March 2020 – Page 115 – news.buyenne.com

RomUniverse Maintains Innocence and Demands Damages From Nintendo

The admin of RomUniverse has filed his reply to Nintendo’s piracy lawsuit. In a pro se defense, the operator maintains that he is unaware of any copyright infringement, claiming protection from the DMCA’s safe harbor. Instead, he argues that Nintendo profited from free advertising while demanding millions in damages for false allegations of infringement.

Drom: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, torrent sites and more. We also have an annual VPN review.

Last September, gaming giant Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the game download portal RomUniverse.

The website, which also allows users to download movies and books, stands accused of enabling massive online copyright infringement, including that of many popular Nintendo titles.

“The Website is among the most visited and notorious online hubs for pirated Nintendo video games. Through the Website, Defendants reproduce, distribute, monetize, and offer for download thousands of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games,” the company wrote.

RomUniverse profited from these copyright infringements by offering paid premium accounts that allow users to download as many games as they want, Nintendo further alleged.

The site’s operator, Los Angeles resident Matthew Storman, clearly disagreed with these allegations. Without an attorney, he decided to defend himself in court and responded to Nintendo’s claims by filing a detailed motion to dismiss.

This motion eventually failed after Nintendo picked it apart. The court instead ruled that Storman had to face the charges and file a reply to Nintendo’s complaint.

The reply was initially due in January, but the court later agreed to push this deadline back. That was done to allow the RomUniverse admin to attend a Federal Pro Se Clinic to get free advice on how to fight the gaming company on his own.

After the brief delay, Storman filed his answer to the complaint at the California federal court. Still without an attorney, he maintains his innocence and denies all allegations of piracy and infringement.

The site operator states that he is unaware of any infringing content that was uploaded to the website. And if there is any, these uploads may be legally protected by the first sale doctrine.

Storman likens his site to other platforms that deal with user-uploaded content. He therefore argues that he can’t be held liable for uploads carried out by others because he is entitled to safe harbor protection.

“Defendant provides copyright owners access to all files that are arranged by uploaded title only. This is required under 17 U.S. C and an implied contract with Nintendo, where Nintendo has full access to all contents to locate any potentially infringing material..,” Storman writes.

That the site also collects membership fees is not a problem as long as Nintendo doesn’t remove any content from the site, according to the admin.

“Defendant is unaware of content. Furthermore, Nintendo can request removal of any material it has a good faith believe to be infringing. Defendant may receive potential membership fees as long as Nintendo does not remove all material,” he writes.

In an attempt to turn the tables, Storman argues that Nintendo profited from his site. RomUniverse.com and the associated NDSUniverse.com, serve as free advertising vehicles for the gaming company which generated profit from it, for which the site owner never received a penny.

“Copies on the Website originally from Nintendo when seen by users is a positive advertising asset to Nintendo. It is part of an implied contract with Nintendo over the last 10 years. This advertising asset can be calculated and measured by Nintendo in cooperation with Defendant,” Storman adds.

The response to the complaint includes several of the arguments that were also made in the motion to dismiss. However, it also does a step further, by demanding damages from Nintendo.

Instead of compensating Nintendo, Storman wants the gaming company to pay up instead. He demands $150,000 per copyrighted work for the false allegations of infringement, as well as $2,000,000 for each false counterfeiting claim.

On top of that, Storman also wants Nintendo to “permanently approve all copying, distributing, selling, performing, displaying, playing, or otherwise using any copy of an [Nintendo] copyrighted work, or any derivative thereof.”

Storman’s demands are the exact opposite of Nintendo’s, which requested the same damages for the alleged infringements and wanted the site admin to permanently cease (instead of approve) the copying of any copyrighted works.

While Storman’s reply is certainly a bold move, we expect that Nintendo will have a different view on the matter. The company’s legal team may also point out several procedural and technical issues, as it previously did.

In any case, it will be a major challenge to defeat a company of this size in court, without any legal representation. For now, however, both RomUniverse.com and the associated NDSUniverse.com remain online.

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Matthew Storman’s answer to Nintendo’s copyright infirngement complaint is available here (pdf).

Drom: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, torrent sites and more. We also have an annual VPN review.

Apple can’t break up with China, Wall Street Journal report argues

Sources say it’s not possible to replicate Chinese supply lines elsewhere.

People in matching white uniforms work at a long table.

A report in The Wall Street Journal published today provided new insights and analysis on Apple's heavy reliance on partners in China to manufacture its products.

The piece is timed with fluctuating stock for Apple and serious concerns about its ability to meet its goals and ship products to its millions of customers as efforts to contain the coronavirus debilitate the company's supply lines. Twice in about a year, Apple's profits and market value have suffered because of problems faced in China. First, it was the United States' trade war with the country. Now it's the health crisis.

Some Apple staffers, executives, and investors have in the past expressed concerns about the company's reliance on the region; generally, it's ideal business practice for a large multinational corporation to diversify and not become overly dependent on one market, region, or partner.

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Google I/O 2020 is canceled due to COVID-19 concerns

Over the last few weeks, tech-related trade shows and conferences have been dropping like flies. Less than a month after the GSMA canceled this year’s Mobile World Congress show, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google have all canceled events, while NVIDIA and others have moved events online. Now Google has announced it’s canceling its annual Google […]

The post Google I/O 2020 is canceled due to COVID-19 concerns appeared first on Liliputing.

14.1 inch MacBook Pro may replace the 13.3 inch model

A few months ago, Apple replaced its 15.6 inch MacBook Pro with a new MacBook Pro with a 16 inch display. Now it looks like the company could be preparing a similar screen size spec bump for its smaller MacBook Pro models. According to an investor note…

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New entry in commercial quantum computing, using entirely different tech

Honeywell will put trapped ion computing on Microsoft’s quantum cloud.

Image of an I-shaped piece of electronics on a dark background.

Over the years, academics developed a variety of systems that you could run quantum algorithms on. Most of these had one or two helpful traits—easy to manipulate or able to hold their state for longer—but lacked enough of the others to keep them from being practical computing solutions. Over the last few years, however, a number of companies have figured out how to manufacture significant numbers of solid-state qubits called transmons. Because the fabrication technology for transmons is similar to that of existing chipmaking, lots of the major players in the nascent market—including Google, IBM, and Rigetti—have settled on transmons.

But transmons aren't ideal either. They require extremely cold temperatures, show significant device-to-device variability, and are good but not great at holding their state. A number of people in the field I've talked to have suggested there's still room for another technology to surpass transmons, and Ars' own Chris Lee is putting his money on that happening.

Now, a company new to the quantum computing market is also betting it will. Honeywell, a company better known as a defense contractor and materials supplier, is announcing that it has built a quantum computer using an alternate technology called "ion trap" and will be making it available via Microsoft's Azure cloud service later this year. The company also claims that, by some measures, it's the most powerful quantum computer yet built, but that's a claim that needs to be considered very carefully.

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A bunch of microSD cards and hard drives is on sale at Amazon today

Dealmaster also brings discounts on Anker power banks, Sonos speakers, and more.

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a new Amazon Gold Box sale that has discounted a number of storage products from SanDisk and WD. If you've been in the market for a microSD card for your Nintendo Switch or an external hard drive for backing up files, many of the items on sale are down to all-time lows.

Some highlights here include drops on SanDisk's Extreme line of microSD cards, with the 128GB model down below $20, the 400GB model down to $64, and the massively-spacious 1TB model down to a new low of $208. The Extreme cards performs very similarly to the SanDisk Nintendo Switch microSD cards we recommend in our guide to the best Switch accessories, which is to say they're fast enough to record 4K video and operate Switch games comfortably.

If speed isn't as much of a concern as value, the 400GB SanDisk Ultra is U1-rated and thus less performant than a U3 card like the Extreme. But it still provides acres of space for its current sale price of $45. Elsewhere, the sale drops SanDisk's 64GB Extreme Pro SD card to $16; that's another new low for a card that's sufficiently quick and backed by a lifetime warranty. There are plenty more deals on external hard drives and flash drives worth considering, too, and we've listed them out below. Just remember that this sale is a one-day-only affair.

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Daily Deals (3-03-2020)

Amazon is running a 1-day sale on select SanDisk & WD storage products, which means you can save a few bucks whether you’re looking for a new microSD card, USB flash drive or portable hard drive or SSD. Here are some of the day’s best d…

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Did Apple throttle your iPhone? Settlement will give you a whopping $25

Apple to pay $25 per user, up to $500M, for slowing iPhones with bad batteries.

Enlarge / An iPhone 6. (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto)

iPhone users are slated to get $25 each from an up-to-$500 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over Apple's decision to throttle the performance of iPhones with degraded batteries.

"For a release of their claims, Settlement Class Members will receive $25 for each iPhone owned," the proposed settlement filed on Friday said. That amount could "increase or decrease depending on the amount of any Attorneys' Fees and Expenses, Named Plaintiff Service Awards, notice expenses, and the aggregate value of Approved Claims."

People eligible for the payments are US residents who used affected versions of iOS before December 21, 2017, on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, or SE.

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ISDN: Deutsche Telekom verschrottet ihre ATM-Plattform

Die Telekom baut im Zuge der IP-Umstellung ihre zellbasierte Netzwerk- und Übertragungstechnik ATM ab. Für den Kunden bedeute das leichter höhere Datenraten. (ISDN, Telekom)

Spellbreak beta stands out from the copycat battle royale crowd

Fun movement mechanics and slower-paced spell-slinging are unique and enjoyable.

Spellbreak battles are full of splashy elemental explosions and floaty acrobatic dodges.

It feels like just yesterday that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite: Battle Royale were introducing the world to the fun and excitement of the battle royale genre. But in the three years since their relatively sudden rise, we've seen countless copycats big and small remix the same basic "many enter, only one survives" shooter gameplay.

At this point, it takes something pretty different to stand out from the crowd, and Spellbreak might just be one of those special battle royale standouts. Ahead of the game's relaunched and expanded closed beta today (which includes PS4 support for the first time), we got an advance look at some serious updates to this unique take on the genre.

Spell-ing bee

As the title implies, Spellbreak tries to set itself apart from the pack by replacing gun-toting battlers with spellslingers in a genericized fantasy setting. The class-based setup gives different players control of various elemental powers through the use of upgradable gauntlets, and the differences between each set of powers are far from cosmetic. The fire gauntlet sends out slow but powerful flying fireballs, while the stone gauntlet can send a directional earthquake attack, for instance. Each gauntlet features its own charged attack as well, such as letting a pyromancer lay down a mighty wall of fire for area-based protection.

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