I was curious to see over on AnimeNewsNetwork that Toei Animation had filed a complaint in District of Columbia district court (in September of last year) regarding copyright infringment of its popular One Piece series on peer-to-peer networks. What’s remarkable here is that the complaint is filed against 869 ‘John Does’ whom Toei asserts “worked in concert, via the internet … to reproduce and distribute unlawful, digital copies.” The suit refers to them as a “filesharing swarm,” and according to ANN’s report, Toei has also filed a motion to obtain ...
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![Tudou Threatens Youku With Lawsuit Over TV Show Piracy [UPDATED]](http://www.penn-olson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Tudou-vs-Youku-over-piracy-01-250x250.jpg)
Jan 11 2012
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Microsoft Sues Chinese Retailers for Selling PCs with Pirated Software
The Financial Times is reporting today that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is bringing a lawsuit against electronics and appliance retailers Gome (HKG:0493) and Buynow, claiming that computers sold in their stores have pirated copies of Windows and Office pre-installed. Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer claimed last year that even though PC sales are about the same in the US and China, the company makes about only five percent of its US revenue in China as a result of piracy. We’re not sure exactly how much Microsoft is seeking in damages from these two retailers, ...
Jan 5 2012
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Xunlei Makes File-Sharing Social and Local, Probably Banned from Apple’s App Store
Xunlei has added social and location-based (LBS) features to a new file-sharing service, and released an app for iPhone called Xunlei Linju - the last word means “neighborhood” in Chinese - that hasn’t, and likely never will be, accepted into Apple’s tightly-controlled iTunes app store. The Windows PC software and accompanying iPhone app for Xunlei Linju allow users to request certain files - such as music, movies - from anyone on the new P2P social network. A request can then be filled by sharing the file to only one person, who ...
Dec 21 2011
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US Removes Baidu From Pirate List, Taobao is Still Listed
After a year that saw Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) make a huge agreement with American music companies to pay copyright owners for music that had been posted to a Baidu service, the United States has removed Baidu from its official piracy list. Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo expressed satisfaction with the decision, telling Penn-Olson: "We're naturally very pleased that the significance of this deal has been recognized." The piracy list, a strange mix of online and offline markets worldwide that reportedly deal in pirated and counterfeit goods, still includes Alibaba's online market Taobao, as well ...
Dec 20 2011
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Beijing Markets Get Serious About Software Piracy
Beijing's Zhongguancun area is the bustling heart of its tech scene, home to both startups and tech giants alike. It's also the heart of the city's electronics retail market, with several gigantic malls peddling everything from televisions to computer parts and software. One thing it hasn't been, though, is a bastion of intellectual property rights. As recently as this summer, I recall the Zhongguancun subway stop being plastered with ads begging people to buy the real version of Windows 7 -- and then emerging from the station to be immediately ...
Dec 19 2011
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Youku Files Lawsuit Against Tudou, Shows It Has Been Keeping a Naughty List
China’s largest video-streaming site, Youku.com (NYSE:YOKU) has just confirmed its lawsuit against its smaller rival, Tudou.com (NASDAQ:TUDO), in an ongoing battle over TV show piracy that was sparked by Tudou’s own claims last week. Youku has also given a sneak peak of the heft of its notarized paperwork (pictured above) which it says details the unlawful use of about 60 TV shows by its rival. A Youku representative told PO that “We have filed the first batch of infringement evidence.” Tudou’s initial assertion, made last Friday, is that Youku used seven ...
Dec 16 2011
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The Tudou vs Youku Copyright Clash Continues, as Tudou Wields Evidence
Today’s quickly escalating war of words between the two Chinese video-streaming sites Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) and Youku (NYSE:YOKU) - which centers on alleged TV show piracy, with both sides accusing the other of it - is still rumbling on. And now Tudou has provided notarized proof that Youku pirated seven episodes of one Taiwanese chat show and included those in its series catalog. Here’s the first claim from last night, and then the counter-claim this morning. A Tudou representative told PO that: The lawsuit against Tudou is Youku’s trick to distract ...
Dec 16 2011
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In Escalating Battle, Youku Accuses Tudou Of Pirating Dozens of Its TV Shows
After Tudou.com (NASDAQ:TUDO) went public with allegations of TV show piracy on rival Youku.com (NYSE:YOKU) late last night, Youku has now responded - and says that Tudou itself has pirated over 60 of its own licensed TV dramas and serials. It has also become clear that China’s two biggest video-streaming sites had been talking about this behind closed doors for a week. But it’s now all out in the open, apparently making it more likely that a two-way legal battle will ensue, rather than any further negotiations. Talking to PO over the ...
Dec 16 2011
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Tudou Threatens Youku With Lawsuit Over TV Show Piracy [UPDATED]
. China’s two largest video-streaming sites, Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) and Youku (NYSE:YOKU), are heading for a legal battle after Tudou announced that it is taking action - together with its license partner Cti TV - over alleged piracy of a popular TV series on Youku. The Tudou claim relates to a chat show hosted by model and actress Dee Hsu - aka ‘Little S’ in Chinese - called Kang Xi is Coming (pictured above), and to which it has exclusive licensed streaming rights. Tudou has bought a number of other Taiwanese shows, which ...
Nov 18 2011
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Apple Launches Local Currency Payments For its China iTunes App Store
Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes App Store has rolled out a major upgrade this morning in China, and now, for the first time, it actually accepts payments in the local currency, the renminbi (RMB). As part of the new RMB payment system, the China iTunes Store now accepts local bank cards - from over a dozen major Chinese banks - but not third-party payment platforms such as Alibaba’s Alipay, Union Pay, or the American Paypal. In the past, Apple required a credit card that was able to process US dollar transactions, which left ...
Nov 16 2011
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VeryCD, After Shunning Piracy and Going Legit, Loses 50% of Traffic
It has been a rough passage for the Chinese site VeryCD, which this year has been transitioning away from being a piracy-lovin’ music downloads portal towards building a legit operation as a movie, music, online gaming, and TV show-oriented business. But with traffic down by a reported 50 percent, and running costs rising, its future is far from assured. But, credit where it’s due, it has been quite a transformation. When VeryCD was founded back in 2003 it was not much more than a chaotic - and phenomenally popular - BBS ...
Nov 16 2011
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Adobe Opens an Online Store in China, Tries to Not Think About Piracy
The design software vendor Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) has just launched an online store for China, for the first-time selling copies of its software - such as PhotoShop, DreamWeaver, and the some other programs from its flagship Creative Suite 5.5 - in mainland China. It’s a turnaround from Adobe’s decade-long shunning of China and some other Asian countries, where rampant piracy of digital goods made official sales channels unsustainable. Pirated copies of popular software - Adobe's and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) being chief among them - generally sell for as little of 10 RMB (US$1.57). Sohu’s ...
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