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RIAA Google takedown requests near 10 million
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet, Music,
Thanks to Google's Transparency Report, we can see just how many copyright takedown requests it gets, and who issues such requests. The RIAA tops the list with nearly 10 million takedown requests issued. The RIAA issues hundreds of thousands of notices every week in regards to piracy sites, and has topped the most recent monthly requests. This goes to show just how severe the piracy network is, or even perhaps, how futile the RIAA's attempts are at squashing it.
Read More | Google Transparency Report via Engadget
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Judge Rules in Favor of Family Guy
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Family Guy, Gossip,
FOX’s animated Family Guy is not guilty of copyright infringement, per court ruling, for a song parody featured in one of the episodes.
The episode offered up a new version of Disney’s “When You Wish Upon a Star,” which subsequently launched a lawsuit from the major corporation in 2007. The ditty originally appeared in the 1940 flick Pinocchio. The Family Guy version, “I Need a Jew,” was perhaps a little less family-friendly…but it wasn’t illegal.
Despite the content of the song - “anti-Semitic lyrics” - a U.S. District Judge ruled that the lyrics of the song and tone of the piece was “strikingly different” from the original version. Since winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song after its film debut, “When You Wish Upon a Star” has been recorded by more than one hundred subsequent recording artists and orchestras.
Read More | MSNBC
John McCain in the Spotlight
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Television, Legal Issues, Rivalries, Breaking News,
For a man who seems to shun celebrity, John McCain certainly has been in the media a lot lately - and little of the coverage has to do with his policy or his plans for the country. The republican will now get more attention for a wholly different reason…he’s being sued.
McCain’s political strategy, thus far, has been to undermine presidential competitor Barack Obama by calling him that dirtiest of all words - a celebrity. In the ads, McCain shows clips of Obama with his adoring public while the Jackson Browne hit “Running on Empty” plays in the background. Here’s the problem: McCain never got permission to use the song.
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YouTube Unveils Copyright Protection Plan
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Google, Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies, Music,
YouTube has finally released the means to automatically remove copyrighted clips. Although it has been eliminating most of those videos per request, the site is hoping that this will have a more positive impact on complaints such as Viacom’s suit against them. Working with its parent Google, the technology also allows companies to sell ads on their material if they will allow them to remain on YouTube. Unfortunately, the method of copyright protection requires copies of the videos that need protecting to be given to YouTube for comparison. This certainly doesn’t appear to be the solution that the studios desire and we suspect that YouTube will have to go back to the drawing board on this one.
Read More | ABC
A Thumbless Ebert & Roeper?
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Syndication,
For nearly 30 years, Roger Ebert has been sealing his movie reviews with a signature Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down. Unfortunately, potentially-heated contract negotiations between Ebert and his distribution company have forced (temporary?) changes to the Ebert & Roeper program. Now both sides are pointing fingers at those allegedly responsible for pulling the digits.
Viewers of the most recent episode may have noticed a slight change in the program. No thumbs! Richard Roeper and his guest co-host made their opinions on such movies as The Nanny Diaries and Resurrecting the Champ as clear as possible without a ‘pointed’ summary. (For the record—they disliked
bothfilms).
Disney-ABC Domestic Television claims the renowned critic put the copyrighted move on hold during negotiations (Ebert and the estate of the late Gene Siskel hold the rights to the critiquing method). But through a statement posted on his website, Roger denies making that request. In addition, he says that Disney (as of 8/24) had not gotten back to him after what he feels was an ‘offensively low’ offer.
As most you already know, health problems have kept Roger Ebert from fronting an episode of the show for over a year. But he has been contributing in other ways and still posts through his own site. I just pray that the distribution company isn’t trying to take advantage of his current status during their contract talks. But then again—they wouldn’t do something like that, would they??
Read More | RogerEbert.com
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