May 17th, 2008 | Copyright | No Comments
infringement of Copyright in an online enviorment is a major threat. While YouTube, holding of Google Inc., has been faced with number of lawsuits in the past but online video sharing site is working hard to prevent the online infringements.
By introducing new technology, YouTube is now offering the owners to upload their original work with youtube and if someone tries to upload the copies of videos, the same shall be rejected or shall be subject to condition of non monetization.
While major steps are being taken but the enforcement of policies and the advancement of technology still remains a big threat to the online world.
Technorati Tags: you tube, google, policies
Mar 28th, 2008 | Copyright, Countries, UAE | No Comments
A 23 year old Dubai national has been fined for Dh. 10,000 for illegally downloading and using programmes from Showtime, Art and Orbit on his website.It was also ordered by the court to shut down the website of the convict with immediate effect.He was charged of unlawfully deciphering the encrypted channels — Art, Showtime and Orbit and downloading different programmes, which he broadcast in special forums on the website for a price.
The case was made out under Federal Law No. 7, 2007, of intellectual property rights, and Federal Law No. 2, 2006, of combating cyber crimes.
The site was operated from his home and the computer and CD’s of the pirated movie were siezed from the convict.
The part of the order read as follows -
:“The suspect said during the Public Prosecution questioning that he launched the website in 2005 … He hacked into others’ websites without permission, downloaded programmes and broadcast it to visitors.â€
Aug 29th, 2007 | Copyright, singapore | No Comments
Door open for IP owners to get names of those doing it illegally in Singapore. Going online to download content may soon offer less anonymity in Singapore than it used to, particularly for those getting copyrighted material illegally. The latest foothold they have secured is a court decision ordering Internet service provider (ISP) StarHub to reveal the identity of about 1,000 subscribers who have downloaded Japanese animé cartoons illegally. Animé distributor Odex, which won the case, is likely to seek compensation of up to $5,000 from these individuals and an undertaking to halt such illegal downloads. While the enforcement net may not have been cast this wide in Singapore before, it was “only a question of time” before widescale legal action taken elsewhere such as those by the Recording Industry Association of America were replicated here. As a general principle of law, it’s not new. Someone who has been wronged has the right to go to a third party to seek information. And if people are infringing copyright, rights owners are entitled to do this.
While anonymity has been one of the Internet’s hallmarks, the latest ruling could make it easier for IP owners to police infringements online than offline, ironically, because cyber offences leave an e-trail. Since it will be a precedent on disclosure, it will be interesting to see how IP owners will react. A similar ruling could strengthen the hand of copyright owners here at the expense of privacy. As is believed, it would be hard to argue that being in cyberspace ought to offer people protection against copyright infringement. However, still, the process is not cut-and-dried.
Last month, an adviser to the top European Union court said that telecom companies in Europe are not required to hand over information on clients believed to be running music-sharing websites in civil cases. Today IP owners cannot expect the court to order ISPs to disclose customer information each time there is a suspicion of illegal downloading. To give the right of confidentiality its due weight, there should be “overwhelming evidence” of illegal downloading. ISPs could be asked to inform customers to stop illegally downloading content or to block such people from the websites.
The last time any action was reported to have been taken against downloaders was when the police raided seven homes last October, following a tip-off by the Record Industry Association of Singapore. Three students were subsequently charged for illegal downloading and distribution. Under the Copyright Act, which was toughened in 2005, egregious downloading of music, movies and software can lead to a jail term of up to six months and fines of up to $20,000.
Jul 27th, 2007 | Copyright, U.S.A | No Comments
Google hosting Frenchified Miami Vice episode.
Google continues to fight allegations that it’s promoting video piracy. In March, entertainment giant Viacom slapped Google with a $1bn lawsuit over copyrighted videos posted to YouTube, the site Google purchased last fall, and now, the National Legal and Policy Center is asking whether the search engine cum world power is facilitating copyright infringement on its home-grown video-sharing site, Google Video.
Today, the NLPC posted a list of 50 copyrighted movies and TV shows that it says have been hosted by Google Video, including everything from Columbia’s recent Spiderman 3 flick, Disney’s Meet the Robinsons, and Warner Brothers’ Blood Diamond to a French dub of “Miami Vice.” Click here to find out more! “Our goal is to do our best to expose the pirating of copyrighted material by finding and posting as many apparently pirated works as possible,” reads the center’s report. “For starters, we are focusing on Google Video because it hosts many full-length movies and concerts and because it has received less attention than YouTube.”
According to the center, all fifty titles were available from Google Video as recently as this Saturday. And, yes, Michael Moore’s Sicko is on the list. In mid-June, after complaints from The Weinstein Company, the film’s producer, Google pulled copies of Sicko from both YouTube and Google Video, but it seems that pirated copies continue to pop up. Like another film on the NLPC list, Evan Almighty, Sicko continues to play in American theaters. It first appeared on Google Video and YouTube well before its official theatrical release. Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker told The Register that the company is committed to removing copyrighted material whenever the copyright holder asks that it be taken down. “We not only meet but actually exceed what is required of us by DMCA,” Stricker said, referring to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the U.S. law that addresses copyright issues with digital media. “We have created a number of tools that makes it very easy for users, specifically content owners, to notify us and request removal of potentially infringing content.” But Stricker confirmed that a copyright holder must notify Google each time infringing content is posted to its sites. “It’s important for us to be notified every time,” he said. “There are some instances where the entire piece of content has been posted. There are others where there are mash-ups of the content, some sort of derivative use that’s permissible under the law. It’s very difficult to generalize.”
The company has also implemented a “hash” system designed to block repeated uploads of the same infringing material, and Stricker insisted that repeat offenders will have their Google accounts terminated. Of course, there are ways around a hashing algorithm. According to Stricker, Google is working on additional technologies that can better identify copyrighted video. The company is already using technology from Audible Magic to identify copyrighted songs on its sites, and previously said that it will soon unveil video fingerprinting technology on YouTube.
