Features

UMG v. Grande Communications: Another Victory for the Music Industry in Its Battle to Hold ISPs Liable for Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
Since the advent of the Internet, the music industry has been in a pitched battle to combat online piracy. Initially, the industry focused on shutting down services that offered peer-to-peer or other similar platforms, such as Napster, Aimster and Grokster. For a time, the industry also focused on filing claims against individual infringers to dissuade others from engaging similar conduct. In recent years, the industry seems to have shifted focus toward Internet Service Providers.
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IP News
Kapoor v. National Rifle Association of America
Features

Perfecting Film Financiers' Liens in Copyrights
The law on how to perfect a lien in a copyright application is foggy at best. This article sketches out pitfalls of the current process for perfecting a lien on a copyright application, and potential steps that a financier may take to help perfect and protect a film investment.
Features

Decision of Note: 6th Cir. Says No 'Magic Words' to 'Elect' Copyright Statutory Damages
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided that §504 of the U.S. Copyright Act doesn't require any “magic words incantation” for a copyright infringement plaintiff to choose a statutory damages award, that “[t]he word 'elect' does not by itself require formal procedures.”
Features

SCOTUS Hears Arguments on Copyright Registration Approvals
While hearing January 2019 oral arguments before it, the U.S. Supreme Court sounded inclined to resolve a circuit courts' split over copyright registration procedures against copyright holders.
Features

Making Sense of YouTube's Monetization Policies
This article delves into YouTube's policies for channel monetization, explores the different streams of revenue an artist or creator may be entitled to receive for their works, and offer suggestions to indie creators and more established creators, so they can meet these new thresholds.
Features

How Will the Music Modernization Act's Mechanical Licensing Collective Work?
This article focuses on managing change for clients affected by the MMA's government-mandated mechanical licensing collective. In my view, far from putting songwriters on a trajectory away from the government regulation that has oppressed them for generations, the collective imposes an entirely new bureaucracy with potentially significant costs that are not readily apparent.
Features

Abandonment Defense Stays in Copyright Suit on Filesharing
Malibu Media LLC is by now well-known as a frequent filer of copyright infringement lawsuits nationwide against Web users alleged to have illegally downloaded and shared the company's adult films. But a federal judge in Pennsylvania recently said it should be up to a jury to decide whether the company is entitled to stake a claim to those copyrights in the first place.
Features

DMCA Filmmakers Exemption Expanded
Digital Millennium Copyright Act exemptions aren't just for documentary filmmakers anymore. The U.S. Copyright Office and Library of Congress has broadened a DMCA exemption to now allow more filmmakers to circumvent anti-copying technology and rip short video clips for purposes of commentary and criticism.
Columns & Departments
Bit Parts
Phil Everly's Family Time-Barred From Claiming Co-Ownership of “Cathy's Clown” Song Copyright With Brother Don<br>Newsworthiness and Public Interest Exceptions in Indiana's Right-of-Publicity Statute Apply to Fantasy Sports
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