COPYCENSE

"Warner Bros. has secured a $309,600 judgment against an actor for allegedly making promotional ‘screener’ copies of ‘The Last Samurai‘ and ‘Mystic River‘ available for bootleg DVD copying and unauthorized Internet trading, the studio said Tuesday.

"Studio officials say Carmine Caridi, a former recurring actor on ‘NYPD Blue,’ has refused to respond to their civil suit for copyright infringement, forcing them to ask the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to enter a default judgment of $150,000 per film and $9,600 in attorney fees.

"Judge Stephen Wilson granted that request, adding that the defendant’s conduct was ‘particularly egregious’ because of the intentional and deliberate nature of the infringement."

Jesse Hiestand Actor Must Pay $309,600 in Film Piracy Case. WashingtonPost.com. Nov. 24, 2004.

(Editor’s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper’s fee-based Archives.)

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"The U.S. Senate has voted to outlaw several favorite techniques of people who illegally copy and distribute movies, but has dropped other measures that could have led to jail time for Internet song-swappers.

"People who secretly videotape movies when they are shown in theaters could go to prison for up to three years under the measure, which passed the Senate on Saturday.

"Hackers and industry insiders who distribute music, movies or other copyrighted works before their official release date also face stiffened penalties under the bill."

Reuters. Senate Passes Scaled-Back Copyright Measure. News.com. Nov. 22, 2004.

See also:
Katie Dean. A Kinder, Gentler Copyright Bill?. Wired News. Nov. 22, 2004.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Marybeth Peters, the U.S. register of copyrights, told a conference here (.pdf) that the so-called Induce Act would not be part of the slew of legislation–including key spending measures–that Congress is expected to vote on before leaving for next week’s Thanksgiving holiday.

"’I don’t think you’ll ever see database protection,’ said Peters, who has been involved in closed-door negotiations this fall over copyright legislation. ‘Something else you won’t see this year is something known as the Induce Act.’

"The database bill would create a new intellectual property right for collections of information, while the Induce Act would prohibit inducing anyone to violate copyright law."

Declan McCullagh. Anti-P2P Bill May Slip Past Legislative Rush. News.com. Nov. 18, 2004.

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"The Recording Industry Association of America has filed new lawsuits against 761 people who allegedly use peer-to-peer software to trade music files without permission, the trade group announced this week.

"The lawsuits included users of the eDonkey, Limewire, and Kazaa services, as well as 25 people using university Internet connections to distribute music files.

"American University in Washington, D.C., Boston College, Iowa State University, and the University of Massachusetts were among the college networks used by those sued."

Grant Gross. RIAA Files New Lawsuits. PCWorld. Nov. 19, 2004.

SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.

"Several lobbying camps from different industries and ideologies are joining forces to fight an overhaul of copyright law, which they say would radically shift in favor of Hollywood and the record companies and which Congress might try to push through during a lame-duck session that begins this week.

The Senate might vote on HR2391 (.pdf), the Intellectual Property Protection Act, a comprehensive bill that opponents charge could make many users of peer-to-peer networks, digital-music players and other products criminally liable for copyright infringement. The bill would also undo centuries of ‘fair use’ — the principle that gives Americans the right to use small samples of the works of others without having to ask permission or pay.

"The bill lumps together several pending copyright bills including HR4077, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, which would criminally punish a person who ‘infringes a copyright by … offering for distribution to the public by electronic means, with reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement.’ Critics charge the vague language could apply to a person who uses the popular Apple iTunes music-sharing application."

Michael Grebb. Senate May Ram Copyright Bill. Wired News. Nov. 16, 2004.

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