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1: Ditching DRM Could Reduce Piracy, Prices, Inconvenience

First off today, a recent paper out of Duke and Rice Universities says that removing DRM from various copyrighted works could reduce piracy and drive down costs. According to the paper, DRM only punishes legitimate customers, driving many to pirate content so they can use their acquired content in the manner they want. The paper appears in the latest issue of Marketing Science.

2: Righthaven Asks Appeals Court to Block Dismantling of the Company

Next up today, Righthaven, the company famous for filing no-warning lawsuits against bloggers and forum admins allegedly reposting content from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, is facing yet another major problem. Previously ordered to pay approximately $34,000 in legal fees to a defendant that beat them, Righthaven had been instructed to post a bond in that amount but has been unable to procure such a bond and is now asking the court to stay the decision pending their appeal. Otherwise, according to Righthaven, that amount could bankrupt the company.

3: Beyoncé Accused of ‘Stealing’ Dance Moves in New Video

Finally today, singer Beyoncé’s new music video for her song “Countdown” is causing a plagiarism stir, but not over the music. According to Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, many of Beyoncé’s dance moves were plagiarized from her routines. A video showing the similarities side-by-side has emerged and Keersmaeker has hinted that she may sue over the alleged plagiarism. The video’s co-director, Adria Petty, has talked previously about showing videos of European contemporary dance as inspiration for the routines in the video.

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.

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

1: Beyonce’s Record Company Puts a Ring On Her YouTube Channel

First off today, Beyonce’s official YouTube channel suffered a blow as Sony, Beyonce’s label, ordered the removal of her video for “Put a Ring on It”. The takedown appears likely to have been in error though the video remained down all weekend. However, contrary to the article’s title, the majority of Beyonce’s channel appears to be unaffected, including other music videos, as it is just the one video that is down. Unfortunately though, it happens to be the most recent one.

2: Big Content: Stopping P2P Should be “Principal Focus” of IP Czar

Next up today, the day before the deadline, the RIAA, MPAA, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild, and other groups filed their recommendations to Victoria Espinel, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator for the Obama administration at the request of her office. According to their filing, the “principle focus” of the new office should be to “turn the tide” against P2P file sharing. The relatively thin filing, only two pages, cites four studies, which are viewed as dubious the author of the article, and gives each industry a chance to report its own loses due to P2P file sharing.

3: Economists Urge Government to Stop War on Piracy

Finally today, even as the major content players in the U.S. were filing a petition for greater enforcement of P2P, two economists in Spain were publishing a report calling for eased restrictions on copyright and an end of the war on file sharing. According to the report, such a clampdown benefits major copyright holders “at the expense of users and lesser-known artists” and time would be better spent developing new business models. The report comes as Spain, which has legal non-commercial file sharing, is considering new legislation to clamp down on file sharing sites.

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.

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Saturday morning for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Monday morning right here on Plagiarism Today.

Remember, the linkroll below is a “raw” link collection. Some stories are repeated and others don’t point to their original source. I did a great deal of massaging and reworking to craft the show notes for the actual Copyright 2.0 Show.

The next episode should be posted on that site Sunday and will make its usual appearance here first thing Monday morning.

Hope you are having a great weekend!