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Piracy Lawsuit Against CNET Dismissed – For Now

In May, FilmOn founder Alki David and a group of artists sued CNET’s Download.com and parent company CBS. The copyright holders accused the CBS-owned websites of several copyright-related offenses for their role in distributing LimeWire and other P2P software. This week the artists dropped their case, threatening to replace it with an even bigger case in the near future.

downloadWhen a coalition of copyright holders sued CBS Interactive and CNET Networks earlier this year they claimed the companies profited from mass copyright infringement by distributing P2P software.

“The CBS Defendants have been the main distributor of LimeWire software and have promoted this and other P2P systems in order to directly profit from wide-scale copyright infringement. Internet users have downloaded more then [sic] 220 million copies from Defendants’ website, found at Download.com, since 2008,” the original complaint read.

The complaint further noted that Download.com is still promoting various other P2P-applications which the majority of people use to infringe copyrights. By promoting this software in return for money and by showing users how to download, the CBS defendants are willingly contributing to copyright infringement, the plaintiffs claimed.

FilmOn’s Alki David, the driving force behind the suit who himself was sued by CBS Interactive for copyright infringement, seemed determined to put up a fight. Nonetheless, the suing parties decided to voluntarily dismiss the case yesterday, as Wired reports.

On the surface this appears to be good news for CNET and the other defendants, but the opposite is true. As it turns out many copyright holders have approached Alki David with a request to be added to the lawsuit.

“Since the time of the filing of the original Complaint by plaintiffs in this case, numerous artists and other copyright owners have approached plaintiff Alki David about potentially joining this lawsuit as plaintiffs,” the plaintiff’s attorney’s write to the District Court judge.

“As a result, the current plaintiffs intend to amend and are in the process of working to amend this suit to add further plaintiffs and additional copyrighted works,” the notice adds.

Since it takes quite a bit of time to add the new parties and potentially thousands of copyrighted works to the complaint, the plaintiffs decided to dismiss the current case for now. They expect to file a broader complaint on behalf of many more copyright holders in the near future.


Case Dropped

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  • Taylor

    yeah because p2p software can only be used for piracy…

    • Anonymous

      That is their theory but WRONG. Nice sarcasm though.

      P2P (BitTorrent etc) is only a transfer format and very lawful. Clients supporting P2P are also fully lawful.

      The only exception is LimeWire, but not for what for the client does, but due to the fact the author used it to promote piracy and to make money. In this respect the court banned the author from supplying this software but that does not mean that other people cannot supply this software as long as they promote it for lawful use.

      Telling someone how to use a P2P client to download is a total non-issue provided that their download example makes use of lawful media. Ideal would be to use Creative Common media clearly marked for sharing when then there would be no doubt.

      In the end if a website only supplies the software without any piracy mention then they are in no way responsible for people who use it for piracy. It is not piracy software and they have helped them none in their piracy.

      This I believe is the case of download.com when I have never seen them promote piracy ever. So unless there is any secret documents here proving the opposite then this court case only has one answer.

      The true reason here seems to be in trying to bully them into ending the supply of such software.

      • John

        This is a knife. You can stab someone by pushing the pointy toward them. Perhaps they should sue distributors of knives for encouraging murder?

      • Grumpygit

        sorry…..but your wrong…..they DID promote copyright infringement and Alki has the proof.

        http://www.filmon.com/cbsyousuck/

        • Haxor

          did you read what your replying too? IT SHOULD NOT MATTER

          “This is a knife. You can stab someone by pushing the pointy toward them. Perhaps they should sue distributors of knives for encouraging murder? ”

          as in lets sue gun makers under same premise, knife makers , HECK spoons in prisons are used for killing so no more a them, heck lets get rid of all your utensils ….next we cant have base ball anymore …too many bats are used in crimes …heck lets just tie everyone up and feed em intravenously OH WAIT whose gonna pay for that…..

    • http://otester.myopenid.com/ PiRat

      Piracy isn’t a bad thing, so even if it was…

  • Xult
  • DTR

    Easy solve. Abolish copyrights compleatly, and also Abolish Patients compleatly. Then we move forward a civilization.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V7VDZ5GW7EPEZNU7Y6M66BMLKY zar

      I don’t think that’s entirely fair. What would nurses, clinicians, surgeons & other ancillary hospital staff do for a job then? ^^

      • Friend of the People

        How are surgeons and nurses related to copyright law at all?

        • Poxek

          Re-read what he’s replying to. :-p

        • Friend of the People

          He’s talking about abolishing copyright and patents. I still don’t see how that applies. Surgery is a skill and a technique, not a patented product. Maybe you can tell me how it applies next time. That might be helpful.

        • Bakapinkuu

          Re-read what he’s replying to. :-p

        • http://www.facebook.com/tzecco Tony Zecco

          you apparently missed the typo that turned “Patents” into “Patients”

      • Anon

        Move to a resource based economy. Google it.

        • Anonymous

          Yes we do need a resource based society and Creative Commons is a good example of this. It is just a shame copyright rules and abuses the World we live in.

          I do recognize that artists should be rewarded for their creations but even there the money often goes to the producers and distributors. It seems best to burn down this foul house of copyright abuse and to build an new house on this empty ground where artists and the public can meet and enjoy their time together.

          The creation of world resource of freely shared media would be a good center to work around.

        • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

          While reading this article the scene where Agent Smith says “MORE!” and more Smiths come to fight Neo comes to mind. There’s no end to greed, no amount of money or success at crushing your opponents (real or fictional) will suffice.

          You may change how the economy is based but you can’t simply make humanity greed disappear. They’ll always want “MORE!”.

      • Scary Devil Monastery

        They could always apply for jobs in the copywrong industry. God knows it’s ailing…

      • Haxor

        um we still need surgeons to um er do this stuff called surgery…nurses ya know to like help em out….your clinic same thing….so what crack did you smoke today….

  • Revolution here we come!

    revolution here we come!

  • Lynx

    Nice, lawyers see more money from more clients..

  • Blither

    Why not just close down the internet, since even browsers are used for piracy?

    • M8R-d00108

      Why not just close down computer manufacturers since they provide the computers that are used for piracy.

      Why not just close down electric companies since they provide the electricity necessary to power the computers that are used for piracy.

      And on a different subject – legal documents are stupid. Look at how many times they have shamelessly used the word “WHEREAS”.

      • Ven

        Legalese is a language designed to take a simple contract like, “Sure, you can borrow my bike for today” and turn it into AN EIGHT-PAGE LEGAL AND BINDING CONTRACT IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF NEVADA INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ALL NEVADA SUBSIDIARY PROPERTIES AND ATTACHED TO ALL PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF THE OWNER REGARDLESS OF NUMBER OF WHEELS AND/OR THE EXISTENCE OR ABSENCE OF PEDALS, INCLUDING PROPERTY HELD BY THE OWNER OUTSIDE OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF NEVADA THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE AND ON TO PERPETUITY. IF YOU ARE STILL READING THIS, HAHA I GOTCHA NOW BITCH.

        I wrote the eight-page contract in about 20 minutes with caps lock on. That’ll be $1200 please.

        • Scary Devil Monastery

          Ah, you forgot to mention how that “contract” usually ends up being a “scare page” with no legal application whatsoever except for it’s potential ass-covering use by the author.

          I.e. I can sell you a pack of cigarettes with a text in bold saying “BY OPENING THIS PACKAGE YOU SURRENDER YOUR RIGHTS TO RAISE YOUR KIDS”. Something every court in the world would throw out at once.

          Or I could sell you a service with a EULA saying if you enjoy the service too much or even use it, i reserve the right to cut off your subscription and refund your unused money ASAP. Once i decide to cut you off from the service i can point to the EULA in order to cover my ass from your righteous wrath.

          The problem is, most people never read the EULA and even if they did have absolutely no clue as to what 5% of it is actually legally valid.

      • Ned Carlson

        You know it is almost surprising that we never did have a PC version of the suits trying to ban MP3, VHS, etc players.

        • Scary Devil Monastery

          We did, sort of. Read up on “trusted computing”.

  • Blither

    Why not just close down the internet, since even browsers are used for piracy?

  • God

    You’ll pay for this Captain Planet!

    • M8R-d00108


      We’re the planeteers, and you can be one too.
      ‘Cause saving our planet is the thing to do.
      Looting and polluting, is not the way.
      Hear what Captain Planet, has to say.

      “The power is yours!”

  • http://twitter.com/ezee ezee

    It’s true!
    Shit does attract dirt…
    or was it the other way around?

    Either way it applies in this case.

  • Testicules

    The International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) has been set up to fight cybercrime on a global scale….

    “Cybercrime is a truly global problem and to tackle it we need strong partnership between countries and across private and public sectors,” he said.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14032989

    These guys will take care of it…international internet police for businesses…These will be biting yur ass soon!

    • Anonymous

      Sounds to me like the bilderberg group!! Scare-mongers!! That’s about it.

      • Anonymous

        Sounds more like ignorant people inventing jobs and claiming to be the law on world information.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FCNK7C55CBUYFVSC5LNWKB322E Buglord

      the internet is a communism, a true communism, the only reason you’d get more power than anyone else is because the collective gave you that power, nobody would give them power, they have as little as nearly everyone else.
      and the essence of communism is sharing, sharing of all! all information must be shared, all resources must be shared, all property must be shared (although obviously some is kept hidden within groups.), all power is shared.

      and don’t try any of the “aw but the Russians..” whining, humans always corrupt things, people with power corrupt it faster, they didn’t use communism, and the USA doesn’t use proper democracy.

      • Haxor

        WRONG its the opposite true anarchy …in communism there is no real anonymity where out here i can be anonymous and free to do as i want not what the commune decides….hackers manifesto go google it , read once a day and be free.

    • Haxor

      ya mean like how hte mpaa and riaa where setup to do this trillions of years ago in another dimension and failed to do the job there too. MUAHHA AHAR matey’s we R winning

  • djnforce9

    Ummm…. Since when is Limewire illegal to host? I understand it can be used for piracy but just “hosting” it NOT the same as actually “using” it.

    • Grumpygit

      very true……but CBS interactive (who own CNET) sued limewire.

      CNET showed limewire (and others) being used for copyright infringement via screenshots and videos…..therefore they promoted its use for copyright infringement and PROFITED.

    • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

      Even using it is not equal to piracy because there is TONS of stuff on there that is L E G A L to download….. freeware, things that have no copyright, things that aren’t for sale in your country, etc.

      • James Plotkin

        I agree. If the software has SUBSTANTIAL non-infringing use, it should not be considered to enable infringement. Hell, if you want to get right down to it, it;s the internet that enables infringement.

        Quick, lets sue the internet!

        • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

          I’m wondering how much of internet traffic is illegal. Considering piracy and spam which are both illegal.

          [edit] Piracy as a whole. I know file sharing isn’t illegal in some country but let us think like these morons for a second and wonder.

    • James Plotkin

      It’s called contributory infringement. Rather than running after individuals and suing them individually for primary copyright infringement, why not go after a larger entity (with generally larger pockets) and head it off at the source.

      The industry has been doing this for years.

      Canada’s next copyright law will likely have a provision for “enabling infringement” which will work in much the same way.

      • Anonymous

        Problem with that theory: How can merely providing a file transfer program and sayin, essentially, it can be used to share files [giving some examples - MP3s, video, etc] IN OF ITSELF provable contributory infringement? Really?

        Thats like sayng you can hold Mozilla liable for saying you can use Mozilla’s Firefox to lok for movies/videos – ignoring that is in of itself NOT illegal unless downloading/sharing illegal content…

      • Haxor

        prob is supreme court already ruled twice that infringing links are up to the user to visit not AN ISP , OR GOVT OR entity to control there posting. THIS some program doing that aka via browser, app etc will not ever be illegal unless they bring another supreme court case and win it (not likely)

  • Momo

    I hear http://www.microsoft.com is distributing this program called “Internet Explorer” that is installed on billions of computers, and zillions of people use it to infringe copyrights all the time! Yeah, major file-sharing action there. Wait, there’s more! There’s also http://www.firefox.com. Oh, and http://www.google.com, of course. And Apple, they make iPods that play pirated mp3s. And Intel makes computers that can copy files. And Cisco makes routers and shit. All criminals, the lot of them.

    Seriously, where does it stop???

    As for those “artists” suing, who the hell are those people? Putting up a myspace page (with 7 friends) does not make somebody an “artist”. Believe me, their own mothers don’t know who they are, and they think they can go around suing people for copying their music.. which possibly doesn’t even exist. I wish them all the worst. Fucking assclowns.

    • Big difference!

      Its not the artist who suing, its the big label. This is a big diffrence :)

    • Ven

      It has been my experience in the music business that the artists with 7 Myspace friends don’t WANT their mothers knowing who they are.

      • James Plotkin

        They also generally can’t afford IP lawyers either…

  • desbest

    CNET really did profit from piracy, not because they had Limewire on their website or profited from Pay-Per-Download advertising; but instead because CNET had their videos where CNET staff encouraged people to download Limewire, for the purpose of downloading pirated music.

    Their videos said stuff like being able to download any song for free, and had their staff laughing at the stuff you could get.

    • Momo

      Since when is merely talking about something a crime?

      You are not allowed to copy files. You are not allowed to break DRM. You are not allowed to even talk about copying files. The Lord has spoken. Obey.

      • desbest

        Having a download link to Limewire on your website is not a crime.
        Encouraging people to download pirated content off Limewire is a crime.
        It makes you an accessory to a crime.

        • http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA

          what nonsense….. you are using simplistic falsehoods….. that make no sense.

          1. Downloading shared files is NOT A CRIMINAL ACT . even in the USA…..
          Thats WHY filesharers are sued……not thrown in jail…..
          FFS the USA has the biggest
          ,b> profiting jail industry in the world…
          if they could put filesharers in jail..they would … kerching…$$$$

          So how can telling someone to breach copyright .make you an accessory to crime ? IF filesharing is NOT a crime ?

          2. . If someone tells you there is a bank over there….. that does not make them an accessory to a crime. EVEN IF you rob the bank….

        • Momo

          YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EVEN TALK ABOUT COPYING FILES. OBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEY.

        • James Plotkin

          it’s not a crime. it’s civil baby…DAMAGES

      • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

        No, Momo…. we won’t obey…. and you can stick your imaginary ‘god’ where the sun don’t shine.

        Seriously, I know you were being sarcastic, but if anyone tried that with me, the above would be what I would say to them.

      • Guest

        Rule #1, You dont talk about file sharing :)

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FCNK7C55CBUYFVSC5LNWKB322E Buglord

        if we’re not allowed to copy files, we are not allowed to install anything, if they let us install it, they let us copy the files, they place no restrictions on how many times we can install the files, therefor no restrictions on how much we can copy them, we’re just making everything easier, something they don’t like..

      • James Plotkin

        Smart ass response: Hate speech.

        But seriously, no one is preventing you from talking about it (i.e. torrentfreak). I truly believe the more people speak (intelligently) about copyright and how they feel about it, the more action will be taken at the legislative level.

        Copyright is a pretty unpopular cause in the political realm because it’s one of those issues that doesn’t win anybody votes. It’s something everyone seems to be rather opinionated on and it’s absolutely impossible to update the law (or neglect to do so) without alienation a lot of voters.

        I think talking about copyright on the web will do a better job of informing legislators that we want it in political platforms than pirating as much content anonymously as you can.

    • Lothor The Evil

      Do you have any proof of this? If not, then go jump off a bridge you rhetorical piece of dirt.

    • Zzzz

      The fastest you can drive legally on UK roads is 70MPH.
      Car manufacturers and suppliers tell customers that their cars can go faster than 70MPH.
      Using this logic car companies are encouraging speeding and should be held liable.

      • James Plotkin

        hahaha. funny parallel. I guess that’s a hard point to argue.

      • James Plotkin

        hahaha. funny parallel. I guess that’s a hard point to argue.

        • Grumpygit

          no it aint…..they don’t promote breaking speed limits…..simple as that.

        • Scary Devil Monastery

          no it aint…..they don’t promote breaking speed limits…..simple as that.

          Neither did Limewire promote “piracy”. You can argue the point with the brag sheets BMW and Porsche give out where they go on and on about just how fast a beamer with a strong engine can hit 150 MPH on any flat stretch of road if you like, but i can see no real difference between that and Limewire saying their program allows you to download content (which might just be the latest Ubuntu distro in about the same proportion as you’d find roads where hitting 150 mph might be considered “legal”).

        • Grumpygit

          @Scary Devil Monastery

          1. We’re not talking about limewire promoting piracy. We’re talking about CNETs download.com (which is owned by CBS) and they DID promote “piracy” via screenshots and videos.

          2. Stating a vehicles max speed is not the same as saying you can drive on any road at max speed.

          “but i can see no real difference between that and Limewire saying their program allows you to download content (which might just be the latest Ubuntu distro in about the same proportion as you’d find roads where hitting 150 mph might be considered “legal”).

          3. If download.com had showed legal content (like the latest Ubuntu disto) in their promotion of limewire, we wouldn’t be having this discussion……but they didn’t, they showed how you could download the latest songalbumsmoviestvshows for FREE.

          If that’s not promoting piracy or “contributory copyright infringment” then I don’t know what is. O_o

          The likes of CBS have been screwing us “little guys” for years, now Alki comes along with the money and ability to screw them back…..what do you guys do?…..you come out in defence of CBS…..UN-FU-KIN-BELIEVABLE.

        • Zzzz

          “what do you guys do?…..you come out in defence of CBS…..UN-FU-KIN-BELIEVABLE.”
          At least when we support something we do it out of conviction and not because some PR company is paying us. Also can you actually supply evidence for your claims? The link provided above isn’t cutting it.

        • Haxor

          UM YOUR ALL FORGETTING SOMETHING
          DID YOU or someone go and do somehting like file sharing , do you take responsibility for your actions or do ya need mommy govt to look after you so much….USA a bunch a pansies so bad there govt has to tell em everything they have to do.

          YOU see that video on how to use a knife to stab someone are you going out and stabbing people? NO….i see ….what does that tell ya…millions download what can this mean?

          Maybe we need a free and open source movie network and tv network…maybe?

        • Scary Devil Monastery

          @Grumpygit

          “The likes of CBS have been screwing us “little guys” for years, now Alki comes along with the money and ability to screw them back…..what do you guys do?…..you come out in defence of CBS…..UN-FU-KIN-BELIEVABLE”

          Credit where credit is due. I don’t like Microsoft but I must admit they did a good job on Windows 7 (admittedly after testing everything that could go wrong using Vista on poor consumers). I dislike Apple a great deal but I still recommend their products for people I know would be more comfortable with a closed system run by an ultra-authoritarian system administrator given real power.

          I also came out rooting for Darth Vader every time he choked an official imperial incompetent.

          It is not impossible that Sony will, one day, actually do some good, but I’m not hopeful. If they do I’ll respond with surprised applause.

          CNET (and here, CBS) is actually doing some good in this case, and we really should encourage such behaviour.

  • Djhfdjhfd

    really suing CBS? wow………really man they r hungry for money…

    • Anonymous

      Obviously you don’t know the story.

  • Anonymous

    Rack up that list alki :) I wonder why riaa.com and mpaa.com won’t mention their own crimes? Cat slip out of the bag?

  • Anonymous

    Rack up that list alki :) I wonder why riaa.com and mpaa.com won’t mention their own crimes? Cat slip out of the bag?

  • Anonymous

    Rack up that list alki :) I wonder why riaa.com and mpaa.com won’t mention their own crimes? Cat slip out of the bag?

  • Phil Landry

    We might as well sue gun shops, cuz they sell Guns! And guns kill people!

    • Anonymous

      It’s not gods that enslave people. It’s people with gods that enslave people.

      Stupid spelling suggestions from my phone…

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FCNK7C55CBUYFVSC5LNWKB322E Buglord

        yes! let’s sue religion while we’re at it! it’s just a massive scam to get people’s money.

    • __PHANT0M__

      ERRRR, guns dont kill people , people kill people…….

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FCNK7C55CBUYFVSC5LNWKB322E Buglord

        but they use (mostly) GUNS! just like pirates use (mostly) trackers and websites to share files!

      • Zig

        In the words of Eddie Izzard, “but the gun helps. Just shouting ‘Bang’ at someone probably won’t do it unless they have a serious heart condition”.

  • Pingback: P2PTalk » Piracy Lawsuit Against CNET Dismissed – For Now

  • http://twitter.com/mnmn90 Korin Bates
  • http://twitter.com/mnmn90 Korin Bates
  • Quinn

    Mass lawsuits should be illegal.

  • http://twitter.com/jdrch Judah Richardson

    The suit never had a leg to stand on in the 1st place.

  • Guest

    i might create a suit against motor vehicle manufacturers.they promote their cars dangerously like driving eratically, in the wrc, racecars etc……thats illegal, and kills………….but it looks great, and makes me want one.

  • Nomail

    Might as well sue all Operating System publishers next, for running the p2p software. Then they can go after the hardware manufacturers next. Waiting for them to sue my brain for copying the music to my bio-solid-state drive and playing the music through my EAX enhanced vocal chords.

    • Haxor

      then the os makers make it so you cant install stuff without some big hairy man standing over you…not what i want….

  • Anonymous

    Bit like saying if you buy a Jaguar you intend to break the speed limit!

  • Anonymous

    Car companies that advertise on our Beer Mats are intent on selling cars; not condoning drinking and driving!

  • Jarjar

    Oh nose! The copywrite trolls are piling on like sink on shit.

  • Pingback: Piracy Lawsuit Against CNET Dismissed — For Now | TorrentFreak | NotSoCrazyNews BETA

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  • Haxor

    i hope cbs countersues for contributory stupidity LOL

  • Haxor

    i hope cbs countersues for contributory stupidity LOL

  • Pingback: Una opinión más: Piracy Lawsuit Against CNET Dismissed For Now

  • http://www.facebook.com/wiredcivicex Clayton Johnson

    These people are morons. Download.com allows ANYONE to upload their software. It doesn’t do targeted promotions either. They are automatic based on the number of downloads achieved.

    These idiots need to figure out how the internet works before they try to sue over it.

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