3 Count: Partly SoundCloudy

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1: SoundCloud Sued for Copyright Infringement by PRS for Music

First off today, Ben Sisario at The New York Times reports that the UK performing rights agency PRS has filed a lawsuit against music streaming service SoundCloud claiming that the service is infringing copyright by not obtaining licenses to play songs written by the more than 100,000 songwriters the organization represents.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the UK, alleges that SoundCloud has been streaming songs written by its members without permission. SoundCloud itself, which is based in Germany, works by having users upload tracks and has actually been used by many musicians as a convenient way to get music to their audience.

However, as SoundCloud has moved from a free service to an ad-supported one, it’s struggled with licensing. Though some record labels in the U.S. have signed deals with SoundCloud, Sony and Universal, the two largest, have not. PRS said that it has been in negotiations with SoundCloud for over five years, but was unable to reach a deal as SoundCloud said it was protected by safe harbor since files are uploaded by users.

2: Facebook Unrolls New Tool to Help Video Owners Stop “Freebooting”

Next up today, Jeff John Roberts at Fortune reports that Facebook has announced a new video matching tool that it hopes will combat “freebooting”, or the uploading of videos to Facebook that were taken, without permission, from other sources.

The tool, which is entering beta testing, works by matching video as it is uploaded. If it matches a work in its database, it will then warn the uploader and force them to complete some additional steps. Then, the original author of the video will be notified and able to request the video be removed if desired, though they will not be told who uploaded it.

The move comes after filmmakers, most of them smaller ones who upload videos on YouTube, complained that Facebook users were routinely reuploading their original works onto Facebook, where it would go on to get millions of views. Currently the new system is not open to everyone but Facebook is working with Fullscreen, the largest multi-channel network on YouTube and video aggregator Jerkin, which helps with YouTUbe’s Content ID service.

3: Square Enix And SNK Playmore Drop Their Lawsuits Against Each Other

Finally today, Toshi Nakamura at Kotaku Australia reports that, in Japan Square Enix and SNK Playmore have settled their lawsuit against one another and that the manga at the heart of the dispute will resume publication.

The case began last year when SNK accused Square Enix of using various characters from their games in a manga they published entitled High Score Girl. The dispute actually resulted in a police raid on Square Enix headquarters and eventually lead to a countersuit filed by Square Enix, which disputed the infringement and sought a declaratory judgment of non-infringement.

However, now both sides seem to have buried the hatchet. The terms of the settlement are unknown but High Score Girl is set to resume publication, though the exact date is unknown. It’s also unknown when or if a previously planned anime based on High Score Girl will ever be made.

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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