3 Count: Kiwi Freedom

This is daily column on Plagiarism Today where the site brings you three of the days biggest, most important copyright and plagiarism news links. If you want to offer your feedback on the column, use the contact form or just follow me on Twitter at @plagiarismtoday.

1: Section 92A to be scrapped

First off today, the controversial New Zealand 92a law has been scrapped according to the country’s Prime Minister John Key. The controversial law would have required ISPs to disconnect users accused of copyright infringement and would have set up a protocol for copyright holders to report such infringements. However, it appears now that the law, after much protest and controversy, is dead.

However, all is not necessarily over for the law as others in government have hinted that they may try again with a revised version of the law in the future.

2: Supreme Court to Consider Copyright Registration Requirements

Next up today the Supreme Court is preparing to take on one of the thornier issues of U.S. copyright law, the issue of copyright registration and when a work has to be registered in relationship to the filing of a lawsuit.

This, historically, has been an area of disagreement among the circuits as some have said you simply have to have filed, others say that you have to have the certificate in hand, which can take several months. This issue could affect countless copyright holders who discover an infringement before registration and have to file before filing a suit.

3: Federal Appeals Court Considers Motion Against CRB Judges

When Royalty Logic was created to compete with Sound Exchange in the doling out performance royalties owed by digital music service providers of digital music, the Copyright Royalty Board rejected them, giving Sound Exchange a monopoly on the field. Undaunted, Music Reports Inc., the company behind Royalty Logic has decided to take on the whole of the CRB, by challenging whether the judges are constitutional since they were not appointed by the President or anyone in the Executive branch.

In arguments heard before the circuit court in Washington D.C. that was the exact issue addressed and, though a ruling hasn’t been issued yet, it is easy to see how this could drastically alter the landscape of royalty collection.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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Tune in every Saturday morning for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Monday morning right here on Plagiarism Today.