Lawyer Offers Self Help To Sued BitTorrent Users

Written by Ernesto 

In recent months thousands of US BitTorrent users have been sued for allegedly having shared movies such as The Hurt Locker and Far Cry. Because the settlement amount proposed by the copyright holders is less than hiring a defense lawyer, many defendants have not sought legal representation. Acknowledging this injustice, attorney Graham Syfert is now offering a cheap solution to the problem.

The U.S. Copyright Group (USCG) has been all over the news in recent months. The lawyer group sued thousands of BitTorrent users who allegedly file-shared motion pictures belonging to their clients, including the Oscar-winning Hurt Locker and more obscure titles such as Far Cry and Call of the Wild.

On behalf of the copyright holders, USCG has already sent settlement offers to many affected BitTorrent users. To settle the case the alleged copyright infringers have to pay up to $2,500 or face the risk of higher penalties in a full-blown court case.

http://torrentfreak.com/lawyer-offers-self-help-to-sued-bittorrent-users-100829/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20Torrentfreak%20(Torrentfreak)

Vivendi, Time Warner Seek Arbitration in `Ellen' Show Music Copyright Case

By Don Jeffrey

Vivendi SA’s music labels and Time Warner Inc. are seeking arbitration in a copyright case in which the labels charged that “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” played its recordings without a license.

Lawyers for the two sides said they’d entered into an arbitration agreement and asked U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson to halt the case and transfer it to binding arbitration, according to a filing in federal court in Los Angeles yesterday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-27/vivendi-time-warner-seek-arbitration-in-ellen-show-music-copyright-case.html

Rosetta Stone Appeals Loss to Google in Trademark Case Over Web Searches

By Don Jeffrey

Rosetta Stone Inc. appealed a judge’s ruling that Google Inc. didn’t infringe its trademarks by selling the language-software maker’s marks to rivals for use as search keywords.

Rosetta Stone asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia to review the summary judgment ruling by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, according to a filing yesterday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-01/rosetta-stone-appeals-loss-to-google-in-trademark-case-over-web-searches.html

Microsoft unveils shape-shifting Arc Touch Mouse

By Emil Protalinski 

After a month of rumors and leaks, Microsoft has released the Arc Touch Mouse. The device is available for presale on Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, and Buy.com for $69.95. It will ship in early December, and will officially be available online and in stores in January 2011.

Redmond is touting Arc Touch as "the first mouse designed to flatten for portability and pop up for comfort." It's all about portability: less than 15 millimeters thick at its widest point, it collapses to turn off and pops up to turn on. The mouse requires two AAA batteries that Microsoft says give it more than six months of battery life (the two-color battery life indicators will keep you informed).

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/09/microsoft-releases-arc-touch-mouse-ships-this-december.ars

Apple TV: You're a Glorified Roku

By Jason Perlow 

Apple’s updated Apple TV, while more streamlined and less expensive than the original, offers little more than what Roku already offers today.

 I think the device will probably sell a lot of units, especially at $99. But this is not the “iTV” many analysts were thinking that was going to be the cable and satellite TV and video game console killer.

Indeed, they got the $1 per show, with no commercials part right — but with only two networks to choose from, ABC and FOX, that’s not that much of a selection. I’m not betting on the rest of the big players on “Seeing the light”, as Jobs so eloquently put it.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/apple-tv-youre-a-glorified-roku/13904?tag=mantle_skin;content

How a mediocre iPad knock-off could foretell Steve Jobs' eventual doom

By David Gewirtz

On the eve of yet another of Apple’s uniquely scripted branding events, a question comes to mind about who threatens Apple the most. Can the Apple media juggernaut be slowed by Microsoft or even Google? Or, in fact, is Apple’s biggest threat embodied in a $159 nobody-brand digital reader sold by the Dillards department store?

For those of you unfamiliar with Dillards (the store, not the progressive bluegrass band), the company is a $7 billion dollar chain of department stores (I know, I only vague remember them from my childhood, also) located all throughout the southern United States.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/how-a-mediocre-ipad-knock-off-could-foretell-steve-jobs-eventual-doom/9342?tag=mantle_skin;content

Thinking About Possibilities: Arcade Fire Tries To Build The House You Grew Up In Into Latest Music Video

from the greater-interactivity dept

Brandon was the first of a few of you to send over the news of how the band Arcade Fire's latest "music video" is actually an experiment in more interactive HTML 5 experiences. The idea is that you're supposed to put in the address of where you grew up, and the "video" (which actually involves a bunch of different windows, rather than a single "video" window) builds the street you grew up on into the video itself via Google maps satellite view and Google Street View. 

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100831/11190810842.shtml

http://www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire/

Internet free speech protected in the Middle East

By David Gewirtz 

If you haven’t been following Jordanian politics particularly closely (and why would you?), you might have missed an important debate.

Jordan (the Middle Eastern country, not the insanely endowed British model or the best basketball player of all time), has been working towards enacting an Information Systems Crimes Law (which is also known as their Cyber Crimes Law). In doing so, they’ve been trying to define for their nation exactly what constitutes a cybercrime and/or an act of cyberterrorism.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/internet-free-speech-protected-in-the-middle-east/9339?tag=mantle_skin;content

ACTA Officials Firm on September Completion Time

Written by Drew Wilson

Earlier this month, we noted that officials working within ACTA are saying that September is when the negotiations will be finalized. Another report has surfaced that seems to confirm these intentions.

ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) has had quite a roller-coaster of a ride over the years it was being negotiated. Negotiations started as far back as 2007, but we only heard about it part way through 2008 when one of the now earliest versions of the agreement leaked on to Wikileaks. By comparison to before, it must have been nice to work under the total veil of secrecy with no PR backlash working against the negotiators.

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/90464/acta-officials-firm-on-september-completion-time/

Obama administration: "Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft"

By Nate Anderson 

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke went to Nashville yesterday to address a symposium on intellectual property enforcement, and he threw down the gauntlet: the Obama administration will find, board, and scuttle digital pirate ships, and the SS Copyright is going to get a new coat of armored plating.

"I think it's important to lay down a marker about how the Obama administration views this issue," he said of online copyright infringement. "As Vice President Biden has said on more than one occasion, 'Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft,' and it should be dealt with accordingly."

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/obama-administration-piracy-is-flat-unadulterated-theft.ars