The Irish Data Protection commissioner has  put a shot across the bows of the music industry, in a move that may end up in  the European court of justice. The case  follows  a complaint from an  Internet subscriber on the Eircom network. The complaint  has resulted  in a legal wrangle with the big four music (yes, EMI is still counted)  labels. The case has many twists and turns, but in this latest development, the Data Protection Commissioner   filed an appeal last week  in the Dublin Supreme  Court. The appeal

Read more: Irish 3-strikes could land in European Court

A British court ruled that The Pirate Bay does infringe the copyright of UK rights-holders, in the first of a two-part case to get British ISPs to block the torrent tracker. The case was heard with only the rights-holders in the court. The ISPs had declined to attend.  The operators of The Pirate Bay , of course, were not there either.

Read more: Inaudita altera parte - Pirate Bay block pre-empts ACTA

I find the case of USG v Richard O’Dwyer quite disturbing. It  has hit the British media over the matter of extradition, and a weak agreement between Britain and the US. But having gone carefully through the judgement, I feel this is only part of the story. It looks to me like a cynical manoevre by the US copyright industries, notably the Motion Picture Association, which represents the powerful Hollywood studios. Mr O’Dwyer is a pathetic pawn in a much bigger game  to get a legal precedent in the  EU.  My feeling is that this case could be  leading up to   ACTA (Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement) implementation.

Read more: United States government v Richard O’Dwyer: a political manoeuvre by Hollywood?