3 Count: Corrine, Corrina

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

1: ‘Pinterest of Porn’ Owners Being Sued for Copyright Infringement

First off today, George Richards at the Miami Herald reports that Hydentra, which runs the MetArt Network of pornographic sites, has filed a lawsuit against Sex.com, alleging that the “Pinterest for porn” is engaged in widespread copyright infringement.

Sex.com is a site where users upload pornographic images to share with others with a similar layout and structure to Pinterest. However, many, if not most, of the images on the site are posted without permission though the site claims that it is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which, shields hosts from liability for infringements committed by users.

However, according to the lawsuit, Hydentra believes that Sex.com is paying people to upload many images to the site. It also claims that the site has ads promising “high resolution” versions of uploaded images that attempt to get users to sign up for paid accounts on Sex.com. Finally, the Hydentra claims that, though they’ve sent over 3,000 DMCA takedown notices, the site has not complied with all of them saying, “Some they took down and some they didn’t.” The lawsuit demands both monetary damages and the Sex.com domain itself, likely the most contested domain on the Internet.

2: Rod Stewart Hit With Copyright Lawsuit Over Iconic Blues Song

Next up today, Tim Kenneally at The Wrap reports that musician Rod Stewart is being sued by the estate of blues musician Bo Carter, real name Armenter Chatmon, over Stewart’s 2013 song Corrine, Corrina.

According to the lawsuit, Stewart’s track is an infringement of Chatmon’s 1929 song Corrina, Corrina, which has since been covered by dozens of other musicians including Bob Dylan and Jerry Lee Lewis. The lawsuit claims Chatmon was both the original performer and author of the song.

On Stewart’s album Time, his Corrine, Corrina track is credited to “Traditional” and, according to the lawsuit, his version is nearly identical to the original. The lawsuit seeks statutory damages of $150,000 per infringement.

3: Robin Thicke on ‘Blurred Lines’ and Learning From His Mistakes

Finally today, Jody Rosen at The New York Times reports that Robin Thicke has said in an interview that he was “careless” during the Blurred Lines case due to personal problems and did not give it the full attention it deserved.

Thicke, along with his coauthor Pharrell Williams sued heirs to the estate of Marvin Gaye after the estate made claims that Blurred Lines was an infringement of Gaye’s Got to Give it Up. After a trial, the jury sided with the Gaye estate and awarded some $7.4 million in damages.

Thicke, in his interview, said that his controversial deposition in the case, in which he claimed to have no recollection of writing the song, was given just weeks after separation from his wife. However, Thicke maintains that, though they were inspired by Marvin Gaye, that they never infringed upon his work. The ruling in on appeal.

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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