Sony has been denied a patent by United Kingdom inspectors with respect to an invention that permits user data to be exchanged alongside peer-to-peer (P2P) file transfers. An appeal against the decision of the United Kingdom Patent Office was dismissed on the basis that the subject matter was not patentable. Nevertheless, the feature could still form an interesting addition to any legitimate P2P network established by the recording label:  Read more »

Wired is running an interesting story about the popular BitTorrent tracker (frontend) known as The Pirate Bay. According to the article:

Efforts to sink the word's largest BitTorrent tracker backfired into political scandal and spurred even more downloading. But the three guys behind the Pirate Bay are facing a national controversy of their own. Part one of a two-part series by Quinn Norton, reporting from Malmo, Sweden. Plus: Gallery: The Faces of Sweden's Pirate Wars  Read more »

LONDON (Reuters) - German police have filed criminal charges against 3 500 people accused of using the eDonkey file-sharing network to share copyrighted music illegally, the recording industry's trade group said on Tuesday.

The music industry has filed thousands of lawsuits in its fight against online piracy, but criminal prosecutions have been relatively rare. Users could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if the music files were shared for commercial purposes.  Read more »

Pichu0102 writes "According to WebProNews, Bearshare has been shut down by the RIAA." From the article: " Online file-sharing service BearShare, along with operators Free Peers Inc., is packing it up due to a $30 million settlement with the recording industry. The conditions of the settlement were agreed to by the P2P company to avoid further copyright infringement litigation."

Originally by ScuttleMonkey at Slashdot: Your Rights Online, 10:51 AM  Read more »

The Federal Court of Australia last week gave leave to representatives of the Australian record industry to commence contempt of court proceedings against Sharman License Holdings Pty Ltd, owner of the (formerly) popular file-sharing program Kazaa.  Read more »

Grokster has settled with its long-running lawsuit with Metro Goldwyn Meyer by agreeing to take its file-sharing service offline. Like Napster, it seems probable that Grokster will be reincarnated in a holy aura of subscription-based, publisher-ordained legitimacy.

Originally by Wired News: DAT's Entertainment, 2:36 PM

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A Hong Kong man has been found guilty of copyright infringement for his use of BitTorrent.

Originally by The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs, 9:50 PM

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A new, RIAA-approved file-sharing service is launching. For all the hype, it looks like all the headaches of P2P with none of the benefits.

Originally by Ars Technica, 9:48 PM

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'A Swedish man made history yesterday as the first Swede charged with file sharing. ... Swedish anti-piracy group Antipiratbyra (APB) tipped off the police. They contacted his ISP and used his IP number to track him down.

But there was confusion yesterday when the defendant withdrew an apparent confession that he did download, and then redistribute, the film. Police say he told them he had made the film available using the DC file sharing program. But in court yesterday the 28 year old man denied ever having the film.  Read more »

In the last year -- particularly in the last six months -- a growing number of defendants have refused to settle music industry suits, challenging what they allege are groundless lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America. Defense attorneys allege that the RIAA is using "scare tactics" to force settlements, intimidating defendants into paying up before they can seek legal help, or dispute the charges. RIAA officials deny using any strong-arm tactics.

Originally by Law.com - Tech Law Practice Center, 6:42 PM  Read more »