Porn threatens Megaupload

[lforos]

Source: El Mundo 03/08/2011
Porn threatens Megaupload | Navegante | elmundo.es

**Porn threatens Megaupload
**
Perfect 10 claims that the direct download service infringes its property
Megaupload claims it is just a content storage site
A California judge considers that the service's behavior 'is not passive'

ELMUNDO.es | Madrid

Perfect 10, a pornographic website with a certain litigation history, has won the first step of an important lawsuit against Megaupload -a popular network storage and direct download service- for copyright infringement. The case moves forward after a US judge turned a deaf ear to Megaupload's claims and ruled that the case must continue due to suspicions that the service directly infringes intellectual property rights, reports Techdirt.

Specifically, Judge Irma González of the Southern District of California considers that there may be direct infringement of Perfect 10's intellectual property by Megaupload, although she denies other claims of the pornographic site related, among others, to the brand.

Megaupload, which also operates sites like Megarotic.com, Megaporn.com, Megavideo.com and Megaclick.com, claims that it serves more as a conduit for content, since it is uploaded to the service by users and not by the company. It is nothing more than a simple data storage company, it assures, in the same line as what a similar company, RapidShare, claimed a year ago in Germany.
Not so passive behavior

However, according to the judge, Megaupload's behavior is more than merely passive. "It has created different websites, possibly as an attempt to simplify user access to different types of media". "It encourages and in some cases, pays its users to upload a large amount of content through its reward programs", the judge states. In addition, "it disseminates the URLs of files" and "pays affiliate websites that maintain a catalog of all these files". Finally, "it is plausible to consider that they are aware of the increasing infringement that takes place on their website".

In the lawsuit, Perfect 10 claims that the 'online' storage service hosts tens of thousands of images of models and celebrities that are its property. Megaupload.com, according to the complaint, has become one of the 100 most popular websites on the Internet, with 45 million unique visitors per day.

Six years ago, Perfect 10 demanded that Google not facilitate images of its property in its search engine, a case that the search giant won. Then the judges affirmed that not only was Google not guilty of 'copyright' offenses, but that, in addition, it advertised the magazine without receiving any remuneration.

In the crosshairs

Online storage sites for movies, TV shows, music and other digital content -the so-called direct download sites- have recently been in the crosshairs of authorities for intellectual property protection issues, reports CNET News. These sites usually do not require the use of specific'software', and downloads are usually easier to make. In addition, these downloads are usually more difficult to track compared to other file-sharing methods, such as BitTorrent.

The US Senate is considering legislation that would make it a crime to upload a copyrighted movie or music without authorization to sites like YouTube or Megaupload.

[Sylver]

What a fine piece of paper... but it's obvious that sooner or later it will fall, everyone knows the amount of copyrighted files that have been uploaded to Megaupload's servers, it's logical that they are in the spotlight, but for some time now...

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