Wall Street’s Charging Bull vs. Fearless Girl: A Lesson In Free Speech And Fair Use. Last week, artist Arturo Di Modica and his lawyers threatened a copyright lawsuit to remove the popular “Fearless Girl” statue opposing his iconic “Charging Bull.” Re:Create’s Executive Director Joshua Lamel spoke with Fortune for the April 16 article, Charging Bull vs. Fearless Girl: Why the Artist Has No Case, to explain why Di Modica’s legal challenge “could fall afoul of the First Amendment.”
Meet Nadeska Alexis: Complex Anchor And New Creator. In the latest iteration of the Re:Create Coalition’s “New Creator” series, we interviewed Nadeska Alexis, senior anchor and senior editorial producer at Complex. As part of her job, Alexis oversees all anchors and editorial content for the Complex News YouTube channels, which reach over 120 million people with original content on youth culture, style, music, and news. “It’s the direction the company and media are headed in general. They want to focus on video because that’s what kids are watching now. It’s the way young people want to digest most of their content,” said Alexis. She noted that most musicians or other celebrities understand that working with Complex will almost always involve some kind of video component.
Beyonce Highlights Fair Use Doctrine In “Formation” Lawsuit. “Beyonce says a copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit anthem ‘Formation’ doesn’t hold up,” reported The New York Daily News on April 18. The singer filed paperwork last week asking a federal judge to dismiss the $20 million lawsuit, arguing she fairly sampled another musician’s voice and lyrics. “Even in the absence of a license, however, the use of 10 or fewer seconds of audio from the YouTube videos is protected by the fair-use doctrine,” Beyonce’s filing stated. It also notes that she “transformed” the raw material “in the creation of new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings…(the) very type of activity that the fair-use doctrine intends to protect for the enrichment of society.”
Battle Over Register Of Copyrights Bill Heats Up In Congress. Politico recaps the latest developments with H.R. 1695, the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act. Nancy Scola notes that the debate is about more than Hollywood versus Silicon Valley and includes digital-rights activists, property-rights advocates, librarians and independent artists. “What’s at stake, they say, is how the country cultivates its citizenry’s creativity,” she wrote. Reacting to bill advocates’ eagerness to shift power to the executive branch to appoint the next Register of Copyrights, the Library Copyright Alliance summed it up in one word: “mystifying.”
MEP Julia Reda Interview: TechCrunch Takes Up Problems With EU Copyright Proposal. For an in-depth look at the European Union’s misguided approach to copyright reform, TechCrunch’s Natasha Lomas spoke with MEP Julia Reda, a leading proponent of copyright reform. In the interview, Reda expressed concerns about the EU copyright reform proposal’s impact on the market stating, “[w]hen it comes to the measures that are proposed on the marketplace I think they are actively harmful…it’s also a violation of fundamental rights.” When asked why she has made the issue a personal and legislative priority, Reda explained, “I think that copyright reform is absolutely crucial for access to knowledge and empowerment of people…I think where a huge mistake has been made in translating the copyright system to the digital world is that copies that are made in a digital environment should not be treated the same way as copies in the analogue age.”
Father Uses 3D Printer To Build His Son A Bionic Arm. In a recent blog post, the Consumer Technology Association tells the story of Ben Ryan, a father who built a bionic arm for his son. Ryan told Good Morning Britain that he watched YouTube videos about building prosthetics and using 3D printers in order to design a prototype. Ryan worked with technicians from Bangor University to create a prosthetic arm that offers his son the ability to hold objects.