Dispute ends after “three years of secret stupid legal nonsense.”
Source: Trademark dispute with Sky broadcasting sought name change for No Man’s Sky | Ars Technica
Category: Censorship
Citigroup trademarks “THANKYOU” and sues AT&T for thanking clients | Ars Technica
Not to be outdone by Citigroup, AT&T has applied to trademark “AT&T THANKS.”
Source: Citigroup trademarks “THANKYOU” and sues AT&T for thanking clients | Ars Technica
Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration | Ars Technica
Fiber customers have two months to opt out of binding arbitration clause.
Source: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration | Ars Technica
Google’s Arbitrary Morality Police Threaten Us Yet Again; Media Sites Probably Shouldn’t Use Google Ads | Techdirt
In the last two weeks we’ve received two notices of violations from AdSense, each of which seems more ridiculous than the other in some way, and which has us reconsidering our use of AdSense as a media property, as Google fails at distinguishing between reporting on bad things and celebrating those same things. In both cases, the “violation” involved a post that was many years old, so it’s unclear why Google suddenly discovered them. In both cases, the posts were basic reporting on something that had happened, and no rational and reasonable person would conclude they violated any policy that AdSense has. And, yet, in both cases, Google claimed they violated its policies, and threatened that if we were unable to sort through the 64,000 other posts on Techdirt to weed out the ones that somehow violate Googles bizarre and arbitrary morality police policies, we risk losing our account.
U.S. ISP Sues Music Group Over Piracy Allegations – TorrentFreak
U.S. based Internet provider RCN is suing music rights group BMG. The Internet provider has asked the court to declare that it is not responsible for copyright infringements allegedly committed by its customers. Among other things, RCN argues that the notices sent by BMG’s anti-piracy partner Rightscorp are flawed.
Source: U.S. ISP Sues Music Group Over Piracy Allegations – TorrentFreak
AMC threatens spoiler site over what Walking Dead comics already say | Ars Technica
EFF: “Copyright probably doesn’t cover revealing a single fictional detail.”
Source: AMC threatens spoiler site over what Walking Dead comics already say | Ars Technica
Web Sheriff Accuses Us Of Breaking Basically Every Possible Law For Pointing Out That It’s Abusing DMCA Takedowns | Techdirt
Remember Web Sheriff? That’s the wacky firm that claims it will send DMCA takedowns on your behalf or protect your online reputation by taking down stuff you don’t like. The company is somewhat infamous for being a joke and not doing its job particularly well. A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the company abusing the DMCA to try to get Google to delist stories relating to that “celebrity threesome” media injunction in the UK that has been making news for a few months. We highlighted just how ridiculous this was on many accounts, including using a copyright takedown notice on an issue that wasn’t about copyright at all. And they even tried to take down the company’s own Zendesk request to remove content from Reddit.
European Patent Office blocks staff reading critical articles at work • The Register
Read this while you can, EPO bods
Source: European Patent Office blocks staff reading critical articles at work • The Register
Anti-Piracy Group Wants to Take Down ‘The Internet’ – TorrentFreak
It’s no secret that copyright holders are trying to take down as much pirated content as they can, but one anti-piracy outfit is targeting everything that comes into its path. Over the past week Copyright UNIVERSAL has tried to censor legitimate content from Netflix, Amazon, Apple, various ISPs, movie theaters, news outlets and even sporting leagues.
Source: Anti-Piracy Group Wants to Take Down ‘The Internet’ – TorrentFreak
1-star Yelp review says “Gordy” the pet fish was overfed, attracts $1M lawsuit | Ars Technica
Company’s terms of service require customers “not to make negative comments.”
Source: 1-star Yelp review says “Gordy” the pet fish was overfed, attracts $1M lawsuit | Ars Technica