Copyright & Media Update 10/12/2018

October 12, 2018

‘Truly a Historic Moment’: Music Business Reacts to Music Modernization Act Becoming Law

BILLBOARD STAFF: The Music Modernization Act was signed into law on Thursday by a clearly exuberant President Trump. “I’ve been reading about this for many years and never thought I’d be involved in it, but I got involved in it,” he said of the historic legislation, which passed with unanimous support in both chambers of Congress after years of efforts by the music industry and lawmakers. READ MORE…

No New Copyright for Digital Remasters

McDERMOTT WILL & EMERY: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in reversing a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, found that digitally remastered pre-1972 sound recordings were not entitled to protection under federal law as new copyrighted songs. ABS Entertainment, Inc. v. CBS Corporation et al., Case No. 16-55917 (9th Cir. Aug. 20, 2018) (Linn, J, sitting by designation). READ MORE…

Canadian Music Organization Proposes a Copyright Tax on Anyone Using More Than 15GB/Month of Bandwidth

DANIEL SANCHEZ:  The Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) has an interesting – if not draconian – idea. At a hearing of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, the Canadian music group proposed a new levy.  Envisioning a new “internet-light ISP service,” the SCGC would receive extra from the SCGC Copyright Model (SCGC-CM). In short, the SCGC-CM would allow 15 GB of un-levied data per month, and charge extra when users go over. READ MORE…

The Ius Imaginum of Ancient Rome: Was it the first Copyright Law?

HUGH STEPHENS: As any student of copyright knows, we can trace copyright law back to the Statute of Anne in 1709, (entered into force on April 10, 1710 as the Copyright Act of 1710), when the British Parliament passed the first legislation to protect the rights of British book publishers. The initial period of protection was 14 years.  According to “commonly accepted wisdom” (i.e. Wikipedia), this was the first statute to provide for copyright regulated by the government and the courts, rather than by private parties. READ MORE…

Facebook’s New Portal Video-Calling Devices Lets Users Co-Stream Music, Video

TODD SPANGLER: Facebook unveiled Portal, video-communication devices that incorporate smart-speaker features using Amazon’s Alexa, and provide a way to listen to music and watch videos together with friends. READ MORE…

About Christian Copyright Solutions: CCS’s quest is to help churches and Christian ministries “do music right.”  CCS is an expert on church music copyrights and our primary focus is providing licensing and clear educational resources to churches. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. The information contained herein is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for legal counsel.

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