Former AFP photographer Francisco Leong has filed a lawsuit to void clause that handed copyright to the agency in a case that could “burn all journalists”. AFP’s defense argues that the news it distributes is in the public domain and does not deserve protection under copyright law as it constitutes “mere vehicles that broadcast to the public the set of facts that portray a particular daily event or news”.
Source: Former AFP photographer fights agency in copyright case – Press Gazette
Bystanders have a First Amendment right to record police, but police officers have allegedly tried to exploit copyright law to prevent people from sharing those videos, playing music that could trigger a takedown notice. While playing music in the background of a video isn’t necessarily against YouTube’s rules, it can set off the company’s automatic takedown system.
Source: Watch a police officer admit to playing Taylor Swift to keep a video off YouTube
Representatives of 29 Danish media companies, including state broadcaster DR, partly state-funded TV2, as well as most major newspaper publishers, will gather on Friday for their first meeting. “We believe that a collective management of our rights will make for the best and most fair value regarding big tech’s use of our content,” Stig Orskov, chief executive of media company JP/Politikens Hus, told Reuters.
Source: Danish media firms join forces to seek payment deal with Facebook, Google
Australia’s competition watchdog is looking into a claim that Facebook refused a publisher’s request to negotiate a licensing deal, the regulator told Reuters, setting the stage for the first test of the world’s toughest online content law.
Source: Facebook rejects talks with Australia publisher, may test online law
IFPI, together with other rights holders in Europe’s creative sectors, have written to the European Commission over concerns that the Guidance on Article 17 of the new Copyright Directive has moved away from the original objective of the Article.
Once, people who owned viral photos made little money from them. Now, the ‘original’ can potentially sell for an enormous sum. But are buyers savvy investors – or unwitting dupes?
Source: NFTs and me: meet the people trying to sell their memes for millions
BMG has signed what it describes as a “strategic agreement” with Roblox to “develop new opportunities for BMG artist and songwriter clients.” In other words, BMG has inked a licensing deal with the platform covering recorded music and publishing. According to a media release, the agreement “for future collaboration” follows “the resolution of prior claims” relating to the use of BMG-controlled songs and recording.
He calls the Roc-A-Fella lawsuit “meritless” and seeks to clarify that he is not selling the entire album as an NFT, but rather a “one-third share which I own through my one-third ownership of Roc A Fella Records”. Dash argues that “there is nothing in our agreement between us that prohibits me or Jay Z from selling our share of Roc A Fella Records, Inc., the company which owns Reasonable Doubt“.
The European Union’s top court on Tuesday ruled that Google’s YouTube and other online platforms should not be held liable for copyright-infringing uploads in certain situations. As things stand, online platforms “do not, in principle, themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms,” the European Court of Justice said.
Central to the NFT economy is the abstraction of artificial scarcity. Part of the core ethos of blockchain advocates is in the belief that the technology cannot be gamed or manipulated. The medium (of exchange) is the message. But as with other digital files, digital art can be copied infinitely without degradation. This inevitably shapes the market for digital goods, from software to media to art.
Source: Can an NFT Artist Sell Virtually the Same Work More Than Once?