3 Count: Miss(ing) Cleo

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: T-Mobile Refuses to Block the Pirate Bay

First off today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that, in Austria T-Mobile is refusing an industry demand to block access to The Pirate Bay, as well as other BitTorrent trackers, saying that a recent ruling does not apply to them.

Lawyers for the local music rights group LSG sent the demand to several local ISPs after a court ruled that local provider A1 must block access to The Pirate Bay. However, T-Mobile has responded saying that the particular order only applies to A1 and does not obligate them to take action.

The ruling against A1 also requires ISPs to pay for the cost of implementing the blocks, which may be contributing to ISPs fighting the requests. In the meantime, it is unclear if legal action will be taken against T-Mobile and other ISPs that refuse to comply with such orders. T-Mobile said that they hope Austria will come up with clear regulations regarding site blocking within the country.

2: The Game Is Facing Lawsuit Over ‘Ryda’ Single Cover Art

Next up today, Tanay Hudson at All Hip Hop reports that rapper The Game has been sued over the cover art for his single Ryda, which the suit alleges uses a photo taken from another rapper’s Instagram account.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed by Ariza Obey, The Game used a photo from Obey’s Instagram on the cover. The photo, which features Obey with a topless woman wearing ski masks and pointing guns over each other’s shoulder, was the focus of the Ryda cover. However, according to Obey, the photo was used without his permission.

It is unclear if Obey took the photograph or was just the subject. Regardless, Obey is suing for copyright infringement and is seeking unspecified damages.

3: Psychic Network Accuses Cereal Maker of Infringing on ‘Miss Cleo’ Copyright

Finally today, Mike Clary at the Sun Sentinel reports that Psychic Readers Network, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against General Mills saying that a recent commercial for their French Toast Crunch violated their copyrights and trademarks by using the popular “Miss Cleo” character that they created.

According to the lawsuit, General Mills hired Youree Dell Cleomili Harris, best known as Miss Cleo, to reprise her role as the character for a new commercial announcing the return of French Toast Crunch cereal. The Miss Cleo character was popularized in the 1990s by the Psychic Reader Network, which spent more than $100 million on advertising spots featuring her.

The new French Toast Crunch commercial doesn’t mention Miss Cleo by name, but features Harris in similar dress and presentation to her iconic character. That prompted the Psychic Readers Network to file the lawsuit claiming General Mills violated both their copyrights and their trademarks in the character.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.