Lionsgate has amended its lawsuit against Carl Icahn to allege the investor played a double-game with investments in both the mini-studio and MGM. The new complaint takes aim at Icahn’s bid to get his five-strong slate of dissident board members voted on at a Dec. 14 proxy. [THR]
The first amicus brief has been filed in Viacom‘s YouTube lawsuit dismissal appeal. The American Intellectual Property Law Association urges the 2nd Circuit to affirm a lower court’s holding that more than a generalized knowledge of infringement is required to deprive ISPs of safe harbor from copyright liability. In other words, the nation’s leading group of IP specialists is urging a rejection of some of the arguments that Viacom made in its own brief. Read the AIPLA’s amicus brief. We hear that Viacom has lined up its own amicus partners and these will be introduced into the record this week.
The U.S. Copyright Group has identified its first defendant in its massive copyright infringement cases. The law group, which has brought thousands of copyright claims against alleged pirates, filed a second amended complaint yesterday against a DC resident named Adrienne Neal and 139 other Does for pirating the film, Far Cry. As part of the filing, the USCG has dismissed suits against some 4,000 individuals outside DC jurisdiction, although the firm says it will soon file separate actions against these people around the country.
The MPAA is sending out letters to universities across the nation that points attention to recently-enacted legislation that requires anti-piracy efforts on their part at the risk of losing federal funding. [Ars Technica]
Author Stephen King is being accused of plagiarism. Ron Marquardt has filed a lawsuit against King and publisher Simon & Schuster, alleging the 2008 novel, Duma Key, contains substantial copyrighted elements from his own book, Keller’s Den, published in 2002. [Here’s the complaint]
