3 Count: One Billion Overturned

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1: Major Labels’ $1bn Copyright Win Against Cox Communications Overturned on Appeal

First off today, Daniel Tencert at Music Business Worldwide reports that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a $1 billion against the internet service provider Cox Communications, saying that there was no evidence the ISP had committed vicarious copyright infringement.

The verdict was won by the three major record labels, who accused Cox of not doing enough to prevent piracy on its service, namely failing to terminate repeat infringers. The jury in the case found Cox liable for both contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, awarding the labels nearly $100,000 per song for more than 10,000 allegedly infringed works.

The Appeals Court has upheld the contributory copyright infringement judgment but overturned the vicarious infringement one, saying that there was no evidence that Cox directly profited from the infringement. This sends the case back to the lower court for a possible retrial on damages alone, a decision that both sides have called a victory.

2: Judge Orders Cam’ron to Pay $50K For Using Copyrighted Image Of Himself On Dipset Merch

Next up today, Bill Donahue at Billboard reports that rapper Cam’ron has been ordered to pay $50,000 to a photographer who took a photo of him that he later used to sell merchandise.

The lawsuit was filed by photographer Cameron Giles, who uses the name Djamilla Cochran. Cochran took the photo of the rapper at a 2003 fashion show and it was featured in 2016 article in GQ magazine. Some time after that photo, Cam’ron used the image shirts, jewelry and other merchandise sold by a company he owns.

Cam’ron did not respond to the lawsuit, prompting the court to enter a default judgment against him and awarding the photographer seven times the normal licensing fee of $5,970, resulting in a total of $40,0530 in statutory damages and an additional $10,691 in legal fees.

3: Reddit Strikes ‘ai Training Deal’ for User Content. Copyright and Privacy Lawyers Set to Go Wild?

Finally today, Joe Fay at The Stack reports that Reddit has signed a new deal with an unnamed AI company to allow the company to train its systems on Reddit users’ content.

The deal is reportedly worth $60 million per year and grants the company access to Reddit’s API systems to access user content. The move comes after Reddit famously limited access to its API to kill of third-party applications that were using it as a means to improve user experience.

Users of Reddit who don’t want their content used in this way have limited recourse as the company’s terms of service grants them the rights to use the content in this way. This includes users in the UK and European Union, who, despite greater government protections, are governed by the same clause.

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