3 Count: CuBert?

This is the first in a new daily column on Plagiarism Today where the site brings you three of the days biggest, most important copyright and plagiarism news links. If you want to offer your feedback on the column, use the contact form above or just follow me on Twitter at @plagiarismtoday.

1: Artist files suit against AP over Obama poster

Shepard Fairey, the creator of the famous Obama “Hope” poster, has decided to strike first in his war with the Associated Press, filing suit in New York seeking a “declaratory judgment holding Fairey’s works do not infringe any copyrights held by Defendant AP and are protected by the Fair Use Doctrine.”

Earlier reports that the AP had sued Fairey were misleading in that the AP has only demanded money from Fairey, not actually filed suit. However, now such a move seems almost inevitable. The AP is upset with the filing saying that, “At Mr. Fairey’s attorney’s request, we agreed AP would not pursue legal action while in these discussions. Instead, he chose to file on Monday morning, without any notice to AP.”

If this is any indication of where the suit is going, we’re looking for one ugly battle.

2: BBC uses copyright image from Flickr for News 24

Eagle eyes watching the BBC noticed that the background during a news broadcast, a picture the Birmingham skyline, was actually that of an “All Rights Reserved” image on Flickr. BBC has admitted the mistake, saying that it was testing new equipment and did not intend for the new image to go live and has offer a £75 usage fee for the mistake.

The artist has written back and is seeking a larger fee but no reply to the request has been received.

3: Really… CuBert?

Finally today, a new iPhone game called CuBert, bears what can only be described as a strong resemblance to the well-known arcade staple Q*Bert. The developers of the game, not even changing the color of the title character or any other elements of the game, beyond adapting it for the iPhone.

It seems likely that this app, much like Duck Hunt, will eventually be removed from the iPhone App store before too much longer.

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.

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