3 Count: UnRickRolled

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1: YouTube Confirms “Rickroll” Removal Was a Mistake, Brings Back Video

First off today, the Internet was shaken to its very meme core yesterday when the original Rickroll video was removed from YouTube for a terms of use violation. The video, which is really a copy of Rick Astley’s 1987 music video “Never Gonna Give You Up”, which people are tricked into seeing as a joke, was removed by accident by YouTube after it received several spam complaints, likely from those who fell for the prank. YouTube has now restored the video and Rick Astley, who is on vacation, has not commented on the temporary removal though his manager said he was “disappointed” in the removal.

2: EMI Appeals Against Down Under Ruling

Next up, EMI, the record label behind the Australian band “Men at Work” is appealing a recent court decision that found the band had infringed the rights of the song “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” for using two bars from the song in their 80s hit “Down Under”. According to EMI, the lower court placed too little weight on the amount of time that had passed before the similarities had been noticed and that the copyright was not correctly transferred to the plaintiffs.

3: Microsoft Kills Watchdog Website Due to Leaked Documents

Finally today, Microsoft sent a DMCA takedown notice to the host of leak site Cryptome claiming that their posting of a “Spy Guide” written by the company and leaked to the site was a violation of their copyright. The host, Network Solutions, told the site to remove the content by Thursday or face closure but the owner did not budge, causing the site to be shuttered on Wednesday evening. Microsoft has not commented on this story.

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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