The extent of iiNet's power was limited to an indirect power to prevent a customer's primary infringement of the appellants' films by terminating the contractual relationship between them. The information contained in the [infringement] notices ... did not provide iiNet with a reasonable basis for sending warning notices to individual customers containing threats to suspend or terminate those customers' accounts. For these reasons, iiNet's inactivity after receipt of the [infringement] notices did not give rise to an inference of authorisation ... of any act of primary infringement by its customers.

Intellectual property legal issues continue to challenge content creators, distributors, and the global justice system. Earlier Friday, a German court ruled [JURIST report] that Google's YouTube service must use a filter to prevent people from uploading music videos that the do not have the right to upload. In August, a US federal court ruled [JURIST report] that a music file-sharing site could be held liable for contributory copyright infringement, and did not qualify for safe harbor under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) [text, PDF]. In April 2011, the UK High Court upheld [JURIST report] that nation's Digital Economy Act (DEA) [text and materials], aimed at the prevention of online copyright infringement, including provisions that ISPs to pay 25% of the costs to monitor for online infringement.

One of the major goals of SWC is to prosecute Nazi criminal suspects before they die. Nazi prosecution is still ongoing, despite the ages of the accused. In January, German prosecutors requested [JURSIT report] that convicted Nazi criminal Klaas Faber serve life sentence. Germany reopened investigations into former Nazi death camp guards in October 2011, which stemmed from the conviction of John Demjanjuk [JURIST reports], a former guard at a camp in Poland who was deported to Germany to stand trial for his alleged Nazi crimes. Alleged Nazi Sandor Kepiro died while he awaited an appeal [JURIST report] on his acquittal on war crimes charges. He had been charged with war crimes committed during the 1942 Novi Sad massacre in Serbia. Kepiro, 97, had been named as the world's most wanted Nazi war crimes suspect by the SWC.

Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit deferred ruling [JURIST report] on the constitutionality of both this law and a similar Georgia law because it wanted to see how a challenge to Arizona's immigration law is ruled on in the US Supreme Court. In December, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced that he would be working to change the law [JURIST report], but maintained that he had no intention of repealing it, and that the essence of the law would still be intact. Bentley's announcement came after a recommendation [JURIST report] by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange that certain provisions probably would not withstand constitutional challenges. Two provisions were temporarily blocked [JURIST report] by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in October after a district court refused to grant [JURIST report] a temporary injunction.

Of the 22 Uighurs originally detained at Guantanamo, 17 others have also accepted offers of relocation to other countries. Two Uighurs were transferred to Switzerland, six to Palau, four to Bermuda and five to Albania [JURIST reports]. The Chinese government maintains that the Uighurs are members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) [CFR backgrounder], a militant group that calls for separation from China and has been a US-designated terrorist group since 2002. The US has previously rejected China's calls to repatriate [JURIST report] the Uighurs, citing fear of torture upon their return. Thursday's announcement marks the first transfer from Guantanamo since 2011, with 169 detainees remaining at the facility.

There have been many recent developments in the trials of accused war criminals in the Bosnian Civil war. In February the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] sentenced Milan Tupajic to two months in prison [JURIST report] on two counts of contempt. Tupajic, the former president of the municipality of Sokolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was held in contempt for refusing to testify against Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case summary, PDF], founding member of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) who is being tried for several war crimes including genocide. In January a Bosnian court upheld the original conviction [JURIST reports] and 31-year sentence of Radomir Vukovic, who was captured earlier that month [JURIST report]. In December the US extradited Rasema Handanovic [JURIST report], a woman accused of killing Bosnian Croat civilians during the Bosnian Civil War.

[I]t must be emphasised that the fundamental rights concerning the protection of personal data and privacy, on the one hand, and those concerning the protection of intellectual property, on the other hand, must receive equal protection. Therefore, copyright holders must not be favoured, by allowing them to make use of personal data which have been legally collected or retained for purposes not germane to the protection of their rights. The collection and use of said data for such purposes in compliance with EU law concerning the protection of personal data would require the prior adoption of detailed provisions by the national legislature.

The tension between the rights of copyright holders and file-sharers has been substantial in Sweden. In February the Swedish Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal [JURIST report] of the convictions of Fredrik Neji, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstroem for abetting copyright infringement [JURIST report] for their involvement in running The Pirate Bay [website], a file-sharing website. In July 2009 several Hollywood production companies filed suit [JURIST report] in Sweden against the operators of The Pirate Bay, seeking an injunction. The US companies, including Disney, Universal and Columbia Pictures, filed a writ to sue in the Stockholm District Court, requesting that the court order the owners to cease and desist operations. In August 2006 the Swedish Pirate Party [party website, in Swedish] was formed [TorrentFreak report] with the goal of legalizing file-sharing and "spreading culture and knowledge."

Uwinkindi's case is the first of three that have been considered for transfer to Rwanda. The other two are against Fulgence Kayishema [case materials; JURIST report], a former police inspector, and Charles Sikubwabo [case materials], former Bourgmestre of Gishyita, Kibuye Prefecture. Uwinkindi was charged in 2001 with genocide and crimes against humanity relating to the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. In December, the ICTR upheld the decision to transfer [JURIST report] the case to a Rwandan court. The ICTR initially ordered the transfer [JURIST report] in June under Rule 11 bis, which authorizes the transfer of cases to appropriate national jurisdictions. Uwinkindi pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in 2010.

Google has been involved in many lawsuits regarding potential copyright infringements. Earlier this month, a US federal court reinstated a lawsuit against Google brought by Viacom, that was originally dismissed [JURIST reports] in 2010. A lawsuit targeting Google's book service [JURIST report] was also brought last September. A similar class action lawsuit was rejected that March [JURIST report]. A different German court ruled in April 2010 Google's image service did not violate copyright laws [JURIST report].

The issue of which court is going to try Saif al-Islam has been in dispute since he was captured [JURIST report] by Libyan rebel forces in November. Last week, Ocampo asked the ICC to report Libya to the UN Security Council [official website] for failing to turn over Saif al-Islam. Libya expressly denied [JURIST report] the ICC's request for such action and stated that Saif al-Islam will face trial within the country. In February 2011, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to refer the matter in Libya to the ICC prosecutor [JURIST report]. The ICC claimed jurisdiction over Saif al-Islam despite its announcement in November that it may allow Libya to conduct the trial [JURIST report].