Anti-Piracy Company Seeks Patent On Automated Copyright Trolling
from the copyrights-and-patents-together dept
Via TorrentFreak we learn of a patent application from Robert Steele, of Digital Rights Corp., seeking to patent a system to basically automate copyright trolling. It's an application that was just published, so it's really meaningless. Who knows if the USPTO will approve it, but the patent is pretty simple. Here's the key claim:A system for resolving an act of copyright infringement, comprising: an infringement module configured to identify an infringing computer, wherein the infringing computer includes a computer associated with an infringement event; an identification module configured to identify an ISP associated with the infringing computer; a notification module configured to notify the ISP that the infringing computer is associated with the infringement event; a receiving module configured to receive a redirected request for access to Internet content, wherein the request for Internet content has been redirected by the ISP; and a generation module configured to generate a redirect webpage, wherein the redirect webpage includes a link associated with a settlement webpage that includes a settlement offer to resolve the infringement event.This seems ridiculously broad, as do so many software-focused patents these days. Of course, if the patent did get awarded, it would be interesting to see what happened next. Would copyright maximalist copyright trolls start complaining about too much enforcement on the patent side?
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Filed Under: copyright troll, patent
Companies: digital rights corp
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The lucky awardee of said "intellectual property" could then claim ownership of the Copyright Patent Trademark thus ensuring their place in the trifecta hall of infamy.
They could later claim they did it for the lulz.
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How will that infringing computer be identified? IP address? We all know the problems with that. Deep packet inspection? Is that even legal yet?
I would like to think that those questions (and more) would be asked before the patent is granted but knowing your patent system I doubt if it will.
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The patent examiner will NOT consider accuracy of the identification, only if the patent describes a 'new' invention.
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This patent is total bunk, a computer is not required in order to be accused. And said lack of computer will no longer be a valid defense, one is only allowed to pick from a list of approved "defenses" after having paid a fee for the privilege, the only alternative is to pay the amount they say you owe. No due process, no day in court. This looks like a patent on the front end of an automated extortion racket.
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All this does is hijack your web session and make you go to a web site you don't want to visit.
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Mike already covered a story about the virus that does part of what this patent covers, specifically hijacking (the OS this time instead of just the browser) and offering a settlement for violations in lieu of a lawsuit.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110307/04375913384/copyright-pre-settlement-virus-luc rative-scam.shtml
I imagine any effort to implement this patent will be likewise treated as a virus or at least spam and hijacking. They'll have to fake certificates to get past security software that would detect and block redirects. If an ISP cooperates with such a scheme, they could be liable. It's a violation of net neutrality.
Not to mention that the entire patent is built on the concept that content can inherently be infringing and therefore anyone who accesses it must be infringing. This cannot logically be assumed.
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"This" being the operative word ... however - the six strikes (or whatever number you want) does. I'm sure this front end would simply hand off the mark to the backend for further processing.
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Sadly, yes:
"3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information identifying the infringing computer includes an IP address, a port number, and a timestamp."
So, no accounting for NAT, spoofing, etc. I see a patent for identifying "infringement", but I don't see any reference to ensuring that either the accusation of infringement or the identification of the device will be accurate. Just a method of redirecting people to a payment demand the second they're accused of infringement without direct recourse.
So, same as it is now, really, only with the ability to spam many more people with questionable claims.
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shenanigans.
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Clear as mud
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LOL
A Patent on Copyright trolling. Then the patent holder can start demanding all sorts of licence fees from companies that create software to find infringement.
Trolling the Trolls as it were.....
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Re: LOL
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But I can still enjoy them beating the crap out of each other.
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I thought the MAFIAA called that bittorrent.
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but this patent
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Which means this patent states that only the machines are infringing.
Awesome!!! Especially since machines cannot be civilly, administratively, or criminally charged since only capable humans can ever be brought under common law and every other legal system on the planet Earth... Maybe somewhere in the multiverse this is different... but not here.
Therefore at the very heart of this patent it either fails or trolls itself or both.
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Looks like someone's been reading the comments here..
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Troll King
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It's too bad we didn't think of it first
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(I know it isn't, but hey considering the way things are...)
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If such an "infringement" module were to exist, it should be far more worthy of a patent being issued than this particular application. It would certainly be of benefit to our society; a great improvement over the status quo of millions of people, thousands of ISPs, and hundreds of courtrooms being utterly incapable of reaching any sort of consensus on whether infringement has taken place in any particular instance.
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The nifty thing about Web TV is that it there are no location time limits nor judicial limiting issues.
There is a difference between Web TV and storage sites like Utube in that on Web TV the rights holder is openly posting content for viewing with commercials just as normal TV where as on Utube viewers are posting not only their own productions but the productions of right holders without the right holders permission.
The MPAA, RIAA, et are filling suits, jumping up and down and demanding content that they stole and/or refuse to pay the real right holders for on the assumption that the control all on line content.
There are sites like WWITV - World Wide Internet Web TV which prorate to list all Web TV stations but do not.
Then there are some few sites like Turk Web TV, http://www.turkweb.tv/ which are owned by various non western governments.
Turk Web TV was found by viewing the first few issues of Muhteşem Yüzyıl, [Eng] The Magnaficent Century, with English sub titles at Utube . Unfortunately only the first few issues are available, with subtitles in any language, as I do not speak Turkish or Arabic but and that is a big but that is not relevant from a legal or technical point.
What we can characterize is this.
This Turkish Government has found a was to combat the West ignorant presentation of Turkish history by presenting their version of their history to their people. As with all such historical presentations certain liberates have been taken with regards to the actual truth. For example in the Imperial Harem at the Topkapı Palace Wikipedia list the Role of the eunuchs as being of two types black and white. The program, for political correct reasons, has converted both types to one with both set of participants being Turkish. That is not historically correct and to understand why this was done one needs to explore who and what the eunuchs really were. That discussion though interesting leads little to the objective of this post.
The second point is that the setting of the program is the Topkapı Palace, one of the most beautiful set of building in the world hence it nick name of "The Golden Cage". This is not made for Hollywood. Hollywood could not afford the cost of this production, only a government with an agenda.
I have looked and yet to find other governments that are presenting equivalent programs with out finding such but then my language ability is limited to only two neither of which is relevant to the areas of the world without such significant western influence that the RIAA, MPAA and their coneys do not have sufficient power to prevent such productions. In reality there are only two additional governments that this really applies to, Russia and China. Both have sufficient history to have numerous times of sufficient interest that equivalent programs could be produced, Both governments have sufficient means to do so and sufficient discuss with the West to do so. Both government would willing turn their nose up at the RIAA, MPAA conies and do their own thing.
What Turk Web TV has done is show the way politically to restructure the West by making their society politically correct in the West. One government having discovered how this may be done expect other governments to follow suit.
Expect Utube to continue. Expect some adverse laws or court ruling that limit user posted content of right holders content but also consider that the RIAA, MPAA and their coneys and the they control have completely lost control of online content.
As far as the UN International Telephone Group they can formulate all the negative rules they want but one government has found a means to use the web as a means to present their point of view of events to everyone is an acceptable format. Expect other governments to follow suit.
The implications is that UN International Telephone Group is doing exact what the French generals did after WW1 with their big ditch. It is not in the vested political interest of major governments to go along with the UN International Telephone Group program.
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The perfect Storm
quite ironic.
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Virus Patent
This patent would be just a legalized version of this scam, and would make it difficult verify the difference between the " REAL " versions from the fake.
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Re: Virus Patent
IS it legal? Shouldn't the ISP need a court order to shut off Internet access to someone who has already paid that month's bill?
Also, this is from the patent:
"DRM technologies generally suffer from the problem that if a reasonably talented technology person can listen to a music file, then that person can likely find a way to make a copy that does not have the DRM technology."
Yep, they admit DRM doesn't work.
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For starters, it is just not cost effective to go after any one person in court when enough people are lining their pockets with settlement offers. Of those who refuse to settle the next step is usually a subpoena for information that, if provided, will result in a follow up settlement offer which is generally more than the first one. From there they usually drop the issue entirely if too few are infringing on the same item to be worth their time, but on the flip side the courts tend to dismiss cases with too many co-defendants.
The real consequence of such a system will be to make it easier - not more difficult - to be a pirate. Since the whole point of the system is to have no living person do any work at all it ends up being a waste of effort to take any legal action at all that cannot be done automatically with a computer. A computer can go very far in such cases, but not far enough to land a real conviction so the reality is that only innocent people will pay (usually those who don't want to be associated with porn) while real pirates pay nothing because they know better.
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