3 Count: Inflatable Gorillas

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1: Steinbeck Family Lose Latest Round in Copyright Feud

First off today, John Steinbeck’s son and granddaughter have lost their latest battle over his copyrights. An Appeals Court ruled yesterday that the estate and all of his copyrights belong to Elaine Steinbeck, John Steinbeck’s third wife. This decision reaffirmed a lower court ruling on the subject. According to the plaintiffs, Elaine had not met her obligations to Steinbeck’s other heirs and was enriching herself unjustly on the royalties of Steinbeck’s popular works, which include The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. According to the plaintiffs, they are considering what their next move will be.

2: Pirate Party Leader and Anti-Piracy Boss Clash in Twitter Fight

Next up today, in a very rare public spat, the head of the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN, Tim Kuik, and head of the Dutch Pirate Party Samir Allioui, traded barbs via Twitter. The argument started after Kuik highlighted a Dutch newspaper article about why sharing copyrighted files was wrong. Allioui posted a rebuttal and directed it Kuik and the two began to trade barbs. The, at times vulgar, exchange ended with Kuik saying Allioui had sought a job from BREIN, something Allioui denies. The argument ended this morning, likely after a night’s rest, with Kuik saying that he was done with the “Claptrap party” and was moving on to “real work”.

3: Inflatable Giant Gorilla Attacks Google (for Copyright Infringement)–Scherba v. Google

Finally today Scherba Industries, a companies that makes inflatable gorillas is suing Google for copyright infringement. According to Scherba, Google ran an advertising campaign for its Adwords product that included an image of an inflatable gorilla that looked a great deal like Scherba’s. As a result, Scherba filed a copyright infringement suit against Google seeking a declaratory judgement, an injunction and damages.

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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