3 Count: Baidu You Too

Jonathan BaileyApril 1, 2011

2 minutes read

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

1: China’s Baidu to Compensate Songwriters for Music Downloads

First off today the Chinese search engine Baidu has announced that it will now start working with Music Copyright Society of China to pay royalties to songwriters for every file downloaded via its MP3 search service. Baidu had been repeatedly slammed for making it easy to find links to pirated music files, including being labeled a “notorious market” in a recent U.S. government report. But while Baidu is now offering payments to songwriters, record labels will not receive any compensation as that, according to Baidu, would require a separate agreement.

2: Film Company Suing Thousands of Pirates Might Have A Big Problem

Next up today, Camelot Entertainment Group, which had been suing over 5,000 alleged files sharers over the largely unknown B movie “Nude Nuns with Big Guns” may have a problem with their litigation. The company, which took a loan out to purchase the rights to the movie along with over 800 other titles, has had that loan foreclosed upon after they failed to make payments. That means Incentive Capital. the firm that loaned Camelot the money, is now the rightful film owner, putting Camelot in the position of suing for a movie they hold no rights in.

3: Northwestern ‘Cage Match’ Canceled Due to Copyright Issue

Finally today, a charity marathon at Northwestern University has been postponed indefinitely due to unspecific copyright issues. Students had been planning to hold a “Cage Match” where they would watch some 16 Nicholas Cage movies back-to-back without breaks to raise money for the charity. The event was to be livestreamed over the Web, with only the students being shown and not the movies. Proceeds from the event were to go to Amnesty International. It is unclear what copyright issues prompted the move.

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.