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Naruto by ? |
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Phasers to kill |
In March UK record label association the BPI said that its members had issued more than 200m takedown requests to Google for removal of copyright infringing links in just twelve months. The BPI, which represents the three major recorded music labels, Universal, Sony and Warner as well as many independent labels, sent its first takedown request to Google in July 2011. In 2015 the BPI sent 65m takedown requests and said they are now, perhaps understandably, calling for a more permanent solution. Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was sued by an award-winning wildlife photographers who said Trump's team were using their copyright-protected image of an American bald eagle without permission. Attorneys for Wendy Shattil and Robert Rozinski filed the civil complaint in federal court after watching a Trump presidential rally on television and noticing that an attendee was holding a campaign sign that incorporated one of their photographs of the national bird. Asim told us that the Paris Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision that internet access providers (ISPs) and search engines were obliged to block access and/or remove links to pirate sites and reversed the trial court's decision that the rightsholders (here movie companies) had to bear the costs associated with the implementation of such measures, with the appellate court finding that such costs should be borne by the ISPs. In the 'Star Trek' case, the Star Trek rights holders came back with an amended complaint that listed many of the alleged specific instances of infringement by the makers of Prelude to Axanar of what they say are copyrighted elements in Star Trek itself: These include the language and culture of alien races such as the Klingons and Vulcans, the cowl-neck uniform that Majel Barrett wore as the Enterprise’s first officer in the original series episode The Cage, and the concept of “Stardate." Some 57 instances of infringement were listed in the amended complain including the concept of dilithium crystals and phasers. Appropriation artist' Richard Prince responded to the recently-filed copyright infringement lawsuit, claiming he should be shielded from infringement charges because his use of others’ copyright-protected images amounts to fair use. Prince asked the Southern District of New York court to dismiss the case with prejudice as it was an attempt to ‘essentially re-litigate’ his controversial fair use victory against another photographer Patrick Cariou. And John updated us on not one but two public consultations on copyright, one from Brussels and one from the UK 's IPO. The Brussels offering was a consultation on two things, the role of the publisher and the "panorama" right, and the IPOs a further consultation and technical review "on changes to Section 72 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (which permits the free public showing or playing of a film contained in a broadcast)."
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What is the Klingon for 'Copyright' ? |
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Is sampling back in vogue? |
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Black and gold |
In August, tattoo artists Solid Oak Sketches lost an important battle in their claim against the animators behind the NBA 2K video game series - which feature several NBA stars including James, Kobe Bryant and Eric Bledsoe - tattoos and all! The tattoo designers were seeking actual damages in an amount to be determined at trial, or statutory damages and attorneys' fees — but a New York federal judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled out the latter saying "[I]n order to obtain statutory damages and attorneys' fees, a plaintiff must have registered its copyright prior to the alleged infringement" and the copyrights in the tattoos were not registered until 2015 - AFTER the alleged infringements began. Cox Communications were ordered to pay that $25 million dollar penalty for copyright infringements to the music rights management company BMG by a federal judge. The ruling follows the earlier jury decision which found Cox liable for illegal movie and music downloads by its customers. The company's behaviour amounted to wilful infringement of copyright in the eyes of the jury. The Eastern Virginia District Court dismissed Cox’s appeal of the earlier verdict, and ordered Cox to pay up - a ruling which may have widespread repercussions for online copyright infringement in the US as the court decided that Cox did not do enough to stop users pirating music from BMG, and therefore did not qualify for Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) ‘safe harbor’ protections. And it came as no surprise that Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and TI filed their appeal against the verdict in the 'Blurred Lines' case that saw them ordered to pay $5.3m (reduced from $7.3 million) and pay over 50% of songwriting and publishing revenues to the family of Marvin Gaye, after a jury ruled last year that their song copied Gaye’s 1977 hit 'Got to Give It Up'.
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Transformed? |
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The Turtles have kept us busy |
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Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore |
We have lost some true giants of music this year, and David Bowie and Prince are just two of the outstanding creative talents who passed on. I write this on the news of the untimely death of George Michael aged just 53, another sad sad loss. So all we can do is wish that you 'live long and prosper'.
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And here's a link to the EFF's This Year in U.S. Copyright Policy: 2016 in Review
As ever - readers will have their own views on what should (or perhaps should not) be in the copyright year. The CopyKat writes from a UK/US, music industry and common law perspective: So please let us know if you think something important is missing - comment is free on the 1709 blog, but please be polite and thoughtful!
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