3 Count: Triumphant Return

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

Note: Since I’ve been away for a while due to Halloween and subsequent illness, I’m going to limit this column to just the past few days and go ahead with future ones on a day-to-day basis. For a more complete wrap up, check out the Copyright 2.0 Show, which will be recorded live tomorrow.

1: New Twitter Policy Notes Copyright Take-Down Requests

First off today, Zack Whittaker at CNet reports that Twitter has announced an update to its copyright policy that will identify tweets that have been removed due to copyright notices. The new system will not simply delete removed tweets but will replace it with a notice that the tweet was removed due to a copyright notice. Though the decision has been lauded by those seeking greater transparency in Twitter’s copyright system, the first “removed” tweet, including the one used in the linked article, was actually a faked by the user as a joke. This has been confirmed by Torrentfreak.

2: Superman Heirs, DC Comics Appeal Copyright Case

Next up today, Edvard Pettersson at Bloomberg Businessweek reports that, even as the courts put an end to one of the Superman cases, the other is now heading to the Court of Appeals. The heirs of Jerome Siegel, one of the co-creators of the original Superman stories, are having their appeal heard. The heirs wish to terminate the original 1938 copyright transfer to DC Comics and take control of either all or part of the iconic character. However, while the law allows for copyright terminations, in Siegel’s case, there are two potential wrinkles. The first is a 2006 agreement that was accepted, but never actually signed, between Siegel’s heirs and DC Comics. The other is the issue of whether the creation of the character was a work for hire and doesn’t qualify for termination. These are the matters before the court. The heirs of Joseph Shuster, the other co-creator, had their case tossed after it was found that one of them had made an agreement with DC Comics that waved their right to termination.

3: Business Matters: Legal MP3 Sites Are Still Buried by Google Search Results

Finally today, Glenn Peoples at Billboard reports that, according to a study done by the magazine, Google is still struggling to keep copyright infringing sites out of the top results. The magazine searched for 30 different artists plus the phrase “MP3” and found that the highest legitimate result averaged 7.9, or the bottom of the front page, and the average location of a legal MP3 story was 11.75, or at the top of page two. Infringing sites made up the rest of the results The move comes after Google had promised to begin demoting domains that had received large numbers of takedown notices but, as Billboard notes, many of the sites that receive large amounts of copyright complaints are still ranking very highly. In good news for copyright holders, Billboard did say that the most targeted domain, Filestube.com, was rarely found in the tests.

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.

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

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