3 Count: Digital Basel Redux

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1: Music Labels Win Legal Battle Against Youtube-dl’s Hosting Provider

First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that a German court has ordered the web hosting service Uberspace to disable the website of the open source youtube-dl project.

The battle is part of a larger fight between the major record labels and youtube-dl. According to the labels, youtube-dl enables users to download videos from YouTube, in violation of both YouTube’s policies and their copyright. The project has also become the core of several “stream ripping” websites, that simplify the process of downloading YouTube videos for users.

The labels had previously attempted to get youtube-dl removed from GitHub. In that case, GitHub opted to leave the project online following a significant backlash from other users. However, in Germany, the labels were successful in targeting the host of the project’s main website, securing a court order to shutter it.

2: English Copyright Judge Finds Writer of Manufacturing Software in Breach of Former Employer’s Copyright

Next up today, Mitchell Skilling at Irish Legal news reports that, a judge in the High Court of England and Wales has ruled in favor of a company that writes manufacturing software in their case against a former employee.

The case was filed by PQ Systems Europe Ltd (PQE) and another company owned by them. According to the lawsuit, Jeff Aughton was employed by PQE from 1989 to 2015. It was after then he left and formed the company Factoria Ltd. According to PQE, when Aughton left, he introduced InSPC, a piece of software that had several similar functions to works owned by PQE that Aughton had worked on.

Aughton denied the infringement and said that InSPC did not copy any of PQE’s work and, even if it did, he was the actual rightsholder of the PQE software, as he claimed to have written it himself during personal time. However, PQE was able to prove that Aughton worked on their software from a company computer and show similarities in the code between the applications. As such, the judge ruled in favor of PQE, finding that both versions of InSPC were infringing. There is no decision on damages to be awarded.

3: ‘Digital Basel’ Website Accused of Copyright Infringement Returns Online

Finally today, Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly at Observer reports that the website for “Digital Basel” has returned online, having scrubbed all mentions of Art Basel, though it still faces accusations of copyright infringement.

The Digital Basel website launched earlier this month to sell and distribute art-related NFTs. Originally, the site claimed to be a “digital twin” of the international art fair named Art Basel. This prompted Art Basel to send a cease and desist letter to the site’s owners, which prompted them to close the site, at least temporarily.

The site is now back with all Art Basel mentions removed. However, others have noted that the site is still hosting copyright infringing images from a variety of galleries and artists. This has earned the site the ire of other groups, such as the Artists Rights Society, which is reported to be preparing a response to the site on behalf of its members.

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