3 Count: Anchor’s Away

Jonathan BaileyApril 30, 2013

2 minutes read

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

1: ‘Instagram Act’ Could See Social Media Users Lose Ownership of Their Own Photos

First off today, Sean Anderson at The Telegraph reports that, in the UK, the government is facing criticism over new legislation that’s taking effect that many fear will reduce the copyright protection visual artists have and has drawn comparisons to Instagram’s controversial (and backtracked) terms of service change in December.

The “Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act”, which was given royal ascent last week, deals with orphan works, works for which the author can not be determined. The law allows companies to exploit such orphan works after performing a search for the author. Proponents say that the bill allows libraries and others to digitize their collections while opponents, including photography groups, worry that it might allow companies to use copyrighted works, especially photographs since they rarely carry identifying information online, without permission or warning.

The act has been dubbed by some the “Instagram Act”, comparing it to an ill-fated December 2012 TOS change on Instagram that would have allowed advertisers to use uploader photos.

2: Tim Mcgraw Hit With Copyright Lawsuit

Next up today, Contact Music writes that country musician Tim McGraw is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit, but not one from a fellow musician claiming McGraw ripped off his work, but from his former label.

McGraw is being sued by Curb Records, which alleges that, in 2011, McGraw reneged on a contract and failed to release his obligated fifth record through them. McGraw signed with the label MAChine and won an initial court battle to release his music through his new label last year.

However, now Curb Records is claiming that McGraw’s most recent album, Two Lanes of Freedom, was recorded before the their contract was dissolved. Curb alleges they won the rights to the songs on the album and are seeking damages related to the work’s misuse.

3: The Pirate Bay Moves to .SX as Prosecutor Files Motion to Seize Domains

Finally today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that The Pirate Bay has moved domains yet again. The infamous BitTorrent tracker has moved to the .SX extension, which is from the small Caribbean nation Sint Maarten.

The move comes after a series of other domain hops that saw The Pirate Bay move from its former home in Sweden to Greenland and then to Iceland before now settling on Sint Maarten. The moves come as countries have made moves to seize the site’s domain within their borders.

This particular jump began after a Swedish prosecutor filed a motion to seize the .se domain as well as the new .is (Icelandic) one. The Pirate Bay has been operating using the Swedish domain for about a year now and it is unclear why the move is taking place now.

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.