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.

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.

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.

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.

EU Agrees To Extend Music Copyright To Seventy Years

By Frances Robinson
The Wall Street Journal | Article Link

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones) -- European Union members agreed to extend copyright protection for performances of recorded music to seventy years, meaning works by The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Sir Cliff Richard won't come out of copyright in the near future, the EU said Monday in a statement.

"Today's decision to increase the term of protection for musicians' copyright from 50 to 70 years will make a real difference for performers," EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier said in a statement. "With increasing life expectancy, the previous 50-year protection term was clearly insufficient."

The move extends the term of protection for performers and producers of musical works from 50 to 70 years from the date of performance. It brings Europe's artists and producers closer into line with the protection offered to authors and composers, whose rights are enforceable for the duration of their life plus 70 years.

Copyright Infringement and Theft – The Difference

By Ben Jones
TorrentFreak | Article Link

A common recurring theme in the comments here on TorrentFreak is that P2P file-sharing is ‘stealing’. While such sentiments are often expressed by the industry lobby groups, it’s completely at odds with the law. It could also be the very LAST thing those bodies want.

We get a lot of comments on articles from people saying things like “Yeah, it’s stealing. Just embrace it already” or “Good excuse to steal right?.”

There are editorials in mainstream newspapers that say “Such theft costs the copyright- or trademark-holders billions of dollars each year.”

Pandora Faces Music After Big IPO, Spotify Rivalry

By Mark Walsh
MediaPost | Article Link

Internet radio service Pandora enjoyed a splashy IPO in June, raising nearly $235 million selling shares at $16 apiece. Investors bet big on the digital music startup, despite its lack of profits. Since then, stock markets have gyrated wildly on fears of a double-dip recession and Pandora rival Spotify has made its long-awaited entrance in the U.S. market.

Those factors have contributed to Pandora's stock price sliding back to $12 a share lately, amid fresh concerns about its ad-supported business model as the company prepares to report its first quarterly earnings as a public company on Thursday. Since consumer usage of Pandora is shifting increasingly to mobile, much of investor and analyst scrutiny is focused on how well it will be able to monetize that channel via advertising.

Internet Theft is a Job-Killer, Too

By Don Henley
USA Today | Article Link

If there is any question about the need for the United States to crack down on foreign websites engaged in criminal commerce, one need only enter keywords such as "MP3," "DVDScreener," or "Oxycontin" into popular search engines and scroll through the countless pages of site listings and sponsored ads.

These listings feature everything from illegal copies of American art and entertainment products to adulterated baby formulas, counterfeit toothpaste containing chemicals found in anti-freeze, and phony medications, including those used to treat high blood pressure and mental illness.

Sony Faces Lawsuit, Regulators’ Scrutiny Over PlayStation Breach

By Cliff Edwards, Karen Gullo & Michael Riley
Bloomberg | Article Link

The Sony intrusion is the latest in a series
of high-profile online security breaches
in which customer data has been stolen.
Photographer: Robert Gilhooly/Bloomberg

Sony Corp. (SNE)’s network entertainment unit faced a legal and regulatory backlash over delays in telling 77 million subscribers that their personal account data may have been stolen by a hacker.

A lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in San Francisco alleges the delay left PlayStation console users exposed to losses related to any credit-card data theft. Officials in Connecticut, the U.K. and Ireland began inquiries.

See also: Playstation Network Hack: Who Did It? (Wired) 

Anti-Internet Piracy Laws 'Infringe Human Rights'

By Christopher Williams
The Telegraph | Article Link

ISP and rights holders are discussing a voluntary regime
of website blocking.  Photo: ALAMY

Laws designed to block access to piracy websites have been thrown further into doubt after a senior advisor to EU judges suggested such measures could infringe human rights.

Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalón said similar laws in Belgium brought in to force broadband providers to detect and block unlawful filesharing were “a restriction on the right to respect for the privacy of communications and the right to protection of personal data”.

Entrepreneurs Plan To Legalize and Monetize Illegal Music

By enigmax
Torrent Freak | Article Link

As millions of tracks continue to be shared online every day without permission from copyright holders, it is clear that the ‘free music’ genie is well and truly out of the bottle. In the hope of returning revenue from these sources, a brave new system is aiming to legalize illicit music – even if it came from a torrent site, cyberlocker or friend’s hard drive.

What if someone came up with a revolutionary new product to turn piracy into profit that didn’t hurt consumers and actually embraced pirates? What if that system thrived on the very existence of illicit music being made available from torrent, cyberlocker and other sites? What if it could monetize the illicit music already available online and elsewhere?

Ford Sues Nissan's Brazil Management Over TV Ad

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal 

Reuters | Article Link 

SAO PAULO – The Brazilian unit of Ford Motor Co. filed a criminal lawsuit against the local management of rival Nissan Motor Co. for airing a TV commercial that says the U.S. automaker charges customers too much for hatchback models. 

The commercial, which was withdrawn from national TV on March 3 after Ford obtained an injunction, shows two rappers dressed as Ford engineers in factory outfits boasting about the money they pocket by overpricing the hatchback Focus model. A silver Focus lies in the background, while bikini-clad models dance and sip champagne.

Property Rights and the Night Skies of the Korean Peninsula

By Sandra Aistars
Copyright Alliance | Article Link

Richard E. Wagner, a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, writes a memorable and meaningful introduction to the Property Rights Alliance’s annual report released today analyzing intellectual and physical property rights in 129 countries.

“If you go to Google Images and type in ‘Korean Peninsula at night,’ you will see a variety of satellite photos that show South Korea brightly illuminated, while North Korea is dark….It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this respect, those pictures from space tell a tale of how private property promotes human flourishing, while collective property impairs it.”

Report: Piracy a "Global Pricing Problem" with Only One Solution

By Nate Anderson
Ars Technica | Article Link

A major new report from a consortium of academic researchers concludes that media piracy can't be stopped through “three strikes” Internet disconnections, Web censorship, more police powers, higher statutory damages, or tougher criminal penalties. That's because the piracy of movies, music, video games, and software is “better described as a global pricing problem.” And the only way to solve it is by changing the price.

Over the last three years, 35 researchers contributed to the Media Piracy Project, released last week by the Social Science Research Council. Their mission was to examine media piracy in emerging economies, which account for most of the world's population, and to find out just how and why piracy operates in places like Russia, Mexico, and India.

David Cameron's 'Google-Model' Vision for Copyright Under Fire

By Adam Sherwin
The Guardian | Article Link

David Cameron consulting his aide Steve Hilton during their visit to the Arctic in 2006. Hilton is married to Rachel Whetstone, Google’s European head of communications. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/EMPICS

It was a speech delivered last autumn by David Cameron, setting out his vision for a "Silicon Roundabout" in Shoreditch, east London, that first gave ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.

"The founders of Google have said they could never have started their company in Britain," the prime minister told his audience of thrusting internet entrepreneurs.

100 Internet Users Responsible for Most Unlawful Copyright P2P File Sharing Content

By MarcJ
ISPreview | Article Link

A scientific study has estimated that just 100 internet users are ultimately responsible for publishing most (almost 67%) of all the "illegal" (unlawful) copyright content (music, tv shows, movies, games and applications) on public P2P (BitTorrent) file sharing networks. The primary motivation appears to be money and the study identifies several broadband ISPs, including one UK provider (Virgin Media), as unwittingly playing a big part.

The study, which set out to examine the behaviour of the users who are responsible for publishing over 55,000 files on the two main portals (Mininova and The Pirate Bay), was carried out by Spain's Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M). The content they posted ultimately accounted for "75 percent of [all] the downloads" (i.e. by end-users).

French Film Director: “There is no such thing as intellectual property.”

By S. Scott Miller
Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal
IPLJ Article Permalink

Influential French New Wave film director, Jean Luc Godard, has donated one thousand euro to the defense of Jean Climant, who has been accused of downloading more than 13,000 mp3s via bitorrent.  Godard has been vocal in his criticisms of intellectual property law: “I am against Hadopi [the French internet-copyright law, or its attendant agency], of course. There is no such thing as intellectual property. I’m against the inheritance [of works], for example. An artist’s children could benefit from the copyright of their parents’ works, say, until they reach the age of majority… But afterward, it’s not clear to me why Ravel’s children should get any income from Bolero… “ It looks like Godard is putting his money where his mouth is.

Forbidden Art Nyet! Russian Curator and Exhibitor Convicted for Controversial Art Exhibit

By Sheppard Mullin

Art Law Gallery Blog | Article Link

In March 2007, the exhibition "Forbidden Art-2006" opened at the Sakharov Museum in Moscow, featuring twenty-three provocative works previously banned throughout Russia. Andrei Erofeev, known as Russia's most provocative curator, organized the exhibition and Yuri Samodurov, former director of the Sakharov Museum, provided the exhibit's venue. Both have been found guilty under Russia's Criminal Code for using the exhibit to incite religious and ethnic hatred.

Erofeev installed “Forbidden Art-2006” behind temporarily constructed walls with fitted peepholes, emphasizing the deliberate choice of the audience to view the forbidden works. The controversial works considered anti-religious, pornographic and offensive by the Kremlin, included an iconoclast image of Vladimir Lenin as Jesus Christ impaled on the cross and pious Christians worshipping Mickey Mouse instead of Jesus Christ.