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

1: Associated Press, Artist Settle in Obama ‘Hope’ Poster Lawsuit

First off today, Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the Obama “Hope” poster, has settled his long-running legal battle with the Associated Press. The AP, whose reporter took the photo that the poster was based on, claimed that the poster was an infringement but Fairey had claimed it was a fair use. However, the two sides agreed to disagree on the legal issues and Fairey has agreed to never use another AP photo in his artwork again. Also, there was an undisclosed financial settlement but we have no idea which way it went or for how much. A separate lawsuit involving a manufacturer of T-shirts with the image is continuing separately.

2: Sony Launches Legal Action Against PlayStation Hackers

Next up today, Sony has launched legal action against George Hotz and others who released the key for the PS3 that could, in the future, enable the running of any software on the system, including pirated games. Hotz, who is best known for breaking the security on the iPhone, is named alongside of 100 others associated with the hacking group fail0verflow, which was responsible for the leak. Hotz has said that he is confident the legal action won’t succeed and is ready to defend himself against it.

3: Record Labels To Pay $45 Million for Pirating Artists’ Music

Finally today, in Canada, record labels have agreed to pay some $45 million for copyright infringement. The lawsuit stems from a “pending list” in which labels would use tracks on compilation CDs and, rather than paying the royalties, put the track on the list to be paid later. Artists, fed up with the unpaid royalties sued the labels. Though the damages could have been as high as $6 billion, the two sides agreed on a settlement that would bring all existing pending list claims up to code. However, it seems that the practice itself is unlikely to change.

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 6 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.

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

1: AP and Mannie Garcia, Photographer at Center of Shepard Fairey Case, Drop Claims Against Each Other

First off today, in an act that will likely simplify the Shepard Fairey case, Mannie Garcia and the Associated Press have dropped their claims against each other, leaving only their respective claims against Fairey himself. Fairey famously used an AP photo, taken by Mannie Garcia, as the basis of his “Hope” poster during the 2008 election. However, Garcia and the AP had sued each other, in addition to Fairey disputing ownership of the image. Fairey argues his use of the image was a fair use though recently avoided sanctions for providing false evidence in the case.

2: Welcome to the Dollhouse: Bratz-Barbie Fight Takes Nasty New Turn

Next up today, the MGA/Mattel case over the Bratz doll line has taken a new twist. MGA, the makers of Bratz, were sued by Mattel, which claimed that the original designer for the doll line was working for them when he created them and that the dolls were Mattel’s property. The lower court agreed but the Appeals Court reversed the judgement and now MGA has filed a counter-suit accusing Mattel of corporate espionage, largely by faking credentials to gain access to private showings of MGA future products. According to MGA the reason this is coming about now is due to information gleaned from a deposition related to the Bratz case, potentially opening up a new dispute between the two companies.

3: GGF Plans To Buy and Legalize Demonoid

Finally today, Global Gaming Factory, headed by Hans Pandeya, has announced its intention to buy the bittorrent tracker Demonoid and attempt to legitimize it. Pandeya is best known for his two attempts to buy The Pirate Bay, neither of which went through, but Pandeya has expressed hope that this time it will work and said that now he has the funds in place to make the buyout work. Other torrent sites are being considered but Demonoid is the primary target at this time.

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 6 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.

It is Friday again and that means that it is time for another episode of the Copyright 2.0 Show.

Due to the holiday weekend it was something of a slow week for copyright news so Patrick and I decided to try something new. We spent some of podcast taking your questions and also getting your opinion on the stories as well.

All in all, there were eleven stories this week including news from all over the copyright world including our “Weird Story of the Week”.

This week’s stories include:

• ISOHunt Loses, Then Goes Lite
• Stan Lee Wins His Copyright Dispute
• Judge in Fairey Case Demands Information
• Photography/Artist Organizations Plan to Sue Google
• La Dolce Vita Porn Parody Spared in Court
• And Many more…

You can download the MP3 file here (direct download). Those interested in subscribing to the show can do so via this feed.

Show Notes

About the Hosts

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey (@plagiarismtoday) is the Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today (Hint: You’re there now) and works as a copyright and plagiarism consultant. Though not an attorney, he has resolved over 700 cases of plagiarism involving his own work and has helped countless others protect their work and develop strategies for making their content work as hard as possible toward their goals.

Patrick O’Keefe

Patrick O’Keefe (@iFroggy) is the owner of the iFroggy Network, a network of websites covering various interests. He’s the author of the book “Managing Online Forums,” a practical guide to managing online communities and social spaces. He maintains a blog about online community management at ManagingCommunities.com and a personal blog at patrickokeefe.com.

1: U.K. Ministers Water Down Copyright Powers

First off today, we have more updated on the Digital Economy Bill (or Digital Britain legislation as it is often referred to). It appears that there has been a push recently to weaken one of the bill’s more controversial elements, which would have given Ministers the opportunity to make changes to copyright law without parliamentary oversight.

A new amendment to the bill would not revoke that power completely, but would now only be able to amend the law by statute if the risk of infringement was “significant” and, even then, parliamentary scrutiny would be able to take place.

The section was designed to provide swift action to deal with legal issues raised by new technologies but companies such as Google and Facebook had raised objections over notion saying it could hamper innovation.

2: Anti-Piracy Agency’s Logo Broke Copyright

Next up today, the newly formed French anti-online piracy police unit Hadopi, got something of a black eye when they unveiled their new logo only to find out a few hours later that it was infringing copyright itself.

It turned out the logo used a typeface named “bonjour”, which was designed by graphic designer Jean-Francois Porchez, who sold it solely to France Telecom.

The French government admitted the mistake, as has the design agency that created the logo, and has “tweaked” the logo. However, Porchez is reportedly still considering a lawsuit and is working with the government to find a solution.

3: Obama Poster Battle and the DMCA

Finally today, a hat tip goes to @davidsanger for alerting me to this interesting piece in Law.com, analyzing the DMCA issues in the Shepherd Fairey case.

The DMCA, in section 1202, forbids the removal of copyright management information or CMI. What Fairey did, taking a photograph from the AP and turning it into the now-famous Obama “Hope” poster, did indeed remove CMI from the image, including metadata hidden inside and any watermarks that might have been on it. However, it is unclear if this section applies to analog works or even to these kinds of modification.

The courts are incredibly divided on this issue with rulings all over the map on how to apply this section of the law. The article provides a great analysis of some of the more prominent cases and looks at the logic behind them.

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.

Is this thing on? It’s been a month since the last show and longer since Patrick was on the show but not we are back and we have the regular crew working. Both me and Patrick are here and we do our best to recap the big stories while we were gone but, most importantly, recap the past week of news and get back into the flow.

All in all, there were thirteen stories this week including news from all over the copyright world including our “Weird Story of the Week”.

This week’s stories include:

• Skype is Saved!
• Viacom May Have Dirt on YouTube
• Fairey Admits to Lying
• Pirate Bay Admins Banned From Running Site
• “Psycho-Acoustic Simulation”
• And Many more…

You can download the MP3 file here (direct download). Those interested in subscribing to the show can do so via this feed.

Show Notes

About the Hosts

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey (@plagiarismtoday) is the Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today (Hint: You’re there now) and works as a copyright and plagiarism consultant. Though not an attorney, he has resolved over 700 cases of plagiarism involving his own work and has helped countless others protect their work and develop strategies for making their content work as hard as possible toward their goals.

Patrick O’Keefe

Patrick O’Keefe (@iFroggy) is the owner of the iFroggy Network, a network of websites covering various interests. He’s the author of the book “Managing Online Forums,” a practical guide to managing online communities and social spaces. He maintains a blog about online community management at ManagingCommunities.com and a personal blog at patrickokeefe.com.

1: AP to Obama ‘Hope’ Artist’s Lawyers: We’d Like You to Stick Around

First off today, as discussed earlier this week, the Shepard Fairey lawsuit took a strange turn when Fairey admitted he misled the Associated Press, who is suing him, and the court about which image he used for his famous Obama “Hope” poster. At about the same time, Fairey’s attorneys, filed a intention to withdraw, indicating that they no longer wished to represent Fairey in the case.

However, the AP is not going to make that easy for them. They have filed an opposition to the withdraw saying that it would, “significantly prejudice The AP as it would take new counsel a substantial amount of time to come up to speed.”

Fairey was sued by the AP for copyright infringement after the AP learned that his “Hope” poster was based upon one of their images. However, Fairey had contended that he used a different image, one taken by freelance photographer Mannie Garcia, and not an AP image. However, he has now admitted he used the AP image, which is much mores similar to his final work, and to having submitted false documents to the court and to trying to destroy some electronic records.

The AP has also added Obey Clothing, a clothing line started by Fairey, as a defendant to the lawsuit and noted that Fairey had previously licensed images from the company, including an image of a Palestinian woman he used in one of his prints.

2: A Copyright Complaint From China

Next up today the Google Book Search settlement has yet another opponent, this time, however, it is China expressing its opposition to the deal. The China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) is urging its members and other Chinese authors to search for their works in the service and “be prepared to take further action to protect their legal rights.”

The CWWCS has pledged to fight the deal, which would have allowed Google to scan, display and sell copies of in-copyright but out-of-print works, but says they hope to reach a settlement with the company. Still, they have not ruled out a lawsuit as a means to resolving the matter.

The group joins the ranks for Germany and France with their strong opposition to the deal, which is currently being revised to meet a November 9 deadline following objections from the Department of Justice.

3: Apology for Singing Shop Worker

Finally today, the Performing Rights Society in the UK has apologized to a Clackmannanshire grocery store worker names Sandra Burt after they told her she could not sing while she worked without a license. This came after the PRS threatened the store if they didn’t acquire a license for playing a radio within earshot of customers, prompting the store to remove the radio and Burt to sing to her self as she stocked shelves.

According to Burt, no matter what she did, she could not stop herself from singing.

In addition to a formal apology, Burt also received a bouquet of flowers and more than a few compliments on her singing voice.

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.

1: Photographer stakes claim to Obama poster

First off today, the Shepherd Fairey case has just gotten more interesting as the original photographer of the image in question, Mannie Garcia, claims he never assigned the rights in the photo to the AP and has filed papers stating as such. The AP, however, claims that he was an employee of the company at the time and the photo is a work for hire.

The case centers around the Obama “Hope” poster, which Fairey created based on Garcia’s photograph. According to Fairey, his use of the image was a fair use and that it doesn’t matter who owns the image, the Associated Press, however, now has another obstacle to overcome in its case.

The AP is said to be investigating Garcia’s claim but believes that they have the rights to the image in question.

2: Zookz: A license to infringe?

Next up today, a new startup based in Antigua, Zookz, is causing quite a stir by allowing members to download unlimited movies or music for $10 per month or $18 for both. Though it might seem as if they are taunting a giant, they say they are covered because, due to a WTO ruling, Antigua is authorized to ignore U.S. intellectual property to the tune of $21 million per year.

However, though copyright holders don’t dispute the WTO ruling, they do say that Zookz is not covered by it. Antigua would have to seek permission from the WTO to take specified actions and no one has made a request for Zookz or any other company for that matter. There is also a dispute as to exactly how the $21 million would be calculated and the ruling would still prevent Zookz from infringing the rights of other nation’s copyrights.

The end result is that it seems as if Zookz theory is a bit far-fetched, but a noble effort of creativity nonetheless.

3: Warner Music Group Deletes Keyboard Cat Track from YouTube

Finally today, Keyboard cat, the famous cat who “plays off” people in dumb or funny YouTube clips may have seen the end to his “collaboration” with Hall & Oates. Warner Music Group, the owners of the label, demanded the removal of a keyboard cat video that featured the band and their music video for “You Make My Dreams Come True”.

The mashup had been one of the more popular keyboard cat videos and now it is springing up on other sites, giving way to the idea that the Streisand effect may be taking hold here, making the video more popular than ever.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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.

1: AT&T first to test RIAA antipiracy plan

First off today, AT&T, one of the United States’ largest ISPS, has begun a trial of the “graduated response” system, sending out warning letters to alleged file shares. They join Comcast and Cox in this project but AT&T has become the first to actually send out the first warning letters.

AT&T has clarified and said that they do not plan on disconnecting any customers without a court order but their letters do indicate that they reserve the right to terminate services. According to them, they have the right to terminate users that engage in “illegal activity” but that they are the finders of fact and will not disconnect solely on the word of copyright holders.

Where I am in New Orleans, the two major ISPs are Cox and AT&T with Comcast holding most of the neighboring area. Meaning file sharers near me don’t have a lot of options if they want to avoid this system.

2: AP Invokes DMCA Against Obama “Hope” Poster Artist

Next, the lawsuit between Shepard Fairey and the AP over the Obama Hope poster has taken yet another strange twist. As the EFF discusses, one of the elements of the AP’s counterclaims against Fairey includes a mention of stripping out Copyright Management Information (CMI).

According to the DMCA, it is illegal to strip out CMI, which the law defines as “identifying information about the work, the author, the copyright owner, and in certain cases, the performer, writer or director of the work, as well as the terms and conditions for use of the work,” however the information must be affixed to the work itself, not displayed around it.

The complaint alleges that Fairey’s removal of metadata and an attribution line beside the image amount to a violation of their CMI and are seeking damages, in part, on those grounds.

3: Myspace Banishment, LastFM, my Mp3 albums for $1.09

Finally today, in a tale of content identification gone horribly wrong, when musician Emily Bezar attempted to upload some of her own music tracks to her Myspace page, she got an ugly surprise when Myspace flagged her MP3s as infringing.

According to Bezar, “somehow during the convoluted process of ripping them from my CDs, uploading, waiting around for myspace to crunch them into distorted granola and exhibit them for you here etc…. somehow I got flagged as a “copyright violator” who risked ‘termination of myspace privileges’ because I had, well, ripped and uploaded mp3s from my own self-produced CDs.”

Bezar has instead decided to stream her music from Last.FM and is offering her CDs for download for $1.09 at CDBaby.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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.

1: AP Countersues Over Use Of Obama Image By Artist Shepard Fairey

It was an inevitability. Yesterday, the Associated Press filed and answer to Shepard Fairey’s preemptive lawsuit and, along with it, filed a counter-suit for copyright infringement.

Fairey, the artist behind the famous Obama “Hope” poster, admitted to using an AP photo as the basis of the work. The AP had threatened Fairey and were reportedly in negotiations with him over the matter only to have Fairey file a suit against the AP seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement.

It now seems that what little hope remained for a peaceful settlement has been dashed and this case will be heading for the courts.

2: French anti-P2P law toughest in the world

In a move that might make France the first country with a national law calling for the disconnection of file sharers, the national assembly is now debating what is being called the world’s “toughest” anti-file sharing law.

The French law, if enacted, would allow copyright holds to notify ISPs of suspected infringements and require the ISPs to take action against those identified. The first two times would result in warnings from the ISPs and the third would result in a disconnection of up to one year. A blacklist would make it difficult for a disconnected file sharer to simply move to another carrier.

In return, French DVDs will receive an earlier release date and movie companies will have to abandon much of their DRM.

Given the controversy of a similar law in New Zealand, it seems likely that this one will be met with similar opposition in France.

3: Top Artists Strike Back at Greedy Music Labels

Finally today, a group of musicians including Robbie Williams, Radiohead and Travis has formed the Featured Artists Coalition in an attempt to end what it calls the “extortion-like” actions of the recording industry.

Though the focus is on how the relationship between the labels and artists, there is also a great deal of interest by the FAC over how the labels have treated fans as well, including a case where Travis tried to encourage their fans to share their music, only to have their label go after some of those same fans.

The FAC currently boasts over 20 musicians and bands from around the world.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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.

1: New Kindle Audio Feature Causes a Stir

Publishers are expressing concern that a new feature of the Kindle 2, which reads eBooks aloud using a text-to-speech converter may be infringing. According to Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, the new feature is a derivative work under copyright law and that “They (Amazon) don’t have the right to read a book out loud.”

Others have been quick to point out that the new Kindle does not actually make a new copy of the work to read it aloud, just simply presents the information in audio format, similar to what screen readers do now on the Web for the visually impaired. Others have asked questions about whether or not a person reading a book aloud to themselves could be considered an infringement.

It is unclear what, if any, action the Authors Guild plans on taking over the Kindle at this time.

2: Shepard Fairey: OBEY my lawyers

In a story that has been somewhat slow to trickle out, accusations are that Fairey has been somewhat hypocritical on his views of copyright have begun to trickle out. The embattled artist, still embroiled in a legal tangle with the Associated Press over his Obama “Hope” poster, allegedly sent a cease and desist letter to at least one artist, Baxter Orr, who tried to repurpose Fairey’s work.

Orr had made a parody of Fairey’s famous “Obey” giant poster by putting a SARS mask over the mouth and writing “Protect Yourself” underneath it. Fairey responded, according to Orr, by having his legal team send a cease and desist letter.

Though this may not affect the legal issues in his current battle, this has caused many to question whether Fairey is as pure-intentioned as some have been lead to believe.

3: DRM’s demise clears way for home audio innovation

Finally today, gadget gurus are hoping that the demise of DRM on music may herald a new renaissance for home audio, especially “whole home” audio systems that allow listeners to hear music in any room and control it with a remote.

Since the systems required both a networked home, something an increasing number of homes are becoming, and access to the music, the removal of DRM may mean that the final barrier of entry is gone, paving the way for innovation and freeing users from the hassle of blaring a stereo in one room just to hear it in another.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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 below or send me an email using the contact form above. 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.