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1: Rick Ross Gets Great News in Copyright Case
First off today, Alex Zidel at Hot New Hip Hop reports that rapper Rick Ross has emerged victorious in his lawsuit against a previously designated “vexatious litigant” that tried to claim Ross had infringed one of his songs.
The lawsuit was filed in November by musician Ronal Satish Emrit, who claimed that Ross’ song Billionaire was an infringement of his earlier work Dilemma. Ross and his lawyers filed to have the lawsuit dismissed. Emrit responded but failed to address the key issues raised in the original motion to dismiss. As such, the judge agreed and has tossed the case.
According to a press release issued by Ross’ attorneys, Emrit has been previously classified as a “vexatious litigant”, which is a term used for someone that uses lawsuits as a means to harass or silence another party.
2: Publishers File European Commission Complaint Against Google For Hosting ‘Piracy Apps’
Next up today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that a Russian anti-piracy group has filed a complaint with the European Commission claiming that Google is not doing enough to remove piracy-enabling apps from the Google Play store.
According to the complaint, Google does remove most of the applications that infringe copyright after notification. However, they claim that some platforms are “granted immunity” and remain available to the public even after notice has been filed.
A closer look at the complaint shows that the apps in question are not necessarily piracy-focused and includes apps by social networks, messaging services, email services and even YouTube itself.
3: AFL Clubs Back #freetheflag Campaign as Copyright Row Over Aboriginal Flag Labelled a ‘Disgrace’
Finally today, Mike Hytner and Hannah Ryan at the Guardian report that, due to a copyright dispute the Australian Football League will not display the Aboriginal flag on the field during the Indigenous round.
Traditionally, the flag has been painted on the grounds during the event. However, Wam clothing, which is a non-Indigenous company, holds the rights to the flag after they were given it by the flag’s original designer. The AFL has declined to pay a royalty to use the flag and, as such, it will not appear on the grounds nor on goal umpire flags.
This has led to several AFL clubs backing the larger #freetheflag campaign, which aims to make the flag free for use, especially for Indigenous persons.
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