3 Count: Rick Lost

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1: Judge Tosses Rick Ross’ “Hustlin'” Lawsuit

First off today, Ashley Cullins at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that musician Rick Ross has had his case against the band LMFAO tossed out due to issues with copyright registrations for the song.

Ross sued LMFAO alleging that the LMFAO song Party Rock Anthem, which included the line “Everyday I’m Shufflin'” was an infringement of Ross’ song Hustlin’, which used the line “Everyday I’m Hustlin'”. The judge had previously dismissed portions of the lawsuit related to LMFAO’s use of their line on merchandise but the lawsuit comparing the songs moved forward.

But that portion ran into new issues when it was discovered that the first copyright registration contained an error and the second and third ones were considered invalid by the U.S. Copyright Office for being duplicative. Without a valid registration, the judge says he has no choice but to toss the lawsuit as a registration is required for the court to have jurisdiction.

2: Blockchain Anti-piracy Startup Custos Raises R4m Seed Round

Next up today, Stuart Thomas at Ventureburn reports that South African anti-piracy startup Custos has raised a $265,000 seed round to help it sell its unique anti-piracy solution that uses Blockchain technology to track and monitor leaks of a film.

Custos allows its users to watermark a copy of a film with bitcoin so that, if it’s pirated, they can check to see when a work is infringed and who released it. The system also includes a bounty, which rewards those who identify pirates.

The company currently targets independent filmmakers but is hoping to expand the tech to major studios. In the meantime, they’ve secured a round of seed funding from both South African and U.S. investors, money it hopes to use to expand its client list.

3: Harry Potter: GCHQ ‘Intervened over Half-Blood Prince Leak’

Finally today, the BBC is reporting that the GCHQ, the UK’s surveillance agency, intervened on behalf of publisher Bloomsbury, warning it that they had spotted a leaked copy of then-upcoming Harry Potter book The Half Blood-Prince.

According to Nigel Newton, Bloomsbury’s CEO, as the book was being printed and readied for distribution, they took a great number of precautions including posting additional guards at the presses and limiting news media access. However, they were still surprised when the GCHQ called them to let them know that they had spotted a leaked copy online days before it was due to be released.

Fortunately for Bloomsbury and JK Rowling, the book’s author, the leak turned out to be a fake. Still, the Newton was in disbelief that the GCHQ responded in such a way but noted that the book had many allies in helping maintain its secrecy, including police and judges.

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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