Lawsuits

MCS Music Files Copyright Suit Against Yahoo, Microsoft, Real

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 1, 2009 - 7:24am.
Nashville, Tenn. - MCS Music America, a company that provides administration and manages copyrights for some 45,000 music tracks, has filed copyright infringement claims against Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) and RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK), alleging the companies did not obtain all the proper permissions for using its tracks on their service, Techdirt reported. On its website, MCS Music America says it administers copyrights for artists including Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Metallica and Moby, among others.

RIAA Wins Copyright Judgment Against Usenet.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 1, 2009 - 6:00am.
Los Angeles - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Wednesday that a federal court has ruled in its favor in a copyright infringement lawsuit it filed against Usenet.com. According to CNET's coverage, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of the Southern District of New York found Usenet.com -- which offers access to the twenty-year-old Usenet network -- guilty of direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.

Former NCAA Players Sue EA Over Likenesses in Football Games

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 1, 2009 - 8:01am.
Los Angeles - A number of former college football players have filed suit against Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS), alleging the company included their likenesses in its "NCAA Football" video games without permission, GamePolitics reported.

Report: Jammie Thomas-Rasset Rejects RIAA Settlement Offer

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 30, 2009 - 6:10am.
Los Angeles - Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the woman recently found guilty of copyright infringement on a file-sharing network and ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages, has rejected a settlement offer from the record labels, CNET News.com reported.

RIAA P2P Case Tally in Court Brief Differs With Estimates

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 29, 2009 - 10:49am.
Boston - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said in court documents filed this month that it had settled with 4,000 of the 18,000 people it contacted about their alleged infringements on file-sharing networks, although other estimates peg the total number of proceedings at nearly double that figure, Digital Music News reported.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | RIAA | Copyright |

Supreme Court Declines Case; Cablevision DVR Remains Legal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 29, 2009 - 6:37am.
Washington - The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal challenging the legality of Cablevision's (NYSE: CVC) network-based digital video recorder service, which the television networks and movie studios had charged amounted to copyright infringement. Unlike a TiVo, which stores recorded programs locally on a hard drive in the consumer's home, Cablevision's "remote storage" digital video recorder stores recorded programs on the company's own servers, and streams them on demand to customers.

Apple Sued Over iTunes Gift Cards, Price Hike to $1.29 Songs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 26, 2009 - 8:39am.
San Francisco - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has been sued for breach of contract and consumer fraud by two Illinois residents, who claim the company misled them by marketing its gift cards for the iTunes Store as redeemable for 99-cent songs, when in fact some songs now cost $1.29 each, CNET News.com reported.

Swedish Court Rejects Bias Charges Against Pirate Bay Judge

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 25, 2009 - 7:57am.
Stockholm, Sweden - A Swedish appellate court has rejected charges from the administrators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay that the judge who found them guilty of copyright infringement was biased because of his ties to several pro-copyright groups, Ars Technica reported. Judge Tomas Norström is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association, and sits on the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property, which the Pirate Bay administrators charged would bias him in the case against them.

"Mafia Wars" Game Maker Zynga Sues "Mobsters" Maker Playdom

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 23, 2009 - 8:08am.
San Francisco - Zynga, a developer of online games for social media, has filed suit against rival Playdom over ads the company placed for its "Mobsters" game on Facebook, arguing that they are misleading consumers interested in its own "Mafia Wars" title, PaidContent reported.

German Court Orders RapidShare to Proactively Filter Songs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 23, 2009 - 6:52am.
Berlin - A German court has sided with copyright society GEMA against free file-hosting service Rapidshare, which must now monitor its site to ensure that some 5,000 songs are not posted for distribution on its servers, Billboard reported.

Record Labels Sue Irish ISPs to Force 'Three-Strikes' P2P Policy

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 22, 2009 - 11:39am.
Dublin, Ireland - After suing Ireland's largest ISP Eircom and getting the company to agree to voluntarily implement a "three-strikes" policy on file-swappers, the four major record labels have now sued the country's second-largest telco, BT Ireland, and cable operator UPC, to get them to follow suit, the Irish Times reports.

Italian Judge Orders $3.3M Forfeiture From Music Websites

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 19, 2009 - 10:12am.
Milan, Italy - A judge in Italy has ordered some $3.3 million to be forfeited by the operators of several websites offering free, unauthorized music downloads, Billboard reported.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Italy | Copyright |

RIAA "Willing to Settle" File-Sharing Case for Under $2 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 19, 2009 - 8:33am.
Duluth, Minn. - After winning a $1.92 million copyright infringement jury verdict against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother of four found guilty of illegal file-sharing, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says it is still open to settling on different terms.

Jury Orders Jammie Thomas to Pay $1.9M for Sharing 24 Songs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 18, 2009 - 12:42pm.
Duluth, Minn. - A jury has awarded the record labels that sued Jammie Thomas-Rasset for copyright infringement on a file-sharing network $1.92 million in damages, or $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she shared, the Recording Industry vs. The People blog reported. After three days of testimony this week, closing arguments were heard on Thursday before the jury began deliberations in the case.

Harvard Law Prof. Admonished by Judge in File-Sharing Case

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 18, 2009 - 12:37pm.
Boston - Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, who is defending Boston student Joel Tenenbaum against charges of copyright infringement on a file-sharing network by Sony (NYSE: SNE), has been admonished by the judge for some of his legal tactics, Ars Technica reported.

French Indie Label Group SPPF Sues YouTube Over Copyrights

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 18, 2009 - 10:32am.
Paris - SPPF, a French royalty collection society for independent record labels, has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, claiming $13.9 million in damages over videos removed from YouTube at SPPF's request last year that have since reappeared, Billboard reports.

EMI Sues Streaming Music Service Grooveshark

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 18, 2009 - 10:26am.
London - Major record label EMI has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Grooveshark, a site that streams free music from all four major labels, All Things D reported. Launched in 2006, Florida-based Grooveshark initially offered a peer-to-peer file-sharing application, but has since switched its focus to providing a free streaming music service.

Jammie Thomas Admits Hard Drive Swap, Pleads Innocence

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 17, 2009 - 11:06am.
Duluth, Minn. - Jammie Thomas-Rasset took the witness stand in her own defense on Wednesday, against charges from the RIAA that she infringed copyrights by sharing songs on the Kazaa file-sharing network, Ars Technica reported. A day earlier, attorneys for the record labels had called several experts who had examined Thomas-Rasset's computer hard drive, which the defendant admitted had been replaced during the period between when she received was initially accused of copyright infringement, and when she eventually turned the drive over as evidence.

Jammie Thomas Retrial Sees First Day in Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 16, 2009 - 12:31pm.
Duluth, Minn. - The retrial of accused file-swapper Jammie Thomas-Rasset began on Tuesday with jury selection, opening arguments and testimony from Sony Entertainment and MediaSentry, according to published reports.

Amazon.com Pays $51 Million to Settle Toys R Us Lawsuit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 15, 2009 - 8:46am.
New York - Online retailer Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) has agreed to pay $51 million to settle a lawsuit with toy retailer Toys R Us over their partnership to sell toys online, the Associated Press reported.