This past weekend, the latest installment of the Star Wars saga set box office records ($247 million in North American ticket sales) while receiving broad critical acclaim (95% positive reviews). The film’s enormous success teaches us important lessons about copyright policy. This post discusses how the Star Wars saga demonstrates the degree to which creative works rely on pre-existing works,…

Today the new Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling was released, announcing royalty rates that will impact music streaming services and the broader music ecosystem.  Given how complicated all of this is, we thought an explainer would be useful. What is the CRB? The CRB is an administrative body at the Copyright Office comprised of three Copyright Royalty Judges who set…

Re:Create Releases New Video. Check out the newly released Re:Create Coalition video to learn more about our organization and our mission for a balanced copyright system! Star Wars Fan Receives Takedown Notice For Sharing Picture Of “Rey” Action Figure. Last week, a fan posted a photo to Facebook of a yet-to-be-officially-released Star Wars action figure seen on a store shelf….

The European Commission finally published its long-awaited Communication “towards a modern, more European copyright framework.” The Communication, serving as an action plan, outlines the different issues the European Commission is currently considering for legislative proposals to be adopted from spring 2016 onwards in areas such as limitations and exceptions, online platforms and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR). The European…

Happy Birthday Song Enters The Public Domain. According to court papers released on December 8, a settlement was reached in the lawsuit over the rights to the iconic “Happy Birthday” song, which will release the song into the public domain. The agreement was reached between Warner/Chappell and a group of artists and filmmakers who have paid millions of dollars in…

Judge Strikes Down Safe Harbor In Cox Lawsuit. A recent decision in U.S. District Court ruled that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) doesn’t protect Internet service providers (ISPs) like Cox Communications from liability for its subscribers illegal downloading activity. ISPs are supposed to be protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provision, but music companies successfully argued that Cox failed…

Brussels – In letters to First Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Members of the European Parliament, a wide coalition of stakeholders representing civil society, news publishers, consumers and the digital industry share their concerns regarding the European Commission’s approach in consulting on copyright matters. The European Commission is expected to adopt a Communication on copyright on 9 December detailing the Commission’s…

YouTube recently announced that it will protect “some of the best examples of fair use on YouTube” by defending some creators in copyright litigation.  Under this initiative, YouTube “indemnifies creators whose fair use videos have been subject to takedown notices for up to $1 million of legal costs in the event that takedown results in a lawsuit for copyright infringement.” The…

Yesterday Google announced a new program to provide legal support for certain creators on its YouTube platform whose non-infringing videos have been targeted for DMCA takedown notices.  EFF reports that under the Fair Use Protection program, YouTube will cover legal costs up to $1 million in relation to videos that YouTube has determined are clearly lawful fair use — starting…