‘Game of Thrones’ was pirated more than a billion times — far more than it was watched legally — The Washington Post has a full rundown of the numbers from anti-piracy analyst firm MUSO. And the reason for such high numbers may surprise you: “A 2015 study commissioned by ScreenFutures, a group of screen producers, found that the main attraction for those who watched or downloaded illegally obtained television shows was that it was free and they weren’t afraid of being caught.”
Update – Ninth Circuit Amends Opinion in Mavrix v. LiveJournal, Clarifying that Websites’ Use of Automatic Content Blocking Software Does Not Weigh Against Eligibility for Copyright Safe Harbor — Brianna Dahlberg of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard looks at last week’s amended opinion in the closely watched case involving the DMCA safe harbors.
AG Szpunar advises CJEU on cloud-based recording and private copying exception — Eleonora Rosati has the details on the recent advisory opinion regarding whether Italy’s “private copying exception is applicable in a context in which the act of reproduction is not done directly by the beneficiary of the exception [ie a “natural personâ€], since copying requires the intervention of a service provider.” The answer is “yes, with a but.”
World’s Largest YouTube Ripping Site Ordered to Shut Down — Variety reports, “The music industry has scored a major legal victory, sinking the pirate outfit YouTube-mp3.org, a global ‘stream ripping’ site operating out of Germany that was facilitating the theft of millions of dollars worth of music intellectual property per year.”