By , August 30, 2013.

If other professions were paid like artists — “Jeez, people with jobs, why you keep demanding money and stuff?!”

Hugh Hansen’s One Thing After Another Blog — Noted copyright scholar Hansen has recently begun a blog which promises plenty of great thoughts on legal issues, including IP and copyright.

MPAA Fires Back at Piracy Study — A recent study that purports to show that some films were harmed by the shutdown of Megaupload in 2012 is unclear and full of speculation, according to the MPAA.

LGBT Cinema, Diverse Voices Quieted by Piracy’s Punch? — Ellen Seidler looks at a recent study by GLAAD that shows representations of LGBT characters in film has declined. There’s a number of reasons for the decline, but one in particular that Seidler has first-hand experience with: online piracy. Seidler concludes with practical tips for filmmakers to help ensure the release of their film is successful.

Emphasis on “goo” – authors point out the many fallacies of Google’s book scanning defense — John Degen runs us through a memorandum filed by the Author’s Guild in opposition to Google’s fair use defense that it has raised in the ongoing Google Book Search lawsuit. “The Authors Guild (America’s version of The Writers’ Union of Canada), is proving itself, once again, to be the best friend of writers worldwide as it continues its David and Goliath legal fight with all-seeing search giant Google.”

Internet-Television Streaming Sites – Coming to a Circuit Court Near You — With lawsuits currently in four circuits, the dispute between television broadcasters and Aereo and its frienemy Aereokiller (now “FilmOn X”) over whether a commercial service can “design around” the public performance right can be difficult to keep track of. Alexandra Goldstein brings you up to speed on the latest developments in those cases.

Copyright Liability for Filelockers: Disney v Hotfile — Finally, I rarely link to my own posts here, but with news this week that film studios were successful in a copyright infringement suit against notorious cyberlocker Hotfile, and with the actual opinion under seal for the time being, I thought it would be helpful to point out a post I had previously written detailing some of the issues at stake and arguments made.

3 Comments

  1. Can you provide the entire SD FL docket number for Disney et. al v. Hotfile et al.? I want to write “(2013)” in there. Because it’s sealed, I have to write a footnote of its affirmation to the Plaintiffs in a law brief that I am writing. Oh man, of all times when a decision is under seal; and at the same time, catastrophic copyright theft goes on unabated.

    I wonder what was the reason to keep a ruling under seal? Obama protecting Eric Schmidt and one of the co-CEO’s relationships to also go on against his wife?

    • The docket number is 1:11-cv-20427-KMW.

      I don’t think there is anything nefarious about the seal. Based on previous court filings and similar cases, I think the seal is just to let the film studios redact specific details of internal anti-piracy procedures and Hotfile to redact specific details of internal DMCA compliance procedures.

      • Thank you for the docket number. Adding that to my brief.

        Ahhh……DMCA compliance for HotFile? LMAO. But they are not classified to be a 17 USC § 512(k)(1)(B) 😉