3 Count: Going En Banc

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

1: ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Battle: Copyright Registration Denied, Facebook Weighing In

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that the U.S. Copyright Office has denied an attempt to register the performance of Cindy Garcia, a woman who appeared in the controversial “Innocence of Muslims” trailer that sparked outrage across much of the world.

After the trailer went viral and became the focus of international attention, Garcia claimed that she was duped into appearing in the trailer, having performed a part for an action film and having her voice dubbed over. She sought to have the trailer pulled down but was denied by Google since they felt she didn’t hold a copyright interest. Garcia sued Google claiming that she did because she didn’t sign any waivers and, while the district account agreed with Google, a 9th Circuit ruling recently upheld her arguments.

However, the Copyright Office also seems to agree she doesn’t have a copyright interest in the work, denying the attempt to register the work. Also, one of the judges in the 9th Circuit has filed a request to have the entire nine-judge panel review the case en banc, rather than letting the three-judge panel ruling stand. Finally, in a last piece of news in the case, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have all requested permission to file briefs in the case, all supporting Google’s position.

2: House Panel to Talk Copyright Online

Next up today, Kate Tummarello and Julian Hattem at The Hill report that the House Judiciary subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing today on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the “safe harbor” provision that protect ISPs from copyright liability and creates the “notice and takedown” system that is used in the United States.

The hearing included testimony from Katherine Oyama, the senior copyright policy counsel at Google, Paul Sieminski, the general counsel of Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com) and Maria Schneider, a composer and representative of The Recording Academy.

The hearing is part of the committee’s review of copyright law and addressed issues of DMCA abuse, whether the DMCA was an effective process for removing infringing works and alternatives to the current system.

3: Mona Scott-Young Sued for $50 Million Over ‘Love & Hip Hop’

Finally today, Sonya Eskridge at S2S Magazine writes that Mona Scott-Young, the CEO of Monami Entertainment, has been sued by 8th Wonder Entertainment over the show “Love & Hip Hop”, which is a reality show that follows the lives of women who are involved with the hip hop industry.

According to the plaintiffs, they pitched the idea of the show to Scott-Young and were denied only to have her go on and produce the show without them, even including some of the original proposed cast members.

The plaintiffs are seeking some $50 million in damages and have also added VH1, MTV Networks and Viacom to the lawsuit.

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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