Rights

An Heretical View of Academic Publishing

Clearly the biggest shift is the move in scientific publishing from the traditional subscription journal to one form or other of open-access publication. There will be debate as to which of the various open-science initiatives is the best, the worst, the most feasible, and the most affordable. What won’t be debated is whether the world needs open access at all.

Source: Richard Charkin: An Heretical View of Academic Publishing

Brazil’s SOCINPRO partners with Unison for Pan-European collection

Brazilian CMO SOCINPRO and Barcelona-based Independent Management Entity (IME) organization Unison have signed a partnership to collect mechanical and public performance digital publishing rights for SOCINPRO’s members in all European territories. This collaboration agreement mandates Unison to collect digital publishing rights, both mechanical and public performance, on behalf of SOCINPRO for these territories.

Source: Brazil’s SOCINPRO partners with Unison for Pan-European collection

Pearson Education Sues Chegg, Alleging ‘Massive’ Copyright Infringement

The suit revolves around Chegg Study, a subscription service that among its offerings features answers to end-of-chapter homework questions from various texts for $14.95 a month, with the textbook questions often copied nearly verbatim or with just slight changes, the suit alleges.

Source: Pearson Education Sues Chegg, Alleging ‘Massive’ Copyright Infringement

Apple Music Officially Launches DJ Mix Technology to ID (and Pay) Rights Holders

Using technology from Shazam, the music recognition service Apple acquired in 2018, Apple Music is now able to rapidly identify the songs within a DJ mix, the rights holders of those songs, and directly pay them, as well as compensate the DJ and the mix supplier, a first for a major streaming service.

Source: Apple Music Officially Launches DJ Mix Technology to ID (and Pay) Rights Holders

‘No Shelf Life Now’: The Big Business of Interpolating Old Songs for New Hits

Between a softer legal landscape, a higher demand for catchy music to place in swaths of content, and a hot song acquisition marketplace, publishers are seeing stronger tailwinds to get their old hits recycled. Several publishers say they’re becoming increasingly aggressive in pitching their catalogs and seeing more requests from creators to use their music for new songs.

Source: ‘No Shelf Life Now’: The Big Business of Interpolating Old Songs for New Hits

Rarible DAO Demos Programmable NFT Royalties Smart Contracts 

Content creators and artists will likely be pleased with the news that there is now a solution for maintaining royalties on non-fungible tokens (NFT) even when a piece is sold on secondary markets. Essentially, including a file in the ERC-721 contract and setting parameters enables the defined royalties to be passed on with the NFT.

Source: Rarible DAO Demos Programmable NFT Royalties Smart Contracts – BeInCrypto

Substack Moves on Hollywood With Top Marvel, DC Writers Targeted

The San Francisco-based newsletter platform plans to spend north of $30 million to entice big comic scribes to leave publishers — and let them keep rights to their own IP: “They are paying for names.” Substack is part of a wave of platforms — including Amazon-owned ComiXology — that are seeking to create comics for the digital age as the medium is booming.

Source: Substack Moves on Hollywood With Top Marvel, DC Writers Targeted

Anti-Piracy Alliance Calls For a ‘Staydown’ Requirement in EU’s Digital Services Act 

The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance has compiled a list of amendments to improve the Digital Service Act proposal, which is the official successor to the E-Commerce Directive. The group calls for staydown requirements, to ensure that pirated material stays offline. In addition, it would like to see repeat copyright infringers being permanently disconnected.

Source: Anti-Piracy Alliance Calls For a ‘Staydown’ Requirement in EU’s Digital Services Act * TorrentFreak

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