3 Count: Going Green

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

1: European Greens Want to Legalize File-Sharing, Ban DRM

First off today, in the EU, the Green Party, the organizations fifth-largest political party, has adopted a copyright platform very similar to the Pirate Party’s that includes the legalization of file sharing, a shortening of the term of copyright to 5 years (with a possible extension to 20) and a banning of DRM (or decriminalization of circumvention of it). The party, which controls 55 seats in the 735 seat parliament, will be joined by the 2 Pirate Party members on this platform.

2: Chaos Feared After Unix Time-Zone Database is Nuked

Next up today, David Olson, the operator of the Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Database, announced yesterday that he is shutting down his FTP server following a lawsuit from Astrolabe a company that makes astrology-related software. According to the suit, the database publishes information that is protected by their copyright and is not in the public domain. The removal of the database could have a wide-spread impact as the database was the default used by UNIX operating systems to set clocks and adjust for daylight savings time.

3: Men at Work Lose “Down Under” Copyright Appeal

Finally today, the Australian rock group “Ment at Work” have lost their appeal regarding their 1980s hit “Down Under”. According to the lawsuit, the song uses a riff from the earlier work “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree”, which is still under copyright by Larrakin Music. The lower court ordered the band’s label, EMI, to pay 5% of all royalties since 2002 (royalties farther back were not allowed due to statute of limitation issues). The band and label vowed to appeal but Australia’s High Court has now ruled against them, putting the matter to rest.

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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