The Copykat

Our showtime CopyKat from our novel intern, Kelsey Farish

Anthem of the Civil Rights Movement “We Shall Overcome” is freed into world domain

On the 3rd Mon of Jan each year, Americans notice the birthday of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, ii weeks next the national holiday, the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” entered Blue Planet domain.

The vocal was an unofficial subject of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement inwards the American south. It was made famous during the Montgomery motorbus boycotts led past times Martin Luther King Jr., when, inwards front end of tv set cameras, a grouping of protestors sang it into a hostile mob. The Library of Congress, which is the oldest federal cultural establishment inwards the United States, describes the vocal equally America’s “most powerful song.”

The lawsuit was filed past times the We Shall Overcome Foundation, an organization that wanted to build a documentary well-nigh the song, in addition to the producers of the 2013 celluloid "The Butler." The registered copyright owner, Ludlow Music, initially refused both requests earlier demanding “as much equally $100,000” to usage the song.

Several months agone a federal justice inwards New York More here.

Documentary filmmakers to have costless legal advice from California police students on intellectual belongings in addition to other matters

The Ziffren Center for Media, Entertainment, Technology in addition to Sports Law at the University of California Los Angeles has launched a novel pro-bono Documentary Film Legal Clinic.

Without the back upward of a large celluloid studio’s in-house lawyers, independent documentary filmmakers may non locomote aware of the legal issues that may arise their work, including copyright problems.

Bolstered past times the University’s proximity to the Hollywood celluloid industry, police students volition locomote helping independent documentary filmmakers amongst legal issues they face. Such issues volition oft include making world records requests for newsgathering in addition to seeking location approvals, equally good equally intellectual belongings matters. In particular, police students volition furnish copyright counsel in addition to training, advice regarding fair use, clearance of music, visuals in addition to archival materials, in addition to rights of publicity.

Dale Cohen, the clinic’s founder in addition to director, is special counsel to the PBS channel’s documentary serial “Frontline” in addition to co-author of “Media in addition to the Law.” He noted that the hospital volition furnish filmmakers amongst “top-notch legal guidance, in addition to students volition run side-by-side amongst these journalists in addition to artists, learning well-nigh the filmmaking procedure in addition to helping to state stories that are increasingly of import to our democracy.”

Facebook’s inks novel global, multi-year agreements amongst Universal in addition to Sony Music

Facebook showtime inked a create exercise amongst Universal Music inwards belatedly Dec 2017. The create exercise amongst Sony,  the largest music publisher inwards the world, was announced on ix January. These deals allow Facebook in addition to Instagram users to upload homemade video clips containing songs owned past times Universal or Sony, without generating a takedown notice.

As to a greater extent than in addition to to a greater extent than Facebook users part music or videos inwards their posts, roughly of the content may include copyright-protected material: for example, songs past times a famous pop vocalist playing inwards the background of a makeup tutorial video.

Facebook offers monitoring tools that warning copyright owners well-nigh suspected copies of their videos in addition to songs on Facebook, or other unauthorised uses of their brand. Rightsholders tin give the axe ship takedown requests to a squad of Facebook content analysts. In the showtime 6 months of 2017, nearly three 1000000 posts - including videos, ads in addition to other forms of content - were removed from Facebook platform next complaints of intellectual belongings rights infringement.

Accordingly, Facebook has been attempting to acquire into agreements amongst major tape labels in addition to music publishers to allow its users to include songs inwards the videos they upload. Universal Music Group in addition to Sony Music are forthwith the showtime ii major music companies to license their recorded music in addition to video catalogues for usage across Facebook in addition to Instagram.

If Facebook or Instagram users upload a homemade video clip that has a purpose of a vocal owned past times Universal or Sony playing inwards the background, the clip volition forthwith rest upward without generating a takedown notice. That has obvious benefits for Facebook, equally the social media giant encourages people to build in addition to part content on its services.

For the tape labels, the deals volition furnish pregnant novel revenue source. While no comments take keep been made on the fiscal arrangements of the deal, Facebook probable wrote the music labels a large check upfront, amongst to a greater extent than coin to follow over the coming years. Perhaps most importantly for Universal in addition to Sony is that these labels forthwith take keep increased bargaining ability inwards honor of negotiating amongst Google’s YouTube, which remains the most pop online goal for listening to music.

European Commission to make a Counterfeit in addition to Piracy “Naughty” List

While Brexit negotiations rumble on, the European Union is charging ahead amongst plans for a modernised intellectual belongings enforcement system. Reports from the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in addition to the OECD approximate that the annual merchandise inwards counterfeit in addition to pirated products is worth 338 billion Euros (£298B). Within the European Union, an estimated 5% of all goods imported into the European Union (worth €85 billion) are counterfeited or pirated.

In its attempts to tackle the counterfeiting problem, the European Union volition adopt a “follow the money” approach which focuses on commercial-scale IP infringers, rather than individuals. One of the Commission’s primal goals is to cut the majority of counterfeited products reaching the European Union marketplace past times engaging inwards cooperation programmes amongst 3rd countries, in addition to inwards item China, South-East Asia, in addition to Latin America. As purpose of this initiative, he European Union aims to create a regularly updated watch-list of markets that are reported to engage in, or facilitate, substantial IPR infringement.

The proposed watch-list volition position both online in addition to physical marketplaces where counterfeiting, piracy in addition to other forms of intellectual belongings abuse are common. This listing is probable inspired past times the US Trade Representative (USTR) annual Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets report, which provides an overview of copyright holder complaints, which may locomote used to encourage site operators in addition to unusual governments to accept action.

Interestingly, the American listing solely includes unusual counterfeiting in addition to piracy markets, in addition to thereby excludes whatever American infringers. This has been a contentious bespeak amongst other governments in addition to companies, including China’s Alibaba, who criticise the USTR’s failure to obtain information from US entities. It is so worth noting that the European sentry listing volition let out roughly novel information inwards honor of America’s ain “notorious markets.”

The world is welcome to submit comments earlier 31 March 2018 equally purpose of the consultation process. The terminal listing is expected to locomote released afterward inwards the year.

High Court grants football game jibe blocking injunction to UEFA nether copyright rules

Union Des Associations Européennes De Football (UEFA), the football game organization which consists of 55 national football game associations, has obtained an injunction against the 6 principal retail mesh service providers inwards the UK.

In its application earlier the High Court, UEFA established ownership of the copyright inwards tv set broadcasts of all UEFA matches. This extends to all films (particularly replays), artistic plant in addition to musical plant incorporated inside those broadcasts.

As a substitute for paid subscriptions to sport packages through Sky, BT in addition to others, roughly football game fans are instead using devices such equally "kodi boxes" to connect straight to streaming servers via their IP addresses. Infringement inwards this means is on the rise, especially equally an increasing proportion of Britain consumers mistakenly believe using devices to access unauthorised streams is lawful,

Get in!  Image past times Ben Challis

UEFA so sought an injunction against BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk in addition to Virgin Media on the grounds of department 97A of the Copyright, Designs in addition to Patents Act 1988, which implements Article 8(3) of the Information Society Directive (2001/29/EC). The Act requires ISPs to accept measures to block, or at to the lowest degree impede, viewers from accessing pirated alive streams of UEFA matches inwards the UK.

UEFA’s application was supported past times the Football Association's Premier League, which won an identical courtroom guild against BT in addition to other ISPs inwards March 2017 (see Football Association Premier League Ltd v British Telecommunications plc [2017] EWHC 1877 (Ch)). Although ISPs oft have requests from rights holders to trammel illegal download sites, the scheme amongst the Premier League is unique inwards that it requires illegal streams to locomote blocked equally matches are played, inwards real-time.

UEFA’s application to the High Court for a similar injunction was so only a formality, non to the lowest degree because the application itself was supported past times each of the Defendant ISPs except for TalkTalk (which neither supported nor opposed the application). The injunction volition encompass the entirety of the Europe-wide UEFA Champions League tournament, from thirteen Feb through 26 May.

As an aside, it is unsurprising that roughly aspects of the application in addition to courtroom guild take keep been kept confidential, equally the item technology scientific discipline used to discover such alive streams is considered “commercially sensitive.”

The instance is Union Des Associations Européennes De Football v British Telecommunications Plc [2017] EWHC 3414 (Ch) (21 Dec 2017), available to read here.