3 Count: Tiger King 2024

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1: Netflix Must Face Revived ‘Tiger King’ Copyright Claim, US Appeals Court Says

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has partially revived a lawsuit filed against Netflix over the documentary series Tiger King, determining that the lower court was premature in ruling that the use of one clip was a fair use.

The lawsuit was filed by Timothy Sepi, a cameraman who had eight clips he recorded used in the series. He sued, alleging that the use of his footage was a copyright infringement. The lower court dismissed his claims, saying that, for seven of the clips, he was an employee of the park and didn’t own the rights to that footage. For the last, a clip of a funeral, the court found that its inclusion in the documentary was a fair use.

Now the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the decision on the last clip. Though the court upheld that he was an employee for the first seven, on the last the Appeals Court ruled the judge ruled too quickly in favor of fair use. This remands the case to the lower court for a possible trial on the one clip.

2: ‘The Batman’ Plot Wasn’t Stolen as Judge Hits Writer Who Sued with Copyright Infringement

Next up today, Reuters reports that that Warner Bros. Entertainment did not steal the plot for the 2022 film The Batman, dismissing a case filed by a writer who had previously done freelance work for DC Comics in 1990.

The case was filed by writer Christopher Wozniak, who alleged that The Batman was an infringement of his earlier story, The Ultimate Riddle, which was retitled The Bland Man’s Hat. He said that The Batman was remarkably close to his work, constituting a copyright infringement.

The judge, however, was unconvinced with Wozniak’s arguments. The judge found that the similarities between the works were not unique to either work and were not protectable by copyright. He also found that there was no evidence Warner had access to his story. Finally, he found that, if anyone had infringed, it would be Wozniak himself who used copyright-protected characters in drafting his story. Wozniak has said that he disagrees with the decision and is considering his “next steps.”

3: Tekken 8 Mods Facing Potential Danger With YouTube Copyright Strikes and Links Reportedly Taken Down

Finally today, Dakota Hills at Event Hubs reports that modders for the video game Tekken 8 are reporting that their videos on YouTube are being targeted with copyright takedowns, in some cases endangering their accounts.

Multiple modders report that their accounts have been hit by copyright strikes by Association of Copyright for Computer Software, which is representing Namco, the makers of the game. They claim that the organization is targeting modders specifically, claiming that the mods themselves are an infringement.

In addition to the YouTube takedowns, links hosted on Google Drive and other download sites have also been targeted. The campaign is part of a larger one by video game developers to target mods, which many see as akin to cheating in video games.

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