3 Count: Not Taking It

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1: ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’: Twisted Sister Win Copyright Battle In Australia

First off today, Lars Brandle at Billboard reports that Australian businessman and politician Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay A$1.5 million ($1.16 million) in damages to members of the band Twisted Sister and Universal Music Publishing Group.

During a campaign ahead of the 2019 election, Palmer used a song that sounded a great deal like Twisted SIster’s We’re Not Gonna Take It as part of a national campaign for the United Australia Party. Palmer claimed that he wrote the lyrics himself and that the tune was actual too O Come, All Ye Faithful, not the Twisted Sister hit.

However, the court disagreed with Palmer’s arguments and has ordered him to pay the A$1.5 million in damages for using the song without permission. The court further claimed that Palmer saw clear personal and political advantage in using the song mistakenly thought it would be enough to change the words.

2: Apple Accused of Breaking EU Law Over App Store Sales Fees

Next up today, Daniel Boffey at The Guardian reports that Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, has said that her preliminary view is that Apple is violating competition laws by requiring other streaming services to pay a 30% commission on sales but not charging a similar markup on their won products.

According to Vestager, services such as Spotify are charged a 30% commission on all in-app purchases, including subscriptions, which causes their services to be more expensive than Apple’s own music service, which doesn’t pay any such commission.

Many services, including Spotify, have simply stopped offering in-app subscription purposes to avoid paying that fee. Apple notes this and says that Spotify doesn’t pay any commission on 99% of their subscribers and only pay a 15% fee on those remaining subscribers that did purchase in app when it was available. There is no deadline for when this investigation will be required to end and the final decisions announced.

3: Ghana: Wendy Shay Accuses SA Film Producer of Copyright Infringement

Finally today, Gabriel Myers Hansen at Music Africa reports that Ghanaian singer Wendy Shay has accused the filmmakers behind the South African film Slay of using one of her songs without permission.

Shay claims that the film used her 2019 song All For You as part of its score and that the use was unlicensed. She took to social media to vent her frustrations and warn those behind the film that what they were doing was illegal.

The film has been taken off Netflix, which was where Shay saw it, but she still says that she has not been contacted by anyone involved with the film about the use of her music or royalties that she is owed.

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