AICWA Bans Pakistani Actors and Artists,\u00a0Gully Boy Leaked Online Soon After Release,\u00a0Film Federation Demands Special Court to Control Piracy,\u00a0Family Sues Kanye West for Copyright Infringement,\u00a0Twitter Removes Trump Tweet After Copyright Complaint from R.E.M.,\u00a0SCOTUS Declines to Hear \u2018Empire\u2019 Lawsuit,\u00a0YouTube Changes Three-Strike Policy to Tackle Frivolous Claims,\u00a0British Columbia Man Claims Ownership over People\u2019s Party of Canada Name,\u00a0McCaf\u00e9 to Sponsor Two SAFTA Categories,\u00a0Songtradr Acquires Big Sync Music,\u00a0Mattel Secures Three-Year Licensing Deal for Despicable Me, and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device.\u201d
\n– Lawrence Lessig<\/p>\n
The copyright office has not published the list of applications filed in the last week. This week\u2019s statistics will be updated as soon as the list is published.<\/p>\n
In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, the All India Cine Workers Association (AICWA) has issued a statement condemning the attack, and announced a complete ban on all Pakistani actors and artists working in the Indian film industry. The statement also provided that any organization which continued to work with Pakistani artists would be banned by AICWA and strong action would be taken against them.<\/p>\n
Zoya Akhtar\u2019s movie, Gully Boy, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, which released last week, was made available online soon after its release. The movie opened well at the box office, earning about Rs 18.7 crore by Valentine\u2019s Day. However, its availability on various piracy sites within the first week may affect box office earnings over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
Members of the Film Federation of India (FFI) have urged the government to pay attention to issues ailing the film industry, like the rising film piracy concerns. To address these issues, FFI has requested special courts to help in implementation of the recent anti-cam amendments made to Cinematograph Act. The amendments impose strict penalties of fines and imprisonment upto 3 years for unauthorized recording inside theatres.<\/p>\n
American hip-hop musician Kanye West is being sued for copyright infringement by a family in South Carolina, US. The artist is alleged to have used an audio clip of a young girl performing a prayer in one of his latest songs, without permission. The girl and her biological mother Alice Johnson were travelling to Atlanta when the child performed a prayer, a video of which the mother uploaded on Instagram. The video went viral and two weeks later, Johnson was contacted by one of West\u2019s representatives seeking permission to use the clip in his new song. Johnson agreed to the request verbally and also sought adequate payment in exchange for the same. The singer\u2019s new album, The Life of Pablo, had the audio from the viral clip featured in many of its tracks. Johnson\u2019s legal representative claims that West has benefited from using the said clip and his clients are only looking for a fair share. The family is seeking actual damages and payments for the value of the audio samples. Kanye West and his representatives have not responded yet to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The President of the United States has been embroiled in yet another copyright issue over his tweets. Last week, Trump tweeted a video mocking the response of the Democrats to his State of the Union address, with the audio of R.E.M.\u2019s song \u2018Everybody Hurts\u2019 playing in the background. The video was first created by a person under the pseudonym \u2018Carpe Donktum\u2019 and later shared by the President himself. R.E.M.\u2019s publisher Universal Music, and its bassist Mike Mills complained on Twitter and the video was taken down soon after. Users visiting Trump\u2019s page found a message stating that the \u201cvideo has been removed in response to a report from the copyright holder.\u201d However, the video has now resurfaced, with a different song playing in the background.
\nTrump has been previously involved in two other cases of copyright infringement. He has been accused of using The Rolling Stones\u2019 music at his campaign rallies and using a famous catchphrase from the hit TV show Game of Thrones to further his political agendas \u2013 but neither of these instances resulted in any action against him.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to hear a copyright infringement lawsuit involving the hit TV show \u2018Empire\u2019. On Tuesday, the court said that it will not be taking on the case against the show, the storyline of which revolves around a black family finding their ground in the record industry. Actor Clayton Prince Tanksley had sued the creators of the show, Danny Strong and Lee Daniels, in 2016 alleging that he had pitched an idea for a similar TV Show at a competition. The lawsuit claims that Daniels, who was a judge at the competition, expressed an interest in the idea. The trial court and appeals courts ruled it that the two shows were not substantially similar. The latest statement from the Supreme Court would mean that the decision in favor of Empire\u2019s co-creators stands.<\/p>\n
YouTube has made changes to its infamous three-strike policy but has not addressed a pressing copyright concern of users. Starting February 25th<\/sup>, the first time a video is flagged, the site will issue the creator a warning and take down the flagged video. After this warning, they will obtain a first strike \u2013 which will put a one-week freeze on the creator\u2019s ability to upload any new video or livestream. The subsequent second strike, if it occurs within a span of 90-days, will stretch the freeze to two weeks and the third and final strike will lead to the termination of the creator\u2019s YouTube channel. Prior to this change, there was no provision for a warning and as soon as a video was flagged, the creator would get their first strike, a 90-day freeze on livestreaming, while the second strike would result in a two-week freeze on video uploads. Over the years, YouTube\u2019s previous three-strike policy has attracted a lot of flak for enabling troublemakers to make bogus copyright claims and have a creator\u2019s content taken down repeatedly. Thus, the recent change in the policy should have tackled the issue, but it does not seem to have done so. A spokesperson for YouTube has stated that these changes have been made in accordance with the site\u2019s community guidelines, and are not related to changes in its copyright system. Therefore, these amendments will only cushion the blow by issuing a warning, but are unlikely to provide an effective remedy to users.<\/p>\n An Abbotsford Canada based businessman, Satinder Singh Dhillon, has filed two lawsuits in a Canadian Court claiming copyright and trademark over the \u201cPeople\u2019s Party of Canada\u201d name. Elections Canada shows that the name was officially registered on January 17th<\/sup> 2019, and has also listed former Federal Conservative Party cabinet minister Maxime Bernier as its leader. Dhillon claims to have filed the name for registration to Elections Canada many weeks before Bernier and he has issued evidence of a TV report that shows him discussing the name as early as 2015. Dhillon\u2019s suit asks for an injunction preventing Bernier from using the party name during the upcoming federal byelection in Burnaby South and also wants Elections Canada to issue a review of the process used in registering the name. A cease-and-desist letter has also been sent to Bernier\u2019s representatives but has allegedly been ignored.<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s South Africa, through its coffee brand, McCaf\u00e9, will now sponsor two awards at the 2019 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs). According to McDonalds, it has had a strong relationship with the film and television industry since the year 2016. This year, the sponsorship has migrated from the Best Youth Production category to the prestigious Best Actor and Actress in a Feature Film Category. In its statement, the coffee brand has acknowledged the talent and skill of individuals recognized at these awards and expressed its aim to provide them with more opportunities in commercial storytelling.<\/p>\n The largest music licensing platform in the world, Songtradr, has announced its acquisition of Big Sync Music, the world\u2019s leading full service, creative music licensing agency. Multinational toy manufacturer Mattel has entered into a three-year international licensing agreement with Universal Brand Development for the \u2018Despicable Me\u2019 franchise. The license will cover North America and will see a range of new products such as action figures, dolls, play sets, vehicles, radio control toys, games, plush, role-play and accessories. The representatives of Universal Brand Development believe that new range of merchandise will inspire creativity and open up new ways for play and extend the storytelling. The use of a few seconds of a video or audio clip from someone else\u2019s work can be considered copyright infringement if the few seconds used is considered substantial as compared to the whole and or it is core to the original work.\u00a0 When in doubt, get a license.<\/p>\n This post examines recent copyright and entertainment law developments, including film piracy, major lawsuits, and licensing deals. It presents legal updates objectively, providing structured analysis and practical insights for readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":17,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,7,708,952],"tags":[31,51,3843,9852,4354,62,407,9853],"class_list":["post-45838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyrights","category-intellectual-property","category-media-and-entertainment-law","category-publicity-rights-celebrity-rights","category-social-media-law","tag-copyright-infringement","tag-entertainment-law-2","tag-film-piracy","tag-gully-boy","tag-licensing-deals","tag-music-licensing","tag-trademark-dispute","tag-youtube-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45838"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138356,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45838\/revisions\/138356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}British Columbia Man Claims Ownership over People\u2019s Party of Canada Name <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Licensing News<\/strong><\/h2>\n
McCaf\u00e9 to Sponsor Two SAFTA Categories<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Songtradr Acquires Big Sync Music<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nBig Sync is headquartered in London and sources music from all around the world for advertising campaigns on behalf of big brands like Dove, Knorr, Magnum, Axe, Johnnie Walker, Samsung and many more. Songtradr is an open music licensing marketplace that develops real-time data intelligence, such as the utilization of streaming and social metadata to guide the licensing experience. In a statement issued by Songtradr, the company believes that this Big Sync\u2019s global footprint, which includes major brands, combined with Songtradr\u2019s technology and growing number of artists, will create an unparalleled music licensing solution for all parties. The acquisition was a multi-million-dollar cash and equity transaction and has resulted in Big Sync\u2019s co-founder, Unilever Ventures, exiting and becoming a minority shareholder in Songtradr.
\nThe acquisition represents a big leap in the world of music licensing. The technology provided by Songtradr will help streamline access of Big Sync\u2019s music services to a larger community and also allows Big Sync to match a brand\u2019s target audience with data-approved selections of music, thus creating an effective and premium experience for buyers and audience alike.<\/p>\nMattel Secures Three-Year Licensing Deal for Despicable Me<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nThe success of the beloved characters \u2018Minions\u2019 featured in the movie has opened many doors in the world of licensing. The characters have won the hearts of millions of viewers around the world and this collaboration between the filmmakers and the toy company will enable the audience to purchase memorabilia and build a deeper connection with the film\u2019s characters. The Mattel \u2018Despicable Me\u2019 range will launch a collection just in time for the movie sequel, slated for a summer 2020 release.<\/p>\nTip of the Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Author: BIP\u2019s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"