All Articles about Copyright

Resident Evil 4 Copyright Lawsuit cover
News

Resident Evil 4 Copyright Lawsuit 'Amicably Resolved'

A Resident Evil 4 copyright lawsuit between Capcom and photographer Judy A. Juracek has been "amicably resolved" after less than a year. The last few months have been pretty great for …

February 8, 2022 | 03:06 EST

clicker heroes
News

Clicker Heroes Removed From App Store After Chinese Company Clones Game, Claims Trademark + Requests Removal

Playsaurus' Clicker Heroes, an idle game available on PC, consoles, and mobile platforms, has been removed from the iOS App Store worldwide. This occurred after Chinese company Shenzhen Lingyou…

May 29, 2019 | 04:40 EDT

RDR2 Screenshot
News

Take-Two & Rockstar Pinkterton Complaint Dismissed

Take-Two & Rockstar have asked that their lawsuit against the Pinkerton Detective Agency be dismissed as the defendants have withdrawn their cease & desist letter which was sent late last…

April 13, 2019 | 01:00 EDT

star-control-origins-header
News

[Updated] Star Control: Origins DMCA'd by Series Creators

The ongoing dispute between game developer Stardock and Star Control creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford has escalated to a takedown notice. In a post on the Steam board for Star Control: Origins…

December 31, 2018 | 10:56 EST

Starr Mazer
News

Imagos Softworks Files For Default Settlement - Alex Mauer Saga

It's been a while since we've talked about Alex Mauer, and quite honestly that's been a good thing. The last thing that we needed was more chaos caused by DMCA claims being handed out left and right…

September 27, 2017 | 09:27 EDT

Google Logo
News

Google Tells Copyright Office 99.95% of Takedowns Are Non-Existent

99.95% of the copyright takedown notices received by Google are non-existent, according to Google. In a filing with the U.S. Copyright Office obtained by TorrentFreak, Google noted that there had…

February 27, 2017 | 09:04 EST

copyright-law
News

Court Orders Cloudflare to Name "Pirate" Website Operators

A New York federal court judge has ordered Cloudflare to identify the operators of two websites alleged to be hosting pirated content as reported by TorrentFreak. Cloudflare is a U.S. based company…

October 30, 2016 | 10:45 EDT

grand-theft-auto-v-trevor-meth-lab-explosion
News

[Updated] Samsung Allegedly Takes Down GTA Note 7 Bomb Mod Video

Samsung has filed a copyright claim against a video by Modded Games on YouTube showcasing a Grand Theft Auto V mod that replaced Sticky Bombs with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone as reported by The…

October 20, 2016 | 08:30 EDT

legal-1080p-header
News

Judge: Advertisers Not Liable for Infringement by Pirate Sites

Back in August, we reported that the adult entertainment publisher ALS Scan filed a lawsuit against CDN provider CloudFlare and the advertising network Juicy Ads. Both companies were sued for…

October 6, 2016 | 06:32 EDT

youtube-logo-big
News

Documentary DMCA'd For Using Nazi Anthem

James Lambert, creator of the documentary You Don't Know Hitler, wrote a blog post explaining that the documentary had been taken down from YouTube over a copyright claim. The copyright claim was…

September 26, 2016 | 05:49 EDT

European Commission Logo
News

EU Commission Unveils Copyright Overhaul Proposal

The European Commission has been working on a copyright overhaul for some time. In late August, news outlets leaked some details from a draft that was being considered by the Commission. Some of the…

September 14, 2016 | 06:07 EDT

European Commission Logo
News

EU Proposal Would Require Content Hosts to Make Deals With the Music Industry

The European Commission is considering a proposal which would force platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion to make better deals with the music industry. Record labels and artists claim there…

August 28, 2016 | 08:38 EDT

European Commission Logo
News

EU Proposal Would Force Aggregators to Pay Royalties on Snippets

The European Commission is considering a proposal which would give news publications the right to demand royalties from aggregators if they use short snippets from articles. The proposal is still…

August 27, 2016 | 09:14 EDT

CloudFlare Logo
News

CloudFlare Sued For Doing Business With Pirate Sites

CloudFlare is a major CDN provider, well-known for its security features, including protection from DDOS attacks. However, the company has increasingly come under fire from rights holders for…

August 23, 2016 | 08:59 EDT

Getty Logo
News

Getty Sued For Licensing Photos It Doesn't Own

The stock photo company Getty is now being sued for $1 billion dollars after claiming ownership of thousands of photos that it did not own and charging licensing fees to third parties. Getty has…

July 28, 2016 | 09:39 EDT

British Parliament
News

UK Bill Would Increase Maximum Penalty for Piracy to 10 Years

The British government has introduced the Digital Economy Bill, which would increase the maximum penalty for online copyright infringement to ten years in prison. The government has been considering…

July 7, 2016 | 12:50 EDT

NES-Famicom Visual Compendium Kickstarter
News

Nintendo DMCAs NES Visual Compendium Kickstarter

Nintendo has shut down a Kickstarter for a project which was making a compendium book of NES/Famicom-era art as reported by Game Informer.The Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom: a visual…

July 1, 2016 | 10:30 EDT

Legal Tech Header Large
News

Pirate Bay Block Lifted By Austrian Court

Last year the Commercial Court of Vienna had ordered local ISPs to block access to the Pirate Bay after copyright complaints from rightsholders. The block order also included three other sites…

June 23, 2016 | 10:18 EDT

piracy riaa copyright file sharing
News

Songwriters Lobby Congress to Drop Safe Harbor Provisions from the DMCA

Big names in the music industry have signed an open letter to Congress which demands reform of the DMCA. Their issue is with the safe harbor provision of the law which prevents sites like YouTube…

June 21, 2016 | 10:07 EDT

Legal Tech Header Large
News

AMC Threatens Copyright Lawsuit Over Walking Dead Predictions

An online fan community for the AMC TV series The Walking Dead has been sent a cease and desist letter regarding the group's intention to post a prediction about a crucial plot point in the show. The…

June 16, 2016 | 10:27 EDT

Android
News

Google Prevails Against Oracle In Java API Lawsuit

On Thursday, Oracle was delivered a blow in its years-long litigation against Google’s use of Java in Android. A jury has determined that Google’s use of Java Application Programing Interfaces (API)…

May 28, 2016 | 12:47 EDT

Legal Tech Header Large
News

Lawsuit over 4K Content Protection Stripper Settled Out of Court

Last year, 4K content from Netflix and Amazon was leaked by pirates for the first time. This came as a shock to those who believed High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection(HDCP) which protected 4K…

May 6, 2016 | 09:15 EDT

Youtube Ad Changes Header
News

YouTube Takes One New Step Into Dealing With Content ID Claims

Since #MakeYoutubeGreatAgain started thanks to channels such as I HATE EVERYTHING, GradeAUnderA, and Channel Awesome got it trending on Twitter, Youtube has been under fire for a lack of response…

April 28, 2016 | 02:54 EDT

USTelecom Logo
News

USTelecom Slams DMCA Abuse in Letter to Copyright Office

USTelecom, a trade association representing broadband service providers, has sent its comments to the US Copyright Office concerning the DMCA. The letter begins by stating the massive growth of the…

April 12, 2016 | 10:22 EDT

Legal Tech Header Large
News

Top EU Legal Advisor Says Linking Isn't Copyright Infringement

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is considering whether linking to copyright infringing content should itself be considered infringement. Melchior Wathelet, advocate-general to the ECJ, has ruled…

April 8, 2016 | 08:00 EDT

French Flag
News

French Politicians Propose Ban on Linking Without Permission

French news site Numerama reports on a proposal by French politicians to ban hyperlinking to a creative work without permission (English translation by Open Media). The idea, proposed by two…

February 1, 2016 | 09:03 EST

Copyright Office Logo
News

Copyright Office Accepting Public Comments on DMCA

The United States Copyright Office is now requesting public comments concerning section 512 of the DMCA, which covers the safe harbor provision and the notice and takedown system regarding infringing…

January 5, 2016 | 09:21 EST

The Pirate Bay
News

Copyright Holders Will Appeal Pirate Bay Ruling in Sweden

Major media companies have faced something of a setback in Sweden, with a court ruling that ISPs can't be forced to block the Pirate Bay. The case was brought against Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget by…

November 30, 2015 | 09:07 EST

Cox Logo
News

Judge Rules Use of BitTorrent Can Be Used as Proof of Piracy

As previously reported, Cox Communications is facing a lawsuit brought against it by BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music, over the alleged piracy of its subscribers. This case could have a…

November 30, 2015 | 08:34 EST

Cox Logo
News

Cox Communications May Be Held Liable For Copyright Infringement of Subscribers

Cox Communications is in the middle of a lawsuit brought against it by BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music. The two companies are suing the ISP for failing to terminate the accounts of pirates…

November 24, 2015 | 10:29 EST

YouTube
News

Google Stands Up For Fair Use, Will Defend Some Users Against Copyright Claims in Court

For those concerned about DMCA takedown notifications being abused by media corporations, there is a bit of good news: Google plans to defend some targets of DMCA takedowns that they believe have a…

November 19, 2015 | 09:55 EST

MPAA Logo
News

MPAA Argues Privacy Laws Protect Pirates

The MPAA has submitted a statement to the United States Trade Representative detailing what it considers the biggest concerns when doing business in other countries. It seems that the MPAA is mainly…

November 10, 2015 | 10:02 EST

google logo
News

Google Books Ruled Fair Use in Major Copyright Case

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Google Books project is protected by fair use, after a lawsuit was filed against Google by the Authors Guild over claims of massive copyright…

October 20, 2015 | 12:15 EDT

EFF logo
News

Trans-Pacific Partnership Reaches Final Agreement, but the Fight Against It Isn't Over

Trade officials representing the twelve countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership have reached a final agreement. However, these negotiations were merely the first step in the process. Now the…

October 5, 2015 | 10:35 EDT

EFF logo
News

Ninth Circuit Affirms the Importance of Fair Use in DMCA Takedowns

DMCA takedowns are a blight on the Internet. In theory, they are a positive, providing media hosting websites a way to avoid liability as long as they make an effort to remove infringing content when…

September 15, 2015 | 08:00 EDT

EFF logo
News

EFF Challenges Copyright Expansion on Pre-1972 Recordings

This week, the EFF filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in response to a California district court ruling that greatly expanded copyright on pre-1972 recordings. Flo & Eddie, a…

September 11, 2015 | 07:47 EDT

Pixels Short Film
News

Copyright Troll Lodges DMCA Claims For Using the Word "Pixels"

Anti-piracy firm Entura International, working on behalf of Columbia pictures, has recently issued numerous DMCA notices to the site Vimeo. It seems they have taken aim at any video containing the…

August 8, 2015 | 09:58 EDT

EFF logo
News

Latest TPP Leak Shows Opposition to Extreme U.S. Proposals

A version of the Intellectual Property section of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, dated from May 11, was leaked to reporters earlier in the summer. However the full text was not available to viewed…

August 7, 2015 | 11:32 EDT

british war on piracy and cds
News

UK Considers Increased Sentence for Piracy, Forbids CD Ripping

The United Kingdom has continued a crackdown on people who download content illegally, but it may have effects on how you use your personal files. After recommendations by the UK Intellectual…

July 20, 2015 | 07:46 EDT

grooveshark featured image

Grooveshark Closes "Forever," Only To Be Reborn Days Later

On April 30th, 2015, popular music streaming website, Grooveshark.com officially decided to close its doors, rather than face up to $736 million in damages. This decisions comes as part of a…

May 6, 2015 | 12:30 EDT

SABAM Logo
News

Belgian Court Rejects Music Industry's Pirate Tax

SABAM, a Belgian group that represents the rights of artists, has been fighting with ISPs since 2004. They have long demanded that ISPs do more to combat online piracy. Their first attempt was to try…

March 18, 2015 | 09:57 EDT

kickass Torrents phoenix

Kickass Torrents Bounces Back From Domain Ban

Yesterday, popular Bit-Torrent archive and forum kickass.so was banned from use, most likely due to copy-right claims against it. Kickass has been known to change its domain suffix with some…

February 9, 2015 | 04:51 EST

Sega Logo
News

Sega Issues Cease And Desist to eLicense Over Youtube Copyright Claims

As a YouTube content creator myself, this is some good news considering the bad taste that Nintendo's recent YouTube content policy has left in the mouth of Let's Players and reviewers. Over in the…

February 6, 2015 | 11:29 EST

Google news
News

Google News pulls out of Spain due to new law

In response to a new Spanish law, Google has announced that as of December 16th, it will be shutting down Google News in Spain and removing all Spanish Publishers from their lists. The new law, which…

December 11, 2014 | 01:00 EST

wikileaks banner
News

Wikileaks Releases New Draft of Trans-Pacific Treaty

Wikileaks has revealed today a new draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is a highly controversial free trade treaty including 12 countries from the Asia and Pacific region. The leak is composed…

October 17, 2014 | 07:02 EDT