The CopyKat - Pirate Bay founder sails into an unsafe Swedish harbour

Peter Sunde , co-founder of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, has been arrested in southern Sweden and is now expected to serve an outstanding sentence for copyright violations after being on the run for nearly two years. Sunde had been wanted by Interpol since 2012 after being sentenced in Sweden to one year in prison and fined for breaching copyright laws. "We have been looking for him since 2012," said Carolina Ekeus, spokeswoman at the Swedish National Police Board. "He was given eight months in jail [the sentence was reduced on appeal although the fines increased] so he has to serve his sentence." Sunde had been living in Berlin, Germany, but returned to Sweden at times due to having family there.His final appeal against his sentence failed when his request for another appeal was denied by Sweden’s Supreme Court.

In the U.S. the Department of Justice is conducting a review of the consent decrees governing the nation’s largest music performance rights organisations, which many see as a critical development amid the ongoing debate over copyright reform. ASCAP last had its consent decree, which governs how the collection society collects and distributes royalties, updated in 2001, while BMI’s has not been updated since the 1990s - and boy oh boy, has technology moved on since then! Both songwriters and publishing companies have suggested that the consent decrees need serious revision, with some even arguing they should be abolished - and ASCAP have already publicised some suggested changes. But the push for updates grew louder earlier this year when a federal rate court gave an unfavorable ruling to ASCAP in its royalty rate dispute with Pandora. Review of the consent decrees will trigger a 60-day public comment period, which is sure to draw in stakeholders ranging from songwriters and publishing companies, to broadcasters and record labels.

Colin Kaepernick

The arm tattoos on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be duplicated on his digital avatar in the next “Madden” video game: According to ESPN, Kaepernick secured copyright waivers from the two tattoo artists who inked the biblical psalms and other religious references and which were copied into the biceps of the virtual Kaepernic and so, and as the NFL Players Association suggests, he has their permission to include their work in the game. More here.

Just as Shakespeare could not copyright iambic pentameter, an architect can't claim clapboard siding on colonial houses as his intellectual property, the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court has ruled, saying "Shakespeare wrote his sonnets; Brahms composed his Hungarian dances; and plaintiff designed his colonial houses"  ...... "Because we must preserve these forms for future artists, neither iambic pentameter, nor European folk motifs, nor clapboard siding are copyrightable." in a case brought by architect  James Zalewski and his firm Draftics Ltd. against construction companies T.P. Builders and Cillis Builders, the court held that the similarities Zalewski spied between his designs and the defendants' buildings "are features of all colonial homes, or houses generally" and not protected.

The Beastie Boys have won $1.7m (£1m) in a copyright violation case against the Monster Energy Co who produce the energy drink.of the same name. The case was for copyright infringement and implied endorsement. Monster had used a montage of Beastie Boys tracks in a promotional video relating to a snowboarding event the brand sponsored, which was posted shortly after the passing of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who had included a clause in his will prohibiting his name, image or music being used in advertising or marketing materials. Monster conceded that it had used the music without permission, but said that it had done so by mistake, after one of its marketeers mistakenly inferred from Z-Trip, the DJ the company had worked with on the party in the promotional video, that the music had been cleared. The beverage maker had insisted it should owe no more than $125,000 (£74,000). The Beastie Boys had sought $2m (£1.1m) - and got most if it. 

China is considering raising penalties for copyright infringement, according to a draft amendment. The draft amendment to the Copyright Law will see miscreants face fines of five times their illegal gains, or up to 250,000 yuan when the exact sum cannot be established. Previously the figures were three times and 100,000 yuan. The draft document was published by the Legislative Affairs Office of China's State Council to solicit public opinion, (which must be submitted before July 5th).