APRIL 2007
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BOOKS - Upper North Side Canadian Author Series presented by The Upper North Side web site - published for a U.S. audience by the Canadian Consulate General in New York.
MUSIC - Despite Drop in CD Sales, Music Industry Is Upbeat by Frank Ahrens Washington Post, April 18, 2007 -- The music industry experienced the greatest one-year loss in sales of compact discs last year, and rising revenue from songs and albums bought on the Internet failed to offset the consumer flight from CDs. Revenue from CD sales was down 13 percent last year compared with 2005, the Recording Industry Association of America reported yesterday. The drop-off exceeds that of any year during the Napster era of 2001 to 2004, when the file-sharing service and its descendants -- such as Kazaa and Grokster -- allowed users to download music for free. Meanwhile, online sales of singles from services such as Apple's iTunes were up 60 percent last year. However, because online sales remain a small percentage of all music sales, the industry's total revenue -- for tangible and online products -- was down 6.2 percent compared with 2005, the RIAA reported. This month, Apple reported the sale of its 100 millionth iPod. "Today's music marketplace has challenges, but it also offers reason for hope and optimism," RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol said in a statement. "The appetite for music is as strong as ever. . . . Beyond the existing marketplace, the record companies continue to develop additional new business models and revenue streams like mobile and online videos." The music industry has blamed piracy for the dive in CD sales and began suing downloaders and the file-sharing services in retaliation in 2003. The campaign continues. Last week, the RIAA sent "pre-litigation settlement letters" to 22 universities, including the University of Maryland system and the College of William & Mary, telling administrators that the RIAA is about to sue students for illegal downloading. The schools are asked to forward the letters to the students and tell them they have a chance to settle copyright violation claims against them before a lawsuit is filed. In addition, the music industry continues to battle piracy in China and elsewhere in Asia -- where mobile CD-burning operations often keep perpetrators one step ahead of the authorities -- and online piracy in Russia, where a large online music store operates without paying licensing fees to the big music companies. CD sales peaked in 2000, with the major labels shipping $13 billion worth of discs to stores. Sales dropped about 8 percent each following year, until a 2 percent uptick from 2003 to 2004. But the falloff resumed in 2005 and hit its lowest point in more than a decade last year, when music companies shipped $9.2 billion in CDs. Last year, sales of albums bought on the Internet shot up 103 percent compared with 2005, the RIAA reported. However, revenue from all online sales -- singles, albums, files for mobile devices and so forth -- amounted to only 16 percent of total music sales last year.
MUSIC - Julian Lennon sells part of stake in Beatles songs co-written by father -- see Beatles Publishing Catalogue
MUSIC - EMI and Beatles settle royalty dispute & go online -- see Beatles Publishing Catalogue
MUSIC - National Jazz Awards CP 11apr2007 -- Celebrating its sixth anniversary this week, the National Jazz Awards, presented by Galaxie, CBC’s continuous music network, recognizes contributions to jazz excellence in Canada. The nominees selected by a committee of industry leaders honour outstanding Canadian achievements. Jazz fans across Canada are encouraged to visit www.nationaljazzawards.com
COPYRIGHT - Illegal Photocopying (Access) 09apr2007 -- Federal Court upholds decision sentencing U Compute owner to six months in jail for illegal photocopying The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld one of the toughest sentences ever handed out in Canada in connection with copyright infringement. In December 2005 Justice Francois Lemieux of the Federal Court handed Riaz Lari a six month prison sentence for violating earlier Court orders to stop selling photocopied textbooks at his Montreal copyshop, U Compute, located near Concordia University. The Court suspended the sentence on the condition that Lari not have anything to do with the sale of illegally photocopied materials, and that he complete 400 hours of community service. Lari subsequently appealed. On March 28, 2007 the Court of Appeal ruled that it was upholding Lari’s sentence. “This is a victory for copyright owners,” said Roanie Levy, Director of Legal and External Affairs at Access Copyright. “Once again, the Courts are demonstrating that this sort of print on demand piracy service will not be tolerated.” The judgment came about as a result of repeated attempts by Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, to stop Lari from selling illegally photocopied textbooks. U Compute had twice been found in contempt of Court for breaching a “wide injunction,” prior to the 2005 sentence. The Federal Court of Canada’s original court order, which was issued in Fall 2000, prevented the copyshop from making illegal copies of whole textbooks and selling them to students at dramatically reduced prices. On January 7th, 2004, U Compute was served with a court order following Access Copyright’s compliance efforts, in which investigators seized over 2,200 photocopied university textbooks. This seizure alone represented an estimated $250,000 in lost revenue to booksellers, publishers and authors. In addition, agents seized more than 2,100 individual digital files which fed U Compute’s illegal print business for the last few years. Lari must now complete 400 hours of community service as required by the Federal Court order or else face jail time. Lari has also been ordered by the Court to pay Access Copyright over $650,000 in damages and legal costs.
COPYRIGHT - YouTube 06apr2007 AP -- Out of 6,725 most viewed YouTube videos 621 or 9.23 percent were removed because of reported copyright violations. The removed videos received a total of 94,187,203 views and accounted for 5.93 percent of the most viewed videos over the last three months. For the study Vidmeter kept track of the most watched YouTube videos noting the day, week, month and the most watched videos of all time. Information on each video such as number of views, the name, and the copyright holder was collected from each video's URL. The study is based on sample and not the site as a whole. The top five videos that were removed by Viacom's request were music videos. Other popular videos that were removed were Comedy Central clips of the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and South Park. The study concluded that unauthorized copyright videos on YouTube make up a small percentage of the sites most popular videos and a smaller portion of views. The majority of the videos were short clips such as music videos, comedy sketches and sporting events. While Viacom should certainly defend their copyrighted material the results of this sample study bring to light that the problem of copyrighted violations is not as widespread as originally thought. Still though a problem does exist and will continue to be an issue until YouTube provides a solution.
COPYRIGHT - Apple sued over 1984 commercial (AP) April 2, 2007 -- When Apple's award-winning '1984' commercial was used to create an anti-Hillary Clinton video on YouTube, we waited for some warning from Apple about its abused copyright. It's a surprise, then, to learn that Apple itself was censored for abuse of copyright when the TV ad first aired before the launch of the company's Macintosh computer. The copyright holder of George Orwell's classic novel '1984' may sue over the video that used Apple's Macintosh advertisement to jab at Senator Hillary Clinton, a lawyer for Rosenblum Productions has said. And she revealed that Apple was also served notice about using Orwellian imagery 23 years ago. "We're not filing [a lawsuit] at this point; we're monitoring the situation," said William Coulson, who represents Rosenblum Productions. "But we certainly reserve the right to do so in the future." Coulson did not specify whom Rosenblum might sue - the video's creator, YouTube Inc. or both. The firm has defended the 1984 franchise at least twice before. After Apple aired its Mac introductory ad during Super Bowl XVII, Rosenblum sent a "cease and desist" letter to the computer maker, she said in yesterday's statement. "When the Apple 'Big Brother' television commercial was aired during the 1984 Super Bowl telecast, we immediately objected to this unauthorized commercial use of the novel, and sent a 'cease-and-desist' letter both to Apple and to its ad agency," said Gina Rosenblum, president of Rosenblum Productions. "The commercial never aired on television again." (Actually it had already aired once previously: Apple paid $10 for it to run at 1am on December 15, 1983, at a small TV station called KMVT in Idaho – thereby ensuring that the commercial would qualify for that year's advertising awards. A 30-second version then played at cinemas in January 1984.) The 74-second video, a mashup that substitutes the droning Big Brother of the original Apple television ad with images and words from the New York Democrat, has been viewed on YouTube's video sharing network 4 million times. Apple's original ad was seen by 96 million during Super Bowl XVIII. Clinton is a rival of Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The video's creator, Phil de Vellis, who was fired from his position at Blue State Digital, a Washington technology firm that specializes in political campaign support, said he made the video on his Mac in a single weekend afternoon. Last week Rosenblum rattled a legal sabre. "The political ad copies a prior commercial infringement of our copyright," said Rosenblum in a statement. "We recognize the legal issues inherent under the First Amendment and the copyright law as to political expression of opinion, but we want the world at large to know that we take our copyright ownership of one of the world's great novels very seriously." Rosenblum acquired the copyright to 1984 from the Orwell estate and Sonia Orwell, the widow of George Orwell, in 1981. The novel remains in copyright until at least 2044. In 2001, Rosenblum settled out of court with CBS Television and Viacom Inc. over copyright and trademark infringement charges against the reality program Big Brother. The financial details of the settlement were not disclosed, said Coulson, who also represented Rosenblum in that case. "But it was mutually satisfactory to both parties," he said. Apple has ignored requests for comment on its position over the de Vellis video.
____________________________________________
This blog is available and distributed for free by the offices of Mark Vinet and Wadem Publishing. Information contained herein should not be relied upon or considered as legal advice. This blog may be forwarded, downloaded or reproduced in whole in any print or electronic format for non-commercial purposes provided that its author is acknowledged and that you cc: mark@markvinet.com
© ™ Mark Vinet & Wadem Publishing
Mark Vinet website
BOOKS - Upper North Side Canadian Author Series presented by The Upper North Side web site - published for a U.S. audience by the Canadian Consulate General in New York.
MUSIC - Despite Drop in CD Sales, Music Industry Is Upbeat by Frank Ahrens Washington Post, April 18, 2007 -- The music industry experienced the greatest one-year loss in sales of compact discs last year, and rising revenue from songs and albums bought on the Internet failed to offset the consumer flight from CDs. Revenue from CD sales was down 13 percent last year compared with 2005, the Recording Industry Association of America reported yesterday. The drop-off exceeds that of any year during the Napster era of 2001 to 2004, when the file-sharing service and its descendants -- such as Kazaa and Grokster -- allowed users to download music for free. Meanwhile, online sales of singles from services such as Apple's iTunes were up 60 percent last year. However, because online sales remain a small percentage of all music sales, the industry's total revenue -- for tangible and online products -- was down 6.2 percent compared with 2005, the RIAA reported. This month, Apple reported the sale of its 100 millionth iPod. "Today's music marketplace has challenges, but it also offers reason for hope and optimism," RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol said in a statement. "The appetite for music is as strong as ever. . . . Beyond the existing marketplace, the record companies continue to develop additional new business models and revenue streams like mobile and online videos." The music industry has blamed piracy for the dive in CD sales and began suing downloaders and the file-sharing services in retaliation in 2003. The campaign continues. Last week, the RIAA sent "pre-litigation settlement letters" to 22 universities, including the University of Maryland system and the College of William & Mary, telling administrators that the RIAA is about to sue students for illegal downloading. The schools are asked to forward the letters to the students and tell them they have a chance to settle copyright violation claims against them before a lawsuit is filed. In addition, the music industry continues to battle piracy in China and elsewhere in Asia -- where mobile CD-burning operations often keep perpetrators one step ahead of the authorities -- and online piracy in Russia, where a large online music store operates without paying licensing fees to the big music companies. CD sales peaked in 2000, with the major labels shipping $13 billion worth of discs to stores. Sales dropped about 8 percent each following year, until a 2 percent uptick from 2003 to 2004. But the falloff resumed in 2005 and hit its lowest point in more than a decade last year, when music companies shipped $9.2 billion in CDs. Last year, sales of albums bought on the Internet shot up 103 percent compared with 2005, the RIAA reported. However, revenue from all online sales -- singles, albums, files for mobile devices and so forth -- amounted to only 16 percent of total music sales last year.
MUSIC - Julian Lennon sells part of stake in Beatles songs co-written by father -- see Beatles Publishing Catalogue
MUSIC - EMI and Beatles settle royalty dispute & go online -- see Beatles Publishing Catalogue
MUSIC - National Jazz Awards CP 11apr2007 -- Celebrating its sixth anniversary this week, the National Jazz Awards, presented by Galaxie, CBC’s continuous music network, recognizes contributions to jazz excellence in Canada. The nominees selected by a committee of industry leaders honour outstanding Canadian achievements. Jazz fans across Canada are encouraged to visit www.nationaljazzawards.com
COPYRIGHT - Illegal Photocopying (Access) 09apr2007 -- Federal Court upholds decision sentencing U Compute owner to six months in jail for illegal photocopying The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld one of the toughest sentences ever handed out in Canada in connection with copyright infringement. In December 2005 Justice Francois Lemieux of the Federal Court handed Riaz Lari a six month prison sentence for violating earlier Court orders to stop selling photocopied textbooks at his Montreal copyshop, U Compute, located near Concordia University. The Court suspended the sentence on the condition that Lari not have anything to do with the sale of illegally photocopied materials, and that he complete 400 hours of community service. Lari subsequently appealed. On March 28, 2007 the Court of Appeal ruled that it was upholding Lari’s sentence. “This is a victory for copyright owners,” said Roanie Levy, Director of Legal and External Affairs at Access Copyright. “Once again, the Courts are demonstrating that this sort of print on demand piracy service will not be tolerated.” The judgment came about as a result of repeated attempts by Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, to stop Lari from selling illegally photocopied textbooks. U Compute had twice been found in contempt of Court for breaching a “wide injunction,” prior to the 2005 sentence. The Federal Court of Canada’s original court order, which was issued in Fall 2000, prevented the copyshop from making illegal copies of whole textbooks and selling them to students at dramatically reduced prices. On January 7th, 2004, U Compute was served with a court order following Access Copyright’s compliance efforts, in which investigators seized over 2,200 photocopied university textbooks. This seizure alone represented an estimated $250,000 in lost revenue to booksellers, publishers and authors. In addition, agents seized more than 2,100 individual digital files which fed U Compute’s illegal print business for the last few years. Lari must now complete 400 hours of community service as required by the Federal Court order or else face jail time. Lari has also been ordered by the Court to pay Access Copyright over $650,000 in damages and legal costs.
COPYRIGHT - YouTube 06apr2007 AP -- Out of 6,725 most viewed YouTube videos 621 or 9.23 percent were removed because of reported copyright violations. The removed videos received a total of 94,187,203 views and accounted for 5.93 percent of the most viewed videos over the last three months. For the study Vidmeter kept track of the most watched YouTube videos noting the day, week, month and the most watched videos of all time. Information on each video such as number of views, the name, and the copyright holder was collected from each video's URL. The study is based on sample and not the site as a whole. The top five videos that were removed by Viacom's request were music videos. Other popular videos that were removed were Comedy Central clips of the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and South Park. The study concluded that unauthorized copyright videos on YouTube make up a small percentage of the sites most popular videos and a smaller portion of views. The majority of the videos were short clips such as music videos, comedy sketches and sporting events. While Viacom should certainly defend their copyrighted material the results of this sample study bring to light that the problem of copyrighted violations is not as widespread as originally thought. Still though a problem does exist and will continue to be an issue until YouTube provides a solution.
COPYRIGHT - Apple sued over 1984 commercial (AP) April 2, 2007 -- When Apple's award-winning '1984' commercial was used to create an anti-Hillary Clinton video on YouTube, we waited for some warning from Apple about its abused copyright. It's a surprise, then, to learn that Apple itself was censored for abuse of copyright when the TV ad first aired before the launch of the company's Macintosh computer. The copyright holder of George Orwell's classic novel '1984' may sue over the video that used Apple's Macintosh advertisement to jab at Senator Hillary Clinton, a lawyer for Rosenblum Productions has said. And she revealed that Apple was also served notice about using Orwellian imagery 23 years ago. "We're not filing [a lawsuit] at this point; we're monitoring the situation," said William Coulson, who represents Rosenblum Productions. "But we certainly reserve the right to do so in the future." Coulson did not specify whom Rosenblum might sue - the video's creator, YouTube Inc. or both. The firm has defended the 1984 franchise at least twice before. After Apple aired its Mac introductory ad during Super Bowl XVII, Rosenblum sent a "cease and desist" letter to the computer maker, she said in yesterday's statement. "When the Apple 'Big Brother' television commercial was aired during the 1984 Super Bowl telecast, we immediately objected to this unauthorized commercial use of the novel, and sent a 'cease-and-desist' letter both to Apple and to its ad agency," said Gina Rosenblum, president of Rosenblum Productions. "The commercial never aired on television again." (Actually it had already aired once previously: Apple paid $10 for it to run at 1am on December 15, 1983, at a small TV station called KMVT in Idaho – thereby ensuring that the commercial would qualify for that year's advertising awards. A 30-second version then played at cinemas in January 1984.) The 74-second video, a mashup that substitutes the droning Big Brother of the original Apple television ad with images and words from the New York Democrat, has been viewed on YouTube's video sharing network 4 million times. Apple's original ad was seen by 96 million during Super Bowl XVIII. Clinton is a rival of Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The video's creator, Phil de Vellis, who was fired from his position at Blue State Digital, a Washington technology firm that specializes in political campaign support, said he made the video on his Mac in a single weekend afternoon. Last week Rosenblum rattled a legal sabre. "The political ad copies a prior commercial infringement of our copyright," said Rosenblum in a statement. "We recognize the legal issues inherent under the First Amendment and the copyright law as to political expression of opinion, but we want the world at large to know that we take our copyright ownership of one of the world's great novels very seriously." Rosenblum acquired the copyright to 1984 from the Orwell estate and Sonia Orwell, the widow of George Orwell, in 1981. The novel remains in copyright until at least 2044. In 2001, Rosenblum settled out of court with CBS Television and Viacom Inc. over copyright and trademark infringement charges against the reality program Big Brother. The financial details of the settlement were not disclosed, said Coulson, who also represented Rosenblum in that case. "But it was mutually satisfactory to both parties," he said. Apple has ignored requests for comment on its position over the de Vellis video.
____________________________________________
This blog is available and distributed for free by the offices of Mark Vinet and Wadem Publishing. Information contained herein should not be relied upon or considered as legal advice. This blog may be forwarded, downloaded or reproduced in whole in any print or electronic format for non-commercial purposes provided that its author is acknowledged and that you cc: mark@markvinet.com
© ™ Mark Vinet & Wadem Publishing
posted by Professor Mark Vinet at 9:23 AM
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