3 Count: Copyright Gentleman

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1: Black Eyed Peas Frontman Will.i.am Accused of Plagiarism… Again

First off today, Yahoo Music writes that rap artist and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am is being accused of plagiarism and, most likely, copyright infringement by a Russian DJ named Arty and his producer, Mat Zo.

According to the duo, Will.i.am’s recent song “Let’s Go”, which features Chris Brown, is a nearly note-for-note plagiarism of their 2011 song “Rebound”. Side-by-side YouTube comparisons seem to confirm the extreme similarities.

Brown has denied any involvement in the creation of the track other than recording vocals and neither Will.i.am nor his producer had any comment. Andy has told his fans that they do not need to defend him but there is no word if there is a plan to file a copyright infringement lawsuit.

2: Interpol Probe Targets Funds of Major File-Hosting Services

Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that payment processor iKoruna has cut ties with several file-hosting services but, according to the letter it sent those sites, it did so at the request of Internpol, an international law enforcement agency.

According to the letter, it was actually MasterCard and Visa that pressured iKoruna into taking the action but they, in turn, were doing so in cooperation with Interpol. Also according to the letter, all existing funds in the affected accounts were frozen pending a fraud investigation and would not be released until after it was completed.

Most of the sites appear to be online and accepting payments, either having alternate payment processors already in place or being able to find them quickly.

3: South Korean President Praises Psy for Copyright Nod

Finally today, The Agence France-Presse reports that South Korean President Park Geun-Hye recently praised the nation’s most-famous rap star, Psy, for his compliance with copyright in licensing a dance move he used in the video for his latest song “Gentelman”, which is a follow up to his previous hit “Gangnam Style”.

In his speech, Geun-Hye said that there is a need for South Korea to move from a manufacturing economy to a creative one and part of that means greater respect for intellectual property. To that end, he highlighted the recent work of Psy, who paid a licensing fee to the choreographers that developed the dance move he used in his latest video.

The amount Psy paid was not disclosed.

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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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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