Category: Intellectual Property
TorrentSpy tortured even after death – US court fines closed bittorrent site $110m
Closing their Bittorrent portal TorrentSpy was not enough to save founders Justin Bunnell and Wes Park from getting hammered by the US courts to the tune of $110m.
Justin and Wes’s company Valence Media has been ordered to pay the enormous fine to the Motion Picture Association of America for enabling mass copyright infringement…
NBC took its shows off iTunes – now they've popped up on Zune
How do you like them apples, Apple?
After bravely turning its back on Apple’s iTunes thanks to rows over money and royalties and charges and the like, American telly juggernaut NBC has started releasing its shows via the… Zune shop. What’s the Zune shop called? Anyone have a clue? MicroStore? ZuneTunes?
Whatever the Zune shop is called, it now hosts more than 800 NBC-owned ‘properties’, with shows coming from the likes of Comedy Central…
The Pirate Bay goes Grand Theft Auto IV themed – as 1000s of people download GTA torrents
Good god, The Pirate Bay sure does love making a nuisance of itself.
As Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Take Two tries to fight fires and extinguish the YouTube videos, torrents, and various other leaks regarding GTA IV ahead of its April 29 global release, everyone’s favourite ABOVE THE LAW piracy portal has stuck two fingers up at T2 and developer Rockstar – renaming itself The Liberty Bay…
Motley Crue to release new single via Rock Band
What is it with ageing rockers and cutting-edge music distribution schemes? Last month we revealed that Def Leppard was releasing a single via Guitar Hero III, now “The Crue” is releasing its new track exclusively via rival music game Rock Band.
Motley Crue’s single is called ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ and it’ll appear on the American Rock Band download list next Tuesday, for the equivalent of 99 cents – on both Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation…
Europe votes "no" to internet bans for file sharers. We are saved!
The EU has just voted against the idea of banning file-sharers from using the internet, in a rare victory for the right-thinking common man.
Any possible plan to criminalise file-sharing was rejected by EU members, along with the concept of axing the web connections of those caught Bittorrenting the entire output of Hollywood overnight. It’s OK. You’re not going to get done for it any more…
Blockbuster developing set top box to "kill" Apple TV
Poor old Apple. Everyone wants to invent a “killer” to take out its products – and the next cold-blooded assassin is video rental chain Blockbuster.
Blockbuster is developing a video-streaming set-top-box to rival (KILL!) Apple’s Apple TV system, according to The News.
Rumoured to be announced some time this month…
French piracy web-banning scheme coming to the UK?
The lunatic French idea of disconnecting the web connections of those caught downloading pirated material could be coming to the UK.
John Kennedy of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, told Billboard he’s hoping UK ISPs will take voluntary action to kerb file sharing…
Prince swears purple murder against The Pirate Bay, sues illegal site in three different countries
Having worked his purple magic on YouTube and asked for over 2,000 unauthorised videos to be removed, Prince is now working down his hit list, by targeting The Pirate Bay next.
We heard a few months ago the short purple-clad one had a bee in his Raspberry Beret bonnet about all his music videos being illegally shared on sites such as these, and even Prince-themed products on eBay. Needless to say, he doesn’t just dish out idle threats, that Prince character.
Prince is showing he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk, and has prepared a lawsuit against The Pirate Bay, the renowned…
The RIAA reveals its next target – Usenet
It’s been the biggest mystery of the modern internet era – why have none of the anti-piracy campaigns bothered targeting usenet?
The “newsgroup” scene dwarfs the amount of movie and music available on newer file-sharing systems and Bittorrent, with hardcore web users swearing by the anonymous usenet…