By Tyler Lacey Founders of The Pirate Bay Internet Piracy Site Convicted, Sentenced to Prison The New York Times reports that on April 17, a Swedish court convicted four men, including the three founders of The Pirate Bay website, on charges of promoting copyright infringement. The men were sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay the equivalent of $3.6 million in damages to the holders of the infringed copyrights. The Pirate Bay continues to provide links that ... Read More...

Second Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Trademark Infringement Suit Against Google By Debbie Rosenbaum – Edited by Stephanie Weiner Rescuecom v. Google Second Circuit, April 3, 2009, 06-4881-cv Opinion (hosted by EFF) On April 3, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the District Court for the Northern District of New York’s dismissal of a trademark infringement suit against Google by Rescuecom, Corp., a computer repair firm. At issue was Google’s AdWords program, which allows advertisers to purchase ... Read More...

By Evan Kubota The JOLT Digest is proud to reintroduce the Flash Digest! Flash Digest posts will provide brief summaries of recent news and developments in law and technology, along with links to more in-depth discussions. Flash Digest will allow us to expand our coverage to legal issues that have not yet reached the courts or passed through Congress, but that will likely be of interest to our readers. We have posted Flash Digests in the past, but we hope ... Read More...

Maryland’s Highest Court Adopts Dendrite Standard for Unmasking Anonymous Forum Posters in Defamation Actions By Evan Kubota –- Edited by Miriam Weiler Independent Newspapers, Inc. v. Brodie Court of Appeals of Maryland, February 27, 2009, No. 63 Opinion On February 27th, the Court of Appeals of Maryland reversed a lower court’s order compelling discovery of the identities of five anonymous Internet forum posters in a defamation action. The court had granted certiorari on its own initiative.  While the court’s holding ... Read More...

Public Trials Should Be Made Available Via Internet By: Debbie Rosenbaum* Editorial Policy File-Sharing Cases in Courts Around the World In February, the four men behind the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay went to trial in Stockholm, Sweden.  They stand accused of helping millions of Internet users illegally download protected movies, music, and computer games. The defendants – Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, and Carl Lundström – face up to two years in prison and a fine ... Read More...