Category: Intellectual Property
OPINION: 25,000 gaming lawsuits story is much more complex than it appears
The other day we covered the story that Codemasters and Atari, among a few other publishers, are suing 25,000 people who are alledged to have downloaded games. Seems fairly black and white, doesn’t it? Downloading games is still illegal, despite how widespread and popular it is. But the folks at GamesIndustry.biz, in their daily newsletter, have delved a little deeper into the topic, and I wanted to share with you some of the things they point out…
Star Trek Command Chair – Get your little clipboard and come sit on my lap, Uhura
No one understands your needs like Diamond Select Toys understands your needs – which is why the sci-fi toy and replica company has started making some of these. For you. For you to sit on and dream. For us all to sit on and dream. A realistic Star Trek Command Chair.
Based on the original Kirk-housing 1960s Trek captain’s chair, the new model makes sounds. The correct sounds. It even has lights and sampled dialogue. All you need to provide for 100% Trek authenticity is a ruffled quiff, slightly torn uniform and your girlfriend covered in green paint.
The realistically-proportioned Command Chair will go on sale in 2009. You might want to email the…
UPDATED: UPDATE: RIAA talk about Muxtape, 8tracks gain a whole lot of users overnight
Despite the optimistic message on their front page, it turns out that Muxtape have been evading the RIAA for a little while.
A spokesman for the centre of all evil in the Universe trade association for record labels had this to say on the subject…
Atari and Codemasters join video game piracy legal fight – £300 fines on the way to 25,000 game-sharers
It would appear that yesterday’s shaming of poor Isabella Barwinska was no one-off – some of the largest players in gaming are joining up to (try to) eliminate online piracy.
Atari and Codemasters, who make half the stuff you’ve played during your lifetime, have joined Topware and another couple of companies in targeting P2P-using game pirates, and will, according to The Times, start sending out automatic £300 fines…
Muxtape down, RIAA blamed, users weep
Popular digital mixtape-making service Muxtape has been shut down by the RIAA. A pity, because the service was one of the best music resources online, and a big favourite here at Tech Digest…
The Pirate Bay has a new enemy – International Olympic Committee asks Swedish government to remove torrents
Here’s another vague threat for The Pirate Bay to laugh in the face of – the International Olympic Committee wants the Swedish piracy-enabler to remove all copyrighted Olympic content from its comprehensive listings.
The IOC has requested assistance from the Swedish government, asking the Minister of Justice to help force the Bay…
Woman made example of – fined £16,000 for illegally downloading a game
Poor old Isabella Barwinska just wanted to have a bit of fun playing pinball on her PC with her friends, but she’s ended up with a £16k fine after being tracked down via the P2P network she used.
Isabella unwisely chose to nick a copy of Pinball Dreams 3D off the internet, no doubt attracted by its wide variety of tables and realistic arcade gameplay! But she was rumbled, and recently ordered to pay damages of £6,086.56 and costs…
Quantum of Solace product placement update – Ford signs on to promote its new Ka
The imminent 90-minute product advertisement that is Quantum of Solace has just got a little more rammed with unique marketing opportunities, thanks to car-maker Ford signing on to feature its products in the movie-cum-advert.
So as well as whoring himself dry by using a Sony Ericsson C902 to phone HQ every few minutes, Bond will also be looking on approvingly as love interest Camille rolls up in a gold Ford Ka…
BBC's iPlayer upgraded to H.264 codec – download speed and picture quality boosted
The BBC has been blowing your license fee on further developing its iPlayer service, announcing today that it’s starting to use the open source H.264 codec for its streaming telly service.
This has allowed the Beeb to boost the encoding bitrate of streamed shows from 500kbps to 800kbps, so it should all look a little sharper and cleaner when you catch up with such classics…
eBay Nutcase of the Week: Lord puts title, Bentleys, houses and wives up for sale
This week’s eBay Nutcase is 58-year-old David Piper, who’s put his Bentleys, Lord of the Manor title, hotel, cafe and 111-acre estate up for sale on the auction site.
You are allowed to buy and sell titles in the UK, so yes, you would be able to call yourself Lord of the Manor of Warleigh should you win his auction. And you’d be able to drive his two Bentleys…
