Hello to Robo Lawyer - created to make hyperlinking easy - and the website describes Robo as follows: "I am Robo Lawyer programmed to help reduce legal risks related to publishing hyperlinks on the Internet. I am currently programmed to help you if you are from European Union. I know the EU law and the rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU, especially the ruling in the famous GS Media case." Robo lives as a chatbot in Messenger, so you need a Facebook account if you fancy a chat. The creator is Tomasz Zaleski (Eversheds Sutherland Poland).
Songwriter? Lyricist? Need some help with copyright? Going for a Song tells the story of Tina and Ben, a music composer and a lyricist who create an original song and discuss how to market it. This new tool helps musicians learn how UK copyright law regulates different aspects of the journey of a song, from its creation to its distribution.
A motion to dismiss has been filed by attorneys representing Cher in the copyright infringement case filed against her by graphic designer Moshik Nadav concerning the artwork and in particular the graphics on the cover of Cher's Closer To The Truth release. The 2013 album was Cher’s 25th studio release. Nadav’s suit, in the Southern District of New York, names Cher, Warner Bros. Records, a design company and the albums’ art and design director as defendants and seeks $5 million in damages. According to Nadav's complaint, two logos that appear on Cher's album infringe on the copyrights to his Paris and Paris Pro logos, which he claims were created using his typography, featuring “artistic elements, such as swashes having various thicknesses, end drops and unique lettering.” Section 202.1 of the US Copyright Act, which gives examples of works not copyrightable, including “mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring" but here Nadav says Cher's work is substantially similar to his own logos - and he has obtained copyright registrations for those - but this looks like an uphill battle. More here.
Alleged KickassTorrents owner Artem Vaulin's defence team have said he will appeal last week's extradition ruling. Lead counsel Ira Rothken stresses that the refusal of the Polish court to grant bail and the unprecedented allegations violate the human rights of his client. The team is confident that they can book a positive outcome on all fronts. Last week a Polish court ruled that Vaulin could be extradited to the United States.
California’s Supreme Court is set to decide if the state’s copyright law protects the performing right as part of the sound recording copyright - an important question as federal copyright law only protects sound recordings released post 1972. It was in California where the Turtles secured their big win, with a court there ruling that there was a general performing right for sound recordings, a landmark ruling that forced both Sirius and Pandora to agree settlements with the wider record industry, especially once a New York court indicated there was likely a performing right under that state’s copyright law as well - but that new York decision has now been overturned on appeal. Now the Nine Circuit Court Of Appeal has asked the California's Supreme Court to rule on the matter once and for all. Requesting the opinion the Ninth Circuit said this “is warranted if there is no controlling precedent and the California Supreme Court’s decision could determine the outcome of a matter pending in our court” and “This appeal not only meets both criteria, but also presents an issue of significant public importance”. The Californian court does not have to accept the question.
One of the more incredible allegations about Prenda Law, the copyright-trolling operation that sued people for downloading movies online, was that the lawyers behind it might have created and uploaded some of the porn in question simply as a way to catch more offenders. Now ArtsTechnica tells us this may well be true, and despite repeated denials by the Preda lawyers, in a new update it seems they were indeed making movies: "Steele pled guilty in Minnesota to federal charges of "conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud" and to money laundering. And guess what? In 2011, Team Prenda had in fact become porn producers (They continued to have other "real" clients at that time as well.)" and "On at least three separate occasions in Chicago, Miami, and Las Vegas, Steele and [Paul] Hansmeier... contracted with adult film actresses and produced multiple short pornographic films"
Torrentfreak also updates us on trolls, saying "A copyright troll that terrorized service providers over alleged copyright infringement is set to forfeit the very assets that made its entire campaign possible. After losing an aggressive lawsuit against Giganews, Perfect 10's multi-million dollar bill will now be satisfied by the Usenet provider liquidating the adult publisher's intellectual property". Perfect 10 was originally an adult entertainment magazine that also operated a subscription website featuring images of women. In November 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that Giganews was not liable for the infringing activities of its users. Perfect 10 was ordered to pay Giganews $5.6m in attorney’s fees and costs and this was upheld on appeal.
There is yet another copyright lawsuit against the appropriation artist Richard Prince, after Dennis Morris LLC, the London-based photographer’s corporation, filed a complaint on the 3rd June in a Californian federal court seeking unspecified damages and any profits the artist and his dealer Gagosian Gallery made from Prince’s alleged use of three photographs of the 1970s punk rock band the Sex Pistols. According to the complaint, Prince used the images in work included in the 2011 exhibition Untitled (Covering Pollock) at Guild Hall in East Hampton. The claim says that Prince made "derivative works” and accuses the defendants of “producing and distributing large scale reproductions incorporating those derivative works” based on Morris’s photos of Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious. Morris is seeking a jury trial and demanding, among other damages, all of Prince and Gagosian’s profits from sales of the disputed works. The complaint also alleges that Prince used Instagram to promote the work for sale and includes a screenshot of a post (since deleted but pictured, left) on Prince’s Instagram account, featuring one of Morris’s best known photos of Vicious who died in 1979 from a drugs overdose.
Arts Technica reports that the lawyers behind the Prenda Law "copyright trolling" enterprise have lost their key appeal and will have to pay more than $230,000 in sanctions. The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a 12-page ruling upholding the sanction order that began Prenda's downfall, issued by US District Judge Otis Wright in 2013. The ruling wholly supports Wright's sanction and dismisses John Steele and Paul Hansmeier claims that due process rights were violated: "These consolidated cases began as minor copyright infringement suits, until courts nationwide started catching on to the plaintiffs' real business of copyright trolling," the ruling states. "Prenda Principals were found contradicting themselves, evading questioning, and possibly committing identity theft and fraud on the courts" and "The Prenda Principals have engaged in abusive litigation, fraud on courts across the country, and willful violation of court orders," the opinion states. "They have lied to other courts about their ability to pay sanctions. They also failed to pay their own attorney’s fees in this case." The third appellant, Paul Duffy, died last year.
All three major record labels, along with 50 other rights owners and platforms, including Spotify, Pandora, SACEM and YouTube, have committed to creating a new system to “dramatically simplify the way that music creators and rights owners are identified and compensated”. The new initiative will hopefully replace and surpass the stalled Global Repertoire Database - and provide a 'one stop' centre for users who want to use songs and sound recordings. The Open Music Initiative (OMI) has been founded by Berklee College of Music’s Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE), and has been publicly backed by Universal, Sony, Warner and many more – although as MBW points out - despite Google's YouTube being on board, Apple’s name is conspicuous by its absence.
The European Commission's public consultation on "neighbouring rights" for publishers - otherwise known as the 'Google tax on snippets' CLOSES TODAY. The right could potentially allow publishers to demand payment from search engines and content aggregators where they include short snippets that link to the original text. You must use the questionnaire on the EU website to respond.
And the latest battle in what the difference is between 'inspiration' and what is 'appropriation' has kicked off in Los Angeles, where Led Zeppelin stand accused of copying of a song called “Taurus,” written by Randy Wolfe and performed with his band Spirit, into their epic "Stairway to Heaven". Those who have listened to recordings of each of the songs might think there is a strong similarity, but the legal team attorney for Zeppelin’s front man, Robert Plant, and lead guitarist, Jimmy Page, said any similarities were because the two songs both relied on “basic musical devices that are completely commonplace” and found in songs dating back centuries. "Taurus" was released three years before “Stairway to Heaven” surfaced on Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album, commonly referred to as “Led Zeppelin IV.” In the wake of the jury decision in the "Blurred Lines" case, its unsurprising Plant and Page cancelled sows to attend the trial.
And finally and this time from Canada, a federal court has ruled that that a number of companies must temporarily stop selling TV boxes that allow consumers to access content via streaming sites as they face a court battle over alleged copyright infringement. The plaintiffs, who include Bell and Groupe TVA, allege the TV boxes come with pre-loaded software that allows consumers to view copyrighted programming from illegal streaming sites . MTLFreeTV, one of the defendants, argued the boxes are similar to a tablet or computer, and the company does not develop, produce, service or maintain the software that comes with the boxes. Justice Danièle Tremblay-Lamer ruled that the companies must stop selling pre-loaded products until a the result of a trail in the matter.
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/.
Photographer Art Dragulis probably thought he had an open and shut case when he found out the Kappa Map Group had been using one of his shots of rural Maryland on the front cover of a street atlas of Montgomery. Except .... maybe he had forgotten that when he uploaded the shot to the photo sharing site Flickr he did so under a Creative Commons licence which allowed commercial use of the photo in exchange for attribution; Plaintiff alleges that defendant infringed his copyright in the photograph because it “copied Plaintiff’s work and made derivatives of the work without Plaintiff’s authorization in violation of 17 U.S.C. § 501.” Id. ¶ 22. But plaintiff uploaded the photograph to a public photo-sharing website, where he did not assert exclusive rights to his copyrighted image, and he instead opted to license the work and make it available for use by others without compensation. TechDirt says "The final opinion notes that Dragulis seems upset with what happened but can't really blame anyone but himself for the outcome."
As the CopyKat noted in an earlier posting in relation to the use of copyright laws in 'revenge porn' cases, the hacked extramarital dating service Ashley Madison is trying to prevent dissemination of its stolen database and other information by sending DCMA copyright takedown notices to social networks and file-sharing sites. It's only been partially successful so far - not least as there are 33m user records posted online - a huge volume. Some takedowns have worked - but some have not, because platforms such as Twitter have resisted some DCMA claims. Joseph Cox, a writer for technology site Motherboard, reported that a copyright takedown notice was filed for three of his tweets, each of which contained screenshots of information contained within the Ashley Madison breach: One takedown was implemented But the company disagreed with Ashley Madison over the infringing nature of the other two tweet.
 |
| Mayor Butts |
A federal judge in Los Angeles has told the city of Inglewood that it can't try to silence a critic of Mayor James T. Butts Jr.(left) by asserting copyrights over the official videos of City Council meetings. U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald's decision made it clear that the the state legislature has severely limited the ability of local governments and other public entities to copyright the materials they create - and - even if Inglewood could copyright the videos, the use by local resident Joseph Teixeira criticising the Mayor would be covered by fair use. Image of Mayor Butts by Melanie McDade.
The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of Illinois, USA, has filed a complaint against John Steele, one of two lawyers believed to be the masterminds behind the Prenda Law 'copyright-trolling' scheme. In the seven count complaint, ARDC asks for a panel hearing and a disciplinary recommendation, which will be transmitted to the Illinois Supreme Court. That court has the power to suspend and disbar attorneys. More on ArtsTechnica here.
The former owner of a major file haring site, one Rocky P. Ouprasith, has said he was not the operator of a new version - not least as he was busy being investigated fir piracy, finally pleading guilty to one count of copyright infringement. Ouprasith's attorney Bobby Howlett Jr. told reporters that his client - who was behind RockDizMusic.com and RockDizFile.com - was not behind RockDizMusic.tv saying: “I can assure you my client is not still doing what brought him in front of the judge”. The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade organization that represents the recording industry, said RockDizFile emerged in 2013 as the “second largest online file sharing site” specialising in pirated music. Press comments say Ouprasith should expect a prison sentence.
And finally - two non U.S. updates - but both from the UK so still some red, white and blue in there somewhere! Firstly, PRS for Music confirms it has agreed a new two year multi-territory European licensing deal with music streaming and subscription service, Spotify. Continuing the ongoing relationship between the pair, the recent deal allows the music streaming and subscription service to continue to offer its users a vast bundle of repertoire in the UK and Ireland (including repertoire from over 100 affiliated societies from around the globe), plus PRS for Music’s and Eire based IMRO’s direct members’ repertoire across Europe. The repertoire PRS for Music licenses to Spotify across Europe further includes musical works represented by a growing number of IMPEL publishers. IMPEL currently represents the rights of 40 leading independent publishers, a number that is anticipated to grow further before the end of the year.
And lastly, the City Of London Police's IP Crime Unit – (PIPCU) – has to date requested that domain name registrars suspend 317 pirate sites, according to Torrentfreak, which confirmed the numbers from a UK Freedom of Information request. In addition to targeting domain registrars, PIPCU also told Torrentfreak that it had sent warning letters directly to the operators of 377 piracy websites, all of which had been referred to the policing unit by entertainment industry trade groups. How successful either of these initiatives are remains to be seen. Image from www.123rf.com
Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (Toby Keith): "Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage / This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage / And you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A. / 'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way."
The provision in the Polish Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act that gives the injured party an option to claim what are in effect punitive and triple damages based on a market rate licence fee multiplied times three has been held unconstitutional by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal. The decision was made upon a request filed by UPC – one of largest digital cable television providers in Poland after UPC faced a court decision awarding punitive damages against UPC in favour of the Association of Polish Film Makers for rebroadcasting of TV programs without paying a license fee. More here .
What looks like an interesting looking book called It’s One for the Money: The Song Snatchers Who Carved Up a Century of Pop & Sparked a Musical Revolution by Clinton Heylin is out on Constable, its £20 and the ISBN is 9781472111906. The Spectator describes it thus: "Clinton Heylin’s book is packed with examples ... of what strange things can happen when popular music and copyright law collide. Throughout the 20th century, he argues, songwriters happily borrowed, were influenced by or just nicked other songwriters’ ideas. (One of the book’s more unexpected snippets is that the Sex Pistols stole the introduction to ‘Pretty Vacant’ from Abba’s ‘SOS’.) But, because the serious money has always been in song publishing, this has not only created some great music. It’s also given record company types endless opportunities for unscrupulous profit."
Google has won a partial legal victory on over German performing rights society GEMA, which had sought to make the company's video-sharing service YouTube pay each time users streamed music videos by artists it represents. A Munich court rejected GEMA's demand that YouTube pay 0.375 euro cents ($0.004) per stream of certain videos. In its claim, GEMA had picked out a sample of 1,000 videos which it said would cost YouTube around 1.6 million euros. However the German regional court ruled that Google's video-sharing website YouTube must prevent users from posting material that infringes copyright law once such a video has been brought to its attention. "However, if such a service provider has been made aware of a clear violation of the law, it must not only remove the content, but also must take precautions to avoid further infringements of copyrights," the court said in its ruling. GEMA may appeal the ruling. More here.
 |
| But not to assets ...... |
The MegaUpload case is back in the US courts after former MegaUpload executivess filed an appeal with the Fourth Circuit appellate court, arguing that the judge which originally considered the forfeiture requests which stripped them of assets violated due process and denied Kim Dotcom and his fellow defendants their basic rights. The appeal also disputes the defining of the former MegaUpload executives as "fugitives", noting that while they are indeed fighting efforts to have them extradited to the US, they are doing so in accordance with the laws of the countries where they currently reside, which is New Zealand for Dotcom.
TorrentFreak reports that over the past months two of The Pirate Bay co-founders have been questioned by Swedish police, acting on behalf of the FBI. The officers were looking for information on Pirate Bay backups and logs as part of an investigation into the 'honeypot scheme' of the notorious Prenda copyright trolls - allegedly looking for evidence evidence that the so called copyright trolls Prenda Law uploaded their own torrents to The Pirate Bay, creating a honeypot for the people they later sued over pirated downloads. The crucial evidence to back up this allegation came from The Pirate Bay, who shared upload logs with TorrentFreak that tied a user account and uploads to Prenda and its boss John Steele. TorrentFreak says that the confirmation comes from Pirate Bay co-founders Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij, who independently informed TF that they were questioned about Prenda during their stays in prison. More on Prenda here and here.
A newly leaked TPP chapter "shows countries converging on anti-user copyright takedown rules". It seems the secret negotiations haven't all been US led and indeed some of the other potential signatories have resisted a carbon copy of the DMCA - mot least Canada which says it has a better takedown system, and the EFF say that notable improvem,ents include (i) the text now requires parties to provide penalties for knowingly false takedown notices (but also for false counter-notices) (ii) content that has been removed in response to a takedown notice must be restored if a valid counter-notice is received, (iii) a failure of an intermediary to satisfy safe harbor conditions should not automatically make them liable for the user’s copyright infringement—it just means that they are no longer protected from being found liable in court and (iv) the limitations on liability that intermediaries enjoy may not be made conditional on their proactively monitoring uploads to their networks.
And finally - on Thursday (tomorrow), MEPs will make their opinions on copyright in Europe known – by voting on Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda’s review of the Information Society Directive. Its not binding - but may give Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, who is drawing up changes to copyright laws in Europe - some indication of where MEP's are on copyright reform - on everything from geo-blocking to fair use to the Freedom of Panorama to 'Google' levies to the terms of copyrights to media pluralism.
UPDATE: Eleonora has posted an update on the vote by the European Parliament which by 445 votes to 65 (with 32 abstentions), the Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution which assesses the implementation of the key aspects of this EU directive ahead of upcoming Commission plans to update the relevant legislative framework in the area of copyright. Eleonora's key headlines: Freedom of panorama not to be restricted - and a rejection of the German led proposal for EU-wide ancillary right over news content. More
here http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/eu-parliament-rejects-restrictions-on.html - and the EFF have their own somewhat more opinionated comment here and the Register takes an in interesting stance here.
Focussing on the latest trends and the latest technologies means that it is easy to be totally ignorant of what's going on in other parts of the world. So the CopyKat was brought out of orbit by an article in the Financial Express of Bangladesh that says "The mushroom growth of compact disc (CD) shops in cities and rural markets reflects, on the positive side, how dearly the Bangladeshis love music. But it does also indicate, on the other side, the extent of acts of 'piracy'. That provides some good reasons for growing worries over the pirated CDs. In a situation where most songs in CDs are pirated ones, both the government and original composers (of such songs) are deprived of a significant amount of revenue and rightful honoraria, respectively [and] could be raised significantly by implementing the copyright law."
Home to an estimated 144 million people, Russia is the world’s ninth biggest country in terms of population. With a recently booming economy, it should be of major importance to the global music business.Yet according to IFPI data, Russia contributed – in total – just US $72.8m to the recorded music industry last year, across digital, physical and public performance (the UK with less than half that population generated $1.33 billion). Whats worse - the market has declined - it was worth $191 million in 2007. Why - well blame it on piracy, corruption, past government inaction and consumers used to 'free' music. In the era of CDs in the 1990s and 2000s physical piracy was "up to 95% of the market.” And now with digital its worse. Now a recent flurry of government activity has given some hope to the beleaguered music industry and there have been some recent successes in the courts. In 2011 it seemed that enforcement of already existing infringement laws (including criminal sanctions) would be stepped up, not least to enhance Russia's position at World Trade Organization negotiations. In 2012 Russia's appellate court held that the massive social networking Vkontakte was liable for copyright infringement, upholding the earlier ruling by the commercial (“Arbitrazh”) Court of Saint Petersburg: in November 2014 Russia’s State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, approved a package of amendments to anti-piracy law, covering video, books, music and software, but not photos and among the amendments there was an initiative under which a Web site owner must delete within 24 hours any illegal content, rather than limit access to it, upon an electronic request from a rights’ owner. Now the Russian High Court has been given the power to order ISPs and website hosting companies to permanently block websites that repeatedly infringe copyright. Alongside the launch of services such as iTunes & Google Play and local music services such as Yandex, Torrent sites have been sent a final notification from the Russian Government telling them that “the systematic violation of intellectual property rights will result in sites providing access to stolen content being blocked forever” and giving a 1st May deadline.
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has taken a swipe at Silicon Valley in an interview in the Times (02.05.15) saying that he 'grateful' to have gown up in an age when an artist's hard work and talent were rewarded financially and before the music business suffered a 'takeover by Silicon Valley' saying "when this gallery of rogues and thieves had not yet interjected themselves between the people who aspire to be creative and their potential audience and then steal every f**king cent anybody every mad and put it in their pockets to buy f**king huge mega-yachts and Gulfstream Fives. These ..... thieves! It's just stealing. And that they are allowed to get away with it is just incredible". In 2010 Pink Floyd famously sued their record label, EMI, to withdraw their catalogue from iTunes after Apple's platform refused to sell 'Dark Side of the Moon' and other Floyd albums in their entirety - the band did not want individual tracks sold. Waters also takes a pop at consumers, saying he also blames "a whole generation that's grown up who believe that music should be free". Interestingly record labels don't seem to be in Water's line of fire -despite licensing and often being shareholders in many of the digital services Waters berates and paying royalty rates more appropriate for physical product than digital products. That said, the tech companies have been clever in spotting just how important music is - and monetising that. One of the most interesting set of financial figures I have ever seen is the growth of Apple after it entered the music market. For a over a decade niche 'geeky' computer manufacturer with near static turnover, almost immediately after the launch of iTunes Apple grew to be the biggest corporation in the world dominating in computers ales, notebooks and mobile phones - with music sales just an ancillary - but an ancillary that undoubtedly made Apple ever such a cool brand. From 1992 to 2004 Apple's turnover grew from $7 billion to $8 billion: The iPlayer launched in 2001 and iTunes in 2003 and 2004. By 2005 Apple's turnover was $14 billion, 2006 19 billion, 2007 $24 billion, 2008 $35 billion, 2009 $42 billion and 2010 $65 billion. Now that is growth!
Next week at The Great Escape in Brighton an illustrious panel featuring our friend and IP specialist Amanda Harcourt and Andy Edwards (Board Director at Music Managers Forum), Horace Trubridge (Assistant General Secretary at Musicians’ Union), Jane Dyball (CEO at MCPS/IMPEL), Rob Collins (Label Director at Cooking Vinyl) and Vicky Bain (CEO of the British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers & Authors) who are going to debate THE DIGITAL PIE putting the spotlight on one of the biggest music industry debates of the moment: the division of streaming revenues between each of the stakeholders in music. How are the monies divided between labels, publishers, artists and songwriters, and asking - is the current system fair and sustainable? More on The Great Escape, Europe's leading festival for new music here - this panel is on Thursday May 14th part of three days of conference panels, debates, workshops and new bands on show which will also ask 'what's the point of record labels anyway', explain music licensing and 'How to sell out gracefully' and investigate whether 'Music marketing is broken'.
Daniel Voelker, the lawyer representing the 'Prenda Law' trio of attorneys, Paul Hansmeier, John Steele and Paul Duffy and their associated companies before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the hearing into the earlier ruling of US District Court Judge Otis Wright which led to bruising sanctions and a referral to criminal investigators, is having something of a torrid time: ArtsTechnica has an excellent review but here's a little bit flavour: "The entire proceeding was tainted," Voelker said. "Mark Lutz, the CEO of Ingenuity 13, was not allowed to testify. As soon as they asserted their 5th amendment rights, the judge stopped the proceeding. He can't use that against them." The appellate court disagreed: "Sure he can," responded US Circuit Judge Richard Tallman. "He can draw adverse inferences. The district court was trying to gather facts. Your clients didn't appear for the first hearing." And "Explain to me in simple English how this operation worked—from the beginning," said US Circuit Judge Harry Pregerson. "How did they make their money? Who ran this operation?" "I don't know," Voelker said. "You don't know anything, do you?" Pregerson said before Voelker persisted in arguing that the proceeding was tainted and that the sanctions should be thrown out entirely and Judge Pregerson said "Let's say you're right," said . "Do you want us to send this back and have this turn into a criminal contempt proceeding?" ..... "With a potential penalty of life in prison for criminal contempt?" asked Judge Tallman. "They're prepared to run that gauntlet?" Well, despite the judges' warnings, it seems the Prenda trio want their day in court.
With a reported 100,000 people accessing illegal streams of the 'fight of the century' between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiqao using the new Periscope app, despite an injunction (Temporary Restraining Order) banning two other online services from offering free live streams, the CopyKat is wondering if the tweet from Dick Costolo, the CEO of Twitter, owner of Periscope saying "and the winner is ... Periscope" might come back to haunt him. With 'paid for' access to the fight costing anything from £24.95 here in the UK to upwards of $100 elsewhere, the cost of illegal streams via the likes of Periscope and Meerkat is potentially in the tens of millions of dollars, something that likes of HBO, Showtime and Sky TV, who licensed the exclusive rights to the boxing match, will no doubt be most concerned about. Periscope, which is an app (yes, another complexity!) allows a user to broadcast from where he or she is - for example by pointing his iPhone at a TV screen - has been downloaded over 1 million times and was blamed by HBO for facilitating mass copyright infringement after four episodes of the new series of Game of Thrones were leaked and widely shared using the service. The pay-TV offering reportedly generated over $400 million for official broadcasters. Apart from copyright infringement conundrums, the app and the 'social share' concept raises a host of other issues, privacy being at the forefront as the whole world becomes a broadcaster. Hmmmmmmmmm. Much to muse upon!
The Shark is back: Techtimes tells us that Grooveshark.com may be no more, but a limited version of the website has reappeared at Grooveshark.io, providing access to most of the same streaming music as the original Grooveshark, but lacking the playlists and other features. It seems a team of users began backing up all the music on the Grooveshark servers before the streaming service was shuttered last week. The group's leader, who calls himself "Shark," claims he has moved 90 percent of Grooveshark's music to the new site and is working on getting the remaining 10 percent.
And finally - a new book: A Newcomer's Guide to the Music Business is "A quick and simple guide to the music business for those on the verge of taking their first steps into the industry". Written by law graduate and music producer Tito Adesanya, who grew up on a notorious NW London council estate, "the book assists newbies in avoiding the basic mistakes the majority make when entering the music business, while also familiarizing prospective newcomers with industry customs, practices, and the type of working environment they can expect to encounter." And its just £4.99!
Remember John Steele, Paul Hansmeier and Paul Duffy, best known from reports as being the attorneys behind controversial 'troll' company Prenda Law ? Well - they are back in the news! And still annoying judges! However its not all bad news after an Illinois federal judge denied motions for contempt and sanctions against the trio after a defendant in a copyright case said the attorneys for so-called porn troll Lightspeed Media Corp had blocked discovery and lied about being insolvent to avoid attorneys’ fees, saying he had not presented sufficient proof. U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon said that while individual defendant Anthony Smith had “uncovered questionable financial activity” on the part of Lightspeed’s counsel — Steele, Hansmeier and Duffy, — and that the arguments raised and the records cited left the court suspicious of their previous representations, Smith had failed to show enough evidence to have his contempt motion granted. “The court does not believe that Lightspeed’s counsel have conducted themselves in a professional manner,” the opinion states. “However, suspicion is not a sufficient basis for a finding of contempt.” In March, Judge Herndon held the attorneys in contempt for violating a November sanctions order requiring them to pay $188,000 in legal fees and costs to Comcast Cable Communications LLC and AT&T Internet Services and $72,000 to Smith. The court further sanctioned the attorneys in the amount of 10 percent of the original sanction. More on Law 360 here
One of the USA's top cybersecurity and intellectual property officials says he knows how to make sure artists and musicians reap all the benefits from their works – by making illegal streaming of music and movies a felony. “[W]e believe that federal criminal law should be modernized to include felony criminal penalties for those who engage in large-scale streaming of illegal, infringing content in the same way laws already on the books do for reproduction and distribution of infringing content,” Alex Niejelow, an intellectual property and cybersecurity official, wrote in response to an online White House petition.
TV-over-the-Internet startup Aereo has filed for bankruptcy, bringing to a close its long-running copyright battle with US television networks.
Spy Ghana reports that Ghanaian musicians are being asked to get involved in copyright issues; Bessa SimonsVice President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), has urged up and coming musicians to get involved in copyright related issues saying that most musicians of the older generation retired from music with little because they never took interest in copyright related issues. Bessa was a member of the band Osibisa andd said that that even though the collection of royalties by Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) on behalf of the right owners seems to be in its infant stages, it will get better with the young great musicians pushing it forwards noting “When UK started PRS for music, the first collection was about GBP 1, 900 and they had members up to the tune of 190. Now as we speak, they have collected over GBP £666 million and they are sharing it to about 100,000 musicians; and that is where we want to get to telling musicians "You are the only people who can propel it. So please get interested in the copyright issues”.
The author and creator of Padding Bear, Michael Bond, has revealed that he once considered suing the parents of Top gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson after learning they were selling soft toy versions of the famous bear. In an interview with The Sunday Times Bond said that he was alerted to the fact that Shirley and Eddie Clarkson were selling the toys when a Surrey shopkeeper called him with the news in the early 1960's.
Also in the UK, and perhaps unsurprisingly, cross-industry trade body UK Music, working with the Musicians' Union and British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers And Authors, is set to fight the private copy exemption added to British copyright law earlier this year through the courts saying "The MU, BASCA and UK Music welcome the purpose of the new measures, namely to enable consumers to make a copy of their legally acquired music. However, this is a bad piece of legislation as it incorrectly implements the law by failing to include fair compensation for musicians, composers and rightsholders" expaining "The private copying exception will damage the musician and composer community. It contravenes Article 5 (2) (b) of the [European] Copyright Directive which includes a requirement that where a member state provides for such a copyright exception - as the UK now has - it must also provide fair compensation for rights holders".
Judge Denise Cote has denied Microsoft’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Getty Images for copyright infringement resulting from a feature of Microsoft's Bing search tool that allowed people to easily embed digital photographs onto their websites. Court documents filed in New York’s federal court show that Microsoft’s request to dismiss the lawsuit has been denied. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesman said: “We’ve already disabled the Bing image widget beta and believe there is no need for this case to continue.”
And finally - a rather staggering 'confession' from none other than Kim Dotcom, the former boss of Megaupload. The larger than life figure has told an online forum that he underestimated the threat of legal action that's left him fighting extradition from New Zealand to the USA and the 'surprised; 40-year-old said he regretted not taking threats over copyright from the Motion Picture Association of America seriously enough. Dotcom said that he and his advisers had monitored civil copyright cases and never foresaw the likelihood of criminal charges saying "No one ever for a minute thought that anyone would bring any criminal action against us" and "We had an in-house legal counsel. We had three outside firms working for us and not once - and they've reviewed our sites completely - not once had any of them suggested any criminal risk at all." Hmmmmm!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the Mormons - has been accused of copyright infringement and breach of contract by the owner of a popular audio recording of the Bible in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in a U.S. District Court in Florida by Litchfield Associates Ltd. Inc., the owner of audio of the King James Bible read by Alexander Scourby. Reports say that The Mormon Church entered into an agreement with Litchfield in 1988 to use the recording to produce cassette tapes that would also include Latter-day Saint chapter headings and footnotes. The Church is accused in the suit of improperly sub-licensing the copyrights with for-profit Deseret Book, a Church-owned bookstore with locations in 35 cities in Utah and the Western U.S., using the recording in apps, and making them available online without permission.
The Guardian asks "Will News Corp's Australian newspapers win a legal battle with Mail Online over its lifting of articles?" and comes to the conclusion that according to three media law experts canvassed by the Crikey website the view is that it is hard to claim that online copy is covered by copyright. With the Mail Online's pursuing a strategy of allegedly reproducing the 'heart' of the work of every other media organisation as a summary in order to ensure that it becomes a "one-stop shop" for web news surfers the Mail does follow certain protocols - the original source is credited fairly high up and most often there is also a hyperlink to the original article, news story or interview. But is it legal? News Corp has now served Mail Online's parent company with a legal letter listing 10 instances of alleged theft of content. Examples were highlighted in Monday's Australian, above.
Having previously told Prenda lawyer Paul Duffy "To fabricate what a federal judge said in a ruling before another court falls well outside the bounds of proper advocacy and demonstrates a serious disregard for the judicial process", Arts Technica tells us that US District Judge John Darrah has now agreed to a $11,758 sanction as costs in a defamation lawsuit filed by the 'copyright trolls'. It is the eighth known award against Prenda and its various lawyers. Prenda, also known as the anti Piracy Law Group and linked with a number of firms involving three main principals, John Steele, Paul Hansmeier and Duffy, had previously incurred the wrath of federal judge Otis D Wright II (who had heard 45 Prenda cases and who had latterly described the firm's business methods as 'extortion') who decided to investigate and get to the bottom of exactly what was going on in his courtroom saying "It should be clear by now that this court's focus has now shifted dramatically from the area of protecting intellectual property rights to attorney misconduct[,] such misconduct which I think brings discredit to the profession. That is much more of a concern now to this court than what this litigation initially was about". Sanctions of $81,000 off were applied in that matter. Judge
Mary Scriven in the Middle District of Florida was equally unimpressed, and Scriven is reported as stating that she would entertain a motion for sanctions against Prenda and its attorneys for "attempted fraud on the Court", as well as against Duffy for "lack of candor".
The new UK exceptions to copyright for the private use of personal copies, quotation and parody of copyrighted material have been put before Parliament and are expected to come into force from October 1. The draft regulations are identical to those introduced before, but were withdrawn last month. On the withdrawal, Intellectual Property Minister Lord Younger stated: “The Committee [JCSI] has some questions about the private copying and parody exceptions” after the British Copyright Council (BCC) raised concerns that some of the wording of the SIs failed to meet specific requirements of EU law. It seems no more! The most controversial move is the proposed exception to legalise actions such as copying music from a CD for personal use, long resisted by the recorded music sector. This also allow rights holders to legally deploy ‘restrictive measures’ which prevent private copies of their work being made, although this only applies to audio visual material. But the most debated provision is the the right to use copyrighted material in works of caricature, parody or pastiche - in effect ‘fair dealing’. The wording for the thee exceptions remain unchanged and will be considered by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (JCSI). They will then be debated in the House of Commons and House of Lords. If approved by Parliament, the regulations will be brought into force at “the next available opportunity”, which is expected to be 1st October.
Canada - now we always make sure to try and keep up to date with Canada whenever we can (to avoid slighting "poor little Canada, your erstwhile colony" (c) 2013 Castor Canuck Redux) and reports say that The federal government has confirmed that it will introduce the long-awaited notice-and-notice system which will compel ISPs to target serial copyright infringers - although critics says that the system stops short of the notice-and-takedown regime used south of the border under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The first-time notice-and-notice system compels ISPs to tell subscribers suspected of piracy that they are breaking the law. The annoucement is the final step in implementing the Copyright Modernization Act, which the government says is a “balanced” approach to modernising Canada’s copyright laws better to protect the rights of creators and innovators in the digital age - Industry Minister James Moore and Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Shelly Glover said that the regime would be brought into force without additional regulation in recognition of the flexibility ensured by the Act. ISPs are encouraged to continue to work together to develop market solutions to address online piracy.
It's only just related to copyright - but Google owned YouTube's threat to remove content owned by small independent record labels from the video streaming service who refuse to sign up to the web giant's new music streaming service - on apparently rather disadvantageous terms - has stirred up quite a media storm. The indie labels - who collectively have something approaching a 30% market share in some territories - are dwarfed by the two big majors Sony and Universal - who are believed to be prime position to get the best deals possible from YouTube. Now the indie labels trade bodies IMPALA and WIN have called on the European Commission to intervene - saying that the the threat of removing material if the independent labels didn’t play ball could constitute an abuse by Google of YouTube's near monopoly in the video streaming domain to give the firm an unfair advantage in the audio space with Helen Smith, Executive Chair of IMPALA, commenting "YouTube is behaving like a dinosaur, attempting to censor what it doesn't like. This is completely out of sync in Europe where the EC has systematically insisted that European citizens should be able to access the cultural diversity and choice they demand. Europe has already had to take a tough line with Google on issues such as search and privacy. Prompt intervention with YouTube must be the next step". Meanwhile Alison Wenham, head of the Association of Independent Music in the UK and who also heads up the Worldwide Independent Network, added: "We will start this process in Europe with IMPALA referring YouTube to the EC for urgent regulatory action, which will be the first step in a global campaign. Our fellow trade associations around the world, representing tens of thousands of independent companies, also take issue with the actions of YouTube towards the most creative sector in the music industry. We must therefore do everything we can to protect the independent sector from the actions of one very powerful company, which seeks to railroad content owners, and by association their artists, into unfair and unjust contracts while threatening to block access to their platform". Wenham also wrote to the UK’s Business Secretary, Vince Cable, calling on hi to act in the matter. More on this in the Observer newspaper in comment that leads with From YouTube to Amazon, tech innovators need to be held to account - YouTube's threat to indie music labels is just one of many examples of why the new cultural gatekeepers need to follow the rules. Making the record labels look like the good guys is some going - and YouTube move may yet backfire ....
Over on the IPKat Eleonora has posted up details of an internal draft of the White Paper on "A Copyright Policy for Creativity and Innovation in the European Union". This is the document that Commissioner Michel Barnier announced for release before the summer break, following the conclusion of the Public Consultation on the Review of EU Copyright Rules The issues covered in the White Paper refer to three main objectives: (1) further facilitating the availability of and access to content in the digital single market; (2) ensuring the optimal articulation between copyright and other public policy objectives; and (3) achieving a copyright marketplace and value-chain that works efficiently for all players and gives the right incentives for investment in creative and intellectual work.
And now to Somerset for (hopefully) sun, fun and lots of great music!
.jpg)
