3 Count: Grand Theft Music

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1: Swedish TV and US film Industries Sue ISP to Block Access to the Pirate Bay

First off today, Liam Tung at ZDNet reports that representatives for the TV and film industries have filed a claim against Bredbandsbolaget, (which is, thankfully for me typing this, better known as B2), a small local ISP. They are seeking the blocking of The Pirate Bay, the infamous pirate site that has roots in the country.

According to B2, while the law in the country gives them the right to work with copyright holders on such issues, it doesn’t give them the obligation. However, the rightsholders, which include several major U.S. and Swedish film companies, are asking a court in Stockholm to order the ISP to set up the blockade.

Though other countries have found ISPs can be required to block The Pirate Bay, and similar sites, the EU Court of Justice recently ruled that two Dutch ISPs had no such obligations.

2: Smokey Robinson and Ex-Wife Claudette Drop Lawsuit Over Royalties

Next up today, Eurweb reports that Smokey Robinson and his ex-wife have settled or are about to settle their disagreements over song royalties.

Smokey Robinson and his now ex-wife Claudette Robinson divorced in 1986 after 28 years of marriage. As part of their divorce agreement, Claudette claims she was awarded half of the rights to Smokey’s music. However, as Smokey began to make moves to use copyright termination, a process by which original creators can cancel any licenses/contracts signed after a period of time, to reclaim the interest in his songs, his wife sued.

Smokey then claimed that copyright termination could be applied to the divorce agreement, effectively preventing his ex-wife from obtaining any new royalties. Claudette sued and, though a trial was scheduled for February of next year, the two have said that they have made progress in mediation and will resolve the dispute that way, asking the trial and other hearings to be removed from the court calendar.

3: GTA San Andreas Steam Pulls Songs And Breaks Saves

Finally today, Alice O’Conner at Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports that a recent update to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas not only caused problems for gamers by causing saved games not to work, but also removed some 17 songs that Rockstar, the game’s maker, no longer has the license to use.

The game features an internal radio where players can listen to various stations that feature songs by real world artists. Players noticed that some of the songs were missing after the update and the site RockstarNexus pieced together which tracks were missing.

Since the tracks were also removed from the mobile edition of the game, it stands to reason that it is a licensing issue, not some other limitation, prompting the removal. Rockstar, however, has not confirmed this.

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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