3 Count: Not En Vogue

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1: Madonna and Music Producer Win ‘Vogue’ Sampling Lawsuit

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that a lawsuit filed against Madonna and her produce Robert “Shep” Pettibone has been dismissed by a district court judge after he found that the sampling involved was “trivial”.

The pair were sued by VMG Salsoul, which is the owner of the 1976 composition “Love Break”. VGA Salsoul claimed that Madonna and her producer used a horn sample from the song in the 1990 hit “Vogue” and further claimed that it was only through modern detection techniques that the sampling was discovered.

However, the court ruled that it the sampling wasn’t likely to be noticed and was “de minimis or trivial” and dismissed the case, noting that if it took the plaintiff so long to find the sample, most likely the audience didn’t notice it either.

2: Court Orders ISPs to Block Russia’s Facebook and Rapidgator

Next up today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes that, in Italy, a court has ordered ISPs to block vKontakte, a Russian social networking site, Rapidgator, a cyberlocker site, and a host of other file sharing sites.

vKontakte is a social networking site, often referred to as Russia’s Facebook, but it also provides services for hosting and sharing files, which has made parts of the site a haven for pirated content.

Medusa Film, a large media giant in the country, petitioned the Public Prosecutor of Rome to issue the blockade, saying that the matter was urgent and the sites involved are actively harming their copyrighted works. The prosecutor agreed and ordered the sites blocked ahead of a full hearing on the matter.

3: Graffiti Mecca 5Pointz Whitewashed Overnight

Finally today, Jeanmarie Evelly at DNAinfo New York reports that, in New York, the well-known graffiti “museum” 5Pointz was whitewashed overnight, with all of the artwork being destroyed with white paint.

The site, which is currently an abandoned series of industrial buildings, had become, with permission from the owners, a haven for graffiti. The site attracted artists form all over the world coming to leave their work on its walls. However, the owners of the site now seek to tear it down to make way for new development but that prompted many of the artists to sue claiming that the destruction would be a violation of their copyrights under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA).

However, the judge ruled that he could not grant an injunction against the developers and that paved the way for the demolition to begin. That effort began last night with the whitewashing of all of the walls in the 5Pointz complex.

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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