Free Republic

While a decision in Google v. Oracle isn’t expected for a few months, the justices’ pointed questioning at the Big Tech giant indicates Google broke the law to get ahead. Michael J. PappasBy Michael J. Pappas OCTOBER 14, 2020 The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Google v. Oracle on Oct. 7. The case involves several legal issues, all of which boil down to one principal question: Did Google cheat and steal its way to the top? 

While a decision on the case isn’t expected for a few months, the justices’ pointed questioning at the Big Tech giant points to...

According to NBC News, the Justice Department filed a friend of court brief late Thursday supporting LED ZEPPELIN in the "Stairway To Heaven" copyright lawsuit. Last September, a federal appeals court decided unanimously to overturn a jury's decision that LED ZEPPELIN's 1971 classic was not a rip-off of SPIRIT's song. Michael Skidmore, the trustee of "Taurus" songwriter Randy "California" Wolfe's estate, had brought the claims more than four decades after "Stairway To Heaven" appeared on LED ZEPPELIN's untitled album, better known as "Led Zeppelin IV". In its brief filed Thursday, the Justice Department said the trial judge got it right...

Pharrell Williams isn’t happy President Trump played the singer’s upbeat song at a rally Saturday just hours after a gunman killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Williams’ lawyer Howard King sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump Monday that said the singer did not grant the president’s team permission to use the song “Happy” at Saturday’s rally in Illinois. King said playing the hit song when nearly a dozen people were murdered at a Pittsburgh synagogue earlier in the day was distasteful.

The internet is flipping out with stories like, “Apple can delete your movies any time it wants.” No, Apple isn’t deleting movies people bought through iTunes, but one man’s heading with mysteriously missing movies underscores how messed up international movie licensing is.Streaming movies from iTunes Here’s the back story: Anders G da Silva shared his experience on Twitter. Some movies he bought through iTunes disappeared from his streaming library. The response from Apple was that the “content provider removed these movies from the Canadian Store. Hence, these movies these movies are not available in the Canada iTunes Store at this...

Sing the song, blow out the candles, eat the cake and unwrap the gifts. According to a court filing on Monday, music publisher Warner/Chappell will pay $14 million to end a lawsuit challenging its hold on the English language's most popular song, "Happy Birthday to You." Additionally, the settlement stipulates a proposed final judgment and order that would declare the song to be in the public domain. A memorandum in support of the settlement sings the praises of the deal as "truly, an historic result." U.S. District Judge George H. King will have to sign off on it. The revelation...

A lawsuit filed in federal court against the music streaming service Spotify is seeking at least $150 million in royalties for musicians and copyright owners. The suit, filed Monday by guitarist and vocalist David Lowery of alternative rock band Cracker, alleges Spotify "knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully reproduces and distributes copyrighted" music without a license to do so, Lowery's law firm Michelman & Robinson said. Violating federal copyright law could mean fines of between $750 and $150,000 for each infringement. That could mean big payouts if the court sides with Lowery, who filed the case on behalf of himself and "all...

http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/13/congressional-review-of-copyright-law-may-threaten-drudge-report/ Congressional Review Of Copyright Law May Threaten Drudge Report Photo of Kerry Picket Kerry Picket Reporter 5:20 PM 10/13/2015 WASHINGTON — Congress may update digital copyright law affecting aggregator sites, like the Drudge Report and Real Clear Politics, along with news sites in the near future. “Two years ago, the House Judiciary Committee launched a comprehensive review of our nation’s copyright laws, which have not been updated since 1976. As technology continues to rapidly advance, we have a responsibility to ensure that our laws are keeping pace with these developments,” Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte said in a statement. Since...

Circulating on the web tonight: During an appearance on the Alex Jones Show, Drudge asserted that copyright laws which prevent websites from even linking to news stories were being advanced. “I had a Supreme Court Justice tell me it’s over for me,” said Drudge. “They’ve got the votes now to enforce copyright law, you’re out of there. They’re going to make it so you can’t even use headlines.” “To have a Supreme Court Justice say to me it’s over, they’ve got the votes, which means time is limited,” he added, noting that a day was coming when simply operating an...

Nine years later, round two in court for the purveyor of concert recordings and footage. The NMPA has filed a suit on behalf of 26 music publishing companies against Wolfgang's Vault, an online marketplace which sells live concerts, CDs and vinyl. Peermusic, ABKCO Music, Imagem and Screen Gems are among the publishers supporting the lawsuit, which was filed today in U.S District Court in New York. The complaint alleges that Wolfgang's Vault has infringed on the companies' recording copyrights, through streaming, downloads, and physical sales. The complaint maintains that the sources from which the company acquired its recordings archive, including...

Go to Prison for Sharing Files? That’s What Hollywood Wants in the Secret TPP Deal The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) poses massive threats to users in a dizzying number of ways. It will force other TPP signatories to accept the United States’ excessive copyright terms of a minimum of life of the author plus 70 years, while locking the US to the same lengths so it will be harder to shorten them in the future. It contains extreme DRM anti-circumvention provisions that will make it a crime to tinker with, hack, re-sell, preserve, and otherwise control any number of digital...

If adopted, these proposals will impact record labels, music publishers, producers, royalty collection groups, terrestrial and satellite radio, and music streaming services. In a 245-page report issued on Thursday, the U.S. Copyright Office is throwing its weight behind what would be the most radical changes to how music is licensed in nearly a half century. Many of the copyright laws governing music were first erected at the time that player pianos became popular and have developed through the advent of radio, new recording devices and, most recently, digital networks. Maria Pallante, director of the Copyright Office, believes the law is...

M aster spy James Bond, one of pop culture’s most iconic figures, is now available for dangerous assignments from Canadian writers, thanks to a copyright quirk that allows the writing and publication in Canada of original material based on Bond creator Ian Fleming’s work. As of Jan. 1, the original writings of Fleming, a former British naval intelligence agent who published 12 novels and nine stories featuring 007 between 1952 and 1966, have entered the public domain. That’s because Canada’s view of copyright is that it extends for 50 years after the death of a writer.

The idea behind copyright was simple – creativity would be catalyzed if individuals were given the exclusive right to profit from their works for a period of time. The law was supposed to strike a sensible balance between financial incentives for creators and social benefits. Early on, that may have been the case, but the law has changed greatly since the first Copyright Act was passed in 1790. Today, copyright does far more to create an information oligarchy than the robust information democracy the drafters of the Constitution and the first act had in mind.

Monkey business — or legitimate copyright claim? In Indonesia in 2011 a female crested black macaque hijacked the camera of British nature photographer David Slater and proceeded to snap hundreds of photos — among them several selfies, photos of himself, one of which made worldwide headlines and the animal’s Wikipedia page. Slater, citing royalty losses, has tried to have the photograph removed from the site. The Telegraph reports: The Gloucestershire-based photographer now claims that the decision is jeopardising his income as anyone can take the image and publish it for free, without having to pay him a royalty. He complained...

Rogers Communications says from now on it will require police to get a warrant before it hands over subscriber data. “After hearing feedback from our customers and reviewing the Supreme Court ruling from last month, we’ve decided that from now on we will require a court order/warrant to provide basic customer information to law enforcement agencies, except in life threatening emergencies,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “We believe this move is better for our customers and that law enforcement agencies will still be able to protect the public.” The country’s second-largest telecom by revenue released its first-ever transparency...

Bert and Ernie Gay Marriage Cake Leaves Christian Bakery Facing Court Threat 07 Jul 2014 A Christian-run bakery is facing legal action from a Government agency for refusing to produce a cake carrying a picture of the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie and the slogan “support gay marriage”. Ashers Baking Co, based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, cancelled an order for a novelty cake with a picture of the puppets arm in arm printed onto the icing saying that it went against the directors’ religious beliefs. They believe that producing the cake with the slogan and the logo of QueerSpace,...

...The plaintiffs include Vivendi SA's Capitol Records Inc and UMG Recordings Inc, Sony Corp's Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp and ABKCO Music & Records Inc... ...Federal copyright law does not apply to pre-1972 recordings, but the plaintiffs say New York state law provides copyright protection for such recordings... ..."If we are required to obtain licenses for pre-1972 sound recordings to avoid liability and are unable to secure such licenses, then we may have to remove pre-1972 sound recordings from our service, which could harm our ability to attract and retain users," the company said in a regulatory filing...

21-year-old Dallas Miller received an awkward email from her friend. The White Creek, Tennessee resident was told that her face was showing up in advertisements on Backpage.com for prostitution. As WKRN ABC News 2 reports, there are some problems with this: 1) Dallas isn’t a prostitute. 2) She never gave her permission to have her pictures used in ads for prostitution, because, as I just mentioned, she isn’t a prostitute. Dallas’ pictures show up in an ad that, in part, reads, “best time of your life 100% guaranteed satisfaction [phone number redacted] OUTCALL ONLY – 21.” Ms. Miller told WKRN,...

Ninety years ago today, the song millions of people sing around a candlelit cake was published in a songbook. Although by 1924 the recognisable melody had been sung in American primary schools for nearly three decades, the publication was to trigger almost a century of legal wranglings which would result in Happy Birthday To You being one of the most lucrative songs of all time. Even though nobody knows who actually wrote Happy Birthday's lyrics, Warner Music contentiously owns the copyright to the song in its entirety. The media giant has therefore been earning millions from people celebrating their birthdays...

after he 'stole' their photographer's image for his latest paintingGeorge Zimmerman's recent foray into the art world hasn't exactly earned him much critical praise. But it's definitely garnered him some attention - so much so that it could potentially get him sued by one of the largest news-wire services on earth. For his latest painting, the man acquitted of murder in the shooting death of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin has painted a portrait of Florida State Attorney General Angela Corey, who is the woman who decided to charge Zimmerman with murder in Martin's death. The problem for Zimmerman, however,...