Copyright & Media Update 11/22/2019
November 22, 2019
Competing Publishing Industry Wishes, Concerns Give DOJ Plenty to Ponder In Consent Decree Review
BILLBOARD: Publishers, songwriters and performance rights organizations are at odds over other aspects of the DOJ’s consent decree review beyond the danger of potential unwanted legislation coming from the publishers’ request for the selective withdrawal of digital rights from ASCAP and BMI’s blanket licenses. READ MORE…
DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS: The Music Artists Coalition (MAC) and the Songwriters of North America (SONA) have filed an amicus brief with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling that raised the rates of music streaming royalties. This year, the CRB raised the compulsory license fee that music streaming services pay for mechanical rights to songs, from 10.5% of total revenues to 15.1%. This license allows the streaming services to use any song without having to get permission from the writer or publisher of that song. READ MORE…
COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE: These days it seems that copyright law is everywhere, from lawsuits alleging that the multiplayer online battle game Fortnite infringed popular dance moves such as the floss,1 to the Ninth Circuit agreeing that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines” infringed Marvin Gaye’s copyrighted hit song “Got to Give It Up.”2 As the Internet and technology have become omnipresent in our lives, the constant availability of copyrighted content—from streamed music to photos and posts on social media—has led to the perpetuation of copyright myths. Unfortunately, these myths and numerous others have caused misconceptions over the rights of the copyright holder and the obligations of the user. READ MORE…
Department of Justice Scraps Decades-Old ‘Paramount’ Consent Decrees — Is Music Next?
DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS: The U.S. Department of Justice has indicated it will ask a court to scrap the decades-old ‘Paramount’ consent decrees. The antitrust decrees are designed to protect movie theaters from studio control. The consent decrees have been in place for decades and currently have no expiration date. DoJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim confirmed that his department would seek their termination. READ MORE…
BILLBOARD: The Music Artists Coalition (MAC) and the Songwriters of North America (SONA) have filed a joint amicus brief urging the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) royalty rate increase for copyright owners, the organizations announced Tuesday (Nov. 19). The brief urges the court to uphold the 2018 decision by the copyright royalty judges (CRJs) to award publishers and songwriters a 44% rate increase by 2022. READ MORE…
You Wouldn’t Plagiarize an Airport
PLAGIARISM TODAY: In what has to be one of the more bizarre plagiarism stories in recent memory, Qatar Airways accused Singapore’s Changi Airport Group of plagiarizing not a paper, an idea or a proposal, but an airport. READ MORE…
Supreme Court to Hear Google and Oracle Copyright Case
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether Google should have to pay Oracle billions of dollars in a long-running copyright infringement lawsuit over software used to run many of the world’s smartphones. 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 onTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. The information contained herein is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for legal counsel.
Tags: amazon music, antitrust, consent decree, DOJ, MAC, SONA, spotify
Categorized in: Blanket License, Copyright & Media Update, copyright compliance, copyright education, copyright infringement, Copyright Law, Spotify, Streaming, streaming license, Uncategorized
