News of the Week; August 3, 2016

GAMES

1. 2K Sports scores partial victory in bizarre tattoo copyright lawsuit: Who owns the ink in another person’s skin?
2. Failure to Register LeBron James’ Tattoo as Copyright Proves Costly
3. Star Wars Battlefront fan game shut down by Lucasfilm
4. Blizzard Allows Release Of Fan-Game It Initially Tried To Shut Down, Reaps Rewards It Should Have Had All Along
5. Homeowner files lawsuit against Niantic over Pokemon Go trespassing
6. Pokemon Go catches lawsuit for game’s creators: New Jersey man claims players attempting to trespass on his property in search of mythical monsters are creating a nuisance.
7. Pokémon Go…es To Court! 
8. Next Stop for Pokémon GO: Regulation & Litigation?
9. The Case for Pokémon at Auschwitz: Playing the popular game in the death camp is a celebration, not a desecration
10. Get Your Pokémon Off My Lawn!
11. PETA’s L.A. Office Is Pokémon ‘Safe Zone’ Following Pokémon Go Release
12. Most Pokémon Go tracking sites have now been shut down: Niantic is probably signalling the end of real-time Pokémon Go tracking sites.
13. Pokemon Go Updates Will Be More Respectful to Real-World Places: Pokemon Company rep says it’s working on features that keep the game fun but also respect the world.
14. New York governor calls onPokemon Go dev to block sex offenders
15. New York State bans sex offenders from any form of online gaming: Governor ask Niantic for help in creating a “safer environment” for players
16. New York bills target Pokemon Go, sex offenders: Legislation would ban registered sex offenders from playing AR games, require AR devs to create item-free zones around their homes
17. 10 psychosocial reasons why ‘Pokémon Go’ is so appealing
18. App Annie: Pokémon Go makes $10 million every day without cannibalizing other games
19. 10 Unbelievable Pokémon Go-Inspired Products
20. Counter-Strike eSports broadcast pulled following Munich shooting: ProSieben MAXX cancels ELeague coverage following German government linking the killer’s actions to his love of Counter-Strike
21. Twitter Airs Eleague Final, Adds eSports to Live Streaming Lineup
22. Several Skin Gambling Sites Still Operating After Valve’s Cease And Desist Window Expires
23. CSGO Lounge move towards licenses in wake of Valve cease and desist
24. Indie game key scammer says G2A is the best place to sell stolen keys
25. YouTubers walk away from G2A sponsorship revenue: Accusations of fraudulent transactions on G2A’s marketplace has prompted some streamers to break their partnerships
26. No criminal charges in 38 Studios collapse: Rhode Island says “no provable criminal violations” in Kingdoms of Amalur company’s downfall, but civil litigation still outstanding
27. How localizers saved Final Fantasy X from its own voiceover
28. Augs Lives Matter slogan an “unfortunate coincidence”: Deus Ex brand marketer defends use while Bioware’s Manveer Heir criticizes the developer’s controversial language choice
29. Sony surges, Microsoft meanders and Nintendo nosedives
30. PlayStation division more than doubles profits, sells another 3.5m PS4
31. Digital sales prop EA up in quarterly earnings
32. Google Play Family Library program will let up to six users share games
33. Microsoft plans to sabotage Steam – Sweeney: Epic co-founder says Windows 10 updates will progressively break Valve’s storefront, Microsoft acknowledges that UWP is a work in progress
34. Disney Infinity online services shutting down in 2017
35. The Shutdown of Disney Infinity Is a Confusing Nightmare: Disney’s plans for the PC version are bizarre and unclear.
36. Ghostbusters dev Fireforge files for Bankruptcy: Owes millions to part owner Tencent, according to filings
37. Capcom’s fortunes falter due to a dearth of big releases
38. Metal Gear series has sold 49m copies: Konami celebrates news in latest financial report
39. Samsung Gear VR hits 1 million MAUs
40. That time the industry almost killed E3 – 10 Years Ago This Summer: Publishers pursue an ill-advised adjustment to the Electronic Entertainment Expo and industry heavyweights make bold predictions of varying accuracy
41. PC games revenue to hit $42 billion in 2020 – DFC
42. The Relationship between Monetization and Gamer Behavior

DIGITAL

1. Judge wipes out patent troll’s $625M verdict against Apple – Judge: Repeated references to an earlier trial prejudiced jury against Apple.
2. Irony: Sony Pictures Sued For Failing To Stop Piracy
3. Europe Has The Highest Online Piracy Rates, By Far
4. App Store devs have earned $50 billion: A quick bit of news from the Apple empire, CEO Tim Cook today revealed on social media that developers have earned $50 billion from the App Store.
5. Kim Dotcom’s lawyer will also represent alleged KickassTorrents founder: Ira Rothken has kept Megaupload founder free for years. Can he do it again?
6. Arbitration rejected in antitrust suit against Uber
7. Judge Declines to Enforce Uber’s Terms of Service–Meyer v. Kalanick
8. Enforce Existing Laws to Combat Online Threats (Danielle Citron)
9. Are Employers Responsible for Protecting Their Employees on Social Media? “Yes” According to a Recent Decision 
10. Faced With False Online Client Reviews? Recent CA Ruling May Make It Easier To Force Yelp to Help
11. Nvidia offers $30 to GTX 970 customers in class action lawsuit over RAM: Graphics card spec discrepancy could lead to a small payout for customers.
12. Costs of ISP blocking injunctions: is there really an EU rule?
13. Stiglitz Calls Apple’s Profit Reporting in Ireland ‘a Fraud’
14. Facebook: We will fight IRS over billions in possible owed back taxes – “Facebook Ireland Holdings Unlimited” helped company lower its US taxes.
15. Report: Apple’s negotiating tactics sunk its long-rumored TV service – Apple asked for too much in exchange for too little, TV executives tell the WSJ.
16. Apple replaces the pistol emoji with a water gun
17. Newest iOS 10 beta includes 100 new emoji, replaces gun with waterpistol: iOS will have the most diverse cast of emoji—including single-parent families.
18. Is anyone at Yahoo paying attention? Probably not
19. The Rise and Fall (OK — Mostly Fall) of Yahoo
20. Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo is a marriage of incompatible cultures. And it won’t end well.
21. YouTube’s Dilemma: How Best To Monetizing Video Content
22. YouTube’s Unplugged TV Dilemma, Part 2: Ad-Based Model’s Revenue Potential Quantified
23. Streaming’s Ad Boom: Will the Millions Spent By Apple, Spotify, Pandora and YouTube Help Decide Who’s No. 1?
24. Facebook’s Rich History Of Copying SnapchatHere’s Why Facebook Is So Desperate to Buy, Copy or Kill Snapchat
25. You’re more valuable to Facebook than ever before
26. Time Warner Buys 10% Stake in Hulu, Valuing It at $5.8 Billion: HBO owner joins Disney, Fox and Comcast in owning the streaming-TV service
27. Bitcoin Drops Nearly 20% as Exchange Hack Amplifies Price Decline
28. The IOC Announces The Olympic Channel: The New Year-Round Digital Home For Olympic Content
29. BBC iPlayer users will have to pay TV licence fee from 1 September: Government pushed through plan to close ‘iPlayer loophole’, which costs the BBC about £150m a year
30. County Employee Properly Terminated for Facebook Posts Criticizing Police–Palmer v. Anoka
31. Nigerian authorities arrest alleged mastermind of $60M worth of online scams
32. I’m With The Banned: What my evening with Milo told me about Twitter’s biggest troll, the death of reason, and the crucible of A-list con-men that is the Republican National Convention.
33. After mass shooting, German police focus on “dark net” crime
34. FTC Investigation Sparked Over Use of “Female Chat Bots” in Ashley Madison
35. Houston Law Firm Sues Student With Severe Back Injuries For $200k After She Posts Negative Reviews To Yelp, Facebook
36. Chung c. Brandy Melville Canada Ltd.: When Using Photographs Posted on Instagram Can Result in Copyright Infringement 
37. Public Wi-Fi hotspots and you: Busting the many legal myths
38. Are you a criminal because you share your Netflix password? 
39. OECD broadband statistics update
40. Internet Policy Review: Regulating the sharing economy [Volume 5, Issue 2]
41. Let the geeks rule over the Internet
42. Instagram will soon let you filter comments on your own account

CREATIVITY

1. Getty Images sued again over alleged misuse of over 47,000 photos
2. Getty Makes Nonsensical Statement On Photographer Carol Highsmith’s Lawsuit For Falsely Claiming Copyright
3. Irony: Sony Pictures Sued For Failing To Stop Piracy
4. PETA Takes Infamous “Monkey Selfie” Lawsuit to Appeals Court
5. The Selfie-Taking Monkey Who Has No Idea He Has Lawyers Has Appealed His Copyright Lawsuit
6. Faulkner v. Hasbro Inc.: District court denies toy company’s motion to dismiss right of publicity claim brought by Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, holding that fact that hamster doll in defendant’s Littlest Pet Shop toy line bore plaintiff’s “unusual celebrity name” name was sufficient to state claim.
7. How the (Copyright Test) Was Won: Led Zeppelin Victorious in “Stairway to Heaven” Suit
8. Lionsgate Gets Judge to Revive Trademark Claim Over ‘Dirty Dancing’ Ad Spoof
9. Dirty Dancing remake: court grants reconsideration on dilution – Lions Gate Ent. Inc. v. TD Ameritrade Servs. Co., No. cv 15-05024  (C.D. Cal. Aug. 1, 2016) (Rebecca Tushnet)
10. Why Stephen Colbert can’t be Stephen Colbert anymore (+video)
11. Intellectual Property Fun: Is Comedy Central Claiming It Owns The Character Stephen Colbert
12. Stephen Colbert Retires ‘Stephen Colbert.’ Please Welcome ‘Stephen Colbert.’
13. Who Owns Stephen Colbert? 
14. After Cracking Down On Tens Of Thousands Of Enemies, Erdogan Says He’s Dropping His 2000 Lawsuits Over Insults
15. Canadian Comedian Plans To Appeal $42k For A Joke That Insulted Someone
16. The Supreme Court Will Consider a Case About Cheerleading Uniforms
17. Independent Artists Unite Online To Fight Zara: Claiming the popular brand stole their designs, more than 20 artists are working together to get compensation
18. How California’s Identity Fraud Law Has Been Interpreted To Criminalize Defamation, Publicity Rights Violations And More
19. Copyright Office Intent On Changing The Part Of Copyright That Protects Libraries & Archives, Even Though No One Wants It Changed
20. No Alarms, No Surprises: Why Buying Concert Tickets Is a Rigged System
21. The Trouble with the TPP’s Copyright Rules (Michael Geist)
22. Court of appeals says FU to state university’s TM claim (Rebecca Tushnet)
23. VCRs are cast into the dustbin of history
24. What It Takes for an Independent Record Store to Survive Now: Even as legacy music shops continue to shutter across the country, Midwestern institution Used Kids has managed to stay afloat for the last 30 years and counting. How do they do it?
25. IP and BREXIT: The facts
26. Federal Court smiles at Telstra’s “I Go to Rio” advertising campaign
27. Update: Australian Olympic Committee, Inc. v Telstra Corporation Limited [2016] FCA 857
28. Kindling the Commons: History Reminds Us Why Sharing Our Creativity Matters

COMMUNICATIONS & BROADCASTING

1. Trial on Sumner Redstone’s Mental Competence Set for October
2. Philippe Dauman Gets Judge’s Go-Ahead in Lawsuit Over Removal from Sumner Redstone Trust
3. Fox and friends with benefits
4. Former Fox News Booker Says She Was Sexually Harassed and ‘Psychologically Tortured’ by Roger Ailes for More Than 20 Years
5. Sex on TV: Final FAQs for employers about the Roger Ailes case 
6. Laurie Dhue’s Lawyer Slams Fox’s Probe Into Roger Ailes Harassment Claims
7. Copyright Office Jumps Into Set-Top Box Debate, Says Hollywood Should Control Your TV
8. The Limits of Net Neutrality: Open access to the internet needs stronger curbs on big network operators. In the US and Europe, there’s authority to impose these. That’s easier than it sounds. (Susan Crawford)
9. Broadband Industry Formally Tries, Once Again, To Kill Net NeutralityBroadband industry tries again to kill net neutrality and Title II: ISP lobby groups petition for full court review of decision that upheld rules.
10. Washington state sues Comcast, says it sold near-worthless service plans: Comcast defends $5-per-month service plans, will fight $100 million lawsuit.
11. Washington State Sues Comcast For Routinely Ripping Off Its Customers
12. How Comcast convinced customers to buy “near-worthless” service plans: Lawsuit details Comcast sales script for unnecessary service plans.
13. Comcast supports higher prices for customers who want Web privacy – Comcast: FCC rules shouldn’t determine whether customers make “good choices.”
14. Comcast: The Economics Of Offering Cheaper, Better Streaming TV Service ‘Unproven’
15. AT&T violated rule requiring low prices for schools, FCC says: AT&T claims it didn’t have to follow rule designed to give schools lower prices.
16. Google Fiber stalls in Nashville in fight over utility poles: AT&T, Comcast resist Nashville plan to speed Google Fiber construction.
17. After Ripping Off Cities, States For Years, Verizon Makes Some Familiar Broadband Promises To Boston
18. Let’s Talk TV: CRTC Revises Policy Framework for Local and Community Television (Stephen Zolf)
19. CRTC Publishes Enforcement Advisory on CASL Consent Records
20. FCC Demands TP-Link Support Open Source Third-Party Firmware On Its Routers
21. World’s first 8K TV broadcasts begin for Rio 2016 Olympics: Unless you have an 8K TV you’ll have to attend a special viewing theatre.
22. Use a VPN or proxy in the United Arab Emirates, risk a £400K fine or prison: Latest move seems to be about protecting profits at country’s top telecom companies.
23. Virgin Media red-faced after workers dig trench, block house, and disappear: Situation rectified a day later following flurry of bad press. Funny, that. 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. How copyright is irreparably, fundamentally incompatible with privacy
2. How a file-sharing lawsuit against Rogers threatens your Internet privacy: Geist – Voltage Pictures asked the court to order Rogers to disclose the identity of one of its subscribers in a reverse class-action lawsuit.
3. Do You Consent? Four Ways to Strengthen Digital Privacy (Michael Geist)
4. Oliver Stone asks moviegoers to power down phones—and leave them off: “This will be our undoing,” Snowden director says in stark pre-film warning.
5. Comcast Tells The FCC It Should Be Able To Charge Broadband Users A Premium For Privacy
6. State Supreme Court Says Secret Software Used In Sentencing Determinations Not A Violation Of Due Process Rights
7. Trump’s wish for hacking powers sets up disaster scenario Snowden feared
8. Documents Show FISA Court Refusing To Grant FBI’s Requests To Scoop Up Communications Along With Phone Metadata
9. FBI Bugging On Courthouse Steps (Not Very Nice, But) Not an Illegal Search
10. Court Says Bugs The FBI Planted Around California Courthouses Did Not Violate Anyone’s Expectation Of Privacy
11. Federal Prosecutors Use All Writs Order To Compel Suspect To Unlock Phone With His Fingerprint
12. Security Researchers Sued For Exposing Internet Filtering Company’s Sale Of Censorship Software To Blacklisted Country
13. Federal court says state law can’t ban political robocalls: An Arkansas law can’t single out political robocalls exclusively in ban, judge says.
14. Watchdog takes bizarre legal route in data privacy case – Analysis: Data commissioner takes needlessly costly route in Schrems case
15. DNC staffers: FBI didn’t tell us for months about possible Russian hack
16. By November, Russian hackers could target voting machines: If Russia really is responsible, there’s no reason political interference would end with the DNC emails.
17. WikiLeaks Put Women in Turkey in Danger, for No Reason (Zeynep Tufekci)
18. Mickey Mouse Club had Mickey Mouse security: Disney’s Playdom forum pours out passwords
19. NSA Surveillance Compliance Reports Show Typos, Lack Of Communication Resulting In Erroneous Targeting And Collection
20. Second Circuit’s Decision in Microsoft v. U.S. (Data Stored in Ireland): Good News for Internet Users?
21. DOJ Responds to ‘Microsoft Ireland’ Decision With Proposed Legislation and Bilateral Agreements Allowing Cross-Border Data Searches
22. US Internet Companies Are Not Government’s Eyes and Ears Worldwide (Anupam Chander)
23. Director Of National Intelligence ‘Celebrates’ National Whistleblower Day… Without Mentioning Snowden Once

jon