TorrentFreak Email Update |
- UK Music Head Set For Seat In The House of Lords
- Rapidshare Takes Over Domain Names Of Trademark Abusers
- Thousands More BitTorrent Users To Be Sued In The U.S.
| UK Music Head Set For Seat In The House of Lords Posted: 19 Jul 2010 04:44 AM PDT The head of a prominent lobby group for the music industry is being touted as a new entrant to the UK's House of Lords. According to sources close to new Prime Minister David Cameron, UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey is being considered for a life peerage as reward for his efforts in the music industry.
For its chief, ex-Polydor A&R man and former pop star Feargal Sharkey, times are particularly good at the moment. After picking up an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Hertfordshire at the end of 2008, it was recently announced that at the end of this year he will receive a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree from the University of Ulster. But becoming a doctor pales into insignificance when compared to the latest honor likely to be bestowed on the Irishman. According to a report which quotes sources close to new Prime Minister David Cameron, Sharkey is being considered for a life peerage as reward for his efforts supporting the music industry. It is suggested that his place in the House of Lords, where the then Digital Economy Bill was debated extensively, would be as an independent peer without supporting any particular party. He would also be able to continue his regular job. "David Cameron is deeply impressed with Feargal and his knowledge, leadership and commitment when it comes to representing the music business,” a government source told The Mirror. “He would be a welcome addition to the House of Lords or in a role advising the Government, although nothing has been finalised yet." Article from: TorrentFreak. |
| Rapidshare Takes Over Domain Names Of Trademark Abusers Posted: 18 Jul 2010 12:55 PM PDT After filing more than two dozen World Intellectual Property Organization disputes in recent months, Rapidshare has come away with substantial victories. After pursuing several sites it claim abused its trademarks and offered unfair competition, the file-storage site has now taken control of many of these. However, not all complaints were successful.
In addition to offering collaboration and noting that the site would increasingly terminate the accounts of persistent copyright infringers, the company noted that it would begin pursuing third party sites who use the Rapidshare trademark to 'promote' or encourage copyright infringement. "We are extending our efforts to proceed against linking-sites, against so-called Rapidshare search engines and against individuals who abuse our trademark to distribute copyright protected content," wrote Chang. Just weeks later Rapidshare demanded that site owners should stop abusing its trademark, and went on to file several World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) disputes against others, hoping to take control of their domain names. Now it appears that those complaints have borne considerable fruit. According to WIPO records, Rapidshare has successfully taken control of more than two dozen domains with ‘rapidshare’ somewhere in the URL including;
The full list of transferred domains goes on for a while, and Rapidshare has already filed more than a dozen new disputes against search engines and link sites including rapidshareindex.com and rapidshare1.com. While it is easy to see where Rapidshare’s trademark could be considered infringed by a domain which includes ‘rapidshare’ in its URL, not all domains did. A claim against another domain, rapidbay.net, was denied. Firstly it was decided that not only is the word ‘rapid’ commonly used in the English language, but it is also in use by many businesses round the world unconnected with Rapidshare who wish to give the impression they are fast at what they do. Secondly, the word ‘bay’ was considered to be nothing like ‘share’ and therefore would not cause an Internet user to make a connection to Rapidshare. While Rapidshare will be pleased that it has largely succeeded with these complaints, the domains it has taken control of represent just the tip of the iceberg. Time will tell if the file-hoster continues its aggressive actions against those it believes are not only abusing its company trademark, but also connecting it to copyright infringement. Article from: TorrentFreak. |
| Thousands More BitTorrent Users To Be Sued In The U.S. Posted: 18 Jul 2010 05:36 AM PDT The troubles for U.S. based BitTorrent users who share movies without permission is far from over. The United States Copyright Group (USCG) has called in the help of 15 law firms to file lawsuits against BitTorrent users who refuse to settle. For those who are willing to pay, the USCG has set up a portal where alleged file-sharers can conveniently pay their settlements online. In March the U.S. Copyright Group imported the mass litigation "pay up or else" scheme to the United States. The initial targets were relatively unknown indie films, but this changed when the makers of the Oscar-winning Hurt Locker joined the lucrative scheme, suing 5,000 alleged file-sharers all at once. Through legal action the copyright holders hope to compensate for the losses they claim piracy is causing. For the lawyers involved, the quest for settlements is also a profitable one as they get to keep 70% of the recouped money. The USCG is coordinating the scheme and has been preparing for the huge amounts of settlements they expect to come in. They’ve now set up a payment portal where ‘victims’ can conveniently pay off their debts online. All the defendants have to do is enter their Record ID and they are ready to settle. To ensure that the defendants pay up quickly instead of considering a court case, the USCG uses a variety of threats and persuasion tactics. In the Far Cry case the alleged downloaders were offered an initial settlement amount of 'just' $1,500. However, this would increase to $2,500 if they failed to pay up within three weeks. A classic persuasion tactic, which was followed by a threat that going to court could lead to a fine of up to $150,000. Up until now around 15,000 BitTorrent users have been sued as ‘John Does’. Several of the defendants have already received settlement requests after their ISPs were ordered by the Court to give up their information. However, not all alleged file-sharers have been willing to settle immediately. To deal with these defiant defendants, the USCG has now called in the help of 15 law firms across the United States that will act as local counsel and pursue those who refuse to pay. The Hollywood Reporter claims that this will result in an “explosion of lawsuits around the nation” starting in August. Although it’s not impossible, we have reason to doubt that there will indeed be thousands of cases against individuals. For one, the cost of this operation would be huge, and without doing a trial case it might turn into a financial disaster for the lawyers if their evidence doesn’t hold up. If anything, we believe that USCG is more likely to go after a handful of select individuals with poor defenses first, in order to set an example and to make clear where they stand. Perhaps the announcement should just be seen as a threat to those who are thinking about not settling their case? More news about the new round of lawsuits is expected to follow in the weeks to come, apparently. Article from: TorrentFreak. |
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Earlier this year TorrentFreak reported on the contents of a letter sent by former Rapidshare CEO Bobby Chang to the entertainment industry. | You are subscribed to email updates from TorrentFreak To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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