As social media platforms continue to find new ways to allow users to share, post, and forward nonoriginal content and users become more engaged in the practice, the platforms hosting the content and disgruntled original content owners are bound to clash. In the past, Google, YouTube and others have been…
Yesterday a NY court again dismissed Viacom’s $1 billion suit against Google/YouTube for copyright infringement. The court found that the DMCA shielded YouTube from liability after an appellate court (see prior blog post) vacated the prior dismissal. This decision reaffirms the fact that, subject to certain exceptions, the burden of policing copyright…
The U.S. Copyright Office recently issued its exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”). The exemptions, effective as of Oct. 28, 2012 define the limited circumstances that users are allowed to circumvent technology that prevents access to copyrighted works, e.g., content encryption schemes. The exemptions are reviewed…
In one of the most closely followed cases involving the digital millennium copyright act (DMCA), an appeals court punted one of the key issues back to the lower court. The key issue left open relates to what constitutes actual knowledge for purposes of the DMCA. In light of this decision…
Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media sites. Pinterest enables users to “pin” interesting things to a virtual pinboard to share with others. A pinboard is largely a collection of images organized by topic (home decorating, wedding planning, etc.). A recent article calls into question the potential risks…
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 provides many benefits to copyright holders. Add one more to the list. In Xcentric Ventures LLC v. Karsen Limited et al (2011), the court refused the let the Russian Defendant play hide-and-seek to avoid service of process and authorized the Plaintiff…
As we previously posted, Viacom is appealing to the Second Circuit its summary judgment loss to YouTube (and its parent Google) of a billion-dollar copyright infringement suit. Last June, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that YouTube is entitled to safe harbor protection under…
Microsoft Corp. has recently won a bid to force Datel Holdings Ltd. to produce documents and sample products in an action involving Datel’s Xbox 360 accessories. The Judge has ruled in favor of Microsoft and ordered that certain documents must be produced on behalf of Datel relating to allegations that it hacked the Xbox security system in…
In Amaretto Ranch Breedables v. Ozimals, Inc., Case No. 10-05696, the Northern District of California granted a temporary restraining order enjoining Second Life from honoring Defendant’s take down notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Defendant sells “ozimals” which are breadable “living” bunnies that users can purchase and take…
The Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on the Blizzard v. MDY case, largely affirming the district court’s finding that MDY’s bot (“Glider”) for playing World of Warcraft (WOW) violates the WOW Terms of Use and violates anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. However, the 9th Circuit found that…