BayTSP, a U.S. firm that identifies and tracks copyright content on behalf of major movie and music interests, has released its annual report on online trends (the study is not online, but they did send me a copy and Ars Technica, Torrent Freak, and P2PNet have reports). The report is […]
Post Tagged with: "file sharing"
Swedish Court Finds Pirate Bay Founders Guilty of Copyright Infringement
A Swedish court has found four founders of the Pirate Bay guilty of copyright infringement and sentenced them to one year in jail with a fine of US$3.6 million. Quick takeaways: an appeal is likely so this is the first word, not the last one in this case based on […]
France and South Korea Move Toward Three Strikes And You’re Out
Recent decisions to abandon a three strikes and you're out copyright model in New Zealand, the UK, and Germany, have not been replicated in two other countries. Last week, both France and South Korea moved toward implementing the approach in their national laws.
Songwriters Bid To Legalize File Sharing Gets a Rewrite
In November 2007, the Songwriters Association of Canada shocked the music industry and many Canadians by proposing the full legalization of music file sharing. The SAC proposal was based on the premise that file sharing was not going away, that lawsuits against file sharers do more harm than good, and that the continued emphasis on using digital locks to control copying has been a complete failure. In the view of thousands of Canadian songwriters, the better way forward was to encourage music sharing by monetizing it. The SAC proposal envisioned a levy (five dollars per month was floated as a possibility) that would be used to compensate creators for the sharing. In return, Canadians would be entitled to freely share music for non-commercial purposes.
The reaction to the SAC proposal was generally critical. The recording industry rejected it out-of-hand, arguing that it violated international copyright law. Consumer groups were also skeptical, noting that a mandatory universal levy would result in payments by non-music sharers, who would effectively subsidize those sharing music. Notwithstanding the criticism, the SAC persisted. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that last week, it quietly unveiled a revised version of the proposal at a public forum on copyright in Toronto. The new version, which addresses many of these earlier criticisms, is far more promising and there are indications that the SAC may be joined by other creator organizations in pursuit of a legalization strategy.
Angus Reid Surveys Find Public Against New Media and File Sharing ISP Levies
Angus Reid Strategies has released two polls that find that the Canadian public is opposed to proposed new ISP levies for new media content creation and for file sharing. 80 percent of people surveyed said that a possible new CRTC levy on ISPs to pay for Canadian new media content […]