World Trade Organization Public Forum: Moving Beyond Friends Or Foes
At a time when international trade might be perceived as creating more harm than good, the World Trade Organization is proposing to go “behind the headlines” and beyond the rhetoric, as the theme of its yearly public forum of stakeholder discussions, which opened today. ... Read MoreHeckler’s Veto
Judge Rakoff’s Kinderguides Decision
A recent copyright decision articulates in clear and direct language the underlying policies that guide copyright law. This past January, several publishers and author estates filed suit against Frederik Colting and Melissa Medina for allegedly infringing their works through a series of childrens’ books called “Kinderguides”. These books were billed ... Read MoreWhy is it Every Time We Turn Over a Pirate Rock White Nationalists, Nazi’s and Bigots Scurry Out?
The Scheißebin of History. Pirate, Nazi memorabilia collector and self confessed Hitler fan Kim Dotcom graces the cover of Wired Magazine. (Ironically this is “hot linked” from Socialist Appeal article in which they seem to praise Dotcom and Pirate Bay as somehow socialist.) Let’s just start at the Godwin conclusion. ... Read MoreInfojustice: Ottawa NAFTA Round Turns To Copyright
Infojustice writes: It was being reported among various observers of NAFTA over the weekend that the talks in the IP chapter are progressing toward Copyright. The US appears poised to table the first set of its demands for that portion of the IP chapter. But it is also rumored that ... Read MoreAccess Copyright v York University – Notice of Appeal Filed September 22, 2017
Some News in the Rybolovlev-Bouvier Case
Access Copyright v York University Files its Notice of Appeal – Waiting for a Copy
York University has finally - just 10 days ahead of the extended deadline of October 2, 2017 provided by the Rules because it's summer - filed its Notice of Appeal on Friday, September 22, 2017. HT to @amacek and his wonderful notification service available here.I've asked York's Counsel for a ... Read MoreAn Industry Divided: How Bell Broke With the Telecom Sector on Copyright
The news that Bell has called on the Canadian government to support radical copyright reform in NAFTA that includes North America-wide mandatory website blocking (to be overseen in Canada by the CRTC) and the full criminalization of copyright represents only the latest step in the transformation of the company into ... Read MoreContent Creators Coalition (c3) Warns Congress About Artist And Songwriter Opposition To “Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act”
Originally posted on Artist Rights Watch: PRESS RELEASE September 22nd, 2017 Content Creators Coalition (c3) Warns Congress About Artist And Songwriter Opposition To “Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act” Washington, D.C. – The Content Creators Coalition (c3) today sent the following letter to the leaders of the House Judiciary ... Read More“Wedding Cakes, Urinals, and Other Art”
The Impact of Piracy on Music Creators: What To Make of the “Unearthed” Study- Guest Post Neil Turkewitz
The Impact of Piracy on Music Creators: What To Make of the “Unearthed” Study By Neil Turkewitz This week a variety of outlets are reporting on a 2014 study commissioned by the EU to examine the impact of piracy on sales, and are howling in protest that this study was ... Read MorePETA, photographer settle copyright ownership of monkey selfie
A complaint was filed in the Northern District of California on behalf of Naruto, at the time a six-year-old crested macaque residing in the Tangkoko Reserve located on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi... The plaintiffs argued that Naruto is the author of the monkey selfie and has the right to ... Read MoreBell Calls for CRTC-Backed Website Blocking System and Complete Criminalization of Copyright in NAFTA
Bell, Canada’s largest telecom company, has called on the government to support radical copyright and broadcast distribution reforms as part of the NAFTA renegotiation. Their proposals include the creation of a mandated website blocking system without judicial review overseen by the CRTC and the complete criminalization of copyright with criminal ... Read MoreWTO Market Access Committee Debates China, India Restrictions On IT, Russia’s GIs On Wine
In the World Trade Organization Market Access Committee today, a range of member countries raised concern over China's tariffs on semiconductors and India's duties on a range of information technology products. In addition, the European Union raised concern over uneven application of lower tariffs for geographically indicated wines, favouring local ... Read MoreNew Collaboration To Deliver Open-Source Submission And Peer-Review Platform
This week, eLife and Collaborative Knowledge Foundation announced a partnership "to build a user-driven, open-source submission and peer-review platform" aimed at improving on existing industry models. ... Read MoreFriday’s Endnotes – 09/22/17
HTML5 DRM finally makes it as an official W3C Recommendation — “The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the industry body that oversees development of HTML and related Web standards, has today published the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) specification as a Recommendation, marking its final blessing as an official Web standard. ... Read MoreUS Copyright Agenda Stalling In Congress, Music Industry Says
NEW YORK -- The music community in the United States has a wide copyright agenda covering various business issues and stakeholders. While it had entertained the notion that a new President with its new administration and Congress would be more sympathetic to the complex needs of the industry, it is ... Read MoreWeekly Copyright and Entertainment Law News: Prabhas’s Mr. Perfect in trouble, Copyright Office’s circular, Taylor swift plagiarism and more.
Indian Copyright Statistics, Prabhas’s Mr. Perfect in copyright soup, Taylor Swift sued for plagiarism, The Jungle Book licensing deals and more is presented by the Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s Premier New Age IP Firm COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Creativity is a virtue: and creators virtuous” ... Read MoreGerman Court: Thumbnail Images In Search Engines Not A Copyright Violation
In a noteworthy ruling, the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe today decided that the use of picture search engines and the publishing of the resulting thumbnails and reference links does not violate German copyright law (I ZR 11/16 - Vorschaubilder III) . The case that had been brought ... Read MoreFederal Circuit: PTO Can’t Shift Burden of Proof of Patentability to Applicant
In In re Stepan Co., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 16246, decided August 25, 2017 the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals made it very clear that during patent prosecution, the burden of proving patent ability lies with the PTO examiner. The patent applicant was Stepan Co., who filed a patent application ... Read MoreThe Shopkeeper–a must see movie for the artist rights movement — Artist Rights Watch
He’s worked with Carole King, Ani DiFranco, and a host of great Texas artists — but can music producer Mark Hallman keep his studio open in the age of streaming? Everybody is talking about Spotify and the pros and cons of “free.” Musician and first-time filmmaker Rain Perry confronts a ... Read MoreWhat Does it Mean to Be a Plagiarist?
Jayson Blair is a plagiarist. Pierre DesRuisseaux is a plagiarist. Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is also a plagiarist. These are three very different stories about plagiarism. They are different not only in the plagiarism that was performed, but the role the plagiarism played in their careers and the ... Read More3 Count: Power Up
Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: ‘Power’ Copyright Suit Unplugged; “No Significant Similarities” Says Judge First off today, Dominic Patten at Deadline Hollywood reports that a judge has dismissed the lawsuit over the Starz drama Power saying that there is no evidence the producers of ... Read MoreWhy We Should All Write Rock Operas
From now on that is what I intend to do. The pop and rock song is financially dead. I will no longer waste my time and energy with this endeavor. The ability to be paid fairly for my time and effort to create non-dramatic musical works has been decimated by ... Read More3 Count: Wolfgang’s Vault
Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Wolfgang’s Vault Hit With Class Action Copyright Suit First off today, Gene Maddaus a Variety reports that entrepreneur William Sagan is facing a class action lawsuit filed by Greg Kihm, of the Greg Kihn Band, over his ... Read MoreChina’s copyright regulator tells foreign and domestic music companies to improve copyright licensing, reducing piracy
In mid-September, the federal government of the People’s Republic of China issued statements which indicate that the country is looking to expand upon recent rhetoric over increased protections for intellectual property. According to state-controlled media outlet Xinhua, China’s National Copyright Administration (NCAC) informed a group of more than 20 domestic ... Read MoreTHE COPYKAT
It's been a busy few days!Another US lawsuit has been added to the mounting litigation against Spotify and the streaming platform's alleged failure to pay mechanical royalties in the USA for the right to 'copy' a song (rather than the 'perfoming' right). In fact there have been three developments: an ... Read MoreA new Indian law review and its scholarship on the DU photocopy case
In some good news, the Indian Law Review, founded by a group of Indian academics primarily based in UK, Australia, US and India, has published its first edition. Included in the first edition is an article by Lawrence Liang on the DU Photocopy case. Lawrence is an alum of NLSIU ... Read MoreCanada’s NAFTA IP and E-commerce Priorities: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on International Trade
The House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade has been conducting hearings on the NAFTA negotiations. I appeared before the committee yesterday on a panel that included the dairy industry, food and beverage sector, and my comments on IP and e-commerce. The MPs showed considerable interest in both IP ... Read More
