Litigation
in cra-briefings39 · November 14, 2006
Video Blogger and Freelance Journalist in US Federal Prison
On August 1 2006 Josh Wolf, a 24 year old video blogger and freelance journalist, was jailed in the United States for contempt of court. The charges arose when the journalist refused to testify and hand over unpublished video-outtakes to a federal grand jury investigating a July, 2005 Anti-G8 demonstration. He was released on bail September 2nd, but was ordered back to prison September 22nd pending a hearing before the entire 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. There is debate over whether the federal prosecutors are overreaching their jurisdiction, given the nature of the event to which the journalist’s information is presumed to relate, or whether Wolf should have been protected under California’s shield laws. For more information on this situation see http://freejosh.pbwiki.com.
When interviewed by www.cnetnews.com, Wolf was asked whether he believed bloggers should be protected as journalists. He replied, “I feel that people should be protected when engaging upon journalistic activities.”
Sharman Networks Settle with Australian Recording Industry
Sharman Networks, the owners of Kazaa, have settled with the Australian Recording Industry. Pursuant to the settlement that was reported to be valued at over $100 million, Kazaa has agreed to screen all of the information shared over its network for copyright protected content. Interestingly, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the internet billionares and developers of the Kazaa software, contributed to the payment of the cash portion of the settlement even though they sold the project to Sharman several years ago. For more information on this settlement see www.usatoday.com.
Music Labels Sue Limewire
Music labels including SonyBMG, Virgin Records and Warner have accused the P2P network Limewire and the company’s officers for copyright infringement. The industry representatives are seeking compensatory and punitive damages of $150,000 for every song copied without permission. The Recording Industry Association of America has stated that legal action against Limewire was necessary as the company did not show sufficient interest in developing a legal business model, unlike other P2P businesses that have done recently. For more information on this case see http://news.zdnet.com.