Does “Blurred Lines” Decision Open Door To Copyrighting A Cowbell? In a column for Forbes, contributor Adrienne Gibbs analyzed the March 21 federal appeals court ruling on the “Blurred Lines” copyright case and what it means for artists. Gibbs wrote that the court’s ruling in favor of the Marvin Gaye Estate “is major” because “artists might consider erring on the side of caution and extreme due diligence when it comes to the forces that lead to song or beat creation.” In a statement following the ruling, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams expressed concern for what it means for all artists saying it “sets a horrible precedent for music and creativity going forward.” For more on what the decision means for copyright and creativity, check out the Medium post by Re:Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel.
How Much Money Can You Make On Instagram? Buzzfeed profiled social media influencers and fashion bloggers to help readers better understand how new creators are making careers out of sponsored Instagram and blog posts. Influencer Jessica Wang started using social media to generate traffic for her online clothing store, but now she has 620,000 Instagram followers and employs photographers, web developers, a communications director and content strategist. An influencer marketing agency estimates that microinfluencers (those with less than 100,000 followers) can make $500-$2,500 per sponsored post; those with 100,000 to 500,000 followers can make between $2,500 and $5,000.
Support For Marrakesh Treaty To Expand Disability Access To Copyrighted Works. Following the introduction of the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act in the U.S. Senate, the Library Copyright Alliance, the Association of Research Libraries, Public Knowledge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) came out in support of implementing the treaty, which requires countries to enact copyright exceptions to improve access to books, published material and other copyrighted works for those with disabilities. In their blog, EFF notes that the agreement is the first WIPO treaty passed primarily for a disadvantaged class of users, rather than for the benefit of copyright holders.
Controversial Copyright Ruling On Embedded Tweets Granted Right To Appeal. Following a February ruling which said that media outlets including Breitbart, Vox Media, and Yahoo violated copyright law by embedding tweets of a photo of NFL quarterback Tom Brady, a New York federal judge has granted them the right to file an immediate appeal according to Law360. In the decision, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest called it a “high-profile, high-impact copyright case,” and noted that “given the frequency with which embedded images are ‘retweeted,’ the resolution of this legal question has an impact beyond this case.”
EU Considers Mandatory “Censorship Machines” For All Websites. Efforts to implement mandatory copyright filtering for websites have re-emerged out of the European Union this week, according to a report by Techdirt. Though EU drafters promised not to include filtering in the latest draft, MP Julia Reda noticed it still remained. Mandatory content filtering would hurt small websites and suppress free speech. Software development platform GitHub posted a blog explaining why the current copyright proposal “would make software less reliable and more expensive.”