Legal news stories and other items of interest

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Time out for a Canadian copyright commission
Heritage Minister Bev Oda has recently confirmed that her government's "intent and plan so far" is to introduce a copyright bill this fall. If this happens, and the bill satisfies certain special interest expectations, it would be a dramatic departure from the Conservatives' promising March 19, 2005 policy declaration and very controversial indeed. I fear that the government has been misinformed and even misled by some lobbyists, and may not realize what lies ahead. The bill could contain two main thrusts that would be deeply divisive and likely be seen as unnecessarily pro-American and contrary to Canada's interest.
Hill Times

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Procol Harum Organist Sues for `Whiter Shade of Pale' Royalties

By James Lumley

Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The former organist for music group Procol Harum should be given an equal share in the royalties generated by the band's 1967 hit ``A Whiter Shade of Pale,'' his lawyer told a London court.
Bloomberg

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The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report on the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 has now been released (14 November 2006). This review was conducted in relation to changes to the Australian Copyright Act that most particularly concerned the circumvention of digital rights management and new fair dealing provisions.
p2pnet
Provisions of the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006

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RIAA attacks Marie Lindor's son

Warner Music, EMI, Sony BMG and Vivendi Universal have for a while been trying to get into sue 'em all victims' hard drives so they can weasel around to see what they can see. Now they want more. They're also demanding access to "all computers and/or music listening devices including iPods and MP3 players".
p2pnet

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Brein Sues Provider for Hosting BitTorrent Site

The Dutch anti-piracy organization Brein is suing the web hosting provider of the BitTorrent site extremepowertorrents.nl because they hosted the site, which is illegal according to Brein. Brein is demanding over $350,000 to cover the loss in expenses.
Torrent Freak

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Shawn Hogan Motion to Dismiss, Based on Defective Copyright Registration, Now Fully Briefed

You may recall that in Universal Hogan, an MPAA case, the defendant moved to dismiss on the ground that the plaintiff didn't actually own the copyright, since it had sold the rights to the movie two months before filing its copyright registration:

The MPAA has put in its opposition papers, and Mr. Hogan has filed his reply papers, making the motion ripe now for a decision or oral argument:

recordingindustryvspeople
Read the legal documents about this case at the above link.

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RIAA sinks to new low

p2pnet.net News:- "To those who might think that I might be exaggerating when I describe the RIAA's litigation campaign as a 'reign of terror', how's this one," says Recording Industry vs The People' Ray Beckerman in a p2pnet comment post.

Marie Lindor is a computer illiterate Brooklyn mother the Big Four Organized Music cartel's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) initially claimed illegally distributed copyrighted music online.

They couldn't make it stick - not that they'd genuinely thought it ever would fly - so they turned on her son, Woody Raymond, who doesn't even live in the same house as her.

The idea was to get into his computer. But apparently, that wasn't enough.

The RIAA also had their lawyer telephone the son's employer, says Beckerman, adding:

"You can't make this stuff up."

Indeed, you can't.
p2pnet

Transcript of Ray Beckerman talking about the RIAA law suits or download the conference call with Ray Beckerman here.

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Gonzales proposes new crime: 'Attempted' copyright infringement

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual-property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including "attempts" to commit piracy.

"To meet the global challenges of IP crime, our criminal laws must be kept updated," Gonzales said during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Monday.

The Bush administration is throwing its support behind a proposal called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007, which is likely to receive the enthusiastic support of the movie and music industries, and would represent the most dramatic rewrite of copyright law since a 2005 measure dealing with prerelease piracy.

* Criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyright.
* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software
* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations
* Allow computers to be seized more readily.
* Increase penalties for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anticircumvention regulations.
* Add penalties for "intended" copyright crimes.
* Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America.

C|Net News

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Apple and music labels accused of shortchanging artists

A fresh class action lawsuit charges Apple's iTunes, major online music shops, and top record labels with performing an end-run around a musician's permission and his royalty payments.

Ripping off artist/indy labels again an they have the nerve to wonder why people use p2p to rip them off or stop buying CD's. It might be cos they're tired of being ripped off.

Judge Rejects RIAA Motion in Lava v. Amurao; Counterclaims for Copyright Misuse and Declaratory Judgment Stand

In Lava v. Amurao, pending in the Southern District of New York, in White Plains, Judge Charles L. Brieant has entered an order denying the RIAA's motion to dismiss counterclaims for (a) declaratory judgment of non-infringement and (b) copyright misuse.

The Judge also granted the motion of the Electronic Frontier Foundation for leave to file an amicus curiae brief.

The copyright misuse counterclaim calls for the plaintiffs to forfeit their copyrights in the songs which form the basis for their suit, on the ground that they are "competitors in the business of recorded music.....[and] are a cartel acting collusively in violation of the antitrust laws and public policy, by litigating and settling all cases similar to this one together, and by entering into an unlawful agreement among themselves to prosecute and to dispose of all cases in an identical manner and through common lawyers..... Such actions represent an attempt....to secure for themselves rights far exceeding those provided by copyright laws......Such acts constitute misuse of copyrights, and lead to a forfeiture of the exclusive rights.....".

RIAA Files Reply Papers in Atlantic v. Boggs, Arguing for Dismissal of Counterclaims

In Atlantic v. Boggs, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the RIAA has filed reply papers further arguing that the defendants' counterclaims should be dismissed:

Check out the above links to read the legal documents about the cases.

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RIAA Keeps Sending Letters in Maverick v. Chowdhury

In Maverick v. Chowdhury the RIAA continues to send letters indicating they are "willing to consider any information", this time taking "great umbrage" at being called liars in Mr. Chowdhury's counsel's previous letter:

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Japan closes cinema loophole in piracy fight

TOKYO - Japan has passed a law banning people from recording new movies in cinemas, officials said Friday, closing a loophole amid pressure from film studios to stop piracy they say is bleeding the industry.

The law, enacted by parliament this week, prohibits the taping of movies in theatres until eight months after a film's first release, an official at the lower house said.

Anyone who violates the law will face up to 10 years in prison or a maximum 10 million yen (83 billion dollars) fine.

p2pnet - Japan camcording pirates face jail

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[url=http://www.turre.com/blog/?p=102]Finnish court rules CSS protection used in DVDs “ineffectiveâ€

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Record companies win £41m damages

Liam Gallagher of Oasis performs at the Brits
Oasis CDs are among CD-Wow's cheap imports
Online retailer CD-Wow must pay £41m to British record companies after breaking a deal to stop selling illegally imported cheap albums in the UK.

Ripping off their costumers again.

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Korea agrees to step up IP enforcment, target P2P services in pact with US
Korean peer-to-peer users, prepare for a new "joint investigation team" that can operate "at the request of a right holder" to shut down any web sites that "permit the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission of copyright work."

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Man Uploads Episodes of ‘24′, Faces 3 Years Jail
A man who uploaded four episodes of the hit series ‘24′ to a YouTube-style video hosting site has been tracked down by the FBI and is now being threatened with 3 years in a federal prison.