3 Count: Rod Stewart’s Head

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

1: Celebrity Photographer Sues Rod Stewart for $2.5 Million Over Picture

First off today, Andrew Chung at Reuters is reporting that celebrity photographer Bonnie Schiffman is suing musician Rod Stewart and Casear Entertainment over a photograph of the back of Stewart’s head.

Schiffman claims that a photo used by Stewart and Casear to promote his upcoming Las Vegas show and following world tour is based on a 20-plus year old photo that she took, which in turn was used on his 1989 greatest hits album entitled “Storyteller”.

Though Schiffman acknowledges the new photograph isn’t identical to hers, she claims that it is based on her original work and a way to mirror it without having to pay for a new license. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction to prevent the use of the new image as well as $2.5 million in damages.

2: Jay Z Argues Sound Engineer’s Song Rights Lawsuit Came Too Late

Next up today, Eriq Gardner at Billboard reports that Jay Z has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by Chauncey Mahan, his former sound engineer, in which Mahan claimed to be joint author of some 45 of Jay Z’s songs. including “Big Pimpin” and ‘Things That U Do”.

According to the original lawsuit, Mahan claims to have worked closely with Jay Z on the tracks and that he qualifies to be a joint author, including a share of the royalties. Jay Z has in the past accused Mahan of attempting to extort money from him, including hanging on to recording files that were not his property.

However, in his filing, Jay Z took a different approach, saying that Mahan simply waited too long to file his lawsuit. He claims that many of the tracks involved are 14 years old and that the deadline for filing such a lawsuit has expired. Failing that Jay Z also argues that the two parties didn’t intend to create a work of joint authorship, a requirement for such a work to be created. But if that doesn’t work, Jay Z also notes that he has transferred his interest in the recordings to Universal Music, meaning that he should not be a party to the legislation.

3: A Win for Dotcom Over Seized Property

Finally today, Kurt Bayer at the New Zealand Herald reports that, in New Zealand, the Court of Appeal has ruled that New Zealand police must return to Kim Dotcom clones and copies made from his computers and devices following the January 2012 raid on his home.

Dotcom was arrested and his site, Megaupload, shuttered as part of that raid. Though The Appeals Court recently ruled that the raid itself was legal, it did find that the seizure of various electronic devices were unauthorized. The police were also chastised for giving away copies of information to the United States authorities, who requested the raid and are currently seeking his extradition on money laundering and criminal copyright infringement charges.

The new order requires the police to release the clones of the data as soon as possible with the exception of encrypted data that they have not been able to evaluate. For that data, two police officers have been designated to receive the decryption keys that will be barred from sharing them, in particular with the United States government.

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.