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1: Music Publishers Speed Past Peloton’s Counterclaims in $300M Copyright Lawsuit
First off today, Chris Eggertsen at Billboard reports that the exercise equipment company Peloton has suffered a setback in court as a judge has dismissed their $300 million countersuit against music publishers, leaving just the original claim against them standing.
Peleton is an exercise equipment manufacturer that also offers a monthly subscription to live fitness classes that are streamed online. Music publishers sued claiming that, during those classes, Peloton was streaming their music without obtaining the proper license. Peleton, however, hit back and filed a counterclaim that alleged the publishers and the National Music Publishers Association had conspired to prevent Peloton from reaching agreements with individual publishers.
However, the judge has now tossed that counterclaim. According to the decision, Peloton failed to identify a “relevant market” for the claim and Peloton itself had struck deals with several music publishers, weakening their argument. This leaves just the original claims, the ones filed by the publishers, ongoing in the case.
2: President Trump Signs USMCA Trade Deal that ‘Exports’ US Copyright Policy
Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that President Trump has signed the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, a replacement for the previous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that, among others things, will export elements of US copyright law to the other two countries.
The wide-ranging agreement touches on a large number of topics. However, with copyright issues, the biggest change will be that all nations will be required to have a copyright term of at least the life of the author plus 70 years. That’s already the term in the United States and Mexico’s is actually longer (life + 100 years) but Canada will have to extend copyright by 20 years to meet his requirement. Canada will have a transitionary period with which to do it.
Another change is that various “safe harbor” protections for internet service providers will also be exported. However, Canada will not have to adopt the notice-and-takedown regime seen in the U.S. and elsewhere. Instead, it will continue to use the notice-and-notice system. The United States is the first of the three countries to sign the new agreement into law.
3: All your Warcraft 3: Reforged Custom Games Belong Exclusively to Blizzard
Finally today, Chris Priestman at PC Gamer reports that video game maker Blizzard has launched Warcraft 3: Reforged, a remastered version of its hit Warcraft 3, but included new language that lays claim to any custom games created using Reforged as a base.
One of the biggest contributions of Warcraft 3 to the video game landscape was that it enabled users to create custom games. Those custom games often became the core idea for popular games, such as Dota 2 and League of Legends.
However, under the new terms, Blizzard is laying claim to copyright ownership in all games that are created using Warcraft 3: Reforged. This first and foremost means that many of the popular Warcraft 3 custom games can not be created without transferring control. However, it also means that, if another popular game gets its start on Warcraft 3: Reforged, Blizzard would claim ownership of it.
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