3 Count: Princely Settlement

Jonathan BaileyMarch 19, 2014

2 minutes read

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

1: Richard Prince Settles Copyright Suit With Patrick Cariou Over Photographs

First off today, in the third major settlement in 24 hours, Randy Kennedy at the New York Times reports that photographer Patrick Cariou, a photographer, has settled his lawsuit with artist Richard Prince over Prince’s appropration art, which made use of some of his images.

Cariou sued Prince after Prince released a series of works based on Cariou’s photographs with drawn elements added on top of them. The lower court found in favor of Cariou, ruling that the images were an infringement, but the appeals court found that 25 of the 30 images were a fair use and the remaining five were sent back to the lower court for reconsideration.

The terms of the settlement over those five images has not been disclosed but it is known that Prince has agreed to destroy the images in question.

2: Pandora Emerges Mostly Unscathed in Legal Showdown with Songwriters

Next up today, Joe Silver at Ars Technica reports that a federal judge in the ASCAP rate court has ruled that music streaming service Pandora must pay songwriters 1.85 percent of their total revenue, an increase over the current rates but still far less than what songwriters had hoped for.

The Internet radio service currently pays 1.7 percent of their revenue to songwriters and had hoped to keep it there. Songwriters, however, had hoped to raise that amount to 1.85 percent the first year and then see year to year increases between now and 2015 that would raise it to 3 percent.

Most see this ruling as a victory for ASCAP with Sony/ATV Music CEO Martin Bandier saying that it emphasizes the need to reform the rate court. ASCAP itself, however, noted that the amount is higher than what terrestrial radio stations pay, calling the ruling a victory.

3: Copyright Office Opens Up for Comments Ahead of Overhaul

Finally today, Ed Christman at Billboard reports that the U.S. Copyright Office has announced a request for comment on a copyright review it is performing and is particularly seeking comments on issues related to digital streaming and licensing of music.

Specifically, the review is looking at digital streaming requires compulsory licenses, whether the consent degrees that govern ASCAP and BMI should be revised and whether federal copyright protection should be extended to pre-1972 sound recordings, which are currently protected under a hodgepodge of state laws.

The request for comment runs from now through May 16, 2014 and is part of a larger review of copyright law, that is also ongoing in Congress.

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.