3 Count: Zoo Escape

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1: Judge Throws Out ‘Zootopia’ Copyright Suit Against Disney

First off today, Erik Pedersen at Deadline Hollywood reports that a judge has dismissed the Zootopia lawsuit. This brings an end, for the moment, to a filmmaker’s claim that Disney stole his idea to make the hit film.

The lawsuit was filed by Gary Goldman’s Esplanade Productions in March. He claimed that he had pitched an idea for a similar film to Disney only to have the company take theme, settings, plot, characters and dialogue without permission. Disney denied the allegations.

However, the court has now dismissed the lawsuit saying that Goldman failed to present enough evidence to move the case forward. Specifically, the judge said that Goldman failed to present enough alleged infringed material to the complaint to perform an analysis of similarity. This dismissal can be appealed but it is unclear if Goldman will be doing so.

2: Spotify Reaches Deal With Sony Music: Sources

Next up today, Hannah Karp at Billboard reports that music streaming service Spotify has reached a deal with Sony Music, one of the three major record labels.

The move follows closely a similar licensing agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG), which was announced in April. The terms of Sony’s agreement are unclear but UMGs involved taking a cut in royalties in order to limit access to new albums on Spotify’s free tier.

This leaves only Warner Music as a holdout with Spotify. The label is currently working on a short-term licensing deal though Spotify would like to move to a long-term deal ahead of their planned initial public offering (IPO). That IPO is expected this year.

3: Crowdfunded Film Telling History of the Daleks Put on Hold Because of Copyright Issues

Finally today, Ben Dowell at RadioTimes.com reports that filmmaker Victor Lewis-Smith has put on hold his plans for a crowdfunded film about the Daleks of Doctor Who.

The film, tentatively titled The Undiscovered Daleks, was to be a documentary focusing on the iconic villains from Doctor Who looking at their history and sharing some unique outtakes from the show. Though his crowdfunding effort fell short of its goal, Smith claims that Lewis-Smith is saying that the production is facing “copyright issues” that are keeping it from moving forward.

While no details about these copyright issues are known, Lewis-Smith has said that he would like to return to the idea,

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.