3 Count: Baby Battle

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1: Moonbug Awarded US$23 Million in Major Copyright Case

First off today, Ryan Tuchow at Kidscreen reports that Moonbug Entertainment, the company behind the popular CoComelon animated series, has emerged victorious in a lawsuit they filed against the Chinese company BabyBus over the latter’s series Super JoJo.

The lawsuit alleged that Super JoJo was an infringement of their CoComelon series, noting overlapping characters, animation style, and other alleged copying. BabyBus already conceded to some of the infringing acts but disagreed on many others, setting the stage for a trial.

The jury has comeback in that trial and found that BabyBus is liable for the infringement and awarded Moonbug some $23.4 million in damages. The YouTube channel for Super JoJo has been shuttered since 2021 following a series of copyright infringement notices.

2: Dua Lipa Faces Copyright Lawsuit Over Hit Levitating

Next up today, Riyah Collins at the BBC reports that musician Dua Lipa is facing a copyright infringement claim over remixes of her hit song Levitating.

The lawsuit was filed by musician Bosko Kante, who claims that a track he made for the song is being used in remixes, even though he only gave permission for it to appear on the original version. Kante further claims that he made “numerous attempts” to resolve the matter, said the singer and her label were uncooperative.

Dua Lipa nor her representatives, Warner Music Group, have responded to the case.

3: Broadcasters, SoundExchange Draw As Court Upholds CRB Rates

Finally today, Radio Ink reports that the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Court has upheld the Copyright Royalty Board’s recent rate hikes for webcasters.

The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is responsible for setting various statutory royalty rates and does so through reevaluations every five years. In the October 2021 round of updates, the board agreed to a modest increase in royalties for music being played in online settings.

However, both those who sought lower rates and those that sought higher rates appealed that decision. That appeal is what has returned, with the court finding that the CRB acted properly in making its decision and upheld the new royalty rates.

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