THE COPYKAT

This CopyKat from David Laio

Google

VG Media, an association of publishers including Handelsblatt and Axel Springer, has brought a claim against Google in relation to the German 2013 Ancillary Copyright Law. This law was designed to compel Google to pay for publishing summaries of news content in web searches, which Google argues is only for indexing purposes. In addition Google claims its search service helps publishers reach a wider audience.

This is the fifth claim VG Media has made against Google, with three of those claims having been decided in Google’s favour (with the rest still pending). In 2014 Google had previously removed snippets in relation to one such claim made by VG Media, but the consortium responded by characterising this behaviour as an abuse of Google’s dominant position. Some have suggested VG media had hoped to compel Google into licensing agreements, see here. 

The Berlin District Court has recently asked the European Court of Justice for clarity on a technical point, whether the law had been properly submitted to European Commission authorities under a process of review called “notification”. This could be a potential stumbling block for the lawsuit – the ruling is currently expected on the 9^th of May this year so stay tuned.

Paul McCartney sues Sony/ATV

Paul McCartney will be able to reclaim the rights to music which Sony/ATV currently hold as of October 2018 under US Copyright Act (the right discussed here in relation to Duran Duran, which also involved Sony/ATV). McCartney has previously asked Sony/ATV to acknowledge his rights to terminate copyright transfers of his music but did not receive this confirmation. As such, McCartney is seeking a judicial declaration allowing him to reclaim his copyright. No doubt this will be influenced by the Duran Duran case, which was granted leave to appeal by Mr Justice Arnold earlier this month.

Copyright Law Reviews 

Canada: The Canadian government plan to review copyright laws next year and commissioned a study on views of Canadian businesses (reported here). In particular the study found that follow-the-money strategies (which focus on methods such as reducing online advertising revenues and disabling payment to intermediaries) have a mixed record of success, especially with the continuing popularity of online advertisers who prioritise reaching large audiences over enforcing copyright. It is also interesting to note rights holders tended not to give fighting online piracy a high priority, as many believe that “their scarce resources are better invested in other battles and counted on global organizations to pursue the fight.”

US: In a recent speech, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said that several copyright policy proposals would be voted on during the current legislature. Goodlatte said one of the first proposals will focus on the US Copyright Office to ensure that it "keeps pace in the digital age", including granting the Office autonomy and the creation of a searchable database of all copyright works – a monumental task indeed. Industry observers also suggested that music licensing and a small claims tribunal would be possible other proposals. See here for more details.

Beyoncé

The estate of the late Anthony Barré (known as Messy Mya) is suing Beyoncé for the use Barré’s voice in the song “Formation”. Sample audio clips were allegedly taken from a hit YouTube videos including one named ““Booking the Hoes From New Wildin”. The claim is for more than $20 million in back royalties and other damages, as well as credit for being a writer, composer, producer, and performer. Listen to the clips here.

The CopyKat - Big Brother IS watching YOU

The EFF tell us that Senators Grassley and Leahy, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary, have published a letter to the Copyright Office asking it to analyse the impact of copyright law on “software-enabled devices” (such as cars, phones, drones, appliances, and many more products with embedded computer systems). This issue is "crucial because technology and the law have evolved in a way that no one could have intended when Congress wrote the present copyright laws, and that evolution has restricted customers’ freedoms to repair, understand, and improve on the devices they buy". And the Library of Congress has just agreed with the fair use advocates who argued that vehicle owners are entitled to modify their cars, which often involves altering software. Car makers including General Motors and other vehicle manufacturers such as tractor maker Deere & Co had opposed the ruling. They said vehicle owners could visit authorised repair shops for changes they may need to undertake - much to the annoyance of drivers and farmers - and somewhat hypocritically it seems to the CopyKat - given the recent VW diesel emissions scandal. More here and from Wired here.

Talking of hypocrisy (or here perceived hypocrisy), according to Torrent Freak, a man called Josh Hadley who was attempting to sell T-shirts featuring the phrase “1984 is already here” has been contacted by the London based Estate of writer George Orwell, author of the dystopian nightmare "1984",  for infringing their copyright and right of publicity. Hadley has taken the T-shirts off the original website, but has said he plans to still sell them in his own online store. Big Brother is indeed watching us all. Calling the Estate's actions 'Orwellian', TorrentFreak says "Ironically, the estate itself has gained a reputation for exerting tight control of copyrights and trademarks, surveilling the Internet for possible offenses.". 

Beyonce by Denis O'Regan

Husband Jay Z may have garnered all the publicity in his 'Big Pimpin' win, but wife Beyonce was also victorious the same day in a case brought against her by Ahmad Javon Lane, who claimed that Beyonce's song "XO" infringed on his song "XOXO."  TechDirt tells us "Except, it didn't. Not by a long shot. While both songs have "XO" in the title, that appears to be about where the similarities end":  The Court, after listening to both songs and reviewing their lyrics "finds that no reasonable jury could find the lyrics of XO and XOXO substantially similar. Indeed, aside from the fact that both songs’ lyrics use the letters “X” and “O,” there is virtually nothing common to the two songs’ lyrics." A representative for Lane issued a statement to ET, saying that the singer "is disappointed with the judge's ruling and is considering fighting his case with an appeal." Interestingly and somewhat confusingly Judge Engelmayer also took the time to ascribe different moods to the tracks, writing, "The two songs also have a different feel -- an appreciative fan would term Lane's track seductive and personal, and Beyonce's track joyous and uplifting." But surely its about the lyrics being copied ..... not the 'feel' being copied? The copyKat felt strange memories of Blurred Lines rising ......

YouTube claims to have paid more than $2bn to music rights-holders in the past few years. The news broke in a comment given by the service as it announced a global licensing agreement with Kobalt-owned collection society AMRA. Music Business Worldwide have done an interesting comparison with two other leading streaming platforms - Spotify and Vevo - saying the figure for YouTube works out very roughly, at $50m being paid by YouTube to music rightsholders a month. But based on recent figures, Spotify’s payouts to rights-holders would have been  $142m per month and in a very rough (and now slightly outdated) monthly payment from Vevo to music rightsholders of $12.5m. Which rightsholders were paid is another very interesting question. YouTube has asked video content rightsholders (here we presume record labels) to sign a new licensing deal, covering both YouTube Red and its traditional ad-supported version of the platform. This contract stipulates, amongst other things, that rights-holders will receive 55% of net revenues from video and display advertising.

After sending thousands of settlement demands to alleged pirates since last summer, a law firm in Finland, Hedman Partners,  is making good on its threats to sue. After initially being asked to pay between 600 and 3000 euros per offence, those targeted by the lawfirm now face demands of up to 10,000 euros plus court costs. Hedman Partners acts on behalf of a number of film, adult content and TV companies and has, perhaps unsurprisingly but perhaps unfairly, been labelled a 'copyright troll'. 

In our last CopyKat we noted that Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler had become the third musician to hit Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a cease-and-desist letter for his use of music on the campaign trail. joining R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Neil Young, who both asked Trump to stop using their music. The Republicans have a long history of using songs they fit their political agenda without permission, and Law Street provide a useful analysis of both the annoyed musicians and the legal context here. 

Over 50 websites have been blocked by internet service providers in Portugal as a result of a voluntary agreement reached between government, the entertainment industry and the net sector's trade body, the Association Of Telecommunication Operators. In the Ukraine, legislation is being planned to introduce web-blocking laws alongside new financial penalties for companies who do not comply with anti-piracy efforts. 

CISAC, the global umbrella for collection societies has announced full year figures for 2014 from collections for songs - music, lyrics and compositions: collections were up 2.8% on 2013 - a 5% increase had exchange rates not changed - to 7.9 billion euros. Songs account for 87% of collected monies, and that income was up 2.4% year-on-year. Mechanical rights income, primarily from the sale of CDs and downloads, was down 9% year-on-year, but performing rights revenues were up 3.8% (streams are usually classified as exploiting both mechanical and performing rights). Societies in Europe accounted for 61.3% of collected revenue, while North America accounted for nearly 17%. The five BRICS emerging markets accounted for 5% of the monies collected.

Photographs in focus as smudgers vent their fury at ERR

Beyonce by Denis O'Regan (c) Glastonbury Festivals Ltd 2011

Photographs are in the news in the UK as the snapper community in the UK digests the ramifications of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which received Royal Assent last week. The Telegraph leads with the headline that the 'Instagram Act' could see 'social media users lose ownership of their own photos' comparing the provisions of the Act that relate to orphan works with Instagram's hastily withdrawn privacy  policy that caused such a stir back in December last. As many images available online have been stripped of all data, photographers fear that their images, however commercially valuable, will simply be deemed as orphan works when a 'diligent search' is made relating to the image by the new user uncovers no metadata. Dominic Young wrote that the UK had 'abolished copyright' saying that UK copyright owners no longer control the right to copy their work

Eleonora has just posted up a blog on the IPKat on the ramifications of the Act under the headline 'The end of copyright as we know it?' and it's well worth a read.

In other snapper news, and with a very dfferent approach to controlling images, Beyonce has reportedly banned professional photographers from her entire 'Mrs Carter Show' world tour, which began in Serbia earlier in April. Purportingto be taken from information for media outlets wishing to cover the shows, Facebook page Music Photographers has posted a paragraph of text saying: "There are no photo credentials for this show. Local news outlets, including print and online, will be given a link to download photos from every show. They will need to register to access the photos"  for media use. Those official photos are apparently all taken by one photographer, Frank Micelotta for Associated Press. The move seemingly stems from  the incident this year in which Buzzfeed posted, and then refused to take down, photographs from Beyonce's Super Bowl performance, which Beyonce’s PR team deemed to be "unflattering". The star has asked fans for no flash photography and not to post photos online either. The Huffington Post says that 'B' has failed here, with fans posting thousands of images on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter - and with fan shots possibly replacing snaps by professionals in the media - which may not quite be what was intended by Mrs Carter's minders ........

http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-end-of-copyright-as-we-know-it.html

Down Down, Deeper and Down.

What do Justin Bieber, Rhianna, Lady Gaga , Beyonce and Shakira have in common? Well you can make your own minds up about their music, but they are undoubtedly some of the biggest pop stars on the global music jukebox at the moment – and NONE of them are signed to iLCreation. Why do I mention iLCreation – well this entity managed to get videos by Bieber, Gaga, Shakira, Rhianna, Beyonce and others including Bruno Mars and Miley Cyrus taken down from YouTube. Seemingly rather easily.

Many of the artistes who whose videos were targeted had performed at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards last Sunday (where Beyonce announced her pregnancy to the World)and according to Webpronews an unknown individual using the name iLCreation submitted a copyright claim on numerous videos including Miley Cyrus’ “Party In The USA”, Rhianna’s “What’s My Name” and. Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and following its standard procedures, YouTube pulled down the video including Bieber’s entire Vevo channel, it seems without requiring any form of verification that the claimant had the right to request the take-down.

Vevo initially posted a statement that explained, “Someone is making false copyright claims against the Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga channels and YouTube has blocked access to the videos as a result. We are working with YouTube to resolve ASAP.” The videos could still be seen on Vevo’s own site. Vevo, part owned by major record labels Sony and Universal, issued a formal statement that read, “A few videos by Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were briefly taken down by YouTube as a result of false copyright claims. This issue has been resolved.” Almost all of the video affected by the fake notices were restored within a couple of hours. As one commentator added “It’s particularly ironic for Bieber…. seeing as how Youtube is where he started”

YouTube uses several automated systems for removing unauthorized content, including ContentID, but copyright owners also can submit individual claims using an online form.

Shakira's "Waka Waka" has had 390 million viewers on YouTube. iLCreation is now the most “hated person on Twitter”. Allegedly.


http://www.webpronews.com/justin-bieber-lady-gaga-videos-pulled-from-youtube-2011-08