You Can't Copyright The Budget Shutdown In Washington; Forbes, 10/4/13

Jess Collen, Forbes; You Can't Copyright The Budget Shutdown In Washington: "The shutdown has had an immediate impact and presence in the everyday life of my office. There are daily questions of conflict, ownership rights, transfers and legal protection. People log onto the Copyright Office website all day long. We rely on the information it supplies to help understand ownership rights if someone is threatening a claim against a client. It helps us identify properties when there is a merger or acquisition. Sometimes we use its useful research tool to see what registrations are owned by a particular company or for a special type of work. Losing the website sends us back to the Dark Ages... These things are likely not as mission critical as the shutdown effect in many areas, maybe even most. But adding up all the dollars of all the hundreds of thousands of people who are daily involved in various intellectual property-based endeavors in the knowledge economy, the impact probably touches more lives than one might think. This will be the least compelling story you will read all week about the shutdown. I know that. But there is an insidious impact maybe thinly, but certainly broadly, felt. And, lawyers being lawyers, there will be no absence of papers filed in the weeks to come blaming delays and uncertainly on the “impossibility” of taking certain actions or filing certain papers because the Copyright Office was down. Wait and see."

Cheating’s Surprising Thrill; New York Times, 10/7/13

Jan Hoffman, New York Times; Cheating’s Surprising Thrill: "When was the last time you cheated? Not on the soul-scorching magnitude of, say, Bernie Madoff, Lance Armstrong or John Edwards. Just nudge-the-golf-ball cheating. Maybe you rounded up numbers on an expense report. Let your eyes wander during a high-stakes exam. Or copied a friend’s expensive software. And how did you feel afterward? You may recall nervousness, a twinge of guilt. But new research shows that as long as you didn’t think your cheating hurt anyone, you may have felt great. The discomfort you remember feeling then may actually be a response rewritten now by your inner moral authority, your “should” voice. Unethical behavior is increasingly studied by psychologists and management specialists. They want to understand what prompts people to abrogate core values, why cheating appears to be on the rise, and what interventions can be made. To find a powerful tool to turn people toward ethical decisions, many researchers have focused on the guilt that many adults feel after cheating. So some behavioral ethics researchers were startled by a study published recently in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by researchers at the University of Washington, the London Business School, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. The title: “The Cheater’s High: The Unexpected Affective Benefits of Unethical Behavior.”... The impact is real: According to some estimates, software piracy costs companies $63 billion a year globally."

Marvel Sends Cease-and-Desist to Anticipated Punisher Fan Film; ComicBookResources.com, 10/8/13

Steve Sunu, ComicBookResources.com; Marvel Sends Cease-and-Desist to Anticipated Punisher Fan Film: "In May, CBR debuted a teaser for the impressive Punisher fan-made film "The Dead Can't Be Distracted," based on Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto's acclaimed run on Marvel Comics' "Punisher." Filmmaker Mike Pecci has updated fans about the status of the film on his personal website, and the news isn't good for those expecting the film to see the light of day. Marvel has sent Pecci a cease-and-desist letter, demanding that Pecci "immediately stop [the] unauthorized use, advertising, sale and/or distribution of any production of The Punisher or any other Marvel character-based films." "According to Marvel it would 'confuse the audience' into believing that it's an official Marvel production," Pecci said of his fan film."

USPTO Lays Out Process For Public Input To Copyright Policy Reform; Intellectual Property Watch, 10/8/13

Intellectual Property Watch; USPTO Lays Out Process For Public Input To Copyright Policy Reform: "A 4 October blog by USPTO Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs Shira Perlmutter describes the process... Perlmutter added: “As explained in the Federal Register Notice, we are particularly seeking comments on five specific topics raised in the green paper: (1) establishing a multistakeholder dialogue on improving the operation of the notice and takedown system for removing infringing content from the Internet under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA); (2) the legal framework for the creation of remixes; (3) the relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment; (4) the application of statutory damages in the contexts of individual file sharers and of secondary liability for large-scale infringement; and (5) the appropriate role for the government, if any, to help improve the online licensing environment, including access to comprehensive databases of rights information.”"

Open-Access Journals Hit By Journalist's Sting; NPR, 10/4/13

NPR; Open-Access Journals Hit By Journalist's Sting: "Although many open-access scientific journals claim the articles they publish are subject to peer review, that doesn't always happen. Science magazine contributor John Bohannon sent out bogus papers about a fictitious cancer experiment, papers that should have raised red flags. But more than 150 journals offered to publish his work. Bohannon talks to Renee Montagne about the implications of his sting operation."

Modernizing an English Garden; New York Times, 10/4/13

Adam Nicolson, New York Times; Modernizing an English Garden: "The National Trust accepted Sissinghurst in 1967, and my father entered the last decades of his life secure in the idea that he had done the right thing. He was known as the Resident Donor and presided happily over the place as it boomed with the tourist revolution over the next three decades. He became a sort of constitutional monarch: advising and consulting. He built himself a little writing room in the garden, where visitors would find him charmingly and delightfully welcoming. His part-skeptical children used to call it the Resident Donor Display Cabinet. He was a caretaker, spending his days as the protector of his parents’ creation. When he fell ill in 2004, my wife, Sarah, and I and our two daughters, Rosie and Molly, left our own farmhouse and went back to live at Sissinghurst. And when he died later that year, we stayed on, largely, I think, out of a sense of duty to this strange unowned inheritance, a mere tenancy at a place everything encouraged us to think of as ours. It did not go well. The new setup was something of a shock. We had moved into a museum: our dogs not allowed in the garden, being shouted at by gardeners if they did wander in; our children not allowed near the greenhouses; our cars to be parked in exactly prealigned ways; instructions that we were not to have parties on the weekends; that any photograph we took inside or outside the house was to be the copyright of the National Trust — I said no to the most invasive of these requests — and so on."

Use of Third-Party Artwork in Video Backdrop Is Fair Use in Copyright Claim; National Law Review, 10/4/13

Elisabeth Morgan, National law Review; Use of Third-Party Artwork in Video Backdrop Is Fair Use in Copyright Claim: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the unauthorized use of an artist’s illustration in a video backdrop featured in rock band Green Day’s stage show did not violate the Copyright Act, finding, in part, that the use was sufficiently transformative and did not affect the market value of the work. Seltzer v. Green Day, Inc., et al, Case Nos. 11-56573, -57160 (9th Cir. Aug. 7, 2013) (O’Scannlain, J.)"

The copyright cartel's plot to indoctrinate California kindergartens; Guardian, 9/29/13

Dan Gillmor, Guardian; The copyright cartel's plot to indoctrinate California kindergartens: "Hollywood and the recording industry (aka the Copyright Cartel) are leading the charge to create grade school lessons that – at least, in their draft form, as published by Wired – have a no-compromise message: if someone else created it, you need permission to use it. Sounds wonderful, until you think about how creativity actually works. And never mind that the law, already tipped in favor of copyright holders, doesn't hold such an absolutist position. It's no surprise to learn that America's biggest internet service providers – let's call them the Telecom Cartel, since that's what they've become – are part of this propaganda scheme. It's sad to learn, however, that the California School Library Association has climbed aboard; the organization helped produce the lessons that, thankfully, are still only in draft form. But they are likely to reach California classrooms later this school year and, presumably, other parts of the nation later on... There's a concept called "fair use" – deliberately ignored in the lesson, on the absurd basis that kids can't understand it – that explicitly allows others to make use of our work in ways we don't like, or anticipate."

Free Sherlock Holmes: the Copyright Battle of Baker Street; The Conversation, 9/30/13

Matthew Rimmer, The Conversation; Free Sherlock Holmes: the Copyright Battle of Baker Street: "Who owns Sherlock Holmes, the world’s greatest detective? Is it the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Or the mysterious socialite Andrea Plunket? Or does Sherlock Holmes belong to the public? This is the question currently being debated in copyright litigation in the United States courts, raising larger questions about copyright law and the public domain, the ownership of literary characters, and the role of sequels, adaptations, and mash-ups."

Defining and Demanding a Musician’s Fair Shake in the Internet Age; New York Times, 9/30/13

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Defining and Demanding a Musician’s Fair Shake in the Internet Age: "As the leader of the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, Mr. Lowery had a modicum of fame in the 1980s and ’90s. But over the last year, he has become a celebrity among musicians for speaking out about artists’ shrinking paychecks and the influence of Silicon Valley over copyright, economics and public discourse. In public appearances and no-holds-barred blog posts, Mr. Lowery, 53, has come to represent the anger of musicians in the digital age. When an NPR Music intern confessed in a blog post last year that she paid very little for her music, he scolded her in a 3,800-word open letter that framed the issue in moral terms... The issue has become hot as technology companies like Pandora and Google have replaced major record labels as the villains of choice for industry critics."

Justices to Hear ‘Raging Bull’ Copyright Appeal: New York Times, 10/1/13

Adam Liptak, New York Times; Justices to Hear ‘Raging Bull’ Copyright Appeal: "The copyright case concerns collaborations between the boxer Jake LaMotta and a friend, Frank P. Petrella, including a book and two screenplays, one of which was called “The Raging Bull.” Paula Petrella, Mr. Petrella’s daughter, contends that these works formed the basis for “Raging Bull,” the 1980 movie starring Robert De Niro. She did not sue the movie’s owners until 2009, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, said that was too late. The copyright law itself would have allowed the suit, as its three-year statute of limitation starts to run anew every time there is a fresh infringement. The question for the justices, one that has divided the lower courts, is whether the suit should nonetheless have been dismissed based on a doctrine known as laches, which bars suits brought after unreasonable delays."

Record Label Picks Copyright Fight — With The Wrong Guy; NPR's All Tech Considered, 9/27/13

Laura Sydell, NPR's All Tech Considered; Record Label Picks Copyright Fight — With The Wrong Guy: "Liberation Music eventually backed down. But Lessig decided to invoke another part of the copyright law, "which basically polices bad-faith lawsuits," he says — threats made fraudulently or without proper basis. Lessig is suing Liberation Music because he wants labels to stop relying on automated systems to send out takedown notices, he says."

A Silents Gold Mine From Down Under; New York Times, 9/20/13

Dave Kehr, New York Times; A Silents Gold Mine From Down Under: "These films, along with many more (176 in all) that are still in the cataloging and preservation pipeline, were quietly residing in the New Zealand Film Archive when Brian Meacham, an archivist for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, dropped by its Wellington headquarters during a vacation. He was confronted with a trove of nitrate prints of non-New Zealand titles that the young institution had yet to preserve (understandably, the New Zealanders were focused on their own national cinema)...Responsibility for repatriating the American films was assumed by the National Film Preservation Foundation, the nonprofit, charitable affiliate of the Library of Congress’s National Film Preservation Board. (I am a member of the board, and have served on grant panels for the foundation, though none related to this project.) With support from several public and private institutions, including the Hollywood studios that retained copyright to some of the titles, the films are being preserved by the foundation’s five archival partners: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; George Eastman House; the Library of Congress; the Museum of Modern Art; and the University of California, Los Angeles, Film & Television Archive."

Copyright law and This Charming Charlie; Los Angeles Times, 9/26/13

Los Angeles Times; Copyright law and This Charming Charlie: "Tumblr, the blog's publisher, responded by removing three of the mash-ups last week, prompting LoPrete to announce the blog's demise. Then she changed her mind. As her attorney, Dan Booth of Cambridge, Mass., noted in a letter to Tumblr, LoPrete's parodic re-purposing of The Smiths' lyrics perfectly fits the definition of a fair use: She posts only snippets of the lyrics, puts them in a wholly new context and doesn't make any money off them or damage the market for the songs. In fact, the blog draws new attention to the long-defunct band. Universal says that it's no longer pursuing the matter, so LoPrete's story has a happy ending...It's been 15 years since Congress set up rules for the use of copyrighted material online; it's past time for lawmakers to overhaul them so that they work better for both copyright holders and those who make fair use of their works."

Intellectual Property Watch; Meeting Highlights Use Of Open Data In Science, Health And Sustainable Development, 9/18/13

Alessandro Marongiu, Intellectual Property Watch; Meeting Highlights Use Of Open Data In Science, Health And Sustainable Development: "At the end of a two-day conference in Switzerland, open knowledge experts emphasised the role of open data in strengthening science findings’ credibility, fostering medical research and enhancing sustainable development. The 2013 Open Knowledge Conference, an annual event organised by the Open Knowledge Foundation, aimed at understanding existing trends with a specific focus on open data use in new areas and sectors. The event was held in Geneva on 17-18 September... However, opening up scientific data may raise some concerns, particularly under the perspective of intellectual property rights. “As you access code and data, the role of copyright is not something to be ignored,” Victoria Stodden said. “US law says that original expressions of ideas fall under copyright by default. This is a barrier for me. To use a code I have to ask permission, it is actually not legal to just grab a code even if you put it on the web,” she added. She called on scientists to give up their IP rights for the sake of reproducibility and ask just for attribution when others use their data."

Yes, It's Fair Use To Mashup Charlie Brown And The Smiths; TechDirt.com, 9/24/13

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; Yes, It's Fair Use To Mashup Charlie Brown And The Smiths: "We had mentioned in our post about Universal Music sending bogus DMCA takedowns over Lauren LoPrete's This Charming Charlie tumblr mashup, that LoPrete had been contacted by various copyright and internet free speech lawyers offering to represent her. It appears that among the lawyers reaching out to her were the good folks at Booth Sweet -- whom we've covered many times for their efforts to fight copyright trolls and other bogus threats -- have taken on her case. Lawyer Dan Booth has sent a short and simple counternotice to Tumblr, arguing that the strips that were taken down were covered by fair use."

U.S. judge boosts Google 'fair use' defense of digital books; Reuters, 9/23/13

Reuters; U.S. judge boosts Google 'fair use' defense of digital books: "Google, based in Mountain View, California, has scanned more than 20 million books since its 2004 agreement with libraries worldwide to digitize books. The Authors Guild and groups representing photographers and graphic artists say the project amounts to massive copyright infringement. Google argues the practice constitutes fair use, an exception under U.S. copyright law, because it only provides portions of the works online. At a hearing in U.S. district court in New York on Monday, Judge Denny Chin said the question of fair use relies in part on whether the project "is a benefit to society." Chin then rattled off several examples of how Google's project has helped people find information, including his own law clerks. "Aren't these transformative uses, and don't they benefit society?" asked Chin."fair use,

Giant rubber duck causes big flap with Pittsburgh Cultural Trust; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/22/13

Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Giant rubber duck causes big flap with Pittsburgh Cultural Trust: "On Friday, a 40-foot-tall rubber duck will float into Pittsburgh waterways, marking the beginning of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Pittsburgh Festival of Firsts. The Cultural Trust, which has paid to bring artist Florentijn Hofman's Rubber Duck Project to Pittsburgh, would like to control merchandise sold in conjunction with the event. "As a responsible arts presenter, we are committed to maintaining the integrity of the artist's work and all images affiliated with this public art installation," the Trust posted on its Facebook page. That stance isn't sitting well with ToonSeum founder and executive director Joe Wos, who received a cease-and-desist letter from the Cultural Trust after he created a T-shirt to be sold in celebration of the duck and of a pop-up rubber duck exhibit at the ToonSeum. Mr. Wos and a friend took about an hour to create a shirt, featuring a cartoon duck swimming above the phrase "Quack N'At," a nod to the popular Pittsburgh abbreviation for "and that.""

Conan Doyle estate seeks to preserve US copyright of Sherlock Holmes's 'complex personality'; Guardian, 9/19/13

Liz Bury, Guardian; Conan Doyle estate seeks to preserve US copyright of Sherlock Holmes's 'complex personality' : "...whether use of the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson is covered by copright law until the entire Holmes canon is out of copyright in the United States. At present, 10 stories from the final collection, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, remain in copyright, with the stories due to enter the public domain in different years up to 2022. Sherlockian editor and Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Leslie Klinger filed a suit in February with the aim of establishing that the characters of Holmes and Watson are already in the public domain in the US, after he was asked to pay for a licence to use them in his planned book In The Company of Sherlock Holmes... In its defence, filed this week in Illinois district court, the Doyle estate argues that the characters remain protected until the copyrights in the final stories expire, because the subtleties and quirks of character that define the super-intelligent detective, his trusty right-hand man, and the duo's relationship, were developed throughout the entire body of works."

How the Marrakesh Treaty Opens Vistas for Print-Disabled Readers; American Libraries, September/October 2013

Jonathan Band, American Libraries; How the Marrakesh Treaty Opens Vistas for Print-Disabled Readers: "This summer, a diplomatic conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which was held in Marrakesh, Morocco, adopted the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.” The treaty is designed to achieve the objective spelled out in its title by obligating the countries (known as contracting parties) that sign it to make exceptions in their copyright laws for the creation and distribution of accessible-format copies both domestically and across borders. As the first treaty devoted to copyright exceptions, the June 28, 2013, agreement represents a significant development in international copyright law... Since US law currently complies with the treaty’s requirements, lawmakers here do not need to pass any amendments in order to ratify the treaty. The treaty should nonetheless benefit print-disabled readers in the US by facilitating the import of more accesible-format copies from other contracting parties...Likewise, an authorized entity in Spain could export an accessible-format Spanish novel to a print-disabled person in California."

Nicki Minaj sued by mystery man for copyright infringement; Guardian, 9/12/13

Sean Michaels, Guardian; Nicki Minaj sued by mystery man for copyright infringement: "One of electronic music's most mysterious figures is suing Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement. Clive Tanaka – an artist who has never revealed his real name nor his home town – accused Minaj of copying his music on her worldwide hit Starships."

Court Gives a Victory to Pandora Over Licensing Streaming Music; New York Times, 9/18/13

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Court Gives a Victory to Pandora Over Licensing Streaming Music: "Pandora Media won a battle in its continuing war with the music industry over royalties when a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which represents thousands of members, cannot prevent Pandora from licensing all the songs in its catalog. The ruling, by Judge Denise L. Cote of United States District Court in Manhattan, is a blow to music publishers, who have tried to get the best royalty rates for digital music by limiting the extent that performing rights societies like Ascap and Broadcast Music Incorporated represent their songs."

California’s Community Colleges Shift to Creative Commons Licenses; Wired Campus, 9/16/13

Hannah Winston, Wired Campus; California’s Community Colleges Shift to Creative Commons Licenses: "The board that governs California’s 112 community colleges has started requiring that courses, research, and other work paid for by the system chancellor’s office be made available free to all users under Creative Commons “attribution” licenses. While the system will retain the copyright on the materials, other users will be able to take advantage of them as long as the originators are properly credited."

Motion Picture Association Study Finds Search Engines Complicit In Piracy; Intellectual Property Watch, 9/18/13

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; Motion Picture Association Study Finds Search Engines Complicit In Piracy: "A new study released today by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in the company of members of the United States Congress found that internet search engines play a key role in user access to copyright infringing content online."

Lessig dispute shows value of ‘fair use’ of copyrighted songs; Boston Globe, 9/16/13

Editorial, Boston Globe; Lessig dispute shows value of ‘fair use’ of copyrighted songs: "...Liberation Music, spotting the “Lisztomania” samples in Lessig’s lecture, told YouTube to take down the video in late June. The company later caved in. Lessig, aided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, still plans to fight the takedown in US District Court in Boston, where Liberation Music had filed a complaint. He and the foundation plan to sue for damages incurred by the video going offline. It’s doubtful there’s much money involved, but Lessig’s tough stance puts copyright holders on notice that they have to consider fair use before trying to force material off the Internet. These questions will only get more complicated, as amateur users express their enthusiasm for songs by posting unauthorized remixes and videos on the Internet — and as the spontaneous sharing of materials through YouTube and social media becomes the primary way in which musicians and others find new audiences. What’s needed is a system that recognizes a copyright holder’s general ability to control material it owns — without chilling legitimate forms of expression."

Sarah Palin's Super PAC Sued For Copyright Infringement Over Use Of 9/11 Photo; AP via HuffingtonPost.com, 9/13/13

AP via HuffingtonPost.com; Sarah Palin's Super PAC Sued For Copyright Infringement Over Use Of 9/11 Photo: "A New Jersey-based newspaper publisher is suing Sarah Palin and her political action committee for copyright infringement over the use of an iconic Sept. 11 photograph. A lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan federal court by North Jersey Media Group Inc. says Palin's SarahPAC posted a copy of the photo on its website and Facebook page without permission."

Paper Finds Little Success In ‘Three-Strikes’ IP Enforcement Programmes; Intellectual Property Watch, 9/10/13

Intellectual Property Watch; Paper Finds Little Success In ‘Three-Strikes’ IP Enforcement Programmes: "“Evaluating Graduated Response,” authored by Rebecca Giblin of the Monash University Faculty of Law, is available here. The abstract of the paper reads: “It has been more than three years since the first countries began implementing ‘graduated responses’, requiring ISPs [internet service providers] to take a range of measures to police their users’ copyright infringements. Graduated responses now exist in a range of forms in seven jurisdictions. Right-holders describe them as ‘successful’ and ‘effective’ and are agitating for their further international roll-out. But what is the evidence in support of these claims?” The paper looks at schemes in France, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States and evaluates “the extent to which they are actually achieving the copyright law’s aims,” it says."

Toward a Go-To Gershwin Edition; New York Times, 9/13/13

Larry Rohter, New York Times; Toward a Go-To Gershwin Edition: "Is it to-may-to or to-mah-to? That question may be unanswerable, but an agreement between the estates of George and Ira Gershwin and the University of Michigan, to be announced on Sunday, aims to create the first definitive edition of the Gershwins’ entire joint body of work, including such landmark pieces as “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Porgy and Bess” and “An American in Paris.” The project, which is expected to require several decades of note-by-note and word-by-word analysis, will allow University of Michigan scholars unrestricted access to Gershwin scores, letters and compositional drafts, which are at the Library of Congress and will remain there. From that material, at least 35 volumes are to emerge, in both book and electronic form, with the goal of cementing the Gershwins’ reputation as uniquely American geniuses and providing a reliable road map for future performances... Marc Gershwin, a nephew of George Gershwin who administers his copyrights, said the need for an authoritative critical edition had become increasingly obvious to the heirs in recent years."

Clear Channel-Warner Music Deal Rewrites the Rules on Royalties; New York Times, 9/12/13

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Clear Channel-Warner Music Deal Rewrites the Rules on Royalties: "On Thursday, the company announced a deal with the Warner Music Group that would for the first time allow the label and its acts to collect royalties when their songs were played on Clear Channel’s 850 broadcast stations. In exchange, Clear Channel will receive a favorable rate in the growing but expensive world of online streaming...In an arrangement that has long irked record companies and led to many lobbying standoffs in Washington, terrestrial broadcasters are not required to pay royalties to labels and performing artists for the records they play on the air. On the other side, Internet radio services like Pandora, as well as broadcasters like Clear Channel through its station Web sites and iHeartRadio app, pay these royalties, but they have complained that the statutory rates for licensing music are too high. (Both terrestrial and online radio also pay music publishers, which control songwriting rights.)"

Taking Back 'Funkytown': Songwriters Prepare For A Custody Battle; NPR's All Things Considered, 9/12/13

Joel Rose; NPR's All Things Considered Taking Back 'Funkytown': Songwriters Prepare For A Custody Battle: "When Congress revised U.S. copyright law in the 1970s, it granted "termination rights" to musicians and other creators, which allow them to regain control of their works after 35 years. (The law only applies to sound recordings released in 1978 or after.) Abdo says reclaiming ownership of "Funkytown" would allow his client to earn more in licensing fees and other revenues — exactly as Congress intended. "If you have a big hit or several big hits, then all of a sudden the deal that you made early in your career doesn't seem quite fair because it was very lopsided," Abdo says. "It gives the author a chance to get a second bite at the apple."... [O]ne big hurdle artists face is the question of whether a sound recording is a "work for hire." Since the 1970s, many labels have insisted on contract language that seems to define artists as employees of the label, Slotnick says."

Record Labels Sue Sirius XM Over the Use of Older Music; New York Times, 9/11/13

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Record Labels Sue Sirius XM Over the Use of Older Music: "Another, Feb. 15, 1972 — when federal copyright protection began to apply to recordings — has less recognition. But a recent string of lawsuits argue that licensing issues tied to that date may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to singers and record labels. If the suits are successful, they could also bring a headache of liability to satellite and Internet radio services. On Wednesday, the three largest record companies — Sony, Universal and Warner, along with ABKCO, an independent that controls many of the Rolling Stones’ early music rights — sued Sirius XM Radio in a California court, saying that the satellite service used recordings from before 1972 without permission. Even though federal copyright protection does not apply to these recordings, the suits say that they are still covered by state law."

A Copyright Victory, 35 Years Later; New York Times, 9/10/13

Larry Rohter, New York Times; A Copyright Victory, 35 Years Later: "In the lucrative world of music copyright, it may be something of a watershed moment: on Friday, after six years of legal wrangling and decades after he wrote the lyrics to the hit song “YMCA,” Victor Willis will gain control of his share of the copyright to that song and others he wrote when he was the lead singer of the 1970s disco group the Village People. Mr. Willis, who dressed as a policeman during the group’s heyday, was able to recapture those songs, thanks to a little-known provision of copyright legislation that went into effect in 1978. That law granted musicians and songwriters what are known as “termination rights,” allowing them to recover control of their creations after 35 years, even if they had originally signed away their rights."

Judge slaps down Stan Lee Media’s bid for Marvel characters; ComicBookResources.com, 9/6/13

Kevin Melrose, ComicBookResources.com; Judge slaps down Stan Lee Media’s bid for Marvel characters: "A federal judge on Thursday dismissed Stan Lee Media’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Disney, potentially ending its long and confusing legal battle to claim ownership of the Marvel characters co-created by Stan Lee. The failed dot-com has had no connection to its co-founder and namesake in more than a decade; in fact, the two have sued each other on a few occasions. As Deadline reports, in granting Disney’s motion to dismiss the 2012 copyright-infringement complaint, U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez didn’t attempt to hide his annoyance with the litigious Stan Lee Media, whose tangled web of lawsuits began it at least 2007, just months after the company emerged from federal bankruptcy protection."

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author settles copyright theft case; New York Daily News, 9/6/13

Dareh Gregorian, New York Daily News; ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author settles copyright theft case: "The author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" has made peace with the literary agent who allegedly ripped her off. Harper Lee, 87, is dropping her big bucks lawsuit against her former agent Samuel Pinkus and others she'd charged had conned her out of the copyright to her novel, widely considered one of the greatest in American history."

For a Classic Motown Song About Money, Credit Is What He Wants; New York Times, 8/31/13

Larry Rohter, New York Times; For a Classic Motown Song About Money, Credit Is What He Wants: "Unbeknown to Mr. Strong, who also helped write many other Motown hits, his name was removed from the copyright registration for “Money” three years after the song was written, restored in 1987 when the copyright was renewed, then removed again the next year — his name literally crossed out. Documents at the copyright office show that all of these moves came at the direction of Motown executives, who dispute Mr. Strong’s claim of authorship. Berry Gordy Jr., Motown’s founder, declined requests for an interview, but his lawyers contend that the original registration resulted from a clerical error, and that Mr. Strong passed up numerous opportunities to assert his claim. Mr. Strong said he learned of the alterations only late in 2010 and has been struggling ever since to have his authorship officially reinstated. At stake: his ability to share in the lucrative royalties from the song’s use. But his efforts have been blocked by a provision of copyright law that says he relinquished his rights by failing to act in a timely fashion to contest Motown’s action. Mr. Strong’s predicament illustrates a little-known oddity in the American copyright system, one that record and music publishing companies have not hesitated to exploit. The United States Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, does not notify authors of changes in registrations, and until recently the only way to check on any alterations was to go to Washington and visit the archives personally."

VCR’s Past Is Guiding Television’s Future; New York Times, 7/28/13

David Carr, New York Times; VCR’s Past Is Guiding Television’s Future: "It is a truism of all businesses, especially media, that once the consumer decides how things are going to go, it is only a matter of time before disruption occurs in fundamental ways. Just ask the record companies. And for now, the disrupters not only have the consumer on their side, but the law as well."

Twenty-Sixth Horace S. Manges Lecture, Columbia University Law School, 3/4/13

Maria A. Pallante, U.S. Register of Copyrights; The Next Great Copyright Act: "Tonight my topic is the next great copyright act, but before I speak about the future, I would like to talk a little about the past, including the role of the Copyright Office in past revision activities. In my remarks, I will address the need for comprehensive review and revision of U.S. copyright law, identify the most significant issues, and suggest a framework by which Congress should weigh the public interest, which includes the interests of authors. I will also address the necessary evolution of the Copyright Office itself."

White House Copyright Czar Jumps to Industry Anti-Piracy Group; Wired, 8/28/13

David Kravets, Wired; White House Copyright Czar Jumps to Industry Anti-Piracy Group: "Victoria Espinel, the nation’s copyright czar until two weeks ago, has been named president of an anti-piracy trade group that lobbies governments on behalf of the software industry. Espinel resigned earlier this month from the key White House post she’d held for four years. The Software Alliance, which goes by the acronym BSA, announced today that Espinel was named president of the group that bills itself as “the world’s premier anti-piracy organization.”"

Songwriters Sue to Defend a Summer Hit; New York Times, 8/16/13

Ben Sisario, New York Times; Songwriters Sue to Defend a Summer Hit: "Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” is the song of the summer, spending 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s charts and still blaring out of cars and bars from sea to shining sea. Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up” was a clear inspiration for it, but were Mr. Thicke and his songwriting partners merely inspired by Gaye, or did they infringe on the copyright of the earlier song? That is the question at the heart of a lawsuit that Mr. Thicke and his co-writers, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris Jr. (better known as the rapper T.I.), filed in federal court on Thursday against Gaye’s three children."

U. of Maryland University College Closes Intellectual Property Center; Inside Higher Ed, 6/10/13

Inside Higher Ed; U. of Maryland University College Closes Intellectual Property Center: "The University of Maryland University College recently closed its Center for Intellectual Property, citing a universitywide budget gap of $35 million that caused dozens of other layoffs. The closure of the noted center cost four people their jobs, said university spokesman Bob Ludwig. "The decision to close the Center for Intellectual Property was basically based on a process we went through to refocus our priorities and meet our budget gap we were facing for the next fiscal year," he said. "So, through that process, it was determined that the Center for Intellectual Property was not central to UMUC's core mission." The center -- whose work was followed by experts elsewhere -- worked on "education, research and resource development on the impact of intellectual property issues in higher education," according to its website."

Why you won’t see or hear the ‘I have a dream’ speech; Washington Post, 8/27/13

Josh Schiller, Washington Post; Why you won’t see or hear the ‘I have a dream’ speech: "Although it has been the subject of at least two lawsuits — the King estate sued CBS and USA Today for their use of the speech, reaching undisclosed settlements — a court has never examined whether and under what circumstances the “I have a dream” speech may be used without authorization in what’s considered a “fair use” exception... As an attorney, I believe in respect for the law and observing copyright restrictions. But when it comes to observing the anniversary of such a public moment, one hopes that fair use will allow current generations to appreciate what happened 50 years ago this week and why it was such a moment in American history. The public benefit of access to historical artifacts such as King’s speech is undeniable. Any restriction on public access to the content of such a historical artifact should be enforced with caution."

Online lecture prompts legal fight on copyright; Boston Globe, 8/27/13

Michael B. Farrell, Boston Globe; Online lecture prompts legal fight on copyright: "Famed Harvard legal professor Lawrence Lessig may be the last guy you would want to pick a fight with over copyright issues over the Internet. But that is exactly what Australian record company Liberation Music did when it threatened to sue Lessig, a leading scholar of Internet law and an advocate for fewer copyright restrictions, for allegedly violating its rights by using music from the hit song “Lisztomania” by French pop band Phoenix during a lecture... The Harvard professor filed suit in federal court in Massachusetts last week accusing the record company of abusing copyright laws to stifle his free speech, and of improperly targeting him even though it was aware his use of “Lisztomania” is protected under the fair-use doctrine of copyright law. He is asking a judge to rule that his video does not violate copyright law, and for damages for the financial losses and legal fees."

Why It's Difficult To Find Full Video Of King's Historic Speech; NPR, 8/23/13

Eyder Peralta, NPR; Why It's Difficult To Find Full Video Of King's Historic Speech: "As thousands gather in Washington over the next week to the mark the , you may be moved to look for video of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech," which he delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial during that march. It might surprise you that it is actually quite hard to find — because while many copies have been uploaded to Internet video sites, many have also been taken down. Why, you ask? It's all about copyright."

C Train Cafe? Transit Agency May Put Up Fight M.T.A. Guards Against Copyright Infringement; New York Times, 8/23/13

Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times; C Train Cafe? Transit Agency May Put Up Fight; M.T.A. Guards Against Copyright Infringement: "Powered in part by the rise of online shopping, which has helped small-time entrepreneurs market their subway-inspired creations widely, the transit agency now issues up to 600 notices a year for copyright infringements to protect trademarks on train line logos and other system imagery. That represents a more than twentyfold increase since 2005...Subway, rail and bus maps are copyright protected, and each subway line symbol is a federally registered trademark. Even in borderline cases — where a business uses a subway logo, for example, but alters the color scheme slightly — the authority often has wide latitude in issuing infringement notices “if there’s reason for confusion,” Mr. Heavey said...In 2010, Nordstrom received a letter from the authority after a dress emblazoned with a subway map was found in its online catalog. Transit officials were “pleased” that Nordstrom recognized the map as “a clever, colorful design that is fit for a silk dress,” the letter said, but less pleased about the copyright breach. A spokeswoman for Nordstrom said the dress was no longer available."

CBS prevails in 'The Glass House' legal dispute; Los Angeles Times, 8/19/13

Meg James, Los Angeles Times; CBS prevails in 'The Glass House' legal dispute: "CBS Corp. wants to send the message that it won't tolerate copycats. On Monday, the No. 1-ranked television network said that it had reached a settlement in the 15-month legal dispute over whether ABC's "The Glass House," a short-lived reality show that closely mirrored CBS' successful "Big Brother" show, constituted a violation of CBS' copyright and trade secrets."

Can’t Buy Me Love? A Lawsuit Debates It; New York Times, 7/15/13

Eric Grode, New York Times; Can’t Buy Me Love? A Lawsuit Debates It: "This time, however, the bad blood extends to the courthouse, where one Beatles tribute band is in the curious position of defending itself against copyright infringement claims leveled by another Beatles tribute band. The creators of the Beatles tribute show “Rain,” which played on Broadway for nine months in 2010 and 2011, filed suit last month against the “Let It Be” producers Jeff Parry and Annerin Productions, among others. The suit contends that the new musical — which steers clear of those contentious “Let It Be” recording sessions, focusing instead on peppier Beatles moments like the “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance — owes a significant debt to “Rain,” from the musical arrangements to the between-song patter to the mop-toppy wigs. All but 3 of the 31 songs in “Rain” are also in “Let It Be,” according to the lawsuit, and “the artwork used as background during the performance of many of those songs are similar or identical.”"

The Past Is Not Dead, but Faulkner Case Against ‘Midnight in Paris’ Is Dismissed; New York Times, 7/19/13

Dave Itzkoff, New York Times; The Past Is Not Dead, but Faulkner Case Against ‘Midnight in Paris’ Is Dismissed: "A courtroom face-off between the film studio that released Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” and the rights holders of William Faulkner’s novels did not yield any terrific legal sparks. But it may have produced a noteworthy literary creation in the form of a thoughtful and funny decision from the judge overseeing the case... Having viewed “Midnight in Paris” and read “Requiem for a Nun” in the course of the case, Judge Mills wrote that the court was “thankful that the parties did not ask the court to compare ‘The Sound and the Fury’ with ‘Sharknado.’""

A Legal Defeat for Anne Frank House; New York Times, 6/26/13

Scott Sayare, New York Times; A Legal Defeat for Anne Frank House: "In what may prove to be the conclusion to a long and bitter legal battle over control of the legacy of Anne Frank, a district court in Amsterdam on Wednesday ordered the Anne Frank House to return a collection of archives to a foundation in Switzerland. The Anne Frank Fonds, based in Basel, Switzerland, sued in 2011 for the immediate return of some 10,000 documents and photographs linked to Anne and her father, Otto Frank. The foundation, which manages the copyrights of Anne’s diary, had lent the documents in 2007 to the Frank House, a museum and research center in Amsterdam... In its ruling, the court found the Fonds, which Mr. Frank designated as his universal heir, to be the rightful owner of the entire collection and within its rights to demand the archives’ return. The court ordered that the archives be transferred to the Fonds by Jan. 1, 2014."

Appeals Court’s Ruling Helps Google in Book-Scanning Lawsuit; New York Times, 7/1/13

Julie Bosman, New York Times; Appeals Court’s Ruling Helps Google in Book-Scanning Lawsuit: "Google scored a victory in the long-running lawsuit over its book-scanning project on Monday, as a federal appeals court ruled that it was “premature” that the authors suing Google had been certified as a class... In a five-page ruling on Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected that decision and said that the lower court must first consider the “fair use” issues raised by the case."

Over 50 Countries Sign Marrakesh Treaty On Copyright Exceptions And Limitations For The Blind; Intellectual Property Watch, 7/1/13

Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch; Over 50 Countries Sign Marrakesh Treaty On Copyright Exceptions And Limitations For The Blind: "The 28 June signing of the new international treaty to improve access to published materials for the visually impaired brought relief to the beneficiaries and satisfaction to delegations. But some underlined the need to sign and ratify the new treaty. On the final day of the World Intellectual Property Organization diplomatic conference, held from 17-28 June, fifty-one countries signed the treaty to the loud applause of the plenary, in particular from the visually impaired people. A large number of developing countries, notably from Africa and Latin America, signed the treaty. A few developed countries signed the treaty, such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom."