Law

The Most Controversial Copyright Battles in History

There have been many copyright battles in the world, but the current digital world has given rise to some of the most controversial cases. Let us take a look at five of the most outrageous battles of copyright infringement.
Battlestar Galactica vs Star Wars
While there are currently many cases concerning infringement of copyright, this is not a new concept. Back in the 1970s, there was such a case concerning two television series: Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars.
The Most Controversial Copyright Battles in History
According to 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios had come up with Battlestar Galactica after pirating 34 ideas from their own Star Wars series. Universal Studios responded by suing 20th Century Fox in turn for stealing many ideas from Buck Rogers and Silent Running movies that were produced in the 1930s! The truth was that both parties had pirated ideas from many fiction works from different periods.
Amazon Pirates
An extension in the Firefox Web browser allowed users to illegally download music, films, television shows, games and eBooks in December 2008. All users had to do was reference product pages from Amazon with relevant torrent files from Pirate Bay. The extension, which was created by two students, provided a button from where users could get free downloads of products they would otherwise have to buy.
Amazon served the students’ ISP with a take-down notice. The students complied and removed the extension, claiming they were only doing an artistic experiment! Their “experiment” came at the busiest period for online retailers.
Megaupload Shutdown
Megaupload was among the largest online file-sharing sites, but it had to be shut down in January 2012. Kim Dotcom and other founders of the site were arrested and charged with the violation of piracy laws. They were also accused of costing holders of copyrights more than $500 million.
In response, the Anonymous group attacked the Department of Justice and FBI websites. This is one of the largest cases concerning criminal copyright infringement the U.S. has ever brought.
Seizure of RnBXclusive.com
One month after the shutdown of Megaupload, the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) in the U.K. seized RnBXclusive.com, an R&B Web site. According to SOCA, the site availed music it had obtained illegally from artists.
Explaining that the public could facilitate organized crime when they obtained services or property from the perpetrators, SOCA warned people who had already downloaded illegal music from RnBXclusive.com that they could be sentenced to jail for up to 10 years.
When you try visiting the site, you will get a message telling you that SOCA is in control of the domain name.
The Obama Poster by Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey made an iconic image of Obama before he won the presidential election, and it must have influenced some voters. Unfortunately, Fairey had to face the wrath of the Associated Press, which claimed the image was prepared from their photo.
At first, Fairy claimed he had based his image on another photo and countersued AP. However, he later changed his statement and pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal contempt. In September 2012, he was fined $25,000, 300 hours of community service and two years of probation.

One thought on “The Most Controversial Copyright Battles in History

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *