3 Count: Predictable Appeal

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1: Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s Lawyer to Appeal ‘Blurred Lines’ Verdict

First off today, Abid Rahman at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that attorneys for Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams have said that they plan on appealing the recent jury verdict in the Blurred Lines case.

The case centered around allegations that Williams and Thicke infringed Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give it Up. Though Thicke and Williams sued first seeking a declaratory judgment, but failed to get one, sending the matter to a jury, which ruled in favor of the Gaye estate. The jury then awarded the estate some $7.4 million in damages and profits.

Now Thicke and Williams attorney have announced that they are planning to appeal the verdict, a widely-anticipated move. In a statement, they said, “We owe it to song writers around the world to make sure this verdict doesn’t stand.” In the meantime, the attorneys for the Gaye estate have already said they will be seeking an injunction barring further distribution of Blurred Lines.

2: France Ramps Up Online Piracy Fight

Next up today, Colin Mann at Advanced Television reports that Fleur Pellerin, the French Minister of Culture and Communication, has announced his government’s strategy for battling online piracy.

The country already has the HADOPI program, which is a “graduated response” regime that warns suspected pirates of their infringement. However, that program stopped threatening to disconnect repeated infringers in 2013. The expanded program adds to HADOPI by launching two new government initiatives, both that aim to hurt the revenue streams of pirate websites.

The first initiative aims to reduce legitimate advertising on pirate sites while the second targets payment processors. The new plan will also streamline government anti-piracy efforts by making the Ministry of the Interior responsible for organizing and implementing the effort.

3: Apartment Complex with “No Bad Reviews” Rule Gets Pummeled on Review Sites

Finally today, Joe Mullin at Ars Technica reports that the Windermere Cay Apartments in Orlando, Florida have been receiving hundreds of negative reviews following reports that the complex required renters to sign a “Social Media Addendum” that not only barred negative reviews but claimed copyright in any reviews posted or photos taken on the complex.

The backlash to that news story has been swift. Prior to the story, the complex, which only recently opened, had just two reviews on Yelp. Now there are hundreds, almost all of which are negative and from people who do not live at the complex.

While most of the reviews have been critical of the policy, others have also posted clearly false information, such as one reviewer who claimed to be trapped in a dungeon and another who who claimed to be “A. Hitler”. Windermere Cay has not responded to the storm of negative comments.

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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