The U.S. Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Andy Warhol Violated a Photographer’s Copyright by Using Her Image of Prince Without Permission — This week, the Supreme Court announced a new copyright case on its docket, one that will wade squarely into the fair use doctrine. Eileen Kinsella at Artnet News discusses the lawsuit and what a Supreme Court decision could entail. One side note: this will (likely) be the first copyright decision decided without Justice Breyer.
SMART Copyright Act Would Broaden Definition of Copyright Protection Tools to Be Designated as Standard Technical Measures — “Although Section 512(i) was drafted with the intent that the open process for designating STMs would incentivize the development of new STMs, there have been no STMs designated for the Section 512(i) requirement since the DMCA was signed into law. . . . Tillis and Leahy’s new bill would amend Section 512(i) to broaden the definition of STMs beyond those designated under the current statutorily provided multi-industry consensus process.”
How Google and Amazon bankrolled a ‘grassroots’ activist group of small business owners to lobby against Big Tech oversight — Shenanigans! “Montgomery isn’t the only small business owner bewildered to find their names listed as a member of the Connected Commerce Council, which also goes by ‘3C.’ More than 20 other ‘members’ contacted by CNBC said they similarly had never heard of the council and did not know why they were on their membership list. The council, which pitches itself as a grassroots movement representing small business owners, is actually a well-financed advocacy group funded by tech heavy hitters Google and Amazon.”
Choreographer on Charlie Puth video reignites debate about dance copyright on Fortnite — “It’s by no means the first time Epic has faced a legal claim of this kind, with a flurry of lawsuits filed over Fortnite emotes a few years back when the gaming platform first became a global phenomenon. Though many of those legal claims stalled, partly because of complexities around registering the copyright in choreography in the US. However, lawyers working for LA-based choreographer Kyle Hanagami hope this case is stronger.”
New Copyright Challenges in the Publishing Industry — A bit of self-promotion here: this week I joined a panel with representatives from the Authors Guild and News Media Alliance to discuss “hot-button issues affecting the publishing industry today, including digital first sale, controlled digital lending, state compulsory licensing, and ancillary rights.” Video of the one-hour panel is available at the link.