[Infowarrior] - MPAA Just Won't Quit: Says Links & Embeds Are Infringing

[Richard Forno]

(Didn't this get settled a few years ago when newspapers said the same thing when folks were linking to their articles from third party sites?  Oh, but this is the MPAA, whose reality distortion field makes the one operated by the late Steve Jobs look positively tame in comparison. -- rick)

MPAA Just Won't Quit: Jumps Into Legal Dispute To Argue Links & Embeds Are Infringing

from the what-happens-when-you-have-no-one-technological-on-staff dept

It appears that the MPAA has jumped into a legal dispute that hits on a few different points, all of which are interesting, but the really crazy point is the fact that the crux of their argument is that merely embedding or linking (technically, the same thing) to infringing videos is infringement itself -- and someone setting up a site that lets people embed or link should also be guilty of infringement. This is, to put it mildly, crazy talk from an organization that still seems to have an institutional cluelessness about how the internet works. To be sure, there are a few different issues related to this case, which was really about porn company Flava Works suing the site MyVidster and its owner, Marques Gunter. MyVidster lets people link or embed videos from other sites. It did not host any of the content itself. In accordance with the DMCA's notice and takedown provisions, Gunter would take down any embeds or links when he received a notice. However, the judge said that the site lost its DMCA safe harbor provisions because he did not take any further action: specifically because he did not cut off repeat infringers:

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This is what's so pitiful about the MPAA. When they lose, they don't realize they were wrong, they just keep arguing the same damn thing in court over and over again, and act shocked that anyone might argue otherwise, even though they've lost this argument in court over and over again.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120411/20434818458/mpaa-just-wont-quit-jumps-into-legal-dispute-to-argue-links-embeds-are-infringing.shtml


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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.