3 Count: Unsettling News

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1: Music Publishing Group Drops Appeal of YouTube Copyright Infringement Case

First off today, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has settled its long-running suit with Google over its YouTube property. In 2007, the NMPA was a plaintiff in a companion suit to Viacom’s now-famous lawsuit against YouTube. They have agreed to waive their right to join the appeal that’s ongoing in the Viacom case and voluntarily dismissed their claims. This, in turn, paves the way for publishers to start signing royalty deals with YouTube and begin earning revenue from YouTube plays.

2: Court Rejects Freelancer Settlement: Still No Payment From Tasini Court Win

Next up today, even as one settlement is going through, another is getting shot down. A proposed settlement in a class action lawsuit that pits freelance authors against newspapers and magazines they’ve worked for has been rejected by the Court of Appeals. The lawsuit stems from newspapers and magazines including freelance works in various databases, including Lexis Nexis, even though such inclusion was not part of the original contracts. The settlement was rejected because, according to the court, the majority of the plaintiffs were not represented adequately in it. Those who failed to register copyrights in their works would only receive a small fraction of what those who had would, something the courts found unacceptable. The case is now headed back to the district court where it will likely be re-framed to better represent such plaintiffs.

3: U.S. Judge Slaps Around Brazilian Court In Zynga v. Vostu

Finally today, the case between Zynga and Vostu has taken a strange twist as a U.S. judge has issued an order against Zynga instructing them not to enforce a Brazillian court’s injunction ordering Vostu to shutter some of its games. The lawsuit, which saw U.S. game maker Zynga, best known for its Facebook games, sue its Brazillian rival Vostu claiming that the company has too closely mirrored several of Zynga’s games. Zynga, which filed both in the U.S. and Brazil, got an injunction against Vostu in Brazil but the U.S. court, at Vostu’s request, has ruled that Zynga can’t enforce that ruling until they’ve had a chance to weigh in on the same issue.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will 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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