Rights

It’s been 48 years since “Dog Day Afternoon” hit theaters. But as of last week, you could purchase a brand-new hat reprising the film’s all-caps poster, down to its memorable tagline: “Incredible But True!” This hat is not officially licensed merch for Sidney Lumet’s twisty crime drama. It is an unsanctioned homage made by And After That, a teensy McAllen, Tx.-based clothing company that inventively—and often cheekily—pays homage to movies and bands with shirts, T-shirts and hoodies.

Source: Fans Search for Coveted Film Merch—Five Decades After a Movie’s Release

The Copyright Royalty Board approved a new settlement for streaming royalties owed to songwriters for the period of 2023-2027. This ruling sets the rates for Subpart C and D of the five year period known as Phonorecords IV (or “Phono IV” for short), and it represents a compromise between the music industry and the streaming services, creating certainty around the royalties owed to songwriters for U.S. mechanicals.

Source: Songwriters’ New Streaming Royalties Approved Before the New Year

The Australian Government will conduct a review of current copyright enforcement measures in 2023, to ensure they remain “appropriate, effective and proportionate.” The Attorney-General’s Department has released an issues paper for public consultation, the first step towards determining whether Australia’s existing enforcement regime is fit-for-purpose.

Source: Australia Launches Copyright Enforcement Review & Consultation * TorrentFreak

The US Copyright Office over the next year will focus on addressing legal gray areas that surround copyright protections and artificial intelligence, amid increasing concerns that IP policy is lagging behind technology. The agency is standing by its decision that a copyright can’t be registered for a work created exclusively by an AI—an issue at the heart of an ongoing lawsuit against the office. However, the office is exploring open questions on copyright registration for works created by humans in conjunction with AI.

Source: Copyright Office Sets Sights on Artificial Intelligence in 2023

After debuting its NFT collectibles earlier this month, popular football club Manchester United Ltd Cl A (NYSE: MANU)  and its official blockchain provider Tezos Foundation have been accused of copying monsters’ NFT traits belonging to Lucrece. The 7,777 digital collectibles announced by Manchester United are said to share most of their unique traits with Lucrece’s monster artwork.

Source: Manchester United and Tezos Foundation Accused of NFT Copyright Infringement

This weekend’s Public Domain Day will give our cultural commons a few particularly notable new works. As outlined by Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, the start of 2023 will mark the end of US copyrights on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s final Sherlock Holmes stories — along with the seminal science fiction movie Metropolis, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and the first full-length “talkie” film The Jazz Singer.

Source: Sherlock Holmes will finally escape copyright this weekend

Royalties in the digital art market have become a hot-button topic since several NFT marketplaces, including LooksRare and Magic Eden, made paying royalties to artists optional. If you ask Jacob Horne, co-founder of the NFT and DAO platform Zora, things are headed in the wrong direction. “Royalties were one of the most compelling features of crypto to artists coming into the space,” Horne said, “because that’s been such a long-standing problem in the traditional art world or music world or any creative art form.”

Source: Artist Royalties Are Among ‘Most Compelling Features of Crypto’: Zora Co-Founder – Decrypt

Striking the proper balance between the rights of creators and the public is never easy, and the digital revolution in particular has caused significant hardships for copyright owners. But after years of disappointing developments, the tide seems to genuinely be turning for the better.

Source: The Year in Copyright: 2022 Gives Creators Hope for the Future

There is nothing soft and cuddly about the way Disney protects the characters it brings to life. For the first time, however, one of Disney’s marquee characters — Mickey himself — is set to enter the public domain. “Steamboat Willie,” the 1928 short film that introduced Mickey to the world, will lose copyright protection in the United States and a few other countries at the end of next year, prompting fans, copyright experts and potential Mickey grabbers to wonder: How is the notoriously litigious Disney going to respond?

Source: Early Version of Disney’s Mickey Mouse Will Soon Be Public Property

According to a 2022 recap of the Artists Forward initiative, published on Sony Music’s website this week, the Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program “has already paid through millions of dollars to thousands of our long-standing creators”, and that “over time, thousands of artists globally are poised to benefit from Legacy Unrecouped Balance support as they become eligible for the program”.

Source: Nearly $50m has now been withdrawn by artists and participants using Sony Music’s Cash Out and Real Time Advances features