YouTube removed a video showing RIAA officials discussing use of music-piracy investigations to pursue more serious crime. The posting violated YouTube’s terms of use, a notice on the video’s Web address said -- an unusual rationale, since copyrighted clips that are removed usually are replaced by a note that the copyright owner requested a takedown. A YouTube spokeswoman told us the site’s action went beyond pulling the video. “The user’s account was suspended due to multiple copyright violations; thus, the video was removed when the account was suspended.” The video actually wasn’t among the user’s violations -- just collateral damage, she said. The hour-long “training video,” as it has been dubbed, has surfaced on torrent sites, ridiculed by RIAA critics for trying to link music piracy with homicide, drug- dealing and terrorism. A two-minute streaming clip remained posted Friday afternoon at gadget blog Gizmodo. The video was co-produced with the National District Attorneys Association for use in its “In Trial” series for members. In the video, the NDAA’s Jim Dedman interviews Deborah Robinson, counsel for the RIAA antipiracy division’s central region and former Philadelphia prosecutor, and Frank Walters, a former Maryland state trooper who heads RIAA investigations for the central region. Music piracy “might lead to you a drug investigation,” Robinson says. Purchase of pirate CDs by officers working undercover “might allow you to have probable cause to a drug house,” she declares. RIAA piracy probes have found links to “terrorist organizations,” she says: “There’s a number of [federal] cases we're working on right now.” Asked by Dedman if paroled criminals “might be gravitating” toward piracy, Walters says, “More often than not.” Such types are often “recidivists” who find piracy useful as an adjunct for other crimes, he adds. A way to sell drugs with outlaw CDs is to ask a prospect “With or without?” Walters says. RIAA raids conducted with police have found guns, narcotics and counterfeit money, along with pirate CDs, he says: “It really goes the gamut on what can be found during one of these investigations.” The RIAA filed no takedown request with YouTube, a spokeswoman for the trade group told us. David LaBahn, director of the NDAA’s American Prosecutors Research Institute, told us the video seen online must have been ripped from a DVD the group sent prosecutors in December. The NDAA wasn’t aware of the postings until we asked, he said. The copyrighted material is meant only for prosecutors, police, and investigators. Were defense lawyers to see it, “How good is that training going to be?” he added. The NDAA is “very liberal in our copyright” but doesn’t authorize public showing of the videos. The NDAA won’t flinch at filing takedown requests, LaBahn said: “If we can find it, we will stop it.” In regard to the video’s inclusion of an RIAA official describing how the group gets its investigators qualified as expert witnesses, LaBahn said that to a court, an expert is “anyone who knows more than an average individual, so certainly when you talk about piracy… I don’t think it’s unusual at all that an association investigator would be able to qualify,” any more than a banker would be in a wire fraud case. Critics like Johan Pouwelse, assistant professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, mock what they term the RIAA’s limited grasp of P2P network technology (WID Feb 22 p5).
Another fight between the RIAA and a university over unnamed P2P defendants came to a head Tuesday, but may be resolved shortly. The U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City ordered Oklahoma State University to show cause why it shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for failing to respond to RIAA subpoenas to identify student defendants in Arista v. Does 1-11. But the case doesn’t appear to herald the involvement of a second state attorney general in a P2P case. The attorney general of Oregon intervened on behalf of the University of Oregon against RIAA subpoenas to identify alleged infringers, citing student privacy law (WID Dec 3 p5).
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council has issued a press release announcing that the China Textile Industry Association has predicted that textile and apparel exports from China will continue double-digit growth in 2008, but at a slightly lower growth rate than 2007. (HKTDC, dated 01/29/08, available at http://garments.tdctrade.com/content.aspx?data=garments_content_en&contentid=1006445&w_sid=194&w_pid=679&w_nid=10353&w_cid=1006445&w_idt=1900-01-01&w_oid=343&w_jid=)
Glu Mobile increased its market share in the U.S. and overseas during 2007 even as “the market has gotten increasingly tough for many of our competitors,” CEO Greg Ballard told analysts in a conference call late Monday. He was discussing the mobile game maker’s improved results for its Q4 and fiscal year ended Dec. 31. Demand was strong for several of its catalog and new games, it said.
Alone among developed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Canada hasn’t taken “meaningful steps” to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties, the International Intellectual Property Alliance said Monday. It appears to be the first time the group, which includes U.S. copyright heavy-hitters such as the RIAA, has called for a primarily English-speaking country to go on the U.S. Trade Representative’s Priority Watch List. It’s reserved for the worst IP offenders. IIPA identified problems with copyright protection, enforcement and market access in 51 countries. It asked the agency to add 43 of those to a watch list, in comments filed with the agency’s so-called Special 301 review.
The International Trade Administration and the International Trade Commission have each issued notices initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping duty orders.
The International Trade Administration has initiated administrative reviews of the following antidumping and countervailing duty orders for certain specified companies. The ITA also received a request to revoke one AD order in part.
The International Trade Commission has issued a notice of institution of a section 337 investigation of certain liquid crystal display devices and products containing same.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice announcing that on January 17, 2008, the U.S. submitted to the World Trade Organization a request for authorization to impose sanctions1 against the European Communities regarding the U.S. case2 against the EC's treatment of agriculture biotechnology (biotech) products.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice stating that it will soon begin upgrading its www.cbp.gov Web site. The first change will be a new homepage that will have a streamlined layout, among other features. Afterwards, over the next few months, the entire site will be modernized and streamlined, and will include Smart Links on top of many search results, to drive users to the most appropriate pages, and clearer presentation of important events or changes in the regulations, etc.