The UK's Intellectual Property Office has said it has plans to simplify the way websites which contain copyright infringing material are blocked - currently the system is based on injunctive relief that must be obtained from a court - giving orders are often easy to circumvent. In a statement the IPO confirmed that the UK government was now considering "the evidence for and potential impact of administrative site blocking - as opposed to requiring a high court injunction in every case - as well as identifying the mechanisms through which administrative site blocking could be introduced". The IPO's announcement also covered their position on devices that came pre-loaded with apps that can be used to easily access infringing streaming and other content - something of real concern to the entertainment and sports sectors. The government's IP Minister, Sam Gyimah, said that recent criminal prosecutions of individuals concerned with the distribution of devices that enable infringement showed the current law to be working, but he said that education of the public and the involvement of Trading Standards officers would be followed up, as would new new anti-piracy measures such as administrative site blocking.
As of the end of October, six of the eleven “Trans Pacific Partnership" member states had ratified the Trans Pacific Partnership 11 Agreement. The agreement will go into effect in two months’ time on December 30 this year. The amendment of Japan's copyright law will be effective on the same day, and the statutory term will be extended to life + 70 years from January 2019, including for those creators whose copyrights would have expired on December 31, 2018. The Diet's Upper House approved the move to match US (and EU) law, and the provision has been retained even though the United States government has withdrawn from the TPP agreement (at least for now). What is interesting is how the "war extension" in copyright law might (or might not) be accommodated.
Lucien Greaves, spokesmen and co-founder of The Satanic Temple ("TST"), has tweeted that the Temple is taking legal action against Netflix in connection with the "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina". TST has decided to take this route because of what Greaves claims is copyright infringement. He claims the statue of Baphomet in the hall of the school depicted in the show is a copy of TST’s deity.
From Hell to Heaven? Led Zeppelin have asked the Ninth Circuit appeals court to reconsider its recent ruling in the "Stairway To Heaven" copyright lawsuit 'en banc' to determine the law in the case that involves allegations that the 1971 classic is rip-off of the 1968 instrumental song "Taurus" recorded by Spirit and written by Randy "California" Wolfe's whose estate brought the claim. The group's representatives argue that by overturning the original judgement, the appeals court could "cause jurors to find infringement just because the same unprotected elements are present, upsetting the 'delicate balance'" between copyright protection and the freedom of music creators to employ common techniques and musical elements when composing music" and "if uncorrected," the Ninth Circuit's recent conclusion will "allow a jury to find infringement based on very different uses of public domain material" which, it then argues, "will cause widespread confusion in copyright cases in this circuit." You can compare the two recordings here and a very interesting analysis by TJR here. 'Top 10 Sound Alike Songs' here.
Seven sports photographers have been given another chance to pursue copyright allegations against the National Football League (NFL) in the U.S. The World Intellectual Property Review reports that the NFL had asked that the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit hold an en banc rehearing of the matter, which was decided against the NFL last month - this has been denied. The 2013 complain relates to claims by the photographers against
against the NFL, all 32 NFL teams, the Associated Press (AP), and image companies Replay Photos and Getty Images that the defendants exceeded the terms of original licence agreements that granted limited use of certain images. The case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (image: C Watts).
And finally, Lyor Cohen is the latest YouTube executive to take aim at the planned reforms to EU Copyright Law, and in particular Article 13. An ex-record label man himself, Cohen is now YouTube’s global head of music and he posted a warning about the new Copyright Directive saying “Let me be clear: we understand and support the intent of Article 13. We need effective ways for copyright holders to protect their content” adding “But we believe that the current proposal will create severe unintended consequences for the whole industry. We still have a couple of weeks to work together towards a better final version of the law. The music industry should really pay attention to these unintended consequences - the system that largely contributes to their success is at risk of major change in the European Union”, opining that "Remixes and covers, tutorials, fan tributes, parodies" were all at risk, and that "these are such powerful promotional tools for the industry". More on the Verge here.
Whilst (and for an unexplained reason) numerous blogs including Boing Boing and TechDirt focussed on a 2013 ruling in Germany that "Germany Says Taking Photos Of Food Infringes The Chef's Copyright", The CopyKat was more intersted in the ruling in the the Australian Federal Court which dismissed an interlocutory application by Seven Network (Operations) Limited (Seven) to restrain the Nine Network (Nine) and production company Endemol from continuing to broadcast the kitchen reality TV show, The Hotplate. Seven alleged that, by producing and broadcasting episodes of The Hotplate, Nine was infringing Seven’s copyright in its program, My Kitchen Rules (MKR) - its format wars again folks! Seven had argued that key elements of MKR sufficient to constitute a substantial part of one or more of the MKR literary works had been incorporated into The Hotplate and that Endemol had access tho the MKR production 'Bible'. The Court dismissed the application, finding that the balance of convenience of either granting or withholding the interlocutory relief weighed in Nine’s favour, not least as if The Hotplate were halted, it would be increasingly difficult to re-start as successfully at a later date. This means that the remainder of the first season of The Hotplate can continue to be broadcast (at least until the next hearing). Justice Nicholas did find that Seven has a reasonably arguable case that the formats of MKR and The Hotplate are very similar and that this close similarity was (at least to some extent) the result of copying by Nine. Sonia Borella and Sam Berry (Holding Redlich) have some useful observations here.
The Motion Picture Association Of America has dropped their somewhat controvesrial request for a preliminary injunction that would have required U.S. internet service providers to block access to the copyright infringing MovieTube we mentioned in our last (catscratching) post.
Paul Duffy, one of the attorneys behind the somewhat notorious copyright 'troll' Prenda Law, has died. His death was confirmed by the Cook County Medical Examiner. The cause of death is still pending and could take up to three months to confirm. The Madison Recorder noted that Duffy died at a Chicago hospital. He was 55. . US District Judge Otis Wright had Prenda's practices referred to the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation unit and in August 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld judicial sanctions against Duffy and fellow attorneys John Steele, and Paul Hansmeier for engaging in “abusive litigation” and failing to pay attorney's fees to defendant Anthony Smith in a porn-downloading lawsuit. ArtsTechnica also say that in June this year US District Judge David Herndon ruled that Steele and Duffy had "engaged in unreasonable, wilful obstruction of discovery in bad faith" in its case against Smith. Herndon ordered Duffy and Steele to pay for the defence's discovery costs.
The Chinese State Administration of Press & Publications, Radio, Film & Television (SAPPRFT) has announced a regulatory notice to control reality television programmes that are “vulgar and damaging to social ethics”. The notice does not give details of mechanisms that will be used to define or ban problematic programmes. The notice may affect licensing of programme formats and content from overseas, for both on- and off-line screening. More here (in Chinese). This from the IPO's excellent monthly China IP Newsletter.
Kim Dotcom has posted a recording of a phone call he had with some Universal Music executuves a few years ago in which the major label men –- at that point major foes of the MegaUpload founder and about to shut him down - discussed the possibility of participating in a new venture he was experimenting with at the time called Megakey. CMU Daily have an interesting update on this here.
A Los Angeles federal judge has now scheduled the trial in a copyright-infringement case involving Led Zeppelin’s iconic rock anthem “Stairway to Heaven.” A lawsuit, filed last year in Philadelphia and subsequently transferred to Los Angeles, alleges that the guitar arpeggio opening of “Stairway,” released 44 years ago, was lifted from the 1968 instrumental “Taurus” by the long-defunct Los Angeles band Spirit who suppirted Led Zepplin on tour. The complaint was lodged on behalf of the estate of Spirit’s guitarist- songwriter Randy California, who drowned in 1997 off the coast of Hawaii. The trial is set to begin on May 10th.
And finally: So you're a farmer in rural America - the land of the free and the self reliant - and your John Deere 8520T tractor plays up - and needs a fix: the problem is that it's all run by a computer and you can't actually do repairs as there's a digital lock on the software and only the autorised dealer can fix the tractor. Tamper and you run the risk of a copyright infringement suit. Now farmers and mechanics are asking the Library of Congress' copyright office to review the law and make an exemption. More here.
The dust has yet to settle on the 'Blurred Lines' litigation in the USA - with a review of the damages awarded to the Gaye family, a revised settlement, an injunction against Pharrell and Robin Thicke, a new trial and/or an appeal are all being mooted, who wrote what remains a big question, as does the the difference between appropriation and inspiration: the recent settlement by Sam Smith and his co-writers with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne over allegations that "Stay With Me" plagiarised "I Wont Back Down" just adds to this confused conundrum, as does the recent news that Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars have added the five members of the Gap Band as co-writers of "Uptown Funk" because of similarities to 'Ooops Upside Your Head". Now its the turn of heavy metal:
The lawsuit brought by the trustee of the late Randy California claiming that Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' was plagiarised from an obscure song 'Taurus' by the band Spirit has survived its first legal challenge. In 1969, Spirit and Led Zeppelin shared the bill at several concerts. U.S. District Judge Juan Sanchez has now refused to dismiss the claim. If the suit succeeds, a three-year statute of limitations would limit the award to the most recent earnings. Judge Sanchez said he declined to dismiss the suit "in the interest of justice," because the improper venue could be fixed by sending the case to California. As to the location of any trial, in his order, he said the Led Zeppelin members weren't subject to jurisdiction in Pennsylvania, in part because they don't live there and hadn't appeared to specifically target the district for selling their music. Guitarist Jimmy Page had dismissed the claim as “ridiculous” but added nothing more. Before he died 1997, Spirit guitarist Randy California told a reporter: “I’d say it was a rip off. And the guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank you’, never said, ‘Can we pay you some money for it?’ It’s kind of a sore point with me. Maybe someday their conscience will make them do something about it.” 'Stairway To Heaven' is said to be one of the most covered rock songs and its worth is estimated to be more than $560 million. Francis Malofiy, the lawyer for the late singer's estate, said, "Attribution is the most important thing'' adding "What we want is for credit to be given where it's due. I'm a fan of Led Zeppelin, but in this situation, we want credit for Randy.''
The internet has been buzzing with comments of the similarities between Guns N' Roses' most enduring song - 1987's 'Sweet Child O' Mine' - and Australian Crawl's 1981 song 'Unpublished Critics', from their album Sirocco. Now this may well NOT be copied - but blimey, and as one commentator said - it really does have "the same chugging chord progression, a similarly-sweeping lead break, the verse melody, and the elongated one-syllable vocal in the chorus." You can hear and compare the tracks on this webpage.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-07/led-zeppelin-judge-declines-to-dismiss-stairway-to-heaven-copyright-suit
http://www.maxtv.com.au/news/is-sweet-child-o-mine-stolen-from-a-1981-australian-crawl-song.aspx
And more on Francis Malofiy, the attorney acting for Randy California and can be found here
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/10/24/lawyer-filed-stairway-heaven-suit-led-zeppelin-may-disbarred/
