3 Count: Duck Dodgers

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1: Is Buck Rogers in the Public Domain? New Movie Hangs in the Balance

First off today, David Kravets at Ars Technica reports that lawyers representing Team Angry Filmworks, a movie production company, are arguing that the iconic character Buck Rogers has lapsed into the public domain even as the Dille Family Trust, the organization that controls the rights, claims that it is still under copyright protection.

The issue centers around a 1928 novella entitled Armageddon 2419 A.D., which Team Angry Filmworks aims to make into a movie of the same name. In the story, Anthony Rogers, whose name was later changed to “Buck”, went into suspended animation for 500 years and emerged in the midst of a new earth and a civil war.

Team Angry Filmworks argues that the story, along with the character, entered the public domain in 1956 in the United States and 2010 in the rest of the world. However, they claim that the Dille Family Trust has repeatedly threatened them if they attempt to make a movie without securing a license, prompting them to file suit to see a declaration that the character is out of copyright.

2: In GOP Debate Blooper, Fox News Takes Down its Own Lifestream

Next up today, Jeff John Roberts at Fortune reports that, even as debates and discussions arise over who won the recent Republican Party Primary Debate, Fox News is being forced to deal with an embarrassing takedown that resulted in a stream owned by its parent company being removed from the Web.

Those who were unable to watch the debate via cable turned to web streams. However, the official Fox New stream ran into trouble and became overloaded quickly, prompting many to turn to another stream provided by European network Sky News and hosted on YouTube. However, as the debate drew to a close, the Sky News feed stopped working and was removed due to a copyright notice from Fox News.

The move was almost certainly an accident. Sky News and Fox News share the same parent company, meaning that Fox News, essentially, filed a takedown notice against itself.

3: Kurt Cobain Demo Removed After YouTube Copyright Claim

Finally today, Alex Nelson at Wow 24/7 reports that a 58-minute demo album entitled Illiteracy Will Prevail by the band Fecal Matter, Kurt Cobain’s pre-Nirvana band, appeared on YouTube briefly but was quickly removed due to a copyright claim by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

Parts of the demo had been released before but only 36 minutes had been available prior to the release. The full demo featured and early version of the song Downer, which was featured on the Nirvana debut album Bleach.

The album itself is a low-quality demo recorded in a basement with poor mixing. However, the demo has been highly sought after following the fame and early death of Cobain, who is still considered a musical legend.

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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