3 Count: 8 Mile Response

Jonathan BaileyJuly 2, 2013

2 minutes read

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

1: Porn Films Don’t Get Copyright Protection in Germany, Court Rules

First off today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes that a German court has dealt a serious blow to the porn studio Malibu Media, ruling that its films do not qualify for copyright protection in the country.

Malibu Media is best known in the U.S. for being a copyright “troll” and filing massive lawsuits targeting suspected BitTorrent file sharers in hopes of compelling the individuals to settle the case quickly. It attempted to export its controversial approach to Germany but the court there ruled that, since the videos only depict sexual acts in a “primitive” way, they do not qualify for protection under Germany’s copyright act.

The decision is not binding in other courts in the EU and could, theoretically, be overturned by an EU court. However, the court also raised questions about whether or not the films were legitimately distributed in Germany and Whether Malibu Media actually owned the films in question.

2: Facebook Responds to Eminem Song Publisher’s Claim it Violated Copyright Laws

Next up today, Eric Lacy at MLive reports Facebook and its advertising firm, Wieden + Kennedy Inc., has filed a response to a lawsuit by Eminem’s publisher, Eight Mile Style, over Facebook’s “Airplane” commercial, which the rapper and his publisher claim used a song that mimicked his song “Under the Influence”.

Eight Mile Style sued after the commercial, which was designed to promote a new phone featuring Facebook Home, used music they felt was too close to “Under the Influence”. However, Facebook has responded saying that the two songs are not significantly similar and that any infringement is de minimis.

Eminem’s song is one of his best-known and was published in 2000 on his record “The Marshall Mathers LP”, which was also his best selling record.

3: Bing Image Filter Lets You Search by Usage Rights

Finally today, Stephanie Mint at PC Magazine reports that Microsoft has updated its Bing search engine to let users search for images that are available for reuse, including those in the public domain, and available under a variety of Creative Commons Licenses.

Currently there are six choices when choosing what images to see. You can see all images regardless of licenses, only those in the public domain or those under the four different major Creative Commons Licenses (Note: Bing does not distinguish between the share alike license).

Users who are confused about which license they need can click the “Learn More” link to get an explanation of the licenses. Also, those using Office 2013 will be able to use Bing from any application to find images and will see only licensed images by default.

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.