Rights

Snap, whose features have been copied directly by Facebook, is now borrowing a concept popularized by short-form lip-sync app TikTok: It’s going to let Snapchat users add officially licensed music tracks to videos. Snap plans to launch the music feature widely in the fall of 2020 for English users

Source: Snapchat Will Let You Add Songs to Posts Under Music Deals With WMG and Others, Copying Key TikTok Feature

YouTube is embroiled in a very public spat with songwriters and music publishers in Denmark, via local collection society Koda. According to Koda – Denmark’s equivalent of ASCAP/BMI (US) or PRS For Music (UK) – YouTube has threatened to remove “Danish music content” (ie. music written by Danish songwriters) from its service.

Source: YouTube threatens to remove music videos in Denmark over songwriter royalty fallout

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on Tuesday continued its year-long series of hearings on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), this time focusing on the question, “How Does the DMCA Contemplate Limitations and Exceptions Like Fair Use?”

Source: What’s Fair? Senate IP Subcommittee Contemplates Problems with Copyright Fair Use Regime

The new rules, which need to be passed by Australia’s Parliament, would require digital platforms to take part in negotiations with media companies over payment, Australia’s competition regulator said Friday. If the media companies and the platforms can’t reach an agreement during three months of talks, an independent arbitrator would pick a compensation plan from one of the sides.

Source: Australia Unveils Its Plan to Make Facebook and Google Pay for News

In responding to a lawsuit filed by four publishers last month, lawyers for the Internet Archive argue that the IA has made careful efforts to ensure its uses are lawful, and contend that its program to scan and lend print books from library shelves is sheltered by the fair use doctrine, and buttressed by traditional library practices and protections.

Source: Internet Archive Answers Publishers’ Copyright Lawsuit

At issue is whether two 80-year-old antitrust decrees are still useful in an industry that has been completely transformed by digital innovation time and again over the decades. Most recently, the streaming model has overtaken sales as the dominant driver of revenue in a music business that increasingly sees its music used in more significant ways by massive tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google and Spotify.

Source: DOJ Workshop on ASCAP & BMI Consent Decrees Lays Out Key Issues With Heavy-Hitter Speakers

Stars of rock, pop and hip-hop have had enough of hearing their songs pumped at political rallies without the green light. So they’re standing up for their rights. Today, the Artist Rights Alliance is demanding politicians on both sides get clearance on the music they plug at their events and in advertisements.

Source: Need a Campaign Song? Mick Jagger, Sia & More Sign Open Letter Urging Politicians to Ask First

Copyright holders and anti-piracy groups might want to consider best use of their resources when sending takedown notices to Google targeting the Internet Archive. According to data published by Google, 99.2% of complaints against IA result in ‘no action taken’, with just 0.1% of complaints resulting in some kind of takedown.

Source: Google Takes No Action for 99.2% of Copyright Notices Targeting Internet Archive * TorrentFreak

A push to strengthen digital copyright law could end up fortifying what critics say is a weapon wielded to squelch online speech. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act shields platforms from copyright liability if they remove infringing content posted by users when notified. But since 1998, the volume of internet content—and of infringement—has exploded beyond what the system was designed to handle.

Source: No Easy Fix Seen for Digital Copyright Law Amid Content Flood

The role of art in confronting political and social issues has been brought to the forefront in recent months, as artists have created multiple murals denouncing the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Although these protest-inspired artworks have quickly become memorial sites for local communities, their fate is still uncertain due to various interpretations of copyright and intellectual property laws.

Source: After conquering the streets, protest art is now aiming for the digital realm