McSteamy Vid Lawsuit? It’s a Copyright Beef; New York Times, 9/25/09

David Carr, New York Times; McSteamy Vid Lawsuit? It’s a Copyright Beef:

"As we wrote about on Thursday, Eric Dane, an actor from “Grey’s Anatomy” - aka “Dr. McSteamy” - and his wife Rebecca Gayheart had their attorney Marty Singer file a $1 million suit against Gawker Media for its role in publishing a video of them romping in the altogether. The little imps at Gawker, not ones to let a lawsuit cramp their style, posted the complaint in its entirety. And as it turns out, the actors are not alleging libel, slander or invasion of privacy as a primary cause of the action, but rather that Gawker violated their copyright on the salacious video. The complaint states that “Plaintiffs timely (sic) registered with the United States Copyright Office their rights as authors and owners of the video. The copyright registration number is PAu 3-404-881.”

In a copyright the pair registered two days after the video went public — you can see it here at The Smoking Gun — the work is entitled “ED-RG-KAP Video by ED & RG.” While that title may be lack in lyricism, it does contain all the relevant initials. In the application claiming dominion over the 12-minute film, which brings to mind the Mumblecore movement at its edgiest, Mr. Dane and Ms. Gayheart share credits for direction and cinematography. No costume credits are listed for reasons that are probably obvious.

By disseminating the tape, Gawker allegedly violated the plaintiff’s exclusive rights to “PAu 3-404-881″ aka “ED-RG-KAP Video by ED & RG.” hearafter and forthwith known as the McSteamy video."

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/mcsteamy-vid-lawsuit-its-a-copyright-beef/?scp=4&sq=copyright&st=cse

Once More, With Feeling: Copyright Is Not A Welfare System For Musicians, TechDirt, 11/26/08

Via TechDirt: Once More, With Feeling: Copyright Is Not A Welfare System For Musicians:

"Performance rights in the UK only last 50 years, so music performed in the 60s has started to move into the public domain, and some musicians are freaking out...

First of all, copyright was never intended to be a welfare system. Studio musicians knew the terms of the deal, and if they chose to rely on earnings from a single performance in 1958 for 50 years, it's difficult to see why the government should bail them out for their own short-sighted thinking, and their decision to live off of a single performance for all those years...

But, of course, that won't stop the propaganda fueled by the record labels who stand to make a nice, totally unearned, profit from an extension. They've put together a video of these "poor studio musicians" begging the government for a handout...

The UK government should reject this blatant and unfair renegotiation of terms, and tell the musicians if they want to ask someone for a handout, why not turn to the record labels who apparently didn't pay them enough in the first place."

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081126/0807212958.shtml

MySpace ad deal lets members use copyright video - BusinessWeek, 10/2/08

Via BusinessWeek.com: MySpace ad deal lets members use copyright video:

"Instead of trying to take down all copyright-protected videos that its members post, MySpace will let certain clips stay -- and give the creators of the original content a cut of the revenue from advertising that will be attached to the snippets."

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D94773G80.htm

Judge: Copyright Owners Must Consider 'Fair Use' - PCMag.com, 8/21/08

Judge: Copyright Owners Must Consider 'Fair Use':

"A case involving the YouTube "dancing baby" video will continue after a California judge ruled that content owners must consider 'fair use' before sending Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices...

At issue is a 2007 home video Stephanie Lenz took of her young children dancing in the family's kitchen to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy." Lenz posted the 29-second video to YouTube on February 8 with the title "Let's Go Crazy #1."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2328578,00.asp