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: All Shook Up: Small Traders Hit by Music Snoops

Things are quickly turning ugly in the United Kingdom as music copyright holders, spearheaded by the Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS) have been hitting up every smaller and smaller business for licensing rights. The organization, which more typically obtains royalties for music played in clubs and bars, has been turning its sights to smaller business, including business with just one person working.

Though most of the truly outrageous claims have been dropped, businesses and organizations that have music playing where multiple people can hear it, even if it just an audience of employees, can likely expect some level of “hounding” from the PRS soon.

2: FT.com vs. Blackstone

Speaking of businesses sharing access to copyrighted works, the Financial Times has sued the asset management firm the Blackstone Group alleging that the company had distributed login information for their Web site, for which subscriptions can run up to $300 per year for their premium service. According to the Times, a single login at Blackstone had been accessing thousands and thousands of articles on the site in a “fraud” that had possibly been going on since 2002.

The suit doesn’t say exactly how much the company wants in damages but it does raise some interesting question for other login-sharing services, such as Bugmenot.

3: EU Plots Pirate Bay Ban and Piracy Clampdown

Finally in today’s 3 count, Torrent freak has an article on a new EU report that provides a wide variety of proposals on how to deal with piracy in the EU. It includes, among other things, the use of a graduated response (known as “three strikes” system in the U.S.) to disconnect file sharers and ISP filtering of infringing content/sites.

The report, which is due for a vote in the coming weeks, will no doubt be controversial in the EU, which has twice voted down the graduated response system.

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.