Quentin Tarantino is not backing down from his plan to auction “Pulp Fiction” NFTs. The director announced the official auction dates today, despite being sued by Miramax for alleged copyright infringement. In fact, the team behind the Tarantino auction appears to be using the controversy to draw more attention to the project.
Source: Tarantino’s NFT Auction Goes Ahead Despite Miramax Copyright Lawsuit * TorrentFreak
The veto comes despite strong grassroots support: in June, the bill unanimously passed the New York Assembly 148-0, and passed the New York State Senate 62-1. But the Association of American Publishers’ December 9 federal lawsuit seeking to block implementation of a similar law in Maryland sparked concern in the governor’s office.
A federal judge has issued a default judgment against a major overseas e-book piracy operation known as the KISS Library. In addition to a permanent injunction barring the service from operating, the court also awarded the plaintiffs the maximum amount of damages under the law, totaling some $7.8 million.
Source: Authors Win $7.8 Million Default Judgment in Global Piracy Lawsuit
A 17-track album of demos recorded by Lou Reed titled “I’m So Free: The 1971 RCA Demos” was briefly released by RCA/ Sony Music on iTunes in Europe over the holiday in an apparent “copyright dump” to extend the company’s’ ownership of the recordings. The album, which was not available in the U.S., was posted on iTunes beginning on Dec. 23 but removed a couple of days later.
Source: Rare Lou Reed Demos Released by RCA in Copyright-Extending Move, and Then Quickly Withdrawn
In theory, NFTs give creators the ability to set their own terms—including on resale royalties. But it’s important to remember we are dealing with extremely new technology. As a result, there are plenty of ways for buyers to skirt the rules. Chief among them: NFT marketplaces are not yet interoperable.
Source: Can I Earn Royalties Anytime Someone Resells My NFT? + Other Artists’-Rights Questions, Answered
On Monday (December 20), US performance rights organization SoundExchange secured a legal victory in a royalties battle with US television service Music Choice. The court decided that the case will be referred to the Copyright Royalties Board (CRB), rather than it being heard in Federal court. SoundExchange launched a lawsuit against Music Choice to recover underpaid royalties in April 2019, following an audit of Music Choice’s royalty statements.
Source: SoundExchange royalties dispute with Music Choice to be referred to Copyright Royalty Board
In the past six months alone, New York-headquartered Primary Wave has acquired rights to music by the likes of (deep breath): Prince, Bing Crosby, Luther Vandross, Chris Isaak, Teddy Pendergrass, Gerry Goffin, and, most recently, James Brown. All icons in their own right; all adding weight to Primary Wave’s claim to be the “Home of Legends”.
Source: Primary Wave has over $1 billion to spend on music rights… and it’s not wasting any time
According to Tarantino, selling NFTs representing screenplay pages for particular scenes falls under his right to “screenplay publication,” one of the rights he reserved in his 1993 assignment to Miramax. Miramax argues that since the sale is a one-time transaction, it does not constitute publication (i.e., the distribution of copies to the public) and thus is a right belonging to Miramax, not Tarantino.
Source: Miramax/Tarantino Suit Highlights NFT Difficulties in Mysterious Suitcase of Copyrights Rights
Elsevier and other academic publishers see ‘pirate’ site Sci-Hub as a major threat to science and their own multi-billion-dollar industry. Through a lawsuit in India, the companies hope to have the site blocked but Sci-Hub is actively fighting this request in court. According to the site’s founder, the publishers are the real threat to the progress of science.
Source: Sci-Hub Founder: Academic Publishers Are the Real Threat to Science, Not Sci-Hub * TorrentFreak
A week after filing suit to nullify Maryland’s library e-book law, lawyers for the Association of American Publishers filed a subsequent motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that if the law is allowed to take effect, AAP members will suffer irreparable harm.
Source: AAP Seeks Preliminary Injunction to Stop Maryland’s Library E-book Law