3 Count: Shape of Victory

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Ed Sheeran Wins Shape of You Copyright Case and Hits Out at ‘Baseless’ Claims

First off today, the BBC reports that Ed Sheeran has emerged victorious in his lawsuit over the song Shape of You after a judge ruled that his song was not an infringement.

The lawsuit was filed by Sami Chokri, who claimed that Shape of You was an infringement of his earlier song Oh Why. The case made its way to a trial, and now the judge has ruled that Sheeran’s song didn’t infringe. According to the judge, Sheeran did not “deliberately nor subconsiously” copy Chokri’s work and there was no evidence Sheeran had even heard Oh Why before writing Shape of You.

Following the verdict, Sheeran released a statement bashing “baseless” copyright claims and noting that the experience was “deeply traumatizing” for him.

2: Spotify Fails to Block Daniel Ek Deposition in Dispute with Eminem Publisher

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that Spotify CEO Daniel EK will be required to sit for a deposition in his company’s legal case against music publisher Eight Mile Style.

Eight Mile Style sued Spotify alleging that it was not handling mechanical royalties correctly and addresses alleged issues both before and after the passing of the Music Modernization Act, which aimed to standardize the handling of such royalties for streaming platforms.

The publisher wanted to depose Daniel Ek, but Spotify’s lawyers attempted to prevent it, saying that he is simply too busy. Eight Mile Style noted that Ek had spoken several times about his personal involvement in handling those licenses, and the judge has agreed, blocking Spotify’s request to prevent Ek from being deposed.

3: Music Industry Flags Discord and Reddit as Primary Piracy Threats

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has submitted its recommendations to the European Commission regarding sites and services it feels should be on their “piracy watch list”

Several years ago, the European Commission began following in the footsteps of the U.S. Trade Representative and releasing annual “Counterfeit and Piracy Watch Lists” The third is scheduled to be published at the end of the year, but recommendations are flowing in already.

The IFPI specifically called out platforms such as Discord, Reddit, Twitter and Telegram, which they say shares pre-release content regularly. The IFPI notes that content is often not hosted on these services directly, but have become a common way of sharing cyberlocker links to infringing content.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.