3 Count: Frozen Story

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1: Fox News Insider Claims It’s Being ‘Shaken Down’ by ‘Copyright Troll’ in Iconic 9/11 Image Complaint

First off today, Tony Maglio at TheWrap reports that the North Jersey Media Group (NJMG) has filed a lawsuit against Fox News accusing the network of infringing the copyright in a photo they represent, namely the iconic photo of three firefighters raising the flag over Ground Zero after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

According to the lawsuit, Fox News posted the photo in various places, including the Facebook page of one prominent TV personality, during and after the recent anniversary of the attacks.

A Fox News insider told TheWrap that he feels the use is a fair use and not infringing, though it’s unclear if that’s Fox’s official position. The lawsuit is seeking $150,000 in statutory damages, the maximum allowed under the law, and attorneys fees. The case is not the NJMG’s first such legal battle, as it’s also sued Cafe Press and Zazzle, along with other news outlets.

2: Alleged Topsite Operator Charged with Mass Movie Piracy

Next up today, Andy at Torrentfreak writes that authorities in Sweden have charged a man in connection with a “topsite”, or a semi-private site dedicated to sharing infringing material with a small number of people.

The action was a joint effort between the police in Sweden and the Rights Alliance, a group formerly known as the Antipiratbyran, and follows a 2010 raid against “The Scene”, which was a collection of servers and individuals that specialized in being the first to leak new movies on the Web.

This specific cases looks at one site in that group, dubbed “Devil”, which allegedly had between 200 and 250 terabytes of infringing media.

3: ‘Frozen’ Sued: Did Disney Copy Isabella Tanikumi’s Life?

Finally today, Zachary Volkert at The Inquisitr reports that Disney is being sued by Peruvian author Isabella Tanikumi for copyright infringement. According to Tanikumi, Disney based its recent movie “Frozen”, a film about an ice princess with magical powers, at least partially on her autobiography.

Tanikumi believes that the film was based on her own tale of a “real-life drama of a young girl’s struggle to create her destiny” that she penned in the book “Yearnings of the Heart.”

However, many have already noted that the two stories seem to have very little in common and that Tanikumi’s lawsuit comes well after Frozen’s release. Furthermore, the film, according to Disney, is based on Has Christian Anderson’s story “The Snow Queen”, first published in 1844 and long lapsed into the public domain. Nonetheless, she is suing for $250 million.

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.

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