JOLT Digest

No Permission Needed to Copyright a Derivative Work

By Adrienne Baker – Edited by Ian C. Wildgoose Brown
Schrock v. Learning Curve Int’l, No. 08-1296 (7th Cir. Sep. 9, 2009)
Opinion

On November 5, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded a decision of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which had ruled that copyright for a derivative work requires permission from the underlying copyright holder to be valid. The district court’s ruling was based on reasoning in Gracen v. Bradford Exchange, 698 F.2d 300 (7th Cir. 1983). The Seventh Circuit instead held that a valid copyright in a derivative work is created by “operation of law” and not by authority of the copyright owner in the underlying work, unless a contract dictates otherwise. Additionally, the court held that there is no heightened standard of originality for copyright protection in a derivative work.

The Exclusive Rights Blog provides an overview of the case. Rebecca Tushnet’s 43(B)log criticizes the circuit court for not explicitly overturning Gracen and asserts photographs of copyrighted material should not be treated as derivative works. (more…)

By Andrew Jacobs

Court Issues TRO Against Sales of Beatles Music “Simulation”

Ars Technica reports that on November 5, a Central District of California judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against BlueBeat.com, a website offering 25-cent downloads and free streaming of thousands of copyrighted songs, most notably including the entire Beatles catalog. The order is part of a suit filed on November 3 by Capitol, EMI, Priority, and Virgin Records, claiming copyright infringement and various state law violations. In its ill-received opposition to the TRO, BlueBeat asserted in part that the sound recordings it sells were not copied from the originals, but instead were “independently developed” through a “psycho-acoustic simulation” process.

New York Files Suit Against Intel

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel on November 4, The New York Times and The Washington Post report. The complaint focuses on Intel’s relationships with Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, asserting that the company has used what amounts to coercion and bribery to ensure the use of its chips over those of its main competitor, Advanced Micro Devices. This is the second antitrust action taken against Intel in the U.S — the first, an FTC administrative complaint, was filed in 1998 and later settled. Since 2005, however, Intel has battled and lost antitrust disputes in the EU, Japan, and South Korea.

Anti-Net Neutrality Bill Introduced in House

On October 30, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a House bill that would ban the FCC from issuing “any regulations regarding the Internet,” PCMag.com reports. The bill came eight days after the FCC issued its proposed net neutrality rulemaking, and a week after Sen. John McCain introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Blackburn framed the bill as an effort to preserve the Internet as “the last truly open public marketplace”; supporters of FCC regulation counter that the proposed nondiscrimination rule is necessary to preserve that openness.

By Tyler Lacey

Gamer Appeals Ban from Sony’s Playstation 3 Network

On September 22, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed Erik Estavillo’s lawsuit against Sony. Fox40.com reports that Estavillo was banned from Sony’s Playstation 3 Network after allegedly uttering “racial and homophobic slurs to other online gamers.” Estavillo alleged that his freedom of expression was abridged, and likened Sony’s network to a company town. The district court dismissed Estavillo’s First Amendment claims, stating: “Sony’s Network is not similar to a company town. The Network does not serve a substantial portion of a municipality’s functions, but rather serves solely as a forum for people to interact subject to specific contractual terms.” Estavillo recently appealed the dismissal to the Ninth Circuit and has also filed a second lawsuit against Sony.

German Government Pledges to Protect Online Journalism in Germany with a “New Kind of Copyright”

On October 29, 2009, the New York Times reported that Germany’s governing coalition “has pledged to create a new kind of copyright to protect online journalism” with the goal of “level[ing] the playing field with Internet companies like Google.” German publishers fear that Google may be “exploiting their content to build lucrative businesses without sharing the rewards.” Google aggregates news from many news outlets on its Google News website; however, Google News operates in Europe without collecting any advertising revenue. Although “[d]etails of how the proposal would work have not been spelled out,” analysts believes that the new copyright scheme may allow online journalists to “claim royalties for the use of their content by Google or other online ‘aggregators’ of news.” In support of the new scheme, counsel for the German Newspaper Publishers Association argues that there is “no fundamental right to information for free on the Internet.”

United Kingdom to Crack Down on Online Piracy; Could Lead to Outright Disconnection of Pirates

On October 28, 2009, the BBC reported on new legislation that will come into force in the United Kingdom in April 2010. Although “the details of it would need to be hammered out at European level,” the legislation will impose bandwidth restriction on suspected pirates. If necessary, more restrictions will be introduced in the spring of 2011 that could completely disconnect the suspected pirates from the Internet. The legislation already faces challenge from ISP TalkTalk, which has created a “Don’t Disconnect Us” campaign and threatened litigation. Although the legislation is designed to protect the United Kingdom’s creative content industries, legislators emphasize that the long-term solution is for “the industry to educate users and to offer new and cheaper ways to download content.”

Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc.
By Gary Pong – Edited by Eric Engle

Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc., Case No. 08-cv-05780-JF (N.D. Cal. Oct. 22, 2009)
Order (Hosted by SPAM NOTES)

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has granted a motion by Facebook to dismiss counter-claims and strike affirmative defenses in its ongoing case against Power Ventures (Power.com). In his order, United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel wrote that Power.com’s answer and counter-claim relied on legal conclusions which were not directly supported by factual allegations. Judge Fogel went on to note that antitrust claims, like those made by Power.com, “require a ‘higher degree of particularity in the pleadings.’” The order gives Power.com 30 days to amend its pleading.

TechCrunch provides an overview of the issues involved in this case. The Financial Times and Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog comment on the decision. (more…)

Federal District Court Rules Ringtones Not Public Performance
By Debbie Rosenbaum – Edited by Eric Engle

In re: In the Matter of the Application of Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, Case Nos. 09-cv-07074 & 41 Civ. 1395 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 14, 2009)
Opinion (Hosted by EFF)

The Southern District of New York has ruled that cell phone ringtones do not constitute a public performance, and thus mobile phone carriers do not need to pay performance royalties under the Section 110(4) of the Copyright Act.  The court also dismissed the argument that cell phone carriers publicly perform when they reproduce and download a ringtone to a phone.

United States District Judge Denise Cote dismissed the music industry argument that a ringtone is like a concert hall when it begins ringing/playing in public, instead determining that playing music in public, when done without any commercial purpose, does not infringe copyright.   In so holding, the court ruled that cell phone users are not liable for royalty payments and that carriers are not secondarily liable.  Judge Cote reasoned that the exemption Section 110(4) applies because cell phones announce phone calls and are not sources of commercial public entertainment.

Ars Technica and Wired.com provide an overview of the case.  Both EFF and CDT applaud the decision as a major win for consumers and fair use. (more…)