Will isoHunt case make Google illegal?
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Is Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) about to make Google, Yahoo illegal in Canada?
In the middle of it all is isoHunt, the Canadian BitTorrent and P2P search engine owned by Gary Fung (right) which had the temerity to refuse to roll over when the CRIA said so.
Instead, it become the first such site to go from defense to attack in the online file-sharing wars.
Now, the isoHunt vs The Big 4 court case in British Columbia, “has the potential to drastically change the Canadian Internet landscape” by making search engines illegal, says the Ottawa Citizen, going on »»»
The question before the British Columbia Supreme Court is, if a site like ISOHunt allows people to find a pirated copy of Watchmen or The Dark Knight, is it breaching Canadian copyright law?
“It’s a huge can of worms,” said David Fewer, acting director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa.
“I am surprised that this litigation has gone under the radar as much as it has. I do think this is the most important copyright litigation going on right now.”
isoHunt boasts more than 20 million regular users, says the story, adding »»»
After receiving numerous legal threats from CRIA, the B.C.-based company decided to take matters into its own hands. In September, the company filed a petition with the B.C. court asking a judge to rule on whether ISOHunt was in breach of Canadian copyright law. The case was heard last week.
In his argument, ISOHunt’s lawyer Arthur Grant … used Google to show the judge how the world’s most popular search engine can be used to find many of the same questionable files available on ISOHunt.
“Anybody can. Do it yourself,” he said. “ISOHunt is a search engine and it operates no differently than Google. The difference is Google searches every file type under the sun.”
As is Standard Operating Procedure with any of the Big 4 extortion units, the CRIA wants to drag the case out and the judge agreed to a full court hearing, says the Ottawa Citizen, adding:
“The litigation will mark the second court battle that ISOHunt finds itself fighting. The company is currently locked in a bitter dispute with the Motion Picture Association of America over similar copyright issues.
“The company has repeatedly argued that much like case of Betamax versus Universal Studios, ISOHunt cannot be deemed illegal simply because it has the potential to be used for questionable purposes. In 1984, courts in the U.S. ruled that people can use their VCRs to record TV shows and that the manufacturers of the VCRs cannot be held liable for copyright infringement.”
Definitely stay tuned.
(Cheers, Marc)
refuse to roll over – isoHunt sues the CRIA: day in court, March 16, 2009
Ottawa Citizen – B.C. court case has potential to make Google, Yahoo illegal in Canada, March 17, 2009
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March 17th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Google illegal in Canada? Not if the CRIA wants to make mortal enemies of easily over half the internet users in Canada.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
thats like ok we need ot make all hammers illegal cause someone murdered someone wiht them
that means no more baseball
no more hockey
no more pencils or pens
you got it
copyright abuse at its finest and if the judge has any sense he should toss the cria on its head and tell them to go play in america where biden is king
March 17th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
If and when Google’s income is really threatened, you will then see some additional firepower come out. Unless it happens that way, Mininova is on it’s own. This is a question the IP interests have ducked and dodged with a vengeance. It is something that should have been settled long ago before all the head hunting started for torrent and p2p sites.
Torrent sites don’t hold any files beyond the torrent link itself. So they aren’t hosting IP infringement files, they are merely a link to someone elses file.
March 17th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
like i said
if legally they can do this whats to prevent someone using it in the obscene and launching a lawsuit versus canadian tire fo rmaking weapons that kill people there fore they need to be removed
wait till hockey sticks get affected and the non sense in canada’s national sport gets ended.
Notice they don’t have a come back on this like OH the poor actors or musicians.
Democracy is about choice choice is freedom , it is YOUR choice to do anything wrong and then get punished.
OR else we are all criminals supporting the ability of people to commit crimes
two ways a thoughts one is NOT democratic.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:18 am
“Google illegal in Canada? Not if the CRIA wants to make mortal enemies of easily over half the internet users in Canada.”
Dont’ you mean the other half?
March 18th, 2009 at 9:12 am
I’m surprised that google is not supporting Gary. If he loses (and I hope the Canadian Judiciary have more sense than that) they’ll be next in the crosshairs.
March 18th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Google isn’t going to be next.
Google has eneough money for comparable lawyers
and thus the fight would be on even ground.
The AA’s avoid fair fights at any cost.