3 Count: Electric Avenue Boogaloo

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1: Trump Asks Court to Trim ‘Electric Avenue’ Copyright Lawsuit

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that both Former President Donald Trump and Eddy Grant have asked the court to rule on parts of the case before the matter heads to a jury.

Grant sued President Trump’s campaign for copyright infringement in the campaign’s use of a clip of Grant’s song Electric Avenue in a video supporting his campaign. President Trump’s lawyers initially argued that the video was a fair use, but the judge declined to rule in favor of that, saying it was a matter for a potential jury.

The case claims copyright infringement of both the sound recording and the composition of the song. However, now lawyers representing President Trump are arguing that Grant doesn’t own the sound recording in question, asking that claim to be dropped. Grant, on the other hand, is asking for a ruling that Trump infringed copyright as a matter of law, setting the stage for a possible jury trial on damages.

2: Plex Will Block Media Servers at Abuse Prevalent Hosting Company

Next up today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that the makers of Plex, a media software service that allows streaming of content from a private collection, has announced that, in a bid to clamp down on piracy, they will block access to their service for clients who host content at the German hosting company Hetzner.

Plex is a service that makes it easy for users to stream content that is stored on a private server. The intended function is for users to access their personal, legally obtained media library from anywhere in the world. However, the service has also been widely used for piracy, with users offering public or semi-pubilc streaming of pirated content, often stored on a remote server like those that Hetzner offers.

However, Plex is attempting to distance itself from piracy and has announced it will block access to its service from users who host their server on Hetzner. Why Hetzner was particularly singled out is unclear, but the company has become well known in recent years as a haven for pirated content, despite being a host based in Germany.

3: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Disable Copyright Music Comes With A Catch

Finally today, Dennis Patrick at Gameranx reports that CD Projekt Red has announced that an upcoming update to the game Cyberpunk 2077 will feature a tool to allow streamers to mute copyright-protected music to avoid copyright issues, though one of the songs will not be muted at this time.

The company is preparing to release a major expansion to the Cyberpunk 2077. Among the features being added is a now-common one to automatically mute music that is protected by copyright. This is so that streamers and creators of let’s play videos can play the game and share their footage without fears of copyright issues.

However, the feature in Cyberpunk 2077 will omit one song. Entitled Delicate Weapon, the song will not be muted as the company has negotiated a two-year deal to allow the song’s use in streaming and videos. As such, it won’t be blocked by the feature until after that deal expires. However, after that time, videos and streams that feature the song may face copyright challenges, including possibly being demonetized or being hit with takedown notices. This means that those wanting to stream or share footage from the game will still need to mute this song if they want their video to avoid issues after the deal expires.

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