Cyberspace Law

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Most of us easily will recall one of the first uses of the internet: Napster. While Napster thrilled users with the prospect of “free” music and the ability to locate those obscure songs you thought were lost when your last vinyl LP record broke, its widespread use was devastating to the retail music industry and infuriated Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Further, in most instances, the use of Napster to download music and other content also amounted to copyright infringement. Accordingly, Napster was sued, the general public was educated about the fact that stealing copyrighted content is unlawful, and Lars Ulrich was happy.

The end of Napster marked only the beginning of the use of the internet for sharing files over what are called peer-to-peer (“P2P”) networks. Although Napster ultimately was moved to make adaptations to comply with copyright laws, multiple other unrestricted P2P file-sharing tools sprang up in its place. Seemingly overnight, tools like LimeWire Kazaa, and BearShare came into existence to fill the void left by Napster.Continue Reading The Trouble With Torrents

By Scott Hervey

The motion picture industry’s battle against cyber piracy took an interesting twist when an individual who allegedly engaged in the illegal downloading of the movie Far Cry filed a lawsuit against the Copyright Group and the law firm that has filed numerous suits against thousands of alleged infringers.  To date, the law firm, Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver has filed suit against 20,000 anonymous “Doe” defendants for illegal file trading copies of various motion pictures, including Hurt Locker and Far Cry. Once the firm determines a defendant’s true identity it then sends out a demand letter informing the individual that they have been identified as having illegally downloaded a motion picture and explaining that the plaintiff is entitled up to $30,000 in damages under the Copyright Act for each infringed work (and in cases where the plaintiff can prove that the infringement was intentional, up to $150,000 in damages.)   The firm then offers the individual an early opportunity to settle for $2,500 before it is named as a defendant in the complaint. Continue Reading Technicalities Surrounding Statutory Damages Under The Copyright Act Trigger Suit Against Law Firm Prosecuting Online Infringement Actions

By: David Muradyan

Does the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act impose liability upon cybersquatters who innocently register a domain name and properly use it for many years, but who then use a domain name with a bad faith intent to profit from the protected mark by holding the domain name for ransom? In DSPT Int’l, Inc. v. Nahum, __ F.3d __, 2010 WL 4227883, No. 08-55062 (9th Cir. Oct. 27, 2010), the Ninth Circuit answered in the affirmative. Continue Reading The Ninth Circuit expands the scope of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act: cybersquatters may no longer use a domain name with a bad faith intent to profit from the protected mark by holding the domain name for ransom

By Scott Hervey

In October, 1998 the EU enacted the European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection (“Directive”) which, among other things, established a comprehensive approach to the protection of various forms of data, and prohibits the transfer of an individual’s personal data to non-EU nations that fail to meet the EU’s “adequacy” standard for privacy protection. The U.S is one such nation. Continue Reading Transfers of Information From The EU to the USA Must Comply with Enhanced Data Protection Protocols

By W. Scott Cameron

The Ninth Circuit issued an interesting ruling last week regarding the ownership and status of a domain name as property. In Office Depot, Inc. v. Zuccarini, ___ F.3d ___, Feb. 26, 2010, the Ninth Circuit ruled that a judgment creditor can levy a domain name of a judgment debtor to satisfy his judgment. This ruling was interesting for a couple of reasons. First was the location where the domain name can be levied, and second the facts of the case make the result somewhat ironic.Continue Reading Need To Enforce A Judgment? Levy A Domain Name.