Belgian music rights group SABAM has a serious headache looming. Following a complaint filed by an artist back in 2004, a judge began investigating the group's finances. His findings mean that SABAM will now face court accused of falsifying accounts to cover up bribe payments, abuse of trust, copyright fraud…
The Pirate Bay is not happy with a recent article published by the RIAA, where the torrent site is portrayed as the prime example of why tougher anti-piracy laws are necessary. In a rebuttal, The Pirate Bay argues that the RIAA is delusional, behaving like a spoiled kid that has…
The RIAA has responded to The Pirate Bay's decision to change its domain name from .org to .se. The torrent site made the switch to prevent a seizure by US authorities, and according to the music industry group this is a clear indication that tougher laws are needed to deal…
The Swedish Government wants to implement a change in the law which has the potential to make Sweden one of the toughest countries in the world to share files. Currently file-sharer identities can only be obtained following crimes worthy of a prison sentence, but if the authorities have their way…
In a legal battle between music rights group SABAM and social networking site Netlog, the European Court of Justice delivered an unprecedented ruling today. The Court ruled that hosting sites can't filter copyrighted content as that would violate the privacy of users and hinder freedom of information. The case at…
The recording industry considers filing a lawsuit against Google for allegedly abusing its dominant market position to distort the market for online music. Industry groups including IFPI and the RIAA want Google to degrade links to "pirate" websites in its search results. IFPI has obtained a "highly confidential and preliminary…
The book download portal Library.nu and cyberlocker ifile.it appear to have 'shut down' voluntarily after a coalition of book publishers managed to get an injunction against the two sites. According to the complaint, the sites offered users access to 400,000 e-books and made more than $11 million in revenue in…
The co-founder of Megaupload has been freed on bail by a judge in New Zealand. Mathias Ortmann will be the subject of strict conditions including no Internet access. The US will now rely on a United Nations treaty to extradite the Mega team. Separately, it was revealed that the FBI…