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Blizzard Gets DMCA Smackdown From Sony
tdye writes: "Blizzard has apparently released an internal memo banning P2P software inside the company. They've been served by Sony with a DMCA note, based on rampant music sharing inside Blizzard. I guess what goes around, comes around! You can see it on Declan McCullagh's PoliTech website."
It goes farther than that. Sony made a huge amount of money producing Walkman's in the eighties. They were criticized at the time for this because a popular thing to use these personal casette players for was sharing homemade copies with friends. Their view at the time was that they couldn't control and shouldn't be judged based on what users of their products do. Fast forward about fifteen years and they've got their collective panties in a bunch because people are sharing copies of songs.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
No they can't. Blizzard is owned by sony. This was a memo that went out to all companies under Sony's umbrella
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I work in the IT department of a major US University and, at least on our campus, these C/D letters have been popping up quite frequently lately. It appears that Sony (and maybe other major labels) must be running some sort of harvesting software that just searches for songs to which they hold copyrights, does a quick "whois", and mails off form letter style nasty grams to the contact listed. fyi, they look something like this (identifying info is X'd out, I like my job :)
original complaint:
RE: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Work: X
Dear X University:
As you may know, the musical group X is currently subject to a recording agreement with Sony Music ("Sony") pursuant to which Sony is entitled to X's exclusive worldwide recording services and the exclusive, worldwide right to distribute all audio and audiovisual recordings recorded during the term of that agreement through any and all media, including distribution via the Internet.
We have received information that an individual located at X.X.X.X on your network has offered downloads of the above-mentioned work(s) at the noted date and time through your service. No one is authorized to perform, exhibit, reproduce, transmit, or otherwise distribute the above-mentioned work without the express written permission of Sony, which permission Sony has not granted to the user located at X.X.X.X.
The attached documentation specifies the account or username offering this infringing material, the name and size of the file being offered, the number of repeat violations recorded at this specific location, as well as any available identifying information.
We are asking for your immediate assistance in stopping this unauthorized activity. Specifically, we request that you remove the site from your system or (in the case of a peer-to-peer service) disable access to this site; or at a minimum delete the infringing files that have been downloaded.
In addition, we ask that you inform the individual(s) involved of the illegality of his or her conduct and confirm with us, in writing, that this activity has ceased.
You should understand that under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, if you ignore this notice, your company/institution may be liable for any resulting infringement.
As owner of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted material at issue in this notice, we hereby state, that we have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by Sony, its respective agents, or the law.
Also, we hereby state that we believe the information in this notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that we are is authorized to act on behalf of Sony.
The foregoing is not a full recitation of the facts and law pertaining to this matter, and all of our rights and remedies, including the right to
recover monetary damages, are expressly retained.
We appreciate your assistance and thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Please contact us at anti-piracy@sonymusic.com should you have any questions.
In your future correspondence with us, please refer to Case ID X.
Your prompt response is requested.
Sincerely,
Anti-Piracy Group
Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
550 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Infringment Detail:
Infringing Work: X
Filename: X.mp3
First Found: X/X/2002 X:X:X AM EST
Last Found: X/X/2002 X:X:X AM EST
Filesize: Xk
IP Address: X.X.X.X
Network: KaZaA
Protocol: FastTrack
Username: X@KaZaA
>No they can't. Blizzard is owned by sony. This was a memo that went out to all companies under Sony's umbrella
They are owned by Videndi-Universal, not Sony... Not that VU is any better than Sony.
You've got it backwards. Corporations issue notices like this because it gives them legal protection. This email will have been sent out as an official reminder that corporate policy bans any such software and makes violation of the policy a firing offense. If the company gets caught with somebody running the banned software, the company fires the responsible people. If it somehow got to court, they would present to the judge the facts that they have a published policy, employees were found in violation of the policy, and the employees were fired for violationg the policy. The judge would then have to say that the company is taking reasonable precautions to avoid violating the law. It's exactly the same as company policies about sexual harrassment and things like that.
"Bite me, it's fun!" - Crowe T. Robot
Entertainment copyrights.
Isn't an illegal act of circumvention NOT a copyright infringment, but a totally different tort/offense? That is why fair use is apparently not a defense against it (the Constitution not withstanding). Bypassing the lock and unauthorized use of the content protected by the lock are 2 different things. (17 USC 1201 violation versus violation of the copyright specific part of Title 17).
Anyone else find this strange?
Note, the complaint says circumvention .. thereby .. infringement. This means the the first implies the second. This is a much stronger statement than just that circumvention allows infringement - it states circumvention IS infringement - not even the DMCA says that.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!