3 Count: Tossed & Settled

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

1: UK Government Lays Out Digital Plans

First off today, in her annual Queen’s Speech, Queen Elizabeth II outlined her governments plans for the new year as it relates tot he digital world.

In those plans is included a controversial proposal that will attempt to blunt illegal file sharing in two phases. The first will see a large-scale education campaign and file sharers receiving notices if they are suspected of infringement. If that fails to bring about adequate change, then in 2011 the government would have reserve powers to take additional actions such as use technical measures and, in some cases, disconnect file sharers.

There is a great deal of controversy over this element of the bill, especially as it may run counter to EU law, which is moving to place Web access as a right that can only be removed by the courts.

Obviously, we will know more about this law when the actual bill begins to circulate.

2: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Plagiarism Lawsuit Tossed

Next up, the judge in the Elisabeth Hasselbeck lawsuit has tossed the case. The VIew co-host had been accused of plagiarizing portions of her book “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide” from self-published author Susan Hassett, who published a similar gluten-free cookbook and had, according to her testimony, sent Hasselbeck a copy after learning she suffered from a digestive disorder called celiac disease, which requires Hasselbeck to go on a gluten-free diet.

The lawsuit was dismissed because Hassett’s attorney, Richard Cunha, decided that, while, in his mind, there were incidents of plagiarism in the book, they were not worth pursuing, prompting the judge to dismiss the suit.

3: Adam Freeland Settles with Black Eyed Peas

Finally today, in a Facebook posting musician Adam Freeland announced that he has settled with the Black Eyed Peas. He had accused the band of using his song “Mancry” in their hit single “Party All the Time”. Black Eyed Peas admitted that there were elements of Mancry in the song, but said that it was an innocent mistake, not a plagiarism, as, according to them, their manager gave them the track to use.

Though the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed at this time, it appears that the results were favorable to Freeland as his posting also said, “If you see me in the next wk say ‘Party all the time’ I’ll buy you a beer. Woo hoop!”

The case had not reached a lawsuit but lawyers for the two sides began negotiating shortly after the allegations were first filed.

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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