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

1: ‘NBA 2K’ Videogame Publisher Wants Judgment Allowing Use of Player Tattoos

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that, in the NBA tattoo lawsuit, Take-Two Interactive is asking the court to grant a declaration that their use of tattoos on NBA players was both fair use and de minimis use and that and that the claims rightsholder committed fraud when filing registrations with the U.S. Copyright Office.

The lawsuit centers around the NBA 2K series of video games, which several of them featured tattoos on popular NBA players such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Solid Oak Sketches, acquired the rights to the tattoos in 2015 and sued Take-Two games in February of this year for copyright infringement in the NBA2K16 game. However, Solid Oak has already suffered one key defeat, with the judge ruling that their failure to register the work timely means that they can not collect statutory damages.

But while the case moves forward on actual damages, Take-Two now wants the whole thing tossed saying that the tattoos were used only fleetingly in the game and doesn’t constitute an infringement. Take-Two is also alleging that at least one of the works was submitted fraud, with the claimed author not having created the work when it was stated on the registration.

2: LA Fabric Manufacturer Claims Copyright Infringement Against Clothier T.J. Maxx

Next up today, Jenie Mallari-Torres at the Northern California Record reports that fabrics manufacturer Standards Fabric International has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against TJX, better known as T.J. Maxx.

According to the complaint, T.J. Maxx copied a textile print owned by Standards Fabric and sold it in its stores. The print is identified only as “Design Number 8360”.

Standards Fabric claims that T.J. Maxx had access to the work through various sources including its showroom, design library and garments that it sold to customers. It is seeking up to $150,000 per infringement as well as attorneys’ fees.

3: Blockai’s New Tool Combines Tweeting and Claiming Copyright

Finally today, Anthony Ha at TechCrunch reports that copyright non-repudiation service Blockai has launched a new service that it hopes will make it easier to protect images online, by allowing users to both register and monitor their work with a single tweet.

Blockai gained notoriety as a service that uses Blockchain technology, the same technology behind Bitcoin, to create a publicly-accessible and secure database of copyright registration. The idea is that users can submit their work along with their information to the database and both prove ownership of the work and aid in tracking it.

Now Blockai has integrated with Twitter. Users with a Blockai account can simply use the #blockai hashtag on any image they post and Blockai will both add it to the database and begin tracking for duplicates. For those who don’t have a Blockai account, they will be instructed to sign up for one after tweeting.

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.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

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