Law, Technology, Community, Travel. Australian music label Liberation fights Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig over copyright. Fair use in question: Music by the French band Phoenix is at the centre of a copyright storm.
A Melbourne-based music label has been caught up in a legal battle in the US after one of its automatically generated copyright warnings demanded a famous copyright lawyer remove his own lecture from YouTube. The lawyer, Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, responded by launching his own legal action. Liberation Music ordered he take down a 49-minute YouTube video of a 2010 lecture he had given in South Korea.
The lecture contained snippets of a song that Liberation owns the rights to in Australia and New Zealand. While YouTube shut down public access to video on about June 30, it has since restored access. Justia Blawg Search. Never mind the moral squalor .... its the CopyKat. AT&T has started sending letters to some of its customers, threatening to disconnect them because they've been accused ("without trial or a chance to rebut the evidence") of copyright infringement.
AT&T is doing this voluntarily as part of the controversial Copyright Alert System, whose overseeing body is The Center for Copyright Information. You can see the letter here.Former US presidential hopeful, 'hockey mum' and former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is facing a copyright claim: the North Jersey Media Group have filed a law suit against Palin and her political action committee (PAC), alleging copyright infringement over the use of an iconic photograph of a flag at Ground Zero taken by one of their newspaper photographers on the politician's website and Facebook pages. LIBERATION MUSIC by Alice Butcher on Prezi. Newest YouTube user to fight a takedown is copyright guru Lawrence Lessig. Illegitimate or simply unnecessary copyright claims are, unfortunately, commonplace in the Internet era.
But if there's one person who's probably not going to back down from a claim of copyright infringement, it's Larry Lessig, one of the foremost writers and thinkers on digital-age copyright. Record Label Picks Copyright Fight — With The Wrong Guy : All Tech Considered. An Australian record label may have picked a fight with the wrong guy.
The label sent a standard takedown notice threatening to sue after YouTube computers spotted its music in a video. It turns out that video was posted by one of the most famous copyright attorneys in the world, and Lawrence Lessig is suing back. Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor, has lectured around the world about how copyright law needs to adapt to the Internet age. In his lecture, he shows examples of people who have used the Internet to "share their culture and remix other people's creations. " Lessig, Liberation Music, and the issue of “fair use” The issue of “fair use” in relation to copyright in sound recordings came sharply into focus recently when Australian music label Liberation Music found itself as the defendant in a law suit filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts by a Harvard Law Professor, Lawrence Lessig.
Lessig is suing Liberation on the basis of provisions in US copyright legislation that seek to prevent copyright owners from making threats to alleged copyright infringers without proper basis. Lessig’s suit is actually a further step in what has been an interesting example of the use of copyright protection measures used in relation to You Tube material. To make any sense of his suit it is necessary to review how the Boston professor and the Melbourne music company even came to cross paths. Lessig had posted a 49-minute video of a lecture he had given on the subject of ‘content collaboration.’ The CopyKat - small, furry - and hungry. Lessig triumphs in fair use battle. August 2013. This blogger read with interest an item posted on Intellectual Property Watch, here, entitled "Library Group Publishes User Guide To WIPO Marrakesh Treaty".
The treaty in question, as readers know, is the recently adopted Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled”. The Library Copyright Alliance, a body representing three major North American library associations, has prepared a 21-page guide, "A User Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty", which has been written literally by a one-man band -- Jonathan "Bandwidth" Band. VIVA LOS LLAMAS! IP Iustitia: Liberation Music Takes on Lawrence Lessig. The haven of the Internet for all that is video, YouTube, often presents an interesting situation for both copyright holders and content distributors.
While there are guidelines and measures in place on YouTube's part to prevent infringing material from being uploaded to the website, often this type of content slips through the cracks. In order to address issues such as this, content owners can submit a copyright infringement notification, effectively having the video removed from the service. There have been instances where content has been frivolously claimed to infringing copyright, causing legitimate videos to be removed from the site when there really is no basis for such a claim.
In a recent turn of events such a claim was submitted over a video of a lecture by Lawrence Lessig, arguably one of the greatest legal minds in modern copyright; and Mr. Lessig chose to take action. Liberation Music Throws Lessig a Meatball Pitch in “Lisztomania” DMCA Takedown Suit — Mass Law Blog. However, in the process he suffered something of a legal stutter-step that may come back to haunt him in this case.
Assuming, that is, that Liberation Music doesn’t come to its senses and settle this case faster than you can say “world-renown copyright lawyer with deep resources handed slam-dunk case by naive copyright holder.” The original “brooklyn brat pack mashup” video of Lisztomania, an amateur music video which remixes the song and scenes from the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club, has been the subject of countless amateur remixes (the “brat pack videos”) that are easily accessible on the Internet. Lawrence Lessig v. Liberation Music Pty Ltd. Larry Lessig and EFF sue music licensing company over bogus YouTube copyright claims. Larry Lessig Threatened With Copyright Infringement Over Clear Fair Use; Decides To Fight Back. If you read Techdirt, you're almost certainly familiar with Larry Lessig, the law professor at Harvard who (among many other things) has been an avid advocate for copyright reform and campaign finance reform, an author of many books about copyright and creativity, a well-known public speaker whose presentations are stunningly compelling, entertaining and informative, and the founder of some important organizations including Creative Commons.
Of course, as an expert on copyright and creativity, and someone who's actually been involved in some of the key copyright legal fights over the past decade (tragically, on the losing side), you might think that a record label would think twice before issuing a clearly bogus threat to sue him over copyright infringement. Well, apparently Liberation Music was either unaware of Lessig's reputation and knowledge, or just didn't care. There are a few things worth digging into here. Lessig v. Liberation Music - Exhibit B. Lawrence Lessig v. Liberation Music.
In a case that proves no one is safe from over-zealous copyright enforcement, EFF is helping Harvard Law School Professor Larry Lessig defend fair use online.
As a co-founder of the nonprofit Creative Commons and author of numerous books on law and technology, Lessig has played a pivotal role in shaping the debate about copyright in the digital age. This time he's got a new role to play, defending his own fair use rights. The story of this case began when Professor Lessig posted a public lecture—titled “Open”—to YouTube.
The lecture included some short clips of amateur dance videos set to the song “Lisztomania” by the French band Phoenix. Lessig v. Liberation Music - Complaint.