File-sharing website Megaupload and its founder Kim Dotcom, along with several of the company's other executives, are now facing new charges added by an American grand jury to those previously brought against them.
According to an indictment made public on Friday, Megaupload and its staff are accused of using copyrighted content from YouTube and several other sites. Dotcom, a German national born Kim Schmitz, faces extradition to the US from new Zealand. He and six of his associates are now charged with eight additional counts of copyright infringement and wire fraud, in association with a series of allegations that Megaupload executives reproduced copyrighted materials from various sites and placed them on their file-sharing site. They are also accused of distorting the origins of content posted to Megavideo.com, showing it as primarily user-generated, instead of copyright-infringing content.
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Friday, February 17, 2012
Pirate Bay hits out at delusional recording industry
FILE SHARING WEB SITE The Pirate Bay has responded to criticisms from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), painting the organisation as quite mad.
The RIAA fired the first salvo in the war of words, as other battles are being waged online and in government, when it accused The Pirate Bay of being a dreadful copyright thief.
The RIAA was commenting on the Pirate Bay's decision to upsticks and move to a Swedish .se web domain and accused it of being brazen, and "one of the worst of the worst".
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The RIAA fired the first salvo in the war of words, as other battles are being waged online and in government, when it accused The Pirate Bay of being a dreadful copyright thief.
The RIAA was commenting on the Pirate Bay's decision to upsticks and move to a Swedish .se web domain and accused it of being brazen, and "one of the worst of the worst".
Read more
Publishers make bid to close filesharing sites
A coalition of US publishing groups has taken legal action in Ireland in a bid to close websites they accuse of copyright infringement.
The crackdown came as the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency announced it would treat illicit filesharing websites as organised crime threats and seized the domain of one popular music site.
Ireland-based websites Library.nu and ifile.it were served with cease and desist court orders on Tuesday after two major publishing groups accused the sites of earning $10.6m (£6.7m) in revenue a year.
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The crackdown came as the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency announced it would treat illicit filesharing websites as organised crime threats and seized the domain of one popular music site.
Ireland-based websites Library.nu and ifile.it were served with cease and desist court orders on Tuesday after two major publishing groups accused the sites of earning $10.6m (£6.7m) in revenue a year.
Read more
European Court Of Justice Rules Against File Sharing Filters On Social Networking Sites
In what could be termed as a severe blow upon copyright holder's campaign against online piracy, the European Court of Justice ruled that social networking sites cannot be compelled to introduce filters - in order to block illegal file sharing by their users.
The court illustrated that introducing such filters in social media sites could breach users' privacy, and right to gain and impart information.
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The court illustrated that introducing such filters in social media sites could breach users' privacy, and right to gain and impart information.
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Filesonic commits suicide
In what looks like a preventive measure in reaction to the Megaupload shutdown, FileSonic has disabled all file sharing capabilities and is now nothing more than a personal storage solution.
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Megaupload millionaire Dotcom's mansion seized
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – An associate of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was released from custody on bail in New Zealand on Thursday, as the NZ $4.3 million (U.S. $3.6 million) home of his former boss was seized.
Finn Batato, 38, and Bram van der Kolk, 29, were officially granted bail in Auckland's North Shore District Court last week but remained in custody while their homes were assessed for the installation of electronic monitoring,the New Zealand Herald reported.
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Finn Batato, 38, and Bram van der Kolk, 29, were officially granted bail in Auckland's North Shore District Court last week but remained in custody while their homes were assessed for the installation of electronic monitoring,the New Zealand Herald reported.
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Thursday, October 02, 2008
Hollywood Aims to Block RealNetworks' DVD Software
Hollywood's six major movie studios on Tuesday sued RealNetworks Inc. to prevent it from distributing DVD copying software that they said would allow consumers to "rent, rip and return" movies or even copy friends' DVD collections outright.
The studios stand to lose key revenue from the sale of DVDs, estimated by Adams Media Research at $15 billion in the U.S. this year, if consumers stop buying DVDs and instead copy rental discs from outlets like Netflix and Blockbuster.
The studios stand to lose key revenue from the sale of DVDs, estimated by Adams Media Research at $15 billion in the U.S. this year, if consumers stop buying DVDs and instead copy rental discs from outlets like Netflix and Blockbuster.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Nigeria: Piracy - Robber of Intellectual Property
While piracy accounts for almost 7% of all global trade, Nigeria accounts for 80% of the pirated international music CDs. In this illustrative essay, Michael Dibie captures the damaging effect of piracy on global trade.
Nigeria's status as a favourable destination for foreign direct investment as well as a place where local creative talent can flourish is in jeopardy. No thanks to the activities of criminals that place no value on intellectual property (IP). That was the alarming message from a panel of experts who debated the enforcement of IP rights at the opening day of the CTO business and technology summit in Lagos recently.
Nigeria's status as a favourable destination for foreign direct investment as well as a place where local creative talent can flourish is in jeopardy. No thanks to the activities of criminals that place no value on intellectual property (IP). That was the alarming message from a panel of experts who debated the enforcement of IP rights at the opening day of the CTO business and technology summit in Lagos recently.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Organised crime syndicates move into DVD, internet piracy
ORGANISED crime syndicates including bikie gangs have moved into DVD and internet piracy, with some channelling millions of dollars in illicit profits into drug dealing ventures.
They are making their money off the back of movies like The Dark Knight, of which pirated DVDs have already been seized in Australia, and locally funded film The Bank Job, which was on DVD in Australia before its release on the big screen.
Australia is now second only to China in the Asia-Pacific region for the number of pirated DVDs seized, according to the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.
Neil Gann, AFACT director of operations, told The Daily Telegraph the growing sophistication of the pirate industry meant the big players were taking over from computer geeks and "mum-and-dad" operations.
More than $233 million a year was being stolen from the country's film industry - including video hire stores and suburban cinemas - and ending up in the pockets of criminals.
They are making their money off the back of movies like The Dark Knight, of which pirated DVDs have already been seized in Australia, and locally funded film The Bank Job, which was on DVD in Australia before its release on the big screen.
Australia is now second only to China in the Asia-Pacific region for the number of pirated DVDs seized, according to the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.
Neil Gann, AFACT director of operations, told The Daily Telegraph the growing sophistication of the pirate industry meant the big players were taking over from computer geeks and "mum-and-dad" operations.
More than $233 million a year was being stolen from the country's film industry - including video hire stores and suburban cinemas - and ending up in the pockets of criminals.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
IOC official praises China anti-piracy efforts
BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hain Verbruggen, chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, praised China's anti-piracy efforts against illegal broadcasts of the events on Thursday, calling them efficient.
In a meeting with Liu Binjie, general director of China's General Administration of Press and Publication, Verbruggen said according to the IOC's automatic monitoring system, the illegal broadcasting of Olympic-related content occurring in the country had all been stopped rapidly and efficiently.
"The anti-piracy efforts of the Chinese government set a good example for the global anti-piracy work for the Olympics," said Verbruggen.
In a meeting with Liu Binjie, general director of China's General Administration of Press and Publication, Verbruggen said according to the IOC's automatic monitoring system, the illegal broadcasting of Olympic-related content occurring in the country had all been stopped rapidly and efficiently.
"The anti-piracy efforts of the Chinese government set a good example for the global anti-piracy work for the Olympics," said Verbruggen.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Bill Gates predicts software revolution
Bill Gates, chairman, co-founder and former head of Microsoft, has predicted that continual expansion of Internet services will provoke a revolution in software development.
During a visit to Hong Kong, Gates attended a forum on August 12 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Microsoft Research Asia, the company's regional research lab, which was founded in 1998 in Beijing, and has provided training for more than 2,000 interns from universities in the region.
This was Gate's first official speech in public after he stepped down as Microsoft Chief Executive in July 2008 to move to a full-time philanthropist role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
During a visit to Hong Kong, Gates attended a forum on August 12 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Microsoft Research Asia, the company's regional research lab, which was founded in 1998 in Beijing, and has provided training for more than 2,000 interns from universities in the region.
This was Gate's first official speech in public after he stepped down as Microsoft Chief Executive in July 2008 to move to a full-time philanthropist role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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