MPAA Brings Copyright Case Against Hotfile

The Motion Picture Association of American filed a suit against Hotfile.com last Tuesday, February 8 for copyright infringement. Hotfile is a cyberlocker website in which users gain access through paid subscriptions. The MPAA alleges that not only does Hotfile aid users in uploading copyrighted information but that they encourage users to disseminate the uploads they have gotten through the site. The claim targets Hotfile instead of other file sharing websites because the MPAA believes Hotfile discourages personal filesharing by incentivizing popular files. Because Hotfile has membership fees, MPAA alleges that the website is also profiting from the infringement of its users.

Curiously, the MPAA did not also file claims against other online locker services like Rapidshare and Megaupload. This is because the MPAA does not contend that all file lockers are unlawful. The distinction is defined by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor clause. The act protects Internet service providers that obey certain rules of sharing, but MPAA believes Hotfile is not following the rules, and instead is encouraging breaking the law. The case will bring online locker services and their legality under fire as they have become a more popular way for people to gain access to files, some copyrighted, on the Internet.

MPAA's complaint against Hotfile

Google v. Bing(?)

In recent news, you may have heard that Google operated a sting to catch Microsoft's search engine, Bing, copying Google's search results on Internet Explorer and implementing them in Bing's search results. To do this, Google created a specific webpage that would appear if words like “hiybbprqag” and “mbzrxpgjys” were typed into Bing. Bing is contesting the allegations of "copying" and says that it merely monitored users, a fair online practice according to Bing's Harry Shum. Bing doesn't deny that it monitors its users' browsing online, rather the search engine argues that it oversees all of the internet activity across the web, not just when Internet Explorer users search through Google. This is called a clickstream, which Bing observes over time, tracking results of each user in the webpage's URL. This search signal, and not Google signal, is an aggregation of all the different searches that users perform, including those on other sites like Yahoo. To Bing, it is irrelevant if Google is a popular search, because the intention is not to solely perform a Google search. Bing can also show that only about 9% of the specific searches for nonsensical words that Google performed were found using Bing. Where does this leave the case? Well, Google has adamantly stood by its original purpose for bringing these search results to light, the engineers behind Google search believe that it is plainly unfair for Bing to copy any of its search results.

Given the extent of copied material, it seems less likely that Google will pursue a challenge in court. Instead, Google may choose to use these facts to further emphasize its prominence among search engines, allowing it to propel its image among users who may not be dedicated Google searchers.

For a more in-depth analysis of this case, please visit http://searchengineland.com/bing-why-googles-wrong-in-its-accusations-63279.

Microsoft Continuing Its Fight with i4i

Microsoft is heading for the Supreme Court later this year in its ongoing battle with i4i, Inc., a Canadian technology company. The case started in 2009 when i4i sued Microsoft for infringing on its Patent No. 5,787,449 for Microsoft's use of a method to make Microsoft Word products capable of processing or editing custom XML. Since the original filing, i4i has been successful against Microsoft in both the District Court and the Court of Appeals. The USPTO has refused to invalidate i4i's patent and the courts have awarded i4i $290 million in damages and a permanent injunction against Microsoft. As Microsoft attempts to overturn the lower courts' devastating decisions, the usually pro-patent company is finding some unlikely allies in the open source world.

Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Apache Software Foundation, usually critics of Microsoft for its vast portfolio of patents, have filed an amicus brief in support of Microsoft. Strange bedfellows: EFF, Apache back Microsoft in patent dispute. In the brief, the groups support Microsoft's suggestions for alterations to the present patent system when it comes to software patents. For instance, Microsoft advocates for stricter standards that would lower the bar to invalidate patents. The current test to throw out a patent is that the infringer must show "clear and convincing" evidence that the patent is invalid. Microsoft instead believes the standard should be lowered to a "preponderance" of evidence.

In addition to the above mentioned amicus brief, several other big players filed an amicus brief for Microsoft this week. This newest group of unexpected Microsoft supporters includes RedHat, Verizon, and Google. The massive support from Microsoft's former foes may convince the Supreme Court that the software patent system is broken, or at least in need of some careful tweaking. In addition to suggesting a lower standard to invalidate patents, Microsoft is also behind various other patent reform steps such as switching from a first to invent to a first to file standard. Admittedly, this will not affect their present case but reflects their attitude to the present patent system. Look for more on this case as potentially more parties get involved and to see how the Supreme Court handles the issue of software patents.