3 Count: Charter Sued Part Deux

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Major Record Labels Sue Charter Communications Again for Alleged Copyright Infringement

First off today, Kim Lyons at The Verge reports that the major record labels have joined forced to file a second lawsuit against Charter Communications over allegations that the internet service provider is not doing enough to deter piracy on its network.

The lawsuit is the second the group has filed against Charter, with one being filed in 2019 that looked at Charter’s alleged activities between March 24, 2013 and May 17, 2016. This new one addresses the time period between July 26, 2018 to the present and accuses Charter of doing little in response to some 150,000 notices of infringement, including notices targeting “flagrant and serial infringers.”

The lawsuit is one of several filed against ISPs, most notably Cox Communications and RCN Corporation that claim ISPs are not meeting their obligations for suspending the accounts of repeat infringers. Neither Charter Communications nor the record labels had any comment on the new lawsuit.

2: World Kung Fu Governing Body Uses Copyright Law to Hunt Down YouTube Critics

Next up today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that the international governing body for Kung Fu has successfully petitioned an Australian court to learn the identity of a YouTuber and critic that they say has been uploading clips they hold the copyright to without permission.

The case pits the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) against a YouTuber named ‘Wushuleaks’ that has been a staunch critic of the organization and uploaded several clips of IWUF events as part of that criticism. IWUF filed the lawsuit in a Federal Court of Australia, asking the court to compel YouTube to turn over any information they have about the individual.

The court has sided with the IWUF, saying that the bar for such a request is very low and that the IWUF has met it. This requres YouTube to hand over any information they have about the anonymous YouTuber, including their name, email and date of birth.

3: Judge Issues Ruling on Films Using Copyrighted 9/11 Footage

Finally today, William Hughes at AV Club reports that photojournalist Anthony Fioranelli has secured a major ruling on the use of footage he took from Ground Zero on September 11, 2001 in various motion pictures.

Fioranelli sued a wide assortment of filmmakers over the use of his footage. According to Fioranelli, he licensed the footage to CBS for use in their news coverage, but then CBS inappropriately sublicensed that footage out to others. After that, more than a dozen other projects picked up the film, which he says was used without his permission.

However, rather than handing down a blanket judgment, the judge in the case took each movies one by one, ruling that some were non-infringing while others likely were. In doing so, he dismissed the claims against some films and set others up to go onto a trial, dependent upon how they used the footage and how much they used.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.