Topic: COPYRIGHT - on December 8, 2009 at 10:54:00 AM CET
Geist: Record industry faces liability over `infringement'
Chet Baker was a leading jazz musician in the 1950s, playing trumpet and providing vocals. Baker died in 1988, yet he is about to add a new claim to fame as the lead plaintiff in possibly the largest copyright infringement case in Canadian history. His estate, which still owns the copyright in more than 50 of his works, is part of a massive class-action lawsuit that has been underway for the past year.
The infringer has effectively already admitted owing at least $50 million and the full claim could exceed $60 billion. If the dollars don't shock, the target of the lawsuit undoubtedly will: The defendants in the case are Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada, the four primary members of the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on November 14, 2009 at 12:40:00 PM CET
EFF launches international copyright news site
Danny from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "Copyright lobbyists often indulge in what's called "policy laundering" -- if you can't get an amendment to copyright in one country, just shop it around until you find somewhere that will take it.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on October 10, 2009 at 5:51:00 PM CEST
Abmahnungen einträglicher als verkaufte Musik?
Kürzlich wurden wir auf eine Firmenpräsentation der Digi Rights Solutions GmbH aufmerksam, die uns staunen ließ. Eigentlich dachten wir immer, dass Abmahnungen dazu da sind, teure Prozesse zu vermeiden. Bei der Firmenpräsentation wird man aber das Gefühl nicht los, dass dieser Aspekt eher im Hintergrund steht. Sind Abmahnungen unterm Strich einträglicher als der Verkauf von Tonträgern? Sollte man als Dienstleister für Rechteinhaber gar damit Kunden anlocken?
Bei "bekannten" Files ist es also (laut der offiziellen PP-Präsentation) realistisch, pro Woche 1.000 IP-Adressen von Filesharern zu speichern. Dies geht hoch bis zu einem Maximum von 5.000 mitgeschnittenen IP-Adressen monatlich. Von diesen 5.000 Abgemahnten piracyprofitbezahlt ein Viertel sofort, also 1.250 Personen. Bei einem Anteil von 90 Euro würde der Rechteinhaber also demnach netto 150 Mal mehr Geld "erwirtschaften", als wenn er das Werk legal verkauft hätte.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on October 10, 2009 at 5:50:00 PM CEST
Illegal Downloads 150x More Profitable Than Legal Sales
Unlike most people might think, piracy is not necessarily a bad thing for copyright holders. In fact, German pirate-tracking outfit DigiRights Solutions shows that copyright holders can earn 150 times more money from illicit downloads than from iTunes and other legal stores.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on October 9, 2009 at 12:31:00 PM CEST
French presidency makes 400 unauthorized copies of DVD
The French satirical investigative journalism weekly “Le Canard Enchaîné“ reveals that our holier-than-thou presidency is in fact a pirate’s lair. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, the presidential audiovisual services produced 400 unauthorized copies of the 52 minutes documentary “A visage découvert : Nicolas Sarkozy“.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on September 23, 2009 at 11:29:00 AM CEST
Jack Kirby Heirs Reclaim Marvel/Disney Rights
Heirs to comic book legend Jack Kirby sent 45 notices of copyright termination to Marvel Entertainment, prospective Marvel buyer Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and others studios that that hold licensed media rights to Marvel characters. Some rights could revert to the heirs as soon as 2014, for characters that are among the hottest in Hollywood: The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Avengers, and others. Among other things the heirs' demand could cause problems for Disney's as yet unconsummated purchase of Marvel.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on August 19, 2009 at 10:58:00 AM CEST
BSA Softens Anti-Piracy Message
The Business Software Alliance has a new anti-piracy video that for the first time uses humor instead of scare tactics to get out its message.
The alliance, consisting of about 80 companies — including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe — is the counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on August 17, 2009 at 11:37:00 AM CEST
Download a Copy of The Pirate Bay Before It’s Gone
In just a few days The Pirate Bay will be passed onto its new owners, marking the end of an era but not the end of BitTorrent. The nostalgic torrenters among us might want to download a copy of the site for archival purposes. It never hurts to have a backup of important data in place, especially when it’s free.
torrentfreak.com 1 seeder, 147 leeches? Give back you fuckers Leecher [wiki]
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on August 14, 2009 at 12:35:00 PM CEST
The Pirate Bay Presents.... DJ Joel's $675,000 Playlist
Want the playlist that cost file-swapper Joel Tenenbaum a cool $675,000? In yet another snub, the Pirate Bay has now compiled the exact collection, and branded it front-and-center at thepiratebay.org. Of course, the 'approved by the RIAA' part is a bit of a stretch, though the overt condescension is genuine.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on August 2, 2009 at 11:55:00 AM CEST
Maybe The RIAA Should Just Charge $22,500 Per Song
The RIAA has been awarded $675,000 in the case of Joel Tenenbaum, a student who illegally downloaded 30 songs. If the award stands, Tenenbaum will be filing for bankruptcy.
Since Tenenbaum had already admitted to infringement, the jury’s instructions from the judge were to choose an amount between $750 and $150,000 per song.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on July 31, 2009 at 12:01:00 PM CEST
Was kommt nach dem Copyright?
Auf Vimeo gibt es die Dokumentation “Was kommt nach dem Copyright” zu sehen, die im vergangenen Herbst auf 3sat gezeigt wurde
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on July 28, 2009 at 10:47:00 AM CEST
Fair Use Defense Dismissed In SONY V. Tenenbaum
Several readers sent us updates from the Boston courtroom where, mere hours before the start of trial, a federal judge ruled out fair use as a defense. Wired writes that "the outcome is already shaping up to resemble the only other file sharing trial," in which the RIAA got a $1.92M judgement against Jammie Thomas-Rassert. The defendant, Joel Tenenbaum, has already essentially admitted to sharing music files, and the entire defense put together by Harvard Prof. Charles Nesson and his students turned on the question of fair use. The judge wrote that the proposed defense would be "so broad it would swallow the copyright protections that Congress has created." Jury selection is complete and opening arguments will begin tomorrow morning. Here is the Twitter feed organized by Prof. Nesson's law students.
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