Steve Tepp, Senior Director of Internet Counterfeiting and Piracy for the U.S. Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center, argues that recently proposed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act does not amount to ” foreign political censorship” even though the bill would force ISPs to “prevent the importation into the United States of goods and services offered [...]

Swedish BitTorrent tracker site co-founder Peter Sunde states the obvious, that no matter the outcome of their appeal of their conviction for the facilitation of copyright the case will wind up before the country’s Supreme Court. Today the co-founders of the infamous Swedish BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay finally got a chance to appeal [...]

TalkTalk and BT had asked High Court to look at whether it was passed into law without going through correct parliamentary procedures, and whether some of proposed measures fight illegal file-sharing could “harm the basic rights and freedoms of citizens.” Expect a ruling this Thursday, but acknowledge a likely delay. Earlier this year UK ISPs [...]

Release last of three clips from The Pirate Bay: Away From Keyboard (TPB: AFK) that they have released periodically throughout the month of September. Earlier this month I mentioned how how a pair of Swedish filmmakers are working on a documentary about The Pirate Bay. Titled The Pirate Bay: Away From Keyboard(TPB: AFK), the film is about [...]

U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer rules that 40 accused BitTorrent users cannot proceed anonymously in the case and must provide their name, address, phone number and e-mail address to the court by the end of this month despite the fact that the individuals may reside outside the court’s jurisdiction. The mass lawsuit against thousands [...]

US Magistrate Judge John Simko says subpoena submitted by the US Copyright Group are “not in compliance” with federal guidelines determining the geographic considerations of how they must be handled, and that individuals being targeted in the mass BitTorrent lawsuit subpoena lie outside the jurisdiction of the DC courtroom where it was obtained. The ridiculous [...]

Swedish BitTorrent tracker site co-founders scheduled to try and convince the Svea Court of Appeal to overturn their earlier conviction for the facilitation of copyright infringement. The long running battle between the entertainment industry and The Pirate Bay is scheduled to resume tomorrow when the Swedish BitTorrent tracker site’s co-founders begin trying to persuade the [...]

Yesterday I mentioned how the French govt had already sent out more than 800 notices to ISPs requesting the identities of people suspected of illegally downloading copyrighted material. Now, according to reports, ISPs have already responded to some of those requests, and the country’s Commission on Human Rights Protection for Internet Piracy has decided that [...]

Formally adopts the Gallo report which calls for a Europe-wide legislative framework to deal with online piracy, including not only measures to enforce intellectual property rights, but also to figure out ways for “helping creators earn a living and disseminating their works.” Just when you think the European Parliament had finally come to its senses [...]

High Authority has already sent out 800 requests to ISPs asking them to identify suspected file-sharers per the country’s HADOPI “three-strikes” law, meaning that the first official warning letters – strikes – could begin in a few days time. The era of disconnecting file-sharers from the Internet has officially begun in France with news that [...]

Asks for a response to the petition for writ of cert filed in Whitney Harper v. Maverick Recording Company, the case of the 14yo girl found guilty of copyright infringement earlier this year even though she was unaware file-sharing was illegal. The case of Whitney Harper v. Maverick Recording Company may reach the inside of [...]

Asks Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiators at Mexico’s Ministry of the Economy if the treaty could be used to cut off Mexico’s and other countries access to “damaging” sites such as WikiLeaks. In a eerie sign of things to come, the MPAA seems to be pushing forward with a new policy agenda that is trying [...]

Country’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) confirms that no democratic institution in the UK has yet seen a draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). More news of the frighteningly secretive nature of the ongoing Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations has appeared with the confirmation by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office that no text of the [...]

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act would give the Department of Justice an “expedited process” for cracking down on websites that illegally make copyrighted material available, including the ability to “prevent the importation into the United States of goods and services offered by an Internet site dedicated to infringing activities.” A group of Senators [...]

Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert criticizes the idea that an IP address can identify anybody at all, and more importantly, that such an important piece of legislation was hurried through with minimal debate and actually voted on by a tiny minority. It’s been almost 6 months now since the UK govt passed the controversial Digital [...]

Business Software Alliance publishes new study claiming that reducing software piracy rate by 10% in four years would inversely create a 10% increase in spending on legal software, but critics point out that it’s highly unlikely that every pirate would otherwise pay for the product. The Business Software Alliance has a long and sordid history [...]

Release second of three clips from The Pirate Bay: Away From Keyboard (TPB: AFK) that they plan to release periodically through the month of September. Earlier this month I mentioned how how a pair of Swedish filmmakers are working on a documentary about The Pirate Bay. Titled The Pirate Bay: Away From Keyboard (TPB: AFK), [...]

Since artists receive on average only 15% of album sales revenues, whereas they receive on average 50% from concerts and 80% from collected remunerations, the decline in music sales means “record companies, not the musicians, (are the ones) who are losing out.” One of the main arguments that record labels have used in the war [...]

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says “there is no conscience vote on refused classification for movies, TV, DVDs or book stores,” and that a mandatory filter is necessary to block access to the more than 430 child porn websites on the Internet. Australia’s Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is still doing all he can to keep plans [...]

Proves digital music industry thriving, contradicting record labels’ claims the Digital Economy Act is necessary to punish illegal downloaders and create a healthy digital music marketplace. Once again there is news that the UK’s digital music industry is thriving despite claims by the music industry to the contrary. For years now the British Phonographic Industry [...]