Oink, UK-based invite-only file-sharing community launched in 2004 and shut down in 2007 following a joint investigation by British and Dutch police, working in collaboration with UK and global record label trade bodies the BPI and IFPI, is returning as an apparently legal service at oink.cd and oink.me.uk.Users are asked to sign up to a mailing list "for updates and an invitation in due time" and are reminded to "never forget 23 Oct 2007", the date of the original site's shutdown. The shutdown resulted in four successful prosecutions of prolific users of the service for infringement, although founder Andy Ellis escaped conviction for conspiracy to defraud.
A Delhi court has dismissed a complaint against Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bandarkar for allegedly stealing the plot and idea of his movie "Fashion" from a book without giving credit to its author. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma dismissed the case against Bhandarkar, producer Ronnie Screwvala and writer Ajay Mongia after the complainant, actress turned author Seema Seth, repeatedly failed to appear before it to pursue her case. "Several opportunities have been given to her since last year" and having failed to submit her own script, the Judge found that she was "not interested in pursuing her case."
In South Africa, commentators are musing that stricter rules on the use of exclusive news content may come into effect following a recent charge of plagiarism by Moneyweb against Fin24, which is accused of rewriting seven Moneyweb stories, without fully acknowledging the source or indeed having permission: commentators also point to the fact that Moneyweb has its own unique financial comparisons, tables or models which “similar to exclusive stories, are protected under copyright law and can’t be copied without permission.”
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Photo by Wally Gobetz (wallyg @ Flickr) |
The Sunday Times featured an interesting article asking why The Walt Disney Company, never one to normally shy away from using its formidable array of legal weapons against anything that taints the Disney brand, is ignoring a new black and white horror film, shot without permission on small digital cameras and mobile phones at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California. Posters for Escape From Tomorrow feature Mickey Mouse's hand dripping with blood - 'brazenly provoking Disney's legal pitbulls'. The reason seems to be that The Mouse House is wary of giving the film any more publicity - which opens with the credit 'the following motion picture has NOT been approved for all audiences by the Walt Disney Company - despite potential copyright and trade mark infringements, and the lack of permission to film.
You can see the trailer here.
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Lauren LoPrete
And more on songwriters ..... and royalties: According to research carried out by Victoria University of Wellington PhD student Sharma Taylor, despite the popularity of reggae music around the world, the economic return to Jamaica is very low, with most music rights being owned by foreign companies: Taylor’s research shows that many of the 57 singer/songwriters she interviewed didn’t fully appreciate the copyright they own. An interesting piece of research - more here.
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4 comments:
Ben, talking of YouTube, how long should one have to wait for them to respond to a Copyright Infringement Notice? 3 weeks ago I completed one in relation to 2 bootleg recordings of one of our theatrical productions. It was ignored. I flagged up the 2 videos in question. Ignored. I emailed. Received dumb reply. Submitted another CIN. Ignored. Is a phone call to their HO necessary?
Wow - that is poor - that can hardly be considered an effective DCMA system can it? I have to say though, so far my run of takedowns has been much smoother than that, and I have had a succession of confirmations over the last few days.
Caroline, assuming you have sent the notification to google's designated agent, then they loose the "safe harbor" if they fail to respond "expeditiously" - 17 USC 512(1)(c)(C) - 3 weeks does not sound like it is "expeditious" to me.
Oddly, the DMCA take-down procedure does have time limits for counter-notices measured in days, but nothing so concrete for notices.
Thanks, both. I haven't gone down the designated agent route yet (have just filed a couple of what they call 'webforms') but I shall do that. Thanks for the tips.
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