Since last year’s launch of Aereo, the disruptive streaming service that allows consumers to watch TV online as well as on mobile devices for a small monthly fee, there has been a lot of legal wrangling between the company and broadcasters of every stripe. 

Two of the major players in the fight have been Barry Diller, whose IAC unit backs Aereo, and Rupert Murdoch, whose U.S. broadcast network FOX has threatened to move to cable to avoid losing out on streaming fees.

CBS head Les Moonves has also said his network could go the cable route if Aereo is allowed to continue unchecked. While CBS has previously taken legal action against Aereo, the tables have now turned as the streaming site moves to block future suits from CBS and its affiliates.Continue reading...

On Feb. 7, 2007, Stephanie Lenz did something completely unmiraculous. She posted a 29-second video of her 14-month-old son dancing around the house with a push toy while enjoying Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy. Cute, right?

Universal Music's lawyers were less than charmed — and a six-year legal battle ensued between the music giant and Google, the parent company of YouTube. While more than 1.2 million people have heard Prince do his thing on the video since its posting, Universal has been trying to get Lenz to take it down, citing copyright infringement.

But Lenz and lawyers with the Electronic Frontier Foundation have been fighting to keep it up — and will now have have their case heard before a jury. At issue is whether Universal considered the definition of “fair use” before sending the takedown message, The Hollywood Reporter notes.Continue reading...

Abbott Laboratories to pay $1.6 billion over labelilng of antiseizure drug.

Amazon takes on high-end clothing.

Angry Birds gets embeddable, and bumps Rovio to pre-IPO valuation of $9 billion.

Apple sees iPad trademark settlement rejected by China's Proview.

Aviva sees CEO resign over shareholdre-pay revolt.

The Avengers offends Indian viewers with slum depiction.

Barneys New York skirts bankruptcy.

Costco seeks to grow online sales.Continue reading...

Apple balks at Proview's iPad trademark demands; held cross-licensing talks with Motorola, EU reveals.

AT&T expands 4G LTE rollout.

Audi said to be in talks to buy Ducati.

BabyBjorn gets a boost from Beyonce, while New York Times logo gets boosted by Jay-Z in Amex-sponsored show at SXSW.

Bob Lutz defends the Chevy Volt.

China promotes its homegrown brands.

Coca-Cola lobbyists spend millions to defeat soda taxes, hires Jean-Paul Gaultier as Diet Coke's European creative director.

Facebook sued by Yahoo for allegedly infringing patents, while Timeline apps inspire developers.

Friendly's ice cream chain expands ordering and loyalty online.

Intel reportedly eyes web TV service.

Jeremy Lin may endorse Volvo in China.Continue reading...

Pinterest has crossed the digital divide of 10 million, attracting 11.7 million monthly uniques in the U.S. “faster than any other standalone website in history” as TechCrunch commented earlier this month.

More than 100 brands are now on Pinterest, which has popped up in Facebook Timelines by more than 60% daily thanks to integration with Facebook Open last month. Facebook has helped fuel its meteoric rise as "Pin" has joined "Like" in the social media lexicon. It's so popular that even the U.S. Army released an introduction to Pinterest. So it should come as no surprise that the visual bookmarking site is standing at attention these days.Continue reading...

Opponents of SOPA and PIPA cheered yesterday’s web blackouts as a critical juncture in the escalating debate over copyright protection.

“The Web blackout Wednesday may be remembered as one of the first successful online uprisings in the U.S., but leaders in the U.S. Senate still planned to begin voting on PIPA next Tuesday.”

California Representative Anna Eshoo, Dem., tweeted "I do not support #SOPA! It is overly broad, threatens the Internet, will hinder new jobs & hurt economic opportunities" with a link to her statement: “History is being made by the more than 10,000 websites that have chosen to boycott SOPA by participating in today’s blackout,” and she followed suit by blacking out her own website.

A key factor in the turn was the education made quickly available to the public about the complex issues and alliances involved as shown in the following two videos:Continue reading...

Gucci bags, Apple iClones, New Balance sneakers, jeans of all stripes, Oakley sunglasses, you name it. Head out to any major urban strip, market or sidewalk vendor and you'll find a plethora of knock-offs laid out on a table, selling for a low, low price.

Well, fakers beware. There are now 38 countries committed to an international anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting agreement.

At an Oct. 1st meeting in Tokyo, the United States and seven other nations signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which aims to stamp out piracy and intellectual property theft. Other new ACTA signatories include New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Japan, and Morocco.

Prior to signing, the US was embroiled in debates over the sections of the agreement pertaining to IP protection on the web, a hot-button issue that alarmed online privacy watchdogs such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, with some concerned about ACTA's constitutionality.Continue reading...

Hollywood's wagons are circling against content theft with a new coalition, Creative America, to fight piracy and protect creative works and jobs.

The entertainment industry coalition states “that halting the looting of America’s creative works and protecting jobs must be a national priority."

Statistics cited on the group's homepage:

• Websites trafficking in stolen film and TV content get nearly 150 million visits every day, more than 50 billion visits per year. 
• Content theft isn’t just about movies. TV shows are illegally streamed and downloaded millions of times each week.  
• Content theft threatens over 2 million jobs supported by the film and televisio n industry in all 50 states and D.C. 
• The vast majority of workers in film and TV are middle class, earning $55K a year on average. These are the people hurt by content theft.  
• Content theft has already cost 140,000 U.S. jobs, along with $5 billion in wages and revenues for residuals and pensions. 

The founding members — including NBC Universal, SAG, Sony Pictures Entertainment, AFTRA, CBS, the DGA, IATSE, Twentieth Century Fox, Viacom, Disney and Warner Bros. — call themselves a “grassroots organization” supporting 2 million Americans whose jobs are in creative fields.Continue reading...