Rights

The Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association (UPBA) has released a new spring 2022 rights catalogue, Books From Ukraine (PDF), which features titles in six categories available from Ukrainian publishers. The intent behind Books from Ukraine, association president Oleksander Afonin says, is to create a way for international publishers to provide financial support to Ukrainian publishers during the chaos and hardships caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Ukraine: A Call to Buy Rights to Support Publishers

A last-minute proposal to change the liability regime for online search engines in the Digital Services Act (DSA) was circulated in the European Parliament amending a proposal of the EU Commission that already favours rightsholders. It is expected to receive the support of the EU Commission and Council.

Source: DSA: rightsholders make final push for takedown obligations on search engines

The opportunities for virtual world creation become limitless with a substantial and potentially complete shift on the horizon from physical products to digital assets. As a result of the fact that tangible space is not needed in the digital sphere, monetization opportunities become rife.

Source: Entertainment Industry Pushes To Shift Intellectual Property To Web3

Warning that Universal Music Group is holding their rights “hostage,” nine musicians who are suing to regain control of their masters are now demanding that a federal judge let them proceed as a class action, representing potentially hundreds of other UMG artists.

Source: Artists Say Universal Music Is Holding Masters ‘Hostage,’ Demand Class Action Status

The music giant purchased Bored Ape #5537 back in March 2022 for 125 ETH. UMG plans to make the character the leader of its Bored Apes band, dubbed “Kingship.” The NFT cost roughly $360,000 at the time of purchase. So far, UMG has been pretty tight-lipped about its plans for the crypto-backed band. But recent trademark filings may give us some insight into future plans.

Source: Universal Music Group Files Four Trademarks for Bored Apes Band Leader

YouTube has responded to the piracy lawsuit filed last year by movie tycoon Carlos Vasallo. The streaming platform denies all copyright infringement allegations and sees the case as an attempt to get special Content ID treatment. YouTube also warns that its copyright management tool should not fall into the wrong hands since that could lead to misuse and censorship.

Source: YouTube Rejects Movie Piracy Claims and Content ID Critique * TorrentFreak

The first anniversary of the deadline for transposing the EU’s controversial new Copyright Directive into national legislation is less than two months away and only 12 member states have complied so far. Just three EU countries – the Netherlands, Hungary and Germany – had fully transposed the directive by the deadline on 7 June 2021.

Source: Copyright Directive transposition still lagging despite infringement procedures

The relationship between NFTs and IP protection can be complicated by the interference of AI. For example, AI technology can now be used to create NFTs by entering keywords that are then transformed into art-like images. AI thus allows for the generating of tokens without any coding skills of the users.

Source: IP rights at the interface of Artificial Intelligence and NFTs: The good, the bad, the smart

Most work in the media industry is work-for-hire: Anything workers create while employed is automatically owned by their employers. But when job security in media is a thing of the past, media workers are increasingly looking to create their own stability in the form of owning the intellectual property they develop.

Source: In a vulnerable media economy, journalists are demanding ownership of their work – Poynter

Is it possible for an NFT collection to become a true mainstream brand? The Bored Ape Yacht Club is trying. Almost exactly a year after launching as a set of 10,000 NFTs, it was announced by crypto exchange Coinbase that a trilogy of BAYC flicks would be coming. The first will debut in June, and will tie in to the long-awaited launch of Coinbase’s NFT marketplace.

Source: Bored Ape Yacht Club is Getting its own Film Trilogy