There’s a fascinating case developing in the US (complaint here courtesy of Simon Geiregat), which could have a lasting effect in the reggaetón music genre.In 1989, Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson released “Fish Market,” which introduced an iconic drum beat that would affect a generation. The rhythm (or Read more…
And so it has come to this, the great copyright battle of our time. After a troubled process that has spanned various stages of development, we finally have a proposed compromise text on the Digital Single Market Directive, the latest part of a future directive overhauling copyright for the digital Read more…
As we have been covering in the last couple of articles, a controversial EU Copyright Directive has been under discussion at the European Parliament, and in a surprising turn of events, it voted to reject fast-tracking the tabled proposal by the JURI Committee which contained controversial proposals, particularly in Art Read more…
In the last blog post we talked about the nefarious article 11 in the proposed new Copyright Directive, and why most experts agree it is a terrible idea. It is now the turn to look at yet another bad proposal in the Directive, and it is Article 13. We now Read more…
I’m not given to grandiose statements, but this headline may actually be understating the threat that we face. The European Union is about to embark on a copyright reform of monumental proportions, one that could change the way we interact with the Internet in more ways than we may suspect. Read more…
The newspaper industry in in disarray because of the Internet, old business models are no longer working, and media empires need to contest with a changed environment. There are two ways of addressing the challenges ahead, to change business models, or to hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers to Read more…
A few months ago we reported on a couple of decisions by the England and Wales Hight Court declaring private copying illegal (here and here). Incredibly, before 2014 making a private copy of a legally-purchased work was illegal in the UK, which didn’t stop anyone ripping CDs or making digital Read more…
The Open Rights Group (ORG) has sent us a communication regarding a new proposal in the UK to criminalise copyright infringement beyond the current limits to up to 10 years. I reproduce their statement about the proposals. “The IPO has recently started consultation on proposals to increase the maximum prison Read more…
My social media timeline has been inundated with reports that iTunes is now illegal in the UK. The origin of the story is an article in TorrentFreak, where the author contacted the UK IP Office to ask about a recent High Court decision that repealed legislation making it legal to Read more…
During this year’s Super Bowl, Katy Perry baffled and endeared millions with an act that included a giant metal tiger, a floating star, and the real stars of the show, two blue dancing sharks. Particularly, the star of the show was the left shark, which fumbled his dance moves and Read more…