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1: Trump Tries “Fair Use” Defense in Song Copyright Lawsuit
First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that the reelection campaign for President Trump is claiming fair use in their lawsuit filed by Eddy Grant over the campaign’s use of the song Electric Avenue.
Grant filed the lawsuit after the Trump campaign used the song as part of a video mocking Biden as he drove around to deliver speeches. According to the campaign, this was simply using the song in a transformative way that was both an attempt to offer political speech and to create a parody.
Experts, however, are dubious about the campaign’s claims saying that their analysis only focuses on sales of the song, not potentially lost licensing opportunities, and requires a very broad definition of fair use to work. Normally, such cases are settled very quickly but the Trump campaign has shown little interest in bringing this to a close.
2: Twitter Removes Amit Shah’s Profile Picture, Restores it Shortly After
Next up today, Megha Mishra to Money Control reports that, on November 12, Twitter locked the profile of Indian politician Amit Shah, due to a copyright complaint about his profile picture.
Shah, who is currently serving as the country’s Union Home Minister, was briefly locked out of his Twitter account over the issue. Calling it an “inadvertent error” Twitter restored both the image and the account shortly after complaints started to roll in.
It is unclear who filed the copyright notice, including whether it was a false notice or one actually filed by the photographer of the image. Shah currently has over 23.6 million followers on Twitter.
3: Hollywood, Netflix & Amazon Agree $40m Judgment With Pirate IPTV Provider Crystal Clear Media
Finally today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a Hollywood trade group that represents, film studios, Netflix, Amazon and more, has settled a lawsuit with TTKN Enterprises, better known as the pirate network Crystal Clear Media (CCM).
The lawsuit was filed back in the summer and accused TTKN of operating a large piracy service that offered a variety of blockbuster movies and TV shows without a license. According to the lawsuit, the company continued to offer the service even after close competitors were shuttered. As such, ACE filed a lawsuit against the company and its owners, Todd and Tori Smith.
However, the two sides have agreed to settle the case. The agreement was reached on November 2nd and both sides are now asking the court for approval. The deal orders all CCM operations to shut down within five days and requires the duo to pay some $40 million in damages.
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