Russia's most powerful entertainment producers and distributors have written to Yandex, the country's leading search provider, demanding the removal of 'pirate' sites from search results. The letter, signed by movie, music, and TV bosses, demands both detection and deletion of content. According to one of the signatories, Google will receive the same letter.
Soulseek, one of the oldest file-sharing applications around, has been banned from accepting donations through PayPal due to piracy concerns. According to digital rights group EFF, which tried to intervene on behalf of Soulseek, this is a form of "financial censorship" that's become increasingly widespread.
Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games hoped to get a default judgment against an alleged cheater from Russia, but the court is not yet convinced. US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler believes that the copyright infringement claims are not sufficient to grant a permanent injunction and has asked the developer to clarify several issues in a new complaint.
The Intellectual Property Office has published its latest corporate plans and strategies. In addition to improving services, the IPO wants to enhance the climate for rightsholders by making enforcement options, such as site blocking, both cheaper and easier. The IPO also wants to forge deals with Internet intermediaries while making piracy socially unacceptable to all.
Several video downloading and MP3 conversion tools have thrown in the towel this week, disabling all functionality following legal pressure. Pickvideo.net states that it received a cease and desist order, while Video-download.co and EasyLoad.co reference the lawsuit against YouTube-MP3 as the reason for their decision.
Exactly a year after Canada's largest telecoms companies executed a warrant against TVAddons founder Adam Lackman, unwelcome visitors have again attended his home. After a court order to pay attorney's fees of CAD$50,000 went unsettled, bailiffs representing Bell, Rogers, and Videotron turned up at Lackman's home Wednesday in an effort to seize property.
Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde no longer has a looming threat of a million euros hanging over his head, the District Court in Helsinki, Finland, has ruled. In addition, the record labels have abandoned their €350,000 damages claim. The Court did order Sunde to pay several thousand euros in costs, arguing that he has some liability, but this will be appealed.
A popular Kodi addon that provided access to one of the very best sources of Japanese anime and Asian entertainment has been withdrawn from the public. The Crunchyroll addon facilitated access to the service of the same name, provided users already had a legitimate subscription. But now the addon is history, after Crunchyroll claimed it reverse engineered its code in bad faith.