTube should help shield Google from copyright-infringement lawsuits, issue that concerned some Google investors when YouTube deal was first announced; other copyright holders, including Hollywood and television studios, could pursue legal action if their content appears on YouTube.
more

Maintained by Chilling Effects