Barely Compliant Copyright Comix

By Ruben Bolling
Tom the Dancing Bug | Link

Does Warner Bros. Really Have Exclusive Movie Rights to a Story Posted on Reddit? (Analysis)

By Eriq Gardner
THR, Esq. | Article Link

Fledging author James Erwin sold Warner Bros. on movie rights to his short story posted on Reddit. But the user agreement for the news community website could raise some thorny intellectual property questions.

In the annals of Hollywood, there have been many tales of writers realizing their dreams by successfully pitching a studio on a film. But these days, with many studios getting sued left and right for allegedly ripping off ideas from writers, executives have become a lot more careful about unsolicited submissions.

U.S. Copyright Czar Cozied Up to Content Industry, E-Mails Show

By David Kravets
Wired | Article Link

Victoria Espinel, Copyright Czar

Top-ranking Obama administration officials, including the U.S. copyright czar, played an active role in secret negotiations between Hollywood, the recording industry and ISPs to disrupt internet access for users suspected of violating copyright law, according to internal White House e-mails.

The e-mails, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, (.pdf) show the administration’s cozy relationship with Hollywood and the music industry’s lobbying arms and its early support for the copyright-violation crackdown system publicly announced in July.

Piracy May Be An Indie Filmmaker’s Best Friend

By Anthony Kaufman

Indiewire | Article Link

Piracy might be a filmmaker’s best friend. Or at least not the worst enemy.

Despite the conventional wisdom that BitTorrent websites and illegal downloading are destroying the fabric of entertainment industries, a number of advocates and activists believe that piracy can help independent filmmakers as both a distribution mechanism and promotional tool.

Revenue generation may be another matter, but as “Ink” producer Kiowa Winans says, “The torrent community spread the film everywhere and helped build an audience more effectively than any decent-budget ad campaign could have.”

Viacom and Google Pick Up the Gloves, Again

By Peter Kafka
AllThingsD | Article Link

[Image credit: Sweetheart/Shutterstock]

They’re back!

Viacom and Google, who have been tangling over copyright violations at YouTube since 2007, will be at it again today at a federal courthouse in New York. The two sides will start oral arguments for Viacom’s appeal of the case, which Google won decisively in a 2010 ruling.

In the past both sides have tried digging up evidence to discredit each others’ argument, and while both came up with plenty of embarrassing stuff, they couldn’t find a smoking gun.

Why an Allegation That Beyoncé Plagiarized Dance Moves Is Truly Unique (Analysis)

By Eriq Gardner
THR, Esq. | Article Link

A Belgian choreographer is really bucking the trend by accusing the pop star of infringing a copyright to her choreography. How claims over choreography compare to ones made over music, film, and yes, maps.

Pop star Beyoncé is currently defending herself against charges of plagiarizing the work of the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in the music video, "Countdown."

Since the choreographer went public with charges that Beyoncé plundered movements from two films, Rosas danst Rosas and Achterland, the film's lawyers have contacted Sony about alleged similarities, and there's been tremendous chatter in the press and on blogs about whether the singer is really in legal jeopardy.

Artists’ Logos Show Reach and Hostility of the Web

By Kevin Drew
New York Times | Article Link

HONG KONG — Few personal journeys can shed as much light on the age we live in as the one traveled by Jonathan Mak in the last week.

 Mr. Mak, a university student in Hong Kong, went from being an unknown aspiring graphic designer to an Internet sensation after an image he produced spread rapidly across digital platforms after the death of Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple.

Mr. Mak’s design of a silhouetted profile of Mr. Jobs in the Apple company logo was shared across the Web and reported by media. And then, nearly as fast, Mr. Mak found himself being vilified.

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of All Time

By Ernesto
TorrentFreak | Article Link

Netflix recently published a list of the ten most rented movies of all time. This got us thinking; what are the most downloaded movies on BitTorrent? Today we present the full chart of the top ten most pirated movies transferred via the now ubiquitous protocol, a list headed by Avatar.

Every day millions of people use BitTorrent to download and share movies. But what are all these people downloading?

For nearly half a decade we have compiled weekly and yearly lists of the most popular downloads, and following on from Netflix’s publication of the most rented movies of all time, we today present the equivalent for BitTorrent downloads.

ZIPped Back Up: Williams-Sonoma Gains Federal Dismissal Of New Jersey Consumer Privacy Claim in Feder

By Valentina Shenderovich
Sheppard Mullin Fashion & Apparel Law Blog | Article Link

In Feder v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey joined the New Jersey Superior Court in weighing in on the issue of whether a retailer violates consumer privacy state law by requesting a customer's zip code at the point of purchase. Feder was brought by the same plaintiff’s lawyers and with claims similar to those in the state court case Imbert v. Harmon Stores, Inc. (Bed, Bath & Beyond). Imbert was decided last month, but without any written decision, and permitted that case to proceed past the pleading stage. The District Court in Feder, however, issued the first written opinion under the New Jersey statutes, finding that allegations that a zip code was verbally requested could not support a claim under New Jersey law.

Stan Lee Media's Attempt To Reclaim 'Conan the Barbarian' Is Called 'Untimely'

By Eriq Gardner
THR, Esq. | Article Link

In August, just as Conan the Barbarian 3D was released, Stan Lee Media Inc. filed a lawsuit in an effort to reclaim ownership on the fictional Conan character. The move by SLMI, which was founded by comic book legend Stan Lee but now operates independently, is part of a larger campaign to put back the pieces from a turbulent bankruptcy from nearly a decade ago.

SLMI believes that finally having a court-recognized board of directors will give it the necessary standing to pursue reclamation of its intellectual property, but the current owners of the Conan character say it's too late.

Massive Fine in Denmark’s First Ever ‘Sampling’ Copyright Case

By Peter Stanners
The Copenhagen Post | Article Link

Fears that 750,000 kroner fine could set dangerous precedent for Danish music.

Former Djuma Soundsystem member Lars Bjarno (left) with Mikkas Skulstad, the one remaining member. They are liable to pay over a million kroner in damages for sampling a rare fusion-jazz record. They are now appealing the verdict. (Photo: Peter Stanners)

What’s the cost of stealing ten seconds of music? Over a million kroner it turns out. That was the verdict at the end of Denmark’s first ever music copyright case involving sampling that ended last week.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Whether To Restore Many Copyrighted Works To Public Domain

By Eriq Gardner
THR, Esq. | Article Link

The United States Supreme Court today considered arguments in Golan v. Holder, one of the most important copyright cases in the country's history and a case that will decide whether millions of creative works, including early-to-mid 20th century foreign masterpieces from H.G. Wells, Fritz Lang, Frederico Fellini, and Igor Stravinsky, will be copyrighted or in the public domain.

The issue presented in the case is whether the U.S. government wrongfully took many foreign works out of the public domain and violated the free speech rights of the American public by joining an international treaty.

Supreme Court Rejects Internet Music Download Case

By James Vicini
Reuters | Article Link

The U.S. Supreme Court building seen
in Washington May 20, 2009.

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court let stand on Monday a ruling that a traditional Internet download of sound recording does not constitute a public performance of the recorded musical work under federal copyright law.

The justices refused to review a ruling by an appeals court in New York that the download itself of a musical work does not fall within the law's definition of a public performance of that work.

US Signs ACTA

By David Kravets
ArsTechnica | Article Link

The United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on Saturday, an accord targeting intellectual property piracy.

Copyright Director, Congressman Put Onus on Private Sector to Solve Digital Crisis

By Greg Kot

Chicago Tribune | Article Link

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Don't hold your breath waiting for an overhaul of U.S. copyright law to reflect the massive  changes the Internet has ignited in the way consumers access music.

In a keynote speech delivered Monday at the Future of Music Summit, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R, Va.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, said Congress won't "wipe the slate clean" to address how digital culture has made it easier than ever to distribute, copy, share and reconfigure music, movies, books and other creative works.

Both he and Maria Pallante, the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office, emphasized that the government is not eager to prosecute consumers for infringing activity in the privacy of their homes unless it's particularly egregious. Instead, they focused on a balanced, steady approach to monitoring illegal file-sharing and cracking down on rogue Web sites, most with offshore locations, that profit from contraband digital files.

60 French ISP Account Holders On Their Third Strike For Internet Piracy

TorrentFreak | Article Link

The French authority tasked with reducing file-sharing has sent out more than 650,000 first-strike warnings in its first 12 months of active operations. Hadopi say that in excess of 44,000 citizens are now on their second strike and 60 Internet subscribers are in the final and most dramatic stage of the controversial “three-strikes” regime.

In place since January 2010, the French solution to unauthorized file-sharing has been met with controversy every step of the way.

The so-called “three strikes” or graduated response scheme sees Internet users formally warned when they are monitored sharing copyrighted material online without the rightholder’s permission.

Piracy: An Illegal Goldmine

By Fred Itua
LEADERSHIP (Nigeria) | Article Link

COSN Member in a Press Conference

As the country celebrates her 51st independence anniversary, LEADERSHIP WEEKEND takes a holistic look at the entertainment industry in the country and the menace of piracy. In this investigative analysis, Fred Itua writes on the terror of piracy in the last 50 years and the journey ahead.

God, in His beauty and inexplicable magnificence, after the creation of man, endowed him with natural gifts and talents. As civilisation advanced, men, began to fine-tune ways to make these gifts and talents more economically useful. From huts built with palm fronds, men through the use of their God-given talents, moulded and built edifices that everyone enjoys today. Same in other areas like science and technology, education, health, arts etc. While some were busy harnessing their talents and using them for the advancement of humanity, others embarked on sabotaging the hard work of these geniuses.