3 Count: Orphaned Black

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1: Writer Sues BBC for Stealing ‘Orphan Black’

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Steven Hendricks has filed a $5 million copyright infringement suit against the BBC and producer Temple Street over the drama Orphan Black, saying that it is an infringement of his work.

According to Hendricks, he penned a screenplay entitled “Double Double” in the 1990s. After registering it with the Writers Guild of America, Hendricks claims that Temple Street asked him to email a summary of the script, which he did along with the document itself. He says Temple Street passed but now alleges that Orphan Black uses “the same, unusual core copyrightable expression as the screenplay.”

Specifically, Hendricks takes issue with the fact that both Orphan Black and his screenplay involved the “clandestine” creation of clones that send very similar protagonists and nearly identically quests for discovery. Hendricks is also suing for breach of implied contract.

2: Nigeria: Coson Sues First Bank for Alleged Copyright Infringement

Next up today, Michael Abimboye at All Africa reports that The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has filed a N700 Million ($4.3 million) lawsuit against First Bank claiming that the local bank failed to secure any licenses before using music that is represented by the organization.

The lawsuit, according to COSON, is pat of a larger effort to “sanitize the copyright environment in Nigeria” and comes as the group is in negotiations with broadcasters in the country to try and hammer out royalty payment agreements for music.

At specific issue in the laws uit is the use of music by First Bank in its marketing, promotion in advertising, all of which COSON says was unlicensed.

3: Aereo Case Will Shape TV’s Future

Finally today, David Carr at The New York Times reports that tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Aereo, a case that will determine the future of the TV streaming startup and could have much broader impacts on television.

Aereo is a TV streaming service that uses a series of tiny antennas, one per customer, to capture/record over-the-air broadcast television and then stream it to customers over the Web. Broadcasters have sued Aereo in many different jurisdictions with mixed results, the case in New York, which was a victory for Aereo, is now heading to the Supreme Court.

With limited news about Aereo today, the op-ed pages were discussing it heavily over the weekend and this is just one of dozens of very interesting stories about the case you should check out ahead of the hearing tomorrow. Here’s a link to a Google News Search that includes, many, many more stories to look at.

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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