2009

Hello, unfortunately at the present time, due to a full workload I am unable to update this blog or accept any new legal or artist management clients. Thank-you, Mark Vinet: Entertainment, Copyright & Trademark Lawyer. Mark Vinet Management: Sylvain Cossette, Andrée Watters, Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Matt Laurent, Girls Wanna Have Fun!, Guitarz, Pianos.

Bonjour, malheureusement en raison d’un agenda de travail surchargé, présentement je ne peut maintenir ce blog et je ne prends plus de nouveaux clients comme avocat et je ne prends plus d'autres artistes en gérance. Merci, Maître Mark Vinet, Avocat spécialisé pour les droits d'auteurs, marques decommerce, musique, films, télévision, divertissements,Internet, arts et spectacles. (Entertainment, Copyright & Trademark Lawyer). Mark Vinet Management: Sylvain Cossette, Andrée Watters, Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Matt Laurent, Girls Wanna Have Fun!, Guitarz, Pianos.

JUNE to DECEMBER 2008

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Behind the YouTube-Warner divorce, 23dec08
WASHINGTON (AFP) — YouTube and Warner Music Group are getting a divorce in a split which illustrates some of the difficult issues facing the recording industry in the digital era.
As album sales decline and online piracy bites into their profits, major record labels have been forging new arrangements such as deals with MySpace, Apple's iTunes and Google's YouTube to generate new revenue streams. But YouTube and Warner, home to Eric Clapton, Kid Rock, Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and other music royalty, said over the weekend that they were ending their two-year partnership. In a statement announcing the breakup, YouTube noted that "music licensing is very complicated." "We work with the music industry worldwide -- with major and independent labels and publishers, rights collecting societies, and with artists and songwriters directly -- to build user-friendly licensing arrangements," it said. "That said, despite our constant efforts, it isn't always possible to maintain these innovative agreements," YouTube said. "Sometimes, if we can't reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners." Warner for its part said it is "working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists' content to the site. "Until then, we simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide," it added in a statement. A number of music videos by Warner artists were still available on YouTube on Monday but some requests were being met with a black screen and the phrase "We're sorry, this video is no longer available." All four major record labels -- Warner, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and EMI -- have licensing agreements with YouTube but they have met with starkly different degrees of satisfaction. While Warner and YouTube were failing to reach agreement in last-ditch talks last week, a Universal executive was quoted as saying that YouTube was bringing in "tens of millions of dollars" to the company.
Rio Caraeff, the head of Universal's digital group, told the Internet news agency CNET.com that YouTube was "growing tremendously" as a revenue stream. "It's up almost 80 percent for us year-over-year in the US in terms of our revenue from this category," he said. "Since 2005, Universal has gone from making zero dollars on music videos to nearly 100 million dollars."
CNET quoted a music industry source close to the label as saying the figure includes video-streaming money from other partners such as imeem, MTV and MySpace Music but most of the revenue comes from YouTube. The music labels' agreements with YouTube reportedly call for them to split advertising revenue on videos posted on the site, which Internet search king Google bought for 1.65 billion dollars in October 2006. The record labels also receive a small fee for each video watched on YouTube -- an arrangement which may actually be costing the video-sharing site money as not all videos are ad-supported. Music channels are among the most popular on YouTube and videos on Universal's YouTube channel have received more than three billion views. Warner's channel has received considerably fewer views -- 250 million.
Analyst Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley's Enderle Group said it was in the interest of both YouTube and Warner to reach a new licensing agreement. "Look at this like a negotiating ploy," he said. "It's how to get the other side back to the table. "Warner's not going to be making any money while they're off the site," he said. "And YouTube not having the properties means that people are going to be going someplace else for them. "Both sides are motivated to find some middle ground," he said. Enderle also noted that the YouTube-Warner spat coincides with Google's efforts to turn YouTube's massive popularity into a money-making venture.
"They've beeen trying to monetize YouTube pretty aggressively," he said. "And the different labels just want to make sure they're getting their fair share."

COPYRIGHT -- 10 Big Myths about copyright explained: An attempt to answer common myths about copyright seen on the net and cover issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication. by Brad Templeton
see http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

BOOKS -- Montreal Review of Books, Issue No. 28, Winter 2008-09

Call for Titles

Dear Publishers: The Montreal Review of Books (mRb) is looking for your new publications for our fall/winter issue, which will be on the streets after October 24. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, criticism, comics, children’s books, etc – we’re interested in all kinds of books. To have your Winter 2008-09 titles considered for review, please send eligible books or galleys to the following address:

Montreal Review of Books
c/o Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec
1200 Atwater, Suite 3, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 1X4

Criteria for eligibility:
To be eligible for review, books must be either:
Written in English by a Quebec author; or
Published in English by a Quebec-based publisher; or
Translated into English by a Quebec translator (with priority given to translations of books by Quebec authors);or
Have a Quebec illustrator

Deadline: For more information, please contact Margaret or Andrea at (514) 932-5633 or aelaq@bellnet.ca.

Margaret Goldik
Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec
1200 Atwater, Suite 3, Westmount QC H3Z 1X4
Phone 514-932-5633 Fax 514-932-5456
____________________________________
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

APRIL & MAY 2008

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COPYRIGHT - FAIRFIELD ARTIST LOSES SPONGEBOB CASE, NICKELODEON PLEASED (14 May, 2008 - The Associated Press) A Fairfield artist who claims he created the original inspiration for the popular "SpongeBob" cartoon character on children's television lost a copyright lawsuit before a federal judge in San Francisco today. U.S. District Susan Illston issued a summary judgment dismissing artist Troy Walker's copyright infringement claim against Nickelodeon Studios Inc., Paramount Studios Inc., Viacom International Inc. and Stephen Hillenburg. Illston wrote that Walker hadn't proved that a comic strip he drew in 1991, entitled "Mr. Bob Spongee, The Unemployed Sponge," was the basis of the popular Nickelodeon animated show called "SpongeBob SquarePants." The show first aired in 1999. Illston said that Hillenburg, the creator and producer of the SpongeBob show, had created a sea sponge character named "Bob the Sponge" in 1989, two years before Walker drew his comic strip. She also said that Walker hadn't proved Hillenburg ever saw his comic strip and that while both characters were humanized sponges, their features, clothing and story lines were different. "In sum, the court holds that the similarities between the two characters are limited to the stock elements used to humanize a sponge, and that the dissimilarities are so significant that, as a matter of law, defendants are entitled to summary judgment," Illston wrote. Walker, 41, said he plans to appeal. "What happened today was a tragedy. The legal system definitely let us down today. SpongeBob is based on my work that I created years before," Walker said. Nickelodeon spokeswoman Marianne Romano said, "We're very pleased with the outcome of the case." Romano said SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most popular series in children's television history and the show's Saturday morning airing is currently the top-rated program among children between the ages of 2 and 11. Walker's 1991 comic strip consisted of four black-and-white panels. In 1992, he pasted copies of the strip on 1,000 novelty sponges and sold the sponges at Bay Area shopping centers, street fairs, roadside stops and flea markets. He copyrighted the strip in 2003. Hillenburg, an artist and marine biologist, said in court papers that he created a character called "Bob the Sponge" for an educational comic book while working as an instructor and staff artist at the Orange County Marine Institute in 1989. He said he began developing that character into "SpongeBob" in 1994 while working on another animated show for Viacom. The SpongeBob television character lives in a pineapple at the bottom of the sea, works as a restaurant cook, has two buck teeth and a pickle-shaped nose and wears a shirt, tie and pants, Illston noted. Walker's unemployed Bob Spongee lives above ground in a house, has a dot nose and a line for a mouth and is not wearing clothes. Illston turned down Viacom's bid to require Walker to pay the defense attorney fees. She said, "The court finds that this case was brought in good faith."

SIX THINGS ABOUT FACTOR
The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent On Recordings is a private non-profit organization that administers contributions from sponsoring Canadian radio broadcasters as well as two components of the Department of Canadian Heritage's Canada Music Fund programs.
1. FACTOR was founded in 1982 by the Canadian Independent Record Production Assn. (CIRPA), the Canadian Music Publishers Assn. (CMPA), and by three major Canadian broadcasting companies-CHUM Limited, Moffat Communications Limited, and Rogers Radio Broadcasting Limited.
2. Widely credited with the idea of launching FACTOR is Attic Records' co-founder Tom Williams. Williams told broadcasters it'd be to their benefit to help improve the quality of Canadian recordings by providing production loans and grants.Recalls Williams "CHUM had just given $30,000 to a big band festival. At the same time, [CHUM PD] Bob Wood was complaining there weren't enough Canadian records for CHUM to live up to its CanCon commitment. I tied those two things together. I told him, 'If you have to spend this money anyway, why don't you do something to help Canadian recordings?' Then I met with Jim Sward at Rogers, and with Chuck McCoy and Jim McLaughlin and Moffat Radio, and got their commitments."
3. To start with FACTOR's sole mandate was to help produce Canadian recordings suitable for radio airplay and retail sales. It started with a single program-- lending money through a jury process for production of recordings.
4. In 1985, in order increase its production fund, and support a wider variety of musical genres, FACTOR merged with the Canadian Talent Library Trust, operated by Standard Broadcasting.
5. FACTOR's role grew significantly in 1986 when the Department of Communications began its Sound Recording Development Program. Under SRDP, the DOC committed itself to invest $25 million over a five year period. SRDP was made permanent in 1991, and the program, now known as the Canada Music Fund Council (CMFC) provides funding to the development of the sound recording industry in Canada; 60% to the English-language industry, represented by FACTOR, and 40% to the French-language industry, represented by MusicAction6. In its 25 years, FACTOR has administered over $112 million in funding to assist in the development of the Canadian artists, and the independent music industry in Canada. In 2006-2007, it provided in excess of $14 million to support the sector.

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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

FEBRUARY & MARCH 2008

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Michel Gendron, head of Vega Musique in Montreal passed away March 1, 2008 of a heart attack. He was 49. Vega Musique (Sylvain Cossette & Andrée Watters) is a co-venture of Gendron, Canadian producer Bob Ezrin abd Universal Music Canada. Gendron previously was VP and co-owner of Les Disques Tox (les B.B., Mitsou, Marie-Chantal Toupin) now headed by his brother Pierre.

COPYRIGHT REFORM STUCK ON HOLD -- After continual missteps by Canada's federal government, the Industry Department's proposed copyright bill, which has been on the House Order Paper since Dec. 7, is now on indefinite hold.A bill has been ready for tabling, but it was reportedly put on indefinite hold at a Priorities and Planning Cabinet Committee meeting just prior to the Feb. 18 sitting break of the House of Commons. No doubt Industry Minister Jim Prentice was nervous about tabling the legislation in advance of a potential spring election. Now the bill is not likely to be introduced by the minority Conservatives so long as a confidence vote in Parliament could force an election. There's little question that a noisy lobby campaign for a "balanced approach" to copyright is one of the reasons for the delay.A group called the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, which formed last month, has released a position paper calling for a "balanced approach for a strong Canadian copyright regime." The coalition includes such media heavy-hitters as the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Retail Council of Canada, Yahoo! Canada, Google, Rogers Communications Inc., and Telus, among others.Also causing a stir is blogger Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, who launched a Facebook protest group for "fair copyright" in Canada. The site now has over 40,000 members.Meanwhile, The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) is demanding an amendment to the Copyright Act that would establish a new right, called the Right to Equitable Remunerations for Music File Sharing. It would boost Canadians' internet bills by $5 in exchange for the ability to download as many music files as they choose.

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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

JANUARY 2008

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MUSIC -- ESTABLISHING PAYMENT FOR MUSIC ON RADIO By Sundeep Chauhan and Paul Taylor In Canada, the Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada (“NRCC”) was created in 1997 to administer the rights of performers and producers of sound recordings to be paid equitable remuneration. The NRCC represents performers and producers of sound recordings through its five member collectives representing a large majority of the Canadian record industry and thousands of Canadian and foreign performers. NRCC’s performer member collectives are: (i) the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (“AFM”); (ii) the ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society (“ACTRA PRS”); and (iii) La Société de gestion collective de l’Union des artistes (“ArtistI”). NRCC’s producer member collectives are: (i) the Audio Video Licensing Agency (“AVLA”); and (ii) La Société de gestion collective des droits des producteurs de phonogrammes et vidéogrammes du Québec (“SOPROQ”). Source: THE COPYRIGHT & MEDIA LAW newsletter Volume 2007, Issue 4.

English Writing from the Heart of French Canada
SUBMISSION CALL for 2008 literary titles by English-language Quebec authors.
The Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) and Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ), with the participation of the English-language Arts Network (ELAN),
will be kicking off a national campaign in 2008 to promote Quebec minority language writers.

We are looking for a mix of young and established authors with books coming out next year to reflect the remarkable literary work being created in English-language Quebec. Our promotional efforts will focus on an attempt to increase coverage at Canadian literary festivals and in the national media and to offer publishers additional support. A special jury will select a representative mix of books most suitable for this project. Please note that self-published titles are not eligible. If you are a Quebec author with an English-language book of poetry, fiction or literary non-fiction coming out in the Spring or Fall of 2008 – or the publisher of such a book by a Quebec author – email us the following info:
Author
Title
One-line description of the book
Publication date
Publisher contact info. (publicist’s email and telephone)

Please send to: Maria Francesca LoDico francescaqwf@videotron.ca

DEADLINE: Monday, January 14, 2008

The Montreal Review of Books (mRb) is looking for your new publications for our fall/winter issue, which will be on the streets after April 18. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, criticism, comics, children’s books, etc – we’re interested in all kinds of books.

To have your Spring 2008 titles considered for review, please send eligible books or galleys to the following address:
Montreal Review of Books
c/o Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec
1200 Atwater, Suite 3, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 1X4

Criteria for eligibility:

To be eligible for review, books must be either:
Written in English by a Quebec author; or
Published in English by a Quebec-based publisher; or
Translated into English by a Quebec translator (with priority given to translations of books by Quebec authors);or
Have a Quebec illustrator

Deadline: To be eligible for the mRb’s spring 2008 issue, books or galleys must be received no later than February15, 2008.

For more information, please contact Margaret at (514) 932-5633 or aelaq@bellnet.ca.

____________________________________
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

DECEMBER 2007

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English Writing from the Heart of French Canada - SUBMISSION CALL for 2008 literary titles by English-language Quebec authors -- The Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) and Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ), with the participation of the English-language Arts Network (ELAN),
will be kicking off a national campaign in 2008 to promote Quebec minority language writers.
We are looking for a mix of young and established authors with books coming out next year to reflect the remarkable literary work being created in English-language Quebec. Our promotional efforts will focus on an attempt to increase coverage at Canadian literary festivals and in the national media and to offer publishers additional support. A special jury will select a representative mix of books most suitable for this project. Please note that self-published titles are not eligible. If you are a Quebec author with an English-language book of poetry, fiction or literary non-fiction coming out in the Spring or Fall of 2008 – or the publisher of such a book by a Quebec author – email us the following info:
Author
Title
One-line description of the book
Publication date
Publisher
Publisher contact info. (publicist’s email and telephone)
Please send to: Maria Francesca LoDico francescaqwf@videotron.ca
DEADLINE: Monday, January 14, 2008

TV - Nielsen offers protection to copyright holders -- Nielsen is expected to introduce a digital watermarking service to protect copyrighted video content from being pirated online. While other companies have ventured into video copyright protection, Nielsen has a leg up on potential rivals because it is responsible for encoding almost all network TV programs as part of its ratings service. Source SmartBrief 06dec2007

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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

NOVEMBER 2007

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MUSIC WORLD FLAMES OUT - For the 648 employees of the 72-store Music World music chain in Canada, it will be a bleak Christmas. They face potential layoffs following the holiday retail sell-off period. Music World's parent company Pindoff Record Sales was bought on Nov. 12 by shareholders Kai Voigt, Stephen Granovsky and Lawrence Pollack. Two days later, it received creditors' court protection under Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada. As president, Voigt has appointed Gary Stern as CFO, and Nick Phillips as COO.The retailer owed Pindoff Record Sales more than $30 million before the parent was acquired by the new owners, according to documents filed with Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The new owners now owe former owner Kroum T. Pindoff, a secured creditor, more than $20 million.In 2006, Music World lost $9.2-million on sales of $80.6-million, according to court filings. in 2005, it lost $3.2-million on sales of $96.1-million.The new owners basically financed their acquisition with a $12-million advance from the liquidators that they hired to sell the merchandise. As of Nov. 12, the liquidators are overseeing sell-off of inventory at the stores valued at about $21 million. The liquidators' objective is to recoup its $12 million plus make a profit on the inventory. That means in-store bargains as stock is liquidated and as suppliers worry about 8% of the Canadian music marketplace slipping away.Pindoff Record Sales continues to own a CD and DVD wholesaling division, as well as 60% of Montreal-based DEP Distribution Exclusive Quebec, a key distributor of French-language product in Quebec. The filing states that the most likely scenario for Music World is an orderly wind-down of business. The filing further states there is a "possibility" the new owners might try to operate a scaled-down Music World, Several suppliers, in fact, have been informed that under a reorganization, as many as 50 locations could continue to operate. However, many of Music World's mall leases, sources say, are due to expire within 2008-2009 with no automatic rights of lease renewal. That means these lease renewals will solely be the discretion of a handful of landlords who oversee malls. If they have to take back Music World's stores in their weaker malls, it is unlikely they will let Music World keep stores in their better malls. In order to operate a new Music World model, the new owners need to hold onto the better performing stores in the better malls. That will be a challenge.Kroum Pindoff and wife Eva founded Pindoff Record Sales in 1960, initially selling albums to convenience store owners from the backseat of their car. In 1962, the first Pindoff Record Sales warehouse opened and the company attained such rack accounts as The Hudson's Bay Company, and Sears. By 1970, Music World had been launched. At its peak in the mid-80s, the chain had 110 outlets. Canada media quite wrongly proclaimed that Music World's bankruptcy is the latest retail casualty of competition from music downloading, online file-swapping, and big-box stores. Those may be factors but Music World's previous owner should take much of the blame. If Music World had invested and evolved, if it had branched out into other entertainment product lines, and if it had not lost such key staff as executive VP Robert Smith, and GM/VP Terry Stevens in recent years, it would probably not be bankrupt today. In the end, the Pindoffs cash out with the sale to new owners; the new owners cash out by attaining the bulk of their purchase price funded by selling inventory to liquidator, and possibly being able to sidestep staff liability by filing for bankruptcy as well as reducing or dropping their retail business; and the Music World employees face getting screwed. In 1995, Pindoff Record Sales was named as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Private Companies by The Financial Post.

CANADIAN MLA SIGNED -- Several years of negotiations between the Canadian Recording Industry Assn. (CRIA), and the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), the music licensing agency that represents the vast majority of music publishers doing business in Canada, has resulted in the signing of a new six year Mechanical Licensing Agreement (MLA) on Nov. 8.The new MLA runs from 2007-2012. The rate for 2007-09 is $0.081 per track, where the running time of the recording is five minutes or less, plus $0.0162 for each additional minute or partial minute of running time. For 2010-2012, the rates are $0.083 and $0.0166, respectively. The rates under the last agreement, at its conclusion, were $0.077 and $0.0154, respectively.As well, CRIA and the CMMRA have agreed to work together in a transition to an all electronic environment. That effectively means the end of paper filings for mechanical licenses in Canada.

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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