3 Count: Tough TufAmerica

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1: Beastie Boys Drop the Bomb in ‘Paul’s Boutique’ Sampling Lawsuit

First off today, Eriq Garnder at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that The Beastie Boys, fresh off their legal victory against Monster Energy drink over unauthorized use of their songs in a promotional video, have hit back against TufAmerica, a record label suing them over samples used on the Paul’s Boutique album.

According to TufAmerica, The Beastie Boys used samples from the band Trouble Funk on the album without properly clearing them. This lawsuit follows similar ones from TufAmerica against LL Cool J, Frank Ocean and Jay Z. However, The Beastie Boys have filed a motion of summary judgment alleging that TufAmerica doesn’t hold the rights to the songs and that the 1999 agreement they signed with Trouble Funk is preempted by a pair of agreements signed with Island Records, an affiliate of Universal in 1984 and 1989.

According to The Beastie Boys and their attorneys, the members of Trouble Funk had no ability to sell the rights to TufAmerica, meaning that the label has no grounds to file the suit. According to the band this applies to both the recording and the composition, both of which TufAmerica are suing over.

2: World Cup 2014: Brazil Furious Over Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro in Italian Football Colors

Next up today, Nick Squires at The Telegraph reports that, as the world prepares for kickoff in the upcoming World Cup, another battle may be kicking off as well. The Catholic Church in Brazil says that it is upset with the Italian broadcaster Rai over a commercial showing the Christ the Reemer statue wearing an Italian soccer jersey.

The commercial, which promotes the World Cup on the network, shows a digitally-altered version of the statue wearing a trademark blue Italian jersey. The Catholic Church of Brazil, which owns the rights to the iconic statue, is threatening to sue Rai for between 15 and 21 million real ($6.75-$9.4 million) in damages, with a promise to donate the award if they win.

Another commercial in the 1998 world cup, this one in France for the tire company Pirelli, stoked similar ire from the Archdiocese, which is said to be “deeply offended” by the Italian commercial.

3: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Weapon Skin Removed After DMCA Takedown Notice

Finally today, Phil Savage at PC Gamer reports that Valve, the company that operates the Steam content distribution system has removed the M4A4: Howl, one of the most expensive weapon skins for the game Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS:GO) after a DMCA notice revealed that the individuals who were selling it were not the rightful owners of the artwork.

The skin was uploaded via the Steam Workshop and was sold to players who wanted to customize their in-game weapons. After receiving the DMCA notice, Valve took quick action to pull the skin down but went further and banned the contributors who uploaded the infringing work, replaced the existing copies with an alternative design and agreed to no longer accept any submissions in which the contributors were involved.

Valve also said that it goes beyond merely accepting DMCA notices and also allows community members to report plagiarism and encourages users to do so.

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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