3 Count: Way, Way Back

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

1: Aereo to Broadcasters: Go Ahead, Take the Case to Supreme Court

First off today, Ted Johnson at Variety reports that Aereo has filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to review its case against the broadcasters, saying it supports, not opposes, their appeal.

Aereo is a TV streaming service that works by having a series of tiny antenna, one per customer, capture over-the-air broadcast television for recording or streaming online. Aereo has repeatedly been sued by broadcasters for alleged copyright infringement but, so far, no courts have agreed to issue an injunction against them.

Broadcasters appealed the first case, in New York, to the Second Circuit where they lost again. They broadcasters then appealed to the Supreme Court and Aereo has now said it supports the court taking up the case and hopes the court will affirm the Second Circuit’s verdict.

2: Ariana Grande Sued Over Mega-Hit Song ‘The Way’

Next up today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that musician Ariana Grande, along with Sony/ATV, UMG Recordings and others, have been sued for copyright infringement over Grande’s song “The Way”.

The suit was filed by Minder Music, a UK company that owns the right to the 1972 song “Troglodyte” by the The Jimmy Castor Bunch. The song includes the spoken phrase, “What we’re gonna do right here is go back, way back, back into time,” which also appears in Grande’s song, at least in a substantially similar way according to Minder.

Minder says that the phrase is “iconic” and also appears in others songs, including those by N.W.A. and Christina Aguilera. Minder filed the suit in the Sixth Circuit, which is known for being plaintiff-friendly in these types of cases. They are seeking a declaration of willful infringement, a permanent injunction, attorneys’ fees and statutory damages of $150,000 per infringement.

3: German institute: Work to proceed on scholarly edition of ‘Mein Kampf’

Finally today, UPI reports that the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich, a German research institute, has announced that it will go ahead with plans to release a scholarly edition of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” even though the state of Bavaria has pulled out of the project and threatened to continue its ban on publishing the work, even after the copyright expires in 2016.

Bavaria came to hold the copyright in the controversial work after Hitler’s death in 1945 and has used that copyright to prevent publication of the book in Germany. However, with the copyright set to expire January 1, 2016, Bavaria announced plans to work with the Institute to release a scholarly version of the book, one with notes, many of which debunk Hitler’s arguments.

However, Bavaria has pulled out of the project and said that it will seek to continue its ban on the work after the copyright expires. However, the work is already in print in much of the rest of the world, where it has already fallen into the public domain for a variety of reasons.

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.

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.