Legal win for iiNet in copyright battle Australian IT
Embattled Perth internet service provider iiNet has won an important victory in its legal battle against a group of entertainment companies suing it for copyright infringement in the NSW Federal Court. Federal Court judge Dennis Cowdroy yesterday allowed admission as evidence to a group of documents dating from mid-2006 detailing communications between the internet industry, an anti-piracy group representing the movie studios and the federal government. A spokesman for iiNet said the documents would strengthen the company’s efforts to sustain a key pillar of its defence against the copyright allegations. The studios have alleged the ISP breached copyright laws when it refused to take “reasonable steps” to stop some of its customers sharing movie and music files on its network. iiNet said that the set of documents, particularly a submission on online piracy by a group representing the studios in Australia, lodged with the federal attorney-general in 2006, would help it build a strong argument that there were no reasonable steps it could take. The submission was signed by officials from Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, an anti-piracy group acting on behalf of 34 companies involved in the trial. iiNet is expected to argue that AFACT statements in the submission contradict the arguments it is currently bringing before the court.

Cuba won’t let blogger go to US to receive award Associated Press
A Cuban blogger who has become an international sensation for offering frank criticism of her country’s communist system said she was denied government permission Monday to travel to New York to receive a top journalism prize. Yoani Sanchez had hoped to go to Columbia University for a Wednesday ceremony to receive her Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the oldest international award in journalism. “Immigration just confirmed that I remain prohibited from leaving the country,” she posted on her “Generation Y” blog.

Radio Will Stop Playing Music Huffington Post
The music industry wants radio to pay for playing music. Radio stations currently pay the songwriters and publishers of songs, but not the artists performing the work (which often is different from the songwriter). Of course radio should pay. Part of the reason why songs become popular is because of the performers. However, it may be too little too late. The recording industry should have been more forward thinking in 1939 when broadcasters convinced them radio play was ‘promotional’ and did not merit payments. (Ironically, MTV persuaded the record labels of the same thing for playing videos in the 1980s.) Additionally, the recording industry did not have strong enough lobbying power against the broadcasters in 1976 when the copyright law was amended. Thankfully, the recording industry was smarter when it came to webcasters, satellite radio providers and cable companies. When those technologies emerged they fought for the performance right payment.

China bans foreign investment in online games industry Reuters
China has banned foreign investment into its lucrative online games industry in an effort to tighten control over its virtual worlds. China’s video game industry regulator the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and copyright watchdog issued a circular on Saturday prohibiting foreign investment in domestic online gaming operations through joint ventures, wholly owned enterprises and cooperatives. The new directive also disallows foreign firms from indirectly influencing Chinese gaming firms through agreements or technology support.

Court overturns ruling in audio book piracy case The Local
Swedish broadband provider ePhone is not obligated to hand over customer information to five book publishers, according to a decision by the Svea Court of Appeal which overturns a lower court ruling. The case, which ePhone initially lost in June in Solna District Court, is significant because it is the first to go to trial since the passage of a law designed to crack down on internet piracy in Sweden. The law, which is based on the EU`s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), came into force on April 1st and says that internet providers can be forced by a court order to provide data about customers targeted in copyright infringement investigations. After all that`s been written that we should have released the information, it actually feels really nice that the court has ended up agreeing with what we`ve said the whole time: that the evidence wasn’t good enough. I think it`s just great, said ePhone CEO Bo Wigstrand to the TT news agency following the ruling.

In Latest Deal, Cisco Buys Starent for $2.9 Billion New York Times
On Tuesday, Cisco announced that it would pay $35 a share, or $2.9 billion, for Starent Networks, which makes products that help wireless telecommunications companies ship large volumes of data to phones and computing devices. The deal represents about a 20 percent premium over Starent`s closing price on Monday of $29.03 per share. For Cisco, the acquisition is a major bet that consumers and workers will keeping pulling down ever larger amounts of data onto smartphones and laptops via wireless networks. Starent`s hardware and software products make it possible to create and manage high-speed data services.

BSkyB to Launch Music Service Wall Street Journal
British Sky Broadcasting said it will launch a subscription-only online music service for the U.K. market next week, a move to challenge both Internet music stalwarts such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes and upstarts such as Spotify Ltd. The service, known as Sky Songs, will roll out in Britain on Oct. 19. Users, who do not have to be existing customers of Sky’s satellite-TV service to participate, can choose to purchase songs as downloadable mp3 files or listen, with unlimited ad-free access, to a streaming library of more than 4 million tracks. The digital music sector is growing rapidly, particularly in the U.K. Britons downloaded 110 million single tracks in 2008, a 42% increase from 2007, according to industry association IFPI. The past year has witnessed the rise of ad-supported online music retailers like Spotify and We7 Ltd., both of which boast millions of British users. MySpace Music has also announced plans for a British launch.

Germany criticizes Google for copyright infringement Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday criticized the efforts of Google Inc to build a massive digital library, saying the Internet should not be exempt from copyright laws. In her weekly video podcast, before Tuesday’s opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Merkel appealed for more international cooperation on copyright protection and said her government opposed Google’s drive to scan libraries full of books.

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October, 2009

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