3 Count: Hustlin’ Appeal

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1: Rapper Rick Ross Wants His Money, Appeals LMFAO “Party Anthem”

First off today, Mike Winslow at All Hip Hop reports that rapper Rick Ross has appealed his earlier loss to LMFAO, seeking to have the lawsuit reinstated and the lower court’s decision tossed.

Ross sued LMFAO alleging that the LMFAO song “Party Rock Anthem” was used both a line (slightly modified) and the hook from his 2006 song “Hustlin'”. The lawsuit came to an abrupt end at the lower court when the judge tossed the case citing inconsistencies in Ross’ copyright filings for “Hustlin'”.

Ross is now appealing that decision. While Ross isn’t disputing the paperwork problems, he said that the issue does not preclude his lawsuit and that it should be reinstated. He is still seeking an undisclosed amount of damages.

2: Delhi University Photocopy Case: Three Publishers Withdraw Copyright Suit Against Shop

Next up today, Solbam Rocky Singh at the Hindustan Times reports that, in India, three publishers are pulling out of a copyright infringement lawsuit against a small copy shop that they accused of copyright infringement for selling copied course packs and textbook chapters. 

The lawsuit, which was filed by Oxfod University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis targeted the Rameshwari Photocopy Service near Delhi University. The publishers said that the copy shop was committing copyright infringement though the shop and university said that the students were within their rights to copy sections of books under existing copyright law in the country.

A judge initially tossed the lawsuit. However, the same court came back and reinstated it but limited it to the question of the content that was copied and whether it met the criteria for educational exemptions to Indian law. The publishers, however, have abruptly dropped the case and have promised not to take the matter to a higher court, bringing it to an end and allowing the shop to continue selling the copied chapters and course packs.

3: Cher Asks Judge to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Album Cover Typeface

Finally today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that lawyers representing the artist Cher are asking a New York court to toss a lawsuit over a typeface she used on her 2013 album Closer to Truth. 

The lawsuit was filed font designer Moshik Nadav, who claimed that Cher’s album cover featured a font and design that was very close to Nadav’s “Paris” logo. However, Cher and her team hit back saying that, under the law, a typeface can not be copyright protected and, furthermore, the two logos are too different to be seen as an infringement directly.

Soon after the defendants filed their motion to dismiss, Nadav voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit, bringing it to an end.

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.