The CopyKat - a Monday round up

MPR reports that former 'Prenda Law' attorney and much criticised 'copyright troll' Paul Hansmeier has been ordered by a federal judge to sell his assets to pay his creditors. Earlier this year, Hansmeier filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which enables a debtor to pay creditors over several years. But a bankruptcy judge has converted the case to a Chapter 7, meaning Hansmeier's assets will be sold to satisfy creditors. Reports say that in court, Judge Kathleen Sanberg said Hansmeier can't be trusted. saying "The debtor has a pattern and practice of dishonesty with the courts. This case was designed for one purpose only: to thwart the collection efforts of creditors," she reportedly said.

The latest bill from Hong Kong’s legislature, which seeks to make the territory’s copyright laws appropriate for the Internet Age, has caused quite a stir. Extra security was called in for the latest round of debates in the Legislative Council (LegCo).  Opponents say that the bill reinforces the position of business and copyright owners, but stifles freedom of speech. Opposition members put forward some 900 amendments to be discussed before the main bill is debated, though Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing has already thrown out most of the proposals, fearing that the move is an  attempt to talk out the debate and delay the Bill’s enactment. The government previously tried in 2011 to update the existing 2006 law, but dropped that after similar freedom of speech concerns. IT sector lawmaker Charles Mok said on a Commercial Radio programme  that he saw clear public support for the three amendments proposed by the pan-democrats. These include the addition of a “contract override” clause, “user generated content” protection and “fair use” terms to protect derivative works by netizens. An association of leading entertainment companies in Hong Kong has urged the territory’s government to pass the proposed Copyright (Amendment) Bill without further delay. The Hong Kong Copyright Alliance held a meeting Sunday (December 13) at which it said that the revised law was necessary to combat online piracy.

A two-year-old lawsuit over the ownership of the copyright of 'Happy Birthday' is coming to a close, as publisher Warner/Chappell settles with the plaintiffs who kicked off the dispute. The "most important outcome": once the settlement process has been approved, 'Happy Birthday' will be in the "public domain" (ad yes I know I was criticised for using this phrase before. But whatever, this is clearly not an ideal outcome for Warner/Chappell, which was previously generating around $2m in royalties from the song annually. More on MBW here and the New York Times here.

ArtsTechnica tells us that Aurous, the 'Popcorn Time for Music' platform that debuted two months ago has agreed to shut down and to forfeit its domain to the Recording Industry Association of America, which brought the lawsuit that is now being settled. The deal also calls for the Aurous site's developer, Florida resident Andrew Sampson, and others associated with the site to pay the RIAA $3 million in damages. Although it's a sum that likely won't ever be paid, it's a judgement hanging over their heads and a sum that the RIAA believes sends a message of deterrence. "Aurous appropriately agreed to shut down," Cary Sherman, the RIAA chairman, said in an e-mailed statement. "It was the right thing to do. We hope this sends a strong signal that unlicensed services cannot expect to build unlawful businesses on the backs of music creators."

Intellectual Property Watch tells us that two new proposals concerning the rights of artists seemed to bring new energy to the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee last week. Proposals encouraged delegates to create a legal framework to help artists benefit from use of their works and royalties by intermediaries. The 31st session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) took place from 7-11 December. According to the summary by the chair, adopted by the SCCR on 11 December, both topics will remain on the agenda of the 32nd session of the SCCR, from 9-13 May 2016, under the agenda item “other matters.”  Meanwhile, a new text on broadcasting is being prepared for next session. More here.

And finally, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has published the first edition of its new quarterly Newsletter WIPO ADR Highlights yesterday. If you are interested in receiving future editions, you may subscribe at www3.wipo.int/newsletters/en/.  

The CopyKat - pirates, treasure and safe habours ahoy!

Ahoy me hearties! To celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th of September, the CopyKat is taking a look at all things piratical, and in true buccaneering styleeee, he hopes that all scurvy sea dogs are safely in their kennels, safely out of reach of his cat o' nine tails. So, hoist the mainsail, shiver me timbers, gawd save us all from Davy Jones's locker, and when you are out and about today remember is 'ahoy' not 'hello', it's never too late to get someone to walk the plank, swash your buckle, remember treasure is still treasure and finders are surely keeperrsrrrr, and so its yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, and time to talk like a pirate! A Pirate's Lexicon can be found here. Oh - and this image - it's is mine, all mine!

When the makers of an anti-piracy advert approached independent musician Melchior Rietveldt asking him to make music for an advertisement that would be used at a local film festival to fight piracy. he was happy to sign up! But it seems the ad makers liked Mr. Rietveldt's work so much they the used it in over 71 DVDs and pre-movie ads in dozens of regions, including the USA.  Mr. Rietveldt never received any compensation and was unaware of this infringement - which some might also call piracy - until he watched a DVD copy of a Harry Potter movie and was shocked to hear the track he composed. It gets worse - his collection society, Daily Tech reports that Buma/Stemra (Buma was recently in the news over a secret  'kickback' scheme it was operating) then got involved - but then a director of the collection society offered to 'collect' royalties through his own company for a 33% share of revenues. All a bit odd? Well yes! In June, Buma/Stemra agreed to pay over €31,000 - but by now Mr. Rietveldt had launched a law suit in place and this week he was awarded another €60,000, plus legal fees, while Buma/Stemra was most certainly in the naughty boys corner. More on Daily Tech here.

A right wing video attacking the newly elected leader of the UK's Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn has been taken down from YouTube after it was found to infringe copyright. The video showed footage of the new Labour leader's controversial comments on a range of topics before warning that the prospect of him in Downing Street was a "threat to Britain's security". However it was found to contain material owned by one Adrian Cousins, in which Corbyn calls for Nato to be scrapped. No one asked Cousins for  his permission and he duly submitted a takedown request to YouTube to remove the pirate video. And so it was taken down - although after a hasty re-edit the video re-appeared and is back up again on the Conservative Party's Facebook page.

Davy Jones's Locker, by John Tenniel, 1892

Adult movie studio Malibu Media has received a slap on the wrist from New York federal judge Katherine Forrest. The company, often criticised as a copyright 'troll', had asked the court permission to interrogate the neighbours and spouse of an accused downloader - but this was a tactic that the court equated to harassment with Judge Forrest saying "Plaintiff may not subpoena neighbors or Defendant’s significant other based on the current record. As to the neighbors, Plaintiff would be engaged in a fishing expedition and/or harassment of defendant (by way of causing embarrassment/humiliation)." More on Malibu from Artstechnica here.

The UK's IPO tells us that the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has published a draft of revised Implementing Measures for the Administrative Enforcement of Copyright. The deadline for submitting comments to the consultation is September 30. Areas under revision include liability of network service providers, thresholds for constituting “serious infringement” and other timelines and procedures for administrative enforcement cases. More here (in Chinese).

Judgement at the Federal High Court in Lagos has been adjourned until October 30, 2015 in the alleged copyright infringement case instituted by popular Nigerian musician, King Sunny Ade. The seven defendants in the suit, filed in 2007, include musical records and cassettes marketers and a cassette jacket printer in Nigeria. Sunny Ade is seeking damages in the sum of N3bn from the defendants for alleged copyright infringement on 43 works categorised as singles, extended, series and others. Ade is also seeking a court order directing the defendants to deliver to him the master tapes of the said musical works.

Safe harbour?

One of the music industry's ongoing targets is a wholesale revision of 'safe harbour' (or even 'safe harbor') provisions in both the European Union and the United States of America - arguing that they both facilitate piracy and disadvantage properly licensed services. Now another 'search engine' is on the horizon, no doubt aiming to take advantage of those generous protections,  but one that has already been labelled as both the "new Grooveshark" and the "Popcorn Time of music". So what is it? Well its called Aurous and  
the new music platform that grabs content from P2P sharing networks and other online platforms (Aurous can easily import all your favourite playlists from other services like Spotify, Pandora  ....) - and is set to go live on Mac, Windows and Linux from next month, albeit in an alpha testing format. Planned funding reportedly will come primarily from banner adverts. Presuming Aurous will have a  functioning take down system - will it be accepted as legitimate? Or go the way of The Pirate Bay, Grooveshark and Limewire and face significant (or terminal) challenges for copyright infringement - whether directly or indirectly facilitating violations? That remains to be seen. For now, unfurl the spinnaker, hoist the mainsail, scuttle the jib and weigh anchors!