- Friday’s Endnotes – 03/05/21“Grumpy Cat” is Long Gone But Her Copyright Lives On in Court — Ernesto Van der Sar reports at Torrentfreak, “Grumpy Cat is no longer with us. Tardar Sauce passed away in 2019 but the humans she shared a house with are keeping her memory alive. They do this in ... Read More
- Protection of Jewellery: A Combination of Trademark, Design and Copyright Law? – Part I
- Of Geospatial Data Deregulation, Intellectual Property and Personal Data Protection
Image from here On 15th February, the Department of Science and Technology released a new set of guidelines liberalising India’s Mapping and Geospatial Data regime by removing the existing multi-layered licensing procedures applicable on private entities. In light of these guidelines, I will discuss how maps and ... Read More
- Your Guide to the 2021 Eurovision Plagiarism Allegations (So Far)To Americans, the Eurovision song contest is a truly bizarre concept. It is a massive, song contest that pits some thirty nations against one another in a battle of song and dance that more closely resembles the Olympics than American Idol. Eurovision is not limited to Europe (especially with ... Read More
- 3 Count: Target VPNHave any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Movie Companies Sue VPN Provider for ‘Encouraging’ and ‘Facilitating’ Piracy First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that Voltage Pictures and Millennium Finding have filed a pair of lawsuits against the suspected owners of ... Read More
- Guest Post: SoundCloud Throws Down With Fan Powered Royalties and User-CentricSoundCloud launches a user centric opt in service along ethical pool principles. Continue reading → ... Read More
- “Many of Rockwell’s paintings for the Boy Scouts have been on display at the Medici Museum of Art in Howland, Ohio, since last year as part of a free exhibition that is still continuing.”So the Boy Scouts of America, "faced with tens of thousands of sex-abuse claims," is planning to sell 60 works by Norman Rockwell to "help raise money for a settlement fund of at least $300 million for sexual abuse victims."I don't think even the Deaccession Police will have a problem ... Read More
- How Plagiarism Lingers for AuthorsBestselling Korean author Shin Kyung-sook released a new novel today. Entitled I’ve Gone to Father, the book seems to be a spiritual follow up to her best-selling 2008 novel Please Look After Mom, as both books deal with the struggles of adult children with aging parents. However, if you ... Read More
- 3 Count: Navy BlockadeHave any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: U.S. Navy is Liable for Mass Software Piracy, Appeals Court Rules First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled against the United States Navy ... Read More
- Let’s Listen to the Former American Register of Copyrights about How to Deal with the Last 20 Years of the Extended Life + 70 Copyright TermAs the absurd and inexcusably short deadline of March 12, 2021to comment on the Government of Canada’s very disappointing consultation documenton how to implement the CUSMA term extension obligation looms, interested parties may wish to note the following. Maria Pallante is the former Register of Copyright in the US ... Read More
- Copyright, Recipes and the Closure of RecipeaslyOn February 28, Tom Redman, an engineer which an extensive history in the tech field, tweeted about a new project that he and two of his friends had just launched.
Some personal news! Two friends and I created a new thing to fix online recipes https://t.co/3ZNkSV82Y5 – ... Read More
- 3 Count: Sinking CityHave any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: ‘The Sinking City’ Dev Alleges Publisher Hacked and Illegally Uploaded Game to Steam First off today, Patrick Klepek at Vice reports that the video game developer Frogwares is claiming that a version of their latest game, The ... Read More
- The New Copyright Small Claims Board Presents Problems for Copyright Owners and Small BusinessesCreative people need a quick, efficient and inexpensive way to recover damages for copyright infringement. They need a place to submit their charge of infringement and collect damages. Until recently, their only option was to bring a lawsuit in a federal district court; a process that is complicated, expensive and ... Read More
- Triller: Putting Influencers Ahead of LicensesTikTok rival Triller has found itself has a wild few months when it comes to both legal and public controversies. Back in October, Triller was sued by TikTok’s parent company over alleged patent infringement. The company has faced repeated questions about how many users it actually has and ... Read More
- 3 Count: Fearless GirlHave any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Court Dismisses Wixen’s Triller Lawsuit – but on Legal Technicalities First off today, Chriss Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that a California court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by music publisher Wixen against the video sharing ... Read More
- The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 78: Jennifer Jenkins on What Copyright Term Extension Could Mean for CanadaFor years, Canada resisted extending the term of copyright beyond the international standard of life of the author plus 50 years. That appears to have come to an end with the USMCA, which requires an extension. The Canadian government has just launched a public consultation on the issue, identifying several ... Read More
- SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 22 – 28)
- András Szántó on DeaccessioningAnother interesting deaccession-related interview today.I loved this bit:"The debates have a kind of theological tint to them. There's a great deal of passion and conviction and categorical statements around issues which by their nature are highly complex. I think they also reflect a certain lack of faith in institutions to ... Read More
- “Totaling $1.5 million, the amount is a far cry from the $65 million the museum anticipated it would raise for its so-called ‘Endowment for the Future’ through deaccessioning.”The Baltimore Museum of Art announced three gifts to help fund the diversity and equity initiatives it initially had planned to support through deaccessioning but changed course in the face of a storm of criticism.Brian Boucher's artnet story describing the gifts also includes a fascinating interview with BMA director Christopher ... Read More
- Social Dimensions of Copyright Infringement and Enforcement: A Quick Reflection in the context of Sci-Hub LitigationLike-Minded IP Teachers’ Working Group on Intellectual Property and Public Interest Social Dimensions of Copyright Infringement and Enforcement: A Quick Reflection in the context of Sci-Hub Litigation☨ Jointly prepared by: Prof. (Dr) N. S. Gopalakrishnan[i] Dr Arul George Scaria[ii] Dr M. Sakthivel[iii] Ms Anjana Girish[iv] Dr Vishnu ... Read More
- Recent Case Demonstrates the Need for Caution When Embedding Links to Social Media PostsA recent case in the Southern District of New York calls into serious question the ubiquitous practice of embedding photographs on a content creator’s website. An embedded photo is one that is not hosted on the website’s own server, but instead is linked to a third-party server like a social ... Read More
- Friday’s Endnotes – 02/26/21Texas Justices Weigh Novel ‘Takings’ Copyright Fight — “The Texas Supreme Court questioned during oral arguments on Thursday whether a photographer can proceed with allegations that the University of Houston unconstitutionally ‘took’ his copyrighted image without permission. Photographer Jim Olive claims that because the university is part of the public ... Read More
- February 25 2021 Online discussion about CDN Government Consultation paper on how to implement an extended general term of copyright protection in CanadaThe government held a one-hour online discussion about its consultation paper on Consultation paper on how to implement an extended general term of copyright protection in Canada. Responses are due on March 12, 2021. That’s not a misprint. There were lots of questions but very few if any specific answers. ... Read More
- Butch Hartman, the Creator of Fairly Odd Parents, Accused of PlagiarismButch Hartman is well-known for the cartoons he created including shows such as Fairly Odd Parents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy. However, in February 2018 he announced that he had left Nickelodeon and has since been working as an independent artist. Part of that life as an independent artist has ... Read More
- U.S. Copyright Office Issues New Final Rule on Group Registration for AlbumsOn Tuesday, February 23, the United States Copyright Office issued a final rule that creates a new “group” registration option for albums of music and works related to that music. The new option, or Group Registration for Works on an Album of Music (GRAM) allows applicants to register either a ... Read More
- 3 Count: Appropriation ArtHave any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: Jeff Koons, Centre Pompidou Lose Appeal on French Fashion Ad Plagiarism Suit First off today, Alex Greenberger at ARTnews reports that, in France, artist Jeff Koons has lost an appeal in a case filed by photographer Franck ... Read More
- A Draft “Open” IP SyllabusDespite the plethora of materials online, any student, researcher or professor would know that access to scholarly information is a lot more difficult than what it should be. Most of the time, if you’re serious about research, the ‘research’ journey is more about how many paywalls you can climb (legally ... Read More
- Mechanical Licensing Collective’s $424.4 Million Unmatched Royalty Collection Highlights Music Modernization Act’s Limited Liability CompromiseOn February 16, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) – a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to administer blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services in the United States –announced that it had received a total of $424.4 million in unmatched royalties accrued by 20 digital ... Read More
- 3 Count: Shell CompanyHave any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday. 1: YouTube Says Rights Management Firm That Sued over Content ID Access Doesn’t Really Exist First off today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that YouTube has hit back at a lawsuit against them by Pirate Monitor ... Read More
- Article Retracted After Senior Research Fellow Accused of Plagiarizing StudentDr. Padma Murthi. Photo by Monath University Yesterday, Rachael Exter at The Age reported that the Elsevier journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta has retracted an article published by Dr Padma Murthi following an investigation into allegations of plagiarism. Murthi, who is a senior research fellow at Monash University in Australia, ... Read More