copyright infringement

Megaupload's lawyers say that the United States Department of Justice's copyright infringement charges represent "prosecutorial overreach" and have no basis in U.S. law. The site's legal team made that argument in a white paper released to the media ... on Tuesday. According to that white paper, the Department of Justice is pursuing its case against Megaupload and site founder Kim Dotcom on a "theory" that the accused participated in criminal secondary copyright infringement. However, there's no basis for such an argument in U.S. criminal law. Secondary Copyright Infringement Not A Crime, Lawyers ... (view more)

Despite the threat of deportation to the United States for trial, the man who started the controversial Megaupload filesharing service says he is working on a replacement. Kim Dotcom also says his new filesharing service will work in a way that will ... keep him safe from the long arm of the law. Megaupload allowed users to store files online, and also to access and download the files through either a private or public link. Not surprisingly, many people used the service to share copyrighted files, such as digital music and movies, without paying for them -- clearly a case of copyright ... (view more)

Web users in New Zealand are today blacking out their profiles on social networking sites to highlight objections to a new copyright law that orders Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to disconnect any user or websites merely suspected of copyright ... infringements . The photo blackout, which has extended to sites including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, is just the first step in a week of protests. It will climax next Monday when websites are asked to take down their content for a day to demonstrate what life without Internet access would be like. The protests are organized by the Creative ... (view more)

Who's to blame for illegal file-sharing? Although in the past the immediate response has been to blame the individual physically downloading a movie, album, or video game, that could be changing. The new culprit may just surprise you. In some North ... American cities, a drunk driver isn't the only one fingered for wrong-doing. In many cases, the bar that got the perpetrator drunk is also found guilty of negligence, and can have its liquor license suspended for weeks, even months. Now, that idea is creeping up on the world of technology. Although the Record Industry Association of America, or ... (view more)