New Study Examines Automated Notice And Takedown Under DMCA. As the Copyright Office’s April 1 deadline for public comments on notice and takedown approaches, scholars Jennifer Urban, Joe Karaganis, and Brianna Schofield released a new study titled “Notice and Takedown in Everyday Practice.” The study reveals that approximately 4.2% of takedown requests are “fundamentally flawed” and another 28.4% “raised clear questions about their validity” under compliance with the statutory requirements, the fair use doctrine, and subject matter inappropriate for DMCA takedown. It also notes that not only are there no consequences for fraudulent notices, but targeted users are hesitant “to send counter notices, even when it seemed appropriate, for fear of creating liability risk for targets and themselves.”
Fans Call On Vulcans And Klingons To Support Copyright Defense. The court case over a proposed Star Trek fan film continues as producers respond to CBS and Paramount’s copyright complaint. The Hollywood Reporter’s article ‘Star Trek’ Lawsuit Now Explores What Vulcans and Vampires Have in Common explains how fan producers seek to dismiss the lawsuit since a script, let alone film, does not yet exist. Additionally, the fans provide legal defense for how elements from Vulcans to the Klingon language do not infringe on the movie studio’s copyright.
Could Sharing A SnapChat Screenshot Carry A Prison Sentence? UK Minister Says Yes. According to The Independent, the UK culture minister recently claimed that the popular practice of screenshotting a Snapchat message infringes on the original sender’s copyright and may carry a prison sentence if the image is made available to the public without the original owner’s consent. However, intellectual property lawyer Felicity Gerry told Buzzfeed there’s a need to be careful of “over-regulation and over-criminalisation in relation to the net which developed as a free information environment…The Snapchat issue demonstrates the need to develop workable and flexible approaches rather than draconian knee-jerk legal regulation.”
European Commission Encourages Public Comment On Copyright. Last week, the European Commission (EC) asked for public input on several copyright issues. In response, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)’s Vice President James Waterworth released a statement welcoming the decision by the EC. “CCIA has always advocated for a European copyright policy fit for the digital age and welcomes the public debate on the ancillary copyright for press publishers…European copyright policy should reflect the symbiotic relationship between publishers, and technology, as well as citizens’ freedom to access information and publish their own material online. Such an approach will benefit consumers and overall economic growth.”