3 Count: Into the Jungle

Jonathan BaileyAugust 26, 2014

3 minutes read

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

1: Amazon to Buy Twitch for $970 Million

First off today, Harley Brown at Billboard is reporting that Amazon is purchasing the video game streaming site Twitch for $970 million. Twitch, which is best known for hosting live streams of video games, was originally rumored to be in acquisition talks with Google for $1 billion though reports are that the Google deal fell through.

Twitch has been the subject of copyright controversy in recent weeks after implementing a new audio muting system that detects infringing audio playing in the background of recorded video and muting 30-minute portions around it. Many felt that the move was an effort to address copyright issues prior to a possible acquisition.

Twitch also added live music streaming to its lineup, hosting concerts by DJ Steve Aoki and Porter Robinson among others. Twitch said that the new push is part of a cooperative effort between them and the music industry and follows a survey of their users, which revealed that they were very interested in live music content.

2: ‘Raging Bull’ Dispute Rages Past Appellate Rulings

Next up today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that the Raging Bull case is heading back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to look at whether or not Petrella has a legitimate claim to move the case forward.

Petrella is suing MGM claiming that the movie Raging Bull, which is based on her father’s life, no longer has a proper license to use content created by her father. She recently won a Supreme Court ruling that found that her delay in bringing the lawsuit did not preclude her from making her claims.

MGM argues that Petrella didn’t renew her copyright registration on her father’s 1970 book or his 1973 screenplay, instead only renewing the 1963 screenplay he wrote. However, Petrella argues that the other works are virtually identical and are based on the original screenplay, the one she has renewed the registration on. For works prior to 1978, failure to renew copyright registrations resulted in works lapsing into the public domain, which is what MGM alleges happened here.

3: The Mirror Artists, Copyright the BBC and a Big Red Bus

Finally today, Michael Cathcart at ABC in Australia reports that two Australian artists, Tim Laslen and Jennifer Mehra, have filed a lawsuit against the BBC in the UK alleging that a promotion the BBC ran for a WWI program was patterned after some of their best-known works.

Maslen and Mehra are famous for their mirror art, where they cut out silhouettes from mirror and place them in a landscape to be filmed by moving cameras. According to them, the BBC used a similar idea for a WWI promo, which they claim must have been inspired by their work.

The BBC, for its part, points out that none of the artists’ work appeared in the promo and further claims that everything for the promo was developed “from scratch.” They further add that they were unaware of the original artists’ work. However, the artists claim that their work is well-known and had to have been the basis for the idea.

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.