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1: Rod Stewart Wins Photograph Copyright Case
First off today, the BBC reports that Sir Rod Stewart has won his case involving a photograph that he used as a backdrop to many of his concerts.
The photo, which was from the 1960s, featured Stewart and a former girlfriend. Taken by school friend Christopher Southwood the photo was unpublished until its recent use as part of a concert video backdrop. However, Julia McLellan, who claims to have received the copyright in the image 15 years ago, said that Southwood only gave him the photo as a keepsake, not for commercial use.
Stewart had argued that the use of the photo was highly limited, amounting to less than eight seconds of the concert. In the end, questions of fair dealing were moot as the court ruled that McLellan had failed to prove that the rights of the photo were transferred to her or her photo agency. As such, they dubbed the claim “highly speculative” and dismissed it.
2: DBR.ee Shut Down By Music Industry Groups
Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that the file hosting service DBR.ee has been shuttered with its domain now pointing to a warning page that features logos from various international music organizations.
The site had become somewhat renowned for hosting leaked music and being the location to store such music when posting on message boards or other private destination where leaks are often shared.
The move follows a DMCA subpoena sent to the site’s content delivery network provider, Cloudflare. Thought it’s not known of Cloudflare complied with the notice or not, the site abruptly went offline following the subpoena and now, after a domain update, is in the hands of the music industry. A representative for the IFPI said that they did manage to contact the operator of the site and were able to work out its closure.
3: Carrie Underwood ‘Saddened’ by Plagiarism Claim
Finally today, The Calgary Herald reports that a new lawsuit has been filed against musician Carry Underwood claiming that Underwood’s song Something in the Water is a plagiarism of their work.
The lawsuit was filed by songwriters Ron McNeill and Georgia Lyons, who claim that they used a “song plugger” to shop the song around Nashville but claim that Underwood used the track without giving them any credit.
The track is currently listed as being written by Brett James, Chris DeStefano, and Carrie Underwood. Underwood herself said that the song is “deeply personal” to her and regards her faith.
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