Daisy Baker’s subject of copyright lawsuit: From Business Review Albany, NY

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Daisy Baker’s subject of lawsuit – The Business Review Albany: .

I keep telling people that COPYRIGHT LAW HAS TEETH.

This is an example of those teeth. The plaintiff, copyright holder ASCAP, is going after Daisy Baker’s, which is a business local to me (well, sort of local…the next city over), for allowing performance of music on which copyright exists. The business is the venue in which the music was allegedly played without license. The article doesn’t say whether ASCAP is also going after the performers (they could).

It’s easy (very easy) to license music from ASCAP or BMI (the two big copyright holders in the music world). It’s cheap to license the music. It’s expensive to defend a copyright infringement suit (lawyers cost money…), and then to pay the statutory remedies that are available for a registered copyright, perhaps trebled, perhaps with plaintiff’s reasonable attorney fees added in…. Why go there when it’s so easy and cheap to license the music to begin with??

Tags: ASCAP, Copyright infringement, Daisy Baker's
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Canada's looking at new copyright laws

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

Canada set to try again on new copyright law – washingtonpost.com.

Now, isn’t this interesting. Canadian lawmakers realize that the current copyright laws are — um — outdated, pre-internet, pre-P2P, pre-very-easy-download, and they’re looking to do something about their own law.

The US regularly updates its copyright laws, but the US, so far, has laws that have little to do with reality. Peer-to-peer (“P2P”) sites abound with content that clearly violates copyright law, and that content is downloaded by tens of thousands of people worldwide. How will the US keep up with this deluge of potential copyright infringement cases (there aren’t enough federal courts to hear these cases) unless we pass legislation that automatically compensates the copyright holder whenever a download is made. One way that this can be accomplished: advertising revenue for the copyright holder paid by the P2P site which enables the download. Another, better, way is for every P2P or .torrent site to charge a fee (one-time or membership, that doesn’t matter) for the downloads.

How about it, Congress?

Tags: Canadian copyright law, Copyright infringement, P2P site, peer-to-peer site
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Scoff at copyright law at your peril…

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

More trouble ahead for copyright scofflaws – Ask the Editors | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news .

The RIAA cases may have ground to a slow halt, but that does not mean that the copyright laws are to be ignored.

The Associated Press v. All Headline News case in New York settled with an undisclosed settlement payable to AP for the unauthorized use of AP stories and headlines by All Headline News. This case stresses the doctrine, first established by the US Supreme Court in 1918, that facts cannot be copyrighted but “hot news” gives a publisher the right to sue and collect damages even on facts.

In Europe, publishers have renewed their outcry for tough copyright laws protecting written materials as the publishers consider that the internet may provide them with additional streams of revenue.

Remember, in the US, the only two factors in a copyright infringement suit that plaintiff must prove are (1) a valid copyright exists and (2) a substantially similar copy exists. That’s it. No intent need be shown. No money need change hands. Copyright infringement is strict liability land. And damages are stiff.

Tags: AP settlement, Associated Press v. All Headline News, Copyright, Copyright infringement, European copyright
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Woman fined to tune of $1.9 million for illegal downloads – CNN.com

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Woman fined to tune of $1.9 million for illegal downloads – CNN.com.

Hey, those RIAA copyright suits are still out there … and copyright still has TEETH.

$1.9 million for a few $0.99 songs.

And It Can Happen To You….

Tags: Add new tag, Copyright infringement, Remedies, RIAA
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Ain't No Plagiarism in Harry Potter Says Publisher – Yahoo News

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Ain’t No Plagiarism in Harry Potter Says Publisher – Yahoo News.

Hmm. Copyright infringement and plagiarism seems to be coming out of my ears these days. Here the plagiarism, if found, would be for the general plot line. Harry Potter fought in the Triwizard Tournament and rode the Hogwarts Express (a train); the claimant’s wizard was a hostage and rode a train. The claimant’s book is The Adventures of Willy the Wizard No. 1, Livid Land.

The grounds for copyright infringement in the US are: (1) a valid copyright, which the estate of Adrian Jacobs may indeed have; and (2) a SUBSTANTIALLY similar work, which is where I think the estate falls flat. Lots of characters are held hostage and ride on trains. Not so many characters are wizards, but surely a wizard riding on a train and getting into a hostage situation … plagiarism?? Harry does many, many things besides ride on the train and get into a hostage situation.

The Hogwarts Express entered the Harry Potter lexicon with the first book. So did Voldemort … and Voldemort took a hostage in the second book (a witch named Ginny Weasley). The fourth book,  which all the hoopla is about, was published in July, 2000. I will point out that it’s now 2009; the book has been around for awhile. Why the wait to sue, Plaintiff?

Seems to me that this is one of the more stupid lawsuits. Best wishes to Rowling defending this one; it shouldn’t be too tough to do.

Tags: Copyright, Copyright infringement, Harry Potter, Plagiarism
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