Showing 33 posts tagged mpaa
Torrent site IsoHunt loses appeal against MPAA filters
Torrent search site IsoHunt has lost its appeal against Hollywood movie studios to have keyword filters removed from its results.
The court battle between the torrent indexing site and the Motion Picture Association of America’s member studios has resulted in the former losing its appeal to remove an injunction that forces the Web site to filter its search results.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a 2010 ruling that stated the site does not qualify for safe harbor under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The site’s founder, Gary Fung, allegedly had “red flag” knowledge of copyright infringements taking place through the site — in particular, by interacting with users.
» via CNET
“It’s another sign that protecting rights moves the needle. We’ve seen indication of this time and time again, more recently from the LimeWire shutdown that resulted in a decrease in peer-to-peer piracy and a simultaneous increase in digital sales,” she wrote in an e-mail. “That’s real money in the pockets of artists and creators.”
“These bills are dead, they’re not coming back,” said Dodd. “And they shouldn’t.” He said the MPAA isn’t focused on getting similar legislation passed in the future, at the moment. “I think we’re better served by sitting down [with the tech sector and SOPA opponents] and seeing what we agree on.”
“The people want movies. None of Hollywood’s baffling legal constructs will stop the demand. The studios are trying to prevent a dam from bursting by putting up a picket fence. And if you don’t make your product available legally, guess what? The people will get it illegally. Traffic to illegal download sites has more than sextupled since 2009, and file downloading is expected to grow about 23 percent annually until 2015. Why? Of the 10 most pirated movies of 2011, guess how many of them are available to rent online, as I write this in midsummer 2012? Zero. That’s right: Hollywood is actually encouraging the very practice they claim to be fighting (with new laws, for example).”
RIAA: Online Music Piracy Pales In Comparison to Offline Swapping
A leaked presentation from the RIAA shows that online file-sharing isn’t the biggest source of illegal music acquisition in the U.S. The confidential data reveals that 65% of all music files are “unpaid” but the vast majority of these are obtained through offline swapping. The report further shows that cyberlockers such as Megaupload are only a marginal source of pirated music.
» via TorrentFreak
US “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Will Roll Out Gradually
More than a year after the MPAA and RIAA announced their groundbreaking anti-piracy deal with U.S. Internet providers, the first warning letters are yet to be sent out. Previously, July 2012 was coined as the start date but the responsible parties are still not ready to launch. While TorrentFreak has learned that various ISPs will start the implementation at different times, it remains a mystery which company will be spying on filesharers.
» via TorrentFreak
Undercover MPAA Agents Expose Alleged Movie Pirates
A British couple are facing imprisonment after an MPAA sting operation revealed they were the owners of streaming links site SurfTheChannel. Aside from the use of an undercover agent who gained access to the defendants’ house under false pretenses, the case also involves an unprecedented involvement of the US authorities with a UK court case, in which a defendant in the US was offered a deal after agreeing to cooperate and testify in a trial overseas.
» via TorrentFreak
“We’re going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented,” he added. “We’re on the wrong track if we describe this as thievery.”
High-res
MPAA: you can infringe copyright just by embedding a video
The Motion Picture Association of America is squaring off against a coalition of Internet giants and public interest groups over the key question of whether it’s possible to directly infringe copyright by embedding an image or video hosted by a third party.
A federal judge took that position last July, prompting a chorus of criticism. Two briefs—one by Google and Facebook, the other by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge—attacked the decision as contrary to past precedents and potentially disruptive to the Internet economy. They asked the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn it.
Last week, the MPAA joined the fray with a brief in support of Illinois federal judge John F. Grady’s ruling. It urged the Seventh Circuit not to draw a legal distinction between hosting content and embedding it. In the MPAA’s view, both actions should carry the risk of liability for direct copyright infringement.
» via ars technica
New copyright center ready to fire on pirates
The major film studios and music companies will soon unveil plans for a “copyright center,” an organization designed to oversee the implementation of the controversial graduated-response program, CNET has learned.
» via CNET
