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1: Twitter Takes Down Trump Video Featuring ‘Electric Avenue’ After Copyright Complaint
First off today, J. Clara Chan at The Wrap reports that Twitter has removed a video tweeted by President Trump after a copyright complaint from representatives for the musician Eddy Grant. This comes on the same day that Grant filed a lawsuit against the Trump campaign over the use of his song Electric Avenue.
According to the complaint, the Trump campaign made use of the song in a video mocking the campaign of his opponent, Vice President Joe Biden. However, Grant claims he never authorized the use of his music in the video and has both ordered Twitter to remove the video and has filed a lawsuit over it.
The lawsuit comes just one week after the estate of Leonard Cohen threatened their own legal action against the Republication National Committee over their use of the Cohen track Hallelujah during the convention.
2: Why Potential Claimants Should Take Care with DMCA Takedown Demands
Next up today, Justin Milligan at JD Supra reports that a court has ordered the restoration of a series of public domain cartoon videos after find that the takedown that got them removed was likely false.
The case deals with Beyond Blond Productions, a company that obtains public domain cartoons and compiles them into “Cartoon Classics” videos. Six such videos are available for streaming on Amazon Prime but became the subject of a DMCA takedown by a competitor, ComedyMX. According to ComedyMX, the issue was the similarity of the Beyond Blond logo to theirs and the use of the name Cartoon Classics.
Beyond Blond did file a counternotice but Amazon declined to restore the videos. As such, they filed a lawsuit to order the restoration of their videos and grant other relief. The judge, in a preliminary decision, has granted that order saying the takedown was improper and that ComedyMX is unlikely to succeed in its copyright arguments. According to the judge the issue over the name is, at best, a trademark dispute and the logos are sufficiently different to avoid any copyright issues. Beyond Blond’s videos have been restored as of this writing.
3: J Dilla Died In 2006. He’s Now Being Sued for Using a 1974 Rock Sample
Finally today, Samantha Hissong at Rolling Stone reports that musician J Dill is being sued over an allegedly unlicensed music sample, despite the fact he died 14 years ago.
The lawsuit was filed by Music Sales Corporation, a company that administers the rights for the band the 10cc song The Worst Band in the World, which J Dilla sampled on his 2006 song Workinonit for his album Donuts. The lawsuit targets not just J Dilla’s estate but also against his record label and publishing companies.
Music Sales Corporation is suing for compensatory damages, profits earned over the last three years as well as attorneys’ fees and costs related to the lawsuit.
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