3 Count: Free Law

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1: Ed Sheeran Awaits Verdict Over Copyright Court Battle

First off today, The Associated Press reports that Ed Sheeran’s 11-day trial over the song Shape of You has concluded, and both sides are currently awaiting the ruling.

The case was filed in the UK by Sami Chokri, who accuses Sheenan and his co-writers or infringing his 2015 song Oh Why. The two sides disputed the alleged similarities between the two works, with Chokri even claiming that Sheeran was being dishonest and evasive when giving evidence at the trial itself.

However, that trial has now concluded with the judge taking leave before handing down his ruling. The judge did not provide a timeline for doing so, simply saying that he will deliver it, “as soon as I can.”

2: PrimeWire: We’ll Ban ‘Pirate’ Streaming Sources, Introduce Upload Filters

Next up today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that the pirate streaming service PrimeWire is taking some extreme steps that it hopes will prevent its new name from being seized.

In December of 2021, various movie companies filed a lawsuit against the site alleging that they were illegally streaming content that they own. The plaintiffs obtained a preliminary injunction that resulted in one of PrimeWire’s domains being seized. This prompted the service to move to a new domain, one on the .tf TLD.

However, in a bid to keep that domain alive, the service announced that it will be removing all links to pirated content from its site, banning links to content on cyberlockers, installing upload filters and honoring copyright takedown notices in the future. The goal, they say, is to prove that they are complying with the injunction and are no longer useful as a pirate streaming service.

3: After Supreme Court Copyright Fight, Georgia Makes Annotated Legal Code Freely Available

Finally today, Matt Reynolds at ABA Journal reports that, following their defeat at the Supreme Court, the state of Georgia has released its annotated legal code for free.

Previously, Georgia had argued that, while the state legal code itself was free to the public, its annotated code, which includes legal decisions and opinions, was not. That was offered exclusively through a contract with LexisNexis.

However, the state targeted Public.Resource.org after the site posted the annotated code for free, prompting a long-running lawsuit that went before the Supreme Court. There, the court upheld an appeals court decision ordering the state to make its annotated code available for free. Now, nearly two years after that ruling, the state has done just that.

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