The passage of the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill has if anything intensified rather than calmed the storm of discussion on the issue and the threat of restrictive intellectual property clauses in the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement (TPPA) is adding to discontent.
A proposed agreement drafted by Google, authors and publishers to settle their yearslong copyright litigation has been rejected, a major setback to Google's ambitious plans to build a massive marketplace and library for digital books.
Chinese telecommunications technology vendor Huawei Technologies has filed a lawsuit against Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, accusing the companies of planning to give Huawei's intellectual property to Nokia Siemens Networks.
Three men found guilty of being accessories to crimes against copyright law for their part in running The Pirate Bay have lost their appeal, while a fourth man still awaits trial.The three, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström, were originally each sentenced to<strong> </strong>a year in prison, but the Svea Court of Appeals reduced their sentences on Friday: Neij must now serve 10 months, Sunde eight months and Lundström four. However, the court raised the damages they must collectively pay, from 30 million Swedish kronor (US$3.6 million) to 46 million kronor.The Pirate Bay is one of the most widely used torrent trackers for online sharers of music, movies and software. The defendants have stated that The Pirate Bay is a legal site containing a collection of Internet links, but the entertainment industry sees it differently. A tracker doesn't host the files for download itself, but instead carries "torrent" files that point file-sharing applications such as BitTorrent to other computers that contain parts of the file to be downloaded.The original verdict against the three was handed down in April last year, and sentenced Neij, Sunde, Lundström and a fourth defendant, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg to one year in prison.
SAP has admitted to the "massive and prolonged" infringement of Oracle's copyrights and should pay at least US$1.7 billion in damages, an Oracle attorney said Monday as the companies' corporate theft lawsuit entered its final stages.
An FBI agent has been in the courtroom each day this week watching the Oracle-SAP trial, suggesting U.S. law enforcement continues to take an interest in the case.
U.S. copyright official Steven Tepp said Tuesday he doesn't understand many of the current objections to the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a 37-nation effort to enforce copyright and counterfeit laws across international borders.
Google's years-long attempt to create an online library and store with millions of books will face yet another legal hurdle with the filing of a class-action copyright infringement lawsuit by the American Society of Media Photographers.
Good lord
A package of legislation designed to combat copyright infringement in Britain is stirring more controversy as it moves through Parliament.
The EU Parliament has approved a common resolution that calls for openness over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in a 663-to-13 vote.
The format of the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill largely reflects the scheme proposed last year, but internet users remain uncomfortable with vague definitions in the law, especially around what is meantr by account "termination".
Incomplete laws and intense lobbying from the software industry are contrary to the values of free software and continue to pose a threat to its existence says an independent technology consultant and writer from New Zealand.
Operation transformation fiction
Yes you did, Brett. And on Google Wave too. (Language warning)
http://www.youtube.com/v/xcxF9oz9Cu0&hl=en&fs=1&hd=1">
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcxF9oz9Cu0
Sovereignty ACTA est
Google's proposed book settlement with book authors and publishers, allowing the company to digitise and sell millions of books, makes a "mockery" of copyright protections in the US Constitution, the head of the US Copyright Office says.