3 Count: Copyright Car Show

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1: US Internet Organizations Support Grande’s Appeal in Record Industry Copyright Battle

First off today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that two organizations that represent US telecom services have filed an amicus brief supporting Grande Communications in its ongoing fight with the music industry.

Grande Communications was sued by the major record labels over allegations that the company was not doing enough to curb piracy on its network. This included the lack of an effective policy to terminate alleged repeat infringing accounts. The case went before a jury, which sided with the labels and awarded them $46.8 million in damages.

Grande has now appealed that decision and is getting support from the telecom industry. According to the brief filed by USTelecom and CTIA, terminating users for suspected copyright infringement is not a “simple” or “basic” sanction and, instead, is disproportionate and counter to stated government goals of providing internet access to everyone.

2: Government Sells Omi in a Hellcat’s Luxury Car Collection. Here’s How Much Bidders Paid

Next up today, Jim Walsh at the Courier Post reports that the federal government has raised more than $3.2 million through an auction of property seized from Bill Omar Carrasquillo, better known as the pirate site operator Omi in a Hellcat.

Carrasquillo was arrested in September 2021 over allegations that he operated a series of pirate streaming websites. Carrasquillo had been known for his lavish lifestyle, which included a collection of 57 vehicles including many high-end sports cars, a mansion, jewelry and more.

However, after his arrest, most of his property was seized. He was eventually sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to forfeit more $30 million in assets. Now, the United States Marshals have auctioned off much of his luxury vehicle collection, netting a total of $3.2 million.

3: GTA 5’s Biggest RP Mod Ignites a Huge Copyright Purge of Real-World Cars Just 2 Months After Joining Rockstar

Finally today, Lain Harris at GamesRadar+ reports that Cfx.re, the team behind popular role playing mods for both Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA5) and Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2), have been acquired by Rockstar Games, the makers of the games. With that acquisition, however, is coming a change in policy when it comes to cards in their Grand Theft Auto mod.

Cfx.re is the team behind FireM, a popular role playing mod for GTA5 that lets users play multiplayer on custom servers. As part of that mod, many users have added in real-world cars, though often removing the real-world names and logos to avoid trademark issues.

However, now the mod creators have said that will not be adequate and that all real-world cars need to be removed or face scrubbing by them. Though car designs can enjoy varying degrees of both copyright and trademark protection, the real issue seems to be from regular GTA5 players who purchased or acquired the cars in base game. There is no word about copyright issues with horses in RDR2.

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