3 Count: Black Friday

Jonathan BaileyApril 4, 2011

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1: Rebecca Black Fighting Ark Music Factory over ‘Friday’

First off today, YouTube sensation Rebecca Black, best known for her meme-generating song “Friday”, is in a copyright squabble with Ark Music Factory, the company that she and her mother, Georgina Marquez Kelly, paid to produce the Friday song and video. According to Black’s family, Ark has not completed its obligations to them by not returning the master recordings and using the song in an unauthorized manner, including selling it on iTunes. Ark says that no such agreement exists and that they are within their rights to exploit the song. However, there also appears to be a very deep divide in the Ark camp itself as people seem to be saying different things, with some agreeing with Kelly and others casting doubt on the alleged terms of the agreement. At stake is possibly millions in sales as the song has already reached 32 on Billboard’s charts.

2: Company Says SeaWorld Took Ideas for Several Attractions, Files Suit

Next up today Revere Entertainment Studios has filed suit in Florida against SeaWorld and its parent companies claiming that they incorporated elements of Revere’s ride and park designs into their theme park even as the two sides were supposedly negotiating a partnership to develop SeaWorld. Among the rides and elements listed are the “Sea Carousel” ride, “A’lure, The Call of the Ocean” show and “Manta” rollercoaster at SeaWorld’s Orlando location as well as various other attractions at other parks. SeaWorld has not commented on the lawsuit.

3: Music Industry Will Force Licenses on Amazon Cloud Player �” or Else

Finally today, we have some additional industry insight on Amazon’s launch of its Cloud Music Player service, which enables users to upload and stream their music anywhere. Amazon launched the service without obtaining licenses from any of the record labels, an act that will likely prompt a lawsuit. According to reports, record labels are currently in negotiations with both Google and Apple to set up and license similar service and are involved in legal battles with other such services, including MP3Tunes. Industry insiders expect a lawsuit against Amazon shortly, citing the need to enforce their license mandate in court or risk losing similar licensing agreements with other providers and the revenue they might bring.

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.