TorrentFreak

The Department of Justice has responded to Megaupload’s claims that they “planted” evidence and tried to mislead the court. According to United States Attorney Neil MacBride these allegations are “sensationalist rhetoric” and a “conspiracy theory.” The Government says it never asked Kim Dotcom’s file-hosting service to preserve any infringing files, and asks the court to deny Megaupload’s request to be heard on the matter.

In their ongoing legal battle against CBS and CNET, a coalition of artists has reiterated their request for a distribution ban on file-sharing software. The artists, joined by billionaire and FilmOn founder Alki David, accuse the media conglomerate of promoting piracy through websites like Download.com and state in their latest filing that CBS and CNET can be held liable for all BitTorrent piracy.

A UK High Court ruling has just handed Hollywood a defeat in a battle against a now-defunct file-sharing site. The MPA argued that when Usenet indexing site Newzbin2 generated profits from piracy, that money should be handed over to the studios. The MPA argued that copyright infringement is theft but the Court said it was more like trespass, noting that any award would have a “chilling effect on innovation and creativity.”

Kim Dotcom has admitted that Mega is behind the shut down of the French-based indexing site Search-Mega.me. Mega’s team decided to take action because the site didn’t have a takedown policy, which offended some copyright holders. Dotcom stresses that Mega search engines will have to play by the rules in future. Filestube, the largest Mega search engine on the Internet, is an example of a well behaved service.

The Russian government is proposing a fresh approach to the way website operators and service providers are expected to handle copyright takedowns. In a draft law the Ministry of Culture says that takedowns should be executed very quickly and failure to meet the deadlines will result in cash fines, 90 day suspensions and even server confiscations. Critics say it’s the DMCA twisted heavily in favor of rightsholders.

A Swedish prosecutor says that in a month’s time he hopes to bring charges against Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm who is alleged to have hacked into an IT company working for Sweden’s tax authority. Gottfrid’s mother Kristina says that considering the huge resources committed to the investigation so far, there is now a need to show the politicians some kind of result. In the meantime, Gottfrid is well, if a little bored.

Wednesday had great news for technologically literate Colombian citizens, as a far-reaching copyright law has been struck down. The Constitutional Court of Columbia found “Ley Lleras 2” to be unconstitutional, mainly stemming from irregularities in how it was passed.