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US Government Targets Pirate Bay and Other 'Piracy Havens' (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by msmash on from the steering-clear dept.

The US Government has listed some of the largest piracy websites and other copyright-infringing venues. The USTR calls on foreign countries to take action against popular piracy sites such as The Pirate Bay, which has important "symbolic value," according to the authorities. In addition, stream-ripping is mentioned as an emerging threat. TorrentFreak adds: The overview is largely based on input from industry groups including the RIAA and MPAA, who submitted their recommendations a few weeks ago. While the USTR admits that the list is not meant to reflect legal violations, the goal of the review is to motivate owners and foreign Governments to take appropriate action and reduce piracy. "The United States encourages all responsible authorities to intensify efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting, and to use the information contained in the Notorious Markets List to pursue legal actions where appropriate," the USTR announced.

6 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck with that by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And look who's talking.No conservative rally, meeting or speech this year has been without a violation of some artist's rights, because they just played whatever song they like, without prior giving a crap about the copyright owners' consent,

    It's also a trademark issue, since artists usually don't want people to think that they endorse the moron who uses it without consent.

    http://www.thelegalartist.com/...

    1. Re:Good luck with that by Salgak1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As I understand it, if it's a commercial recording and you've paid the public performance licensing fee to the appropriate agency (ASCAP and/or BMI, as I recall), you have the right to play it as many times as the license allows.

      Consent of the copyright holder is not required.

    2. Re:Good luck with that by rickb928 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Consent of the copyright holder was obtained through their agreement with the licensing agency."

      FTFY

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    3. Re:Good luck with that by CaptainDork · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The whole problem is with ASCAP and BMI (and equivalent in other IP megacorps).

      Those greedy bastards don't want to spend their own goddam money chasing violators and attempts to embed copyright blocks into the digital IP code fails due to CaptainDork's 3rd corollary:

      For every mother fucker out there with a computer, there's another mother fucker out there with a computer.

      So, the big houses tried to get the ISPs to track, trace, invoke the three-strike rule, and the ISPs said, "Great! How much is it worth to you?"

      Those outfits backed off and tried to legislate ISP watch-dogging.

      That didn't work, so now it's time to get the federal government in on the protection racket.

      --

      The undeniable reality is that when IP went digital, the former paradigm was totally lost.

      The entertainment IP protectors are chasing a fucking goddam unicorn.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  2. Venues licensed by BMI and ASCAP by tepples · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's absolutely not a copyright issue, but not for the reason mentioned in the article you cite. So long as the venue in which a rally is held holds a license from the publisher through the appropriate licensing agency, a rally's organizer can perform a musical work publicly. In the USA, this is either BMI or ASCAP depending on the song in question.

    But this article is right about trademarks. An owner of a mark can use one of two legal theories: infringement or dilution. Infringement happens only within a field of use. Dilution applies to particularly famous trademarks and can cross fields of use, but it's quite a bit harder for a mark owner to prove fame.

  3. Let the hate flow through you by H3lldr0p · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And throw that temper-tantrum so the world really knows just what the law in the US means. Let them see how our leaders grovel at the feet of the moneyed class for crumbs to run their campaigns with. Let them see you toadying like the good little servants you are.

    Meanwhile we'll be over here, ignoring you. Going to concerts, buying merch, and finding ways to pay the artists directly without going through your precious machines that do little more than siphon off "value". The game's changed and you could have changed with it, made it a place where you could have made a profit (albeit smaller) but smarter people beat you to the punch. Now you all bleed at the altar of Apple, Amazon, and Google while we go around the corner and get what we want for nearly free.

    Burn in hell you corporate, backward assholes. You could have made the world a better place but chose money over humanity once again.