Europe’s Draft Copyright Proposal Leaves Nobody Happy. “It’s almost as if the [European] Commission is trying to kill off copyright, the press, and the internet, all in one proposal,” copyright lawyer Remy Chavannes told Politico amidst continuing news coverage of the European Commission’s proposed copyright directive. Yelp’s head of public policy, Kostas Rossoglou, added, “The leaked EU copyright ‘reform’ proposal confirms Europe’s 19th century vision of the online world.” Joining with those pushing back against the leaked draft, the Re:Create Coalition argued the proposal “would chill innovation for the European startup community and entrepreneurs — the opposite effect of the Commission’s intended effects” in a post.
Warner Bros. Accuses Itself Of Piracy. In a bizarre series of events, Warner Bros. accused itself of piracy last week – sending a takedown notification to Google to remove its own website from searches, TorrentFreak reported. Warner Bros., who uses Vobile – an automated service that flags and sends DMCA takedown requests – sent requests to remove its own website selling The Matrix and The Dark Knight. Vobile CEO Yangbin Wang called it an “obvious error.” According to Glyn Moody with Ars Technica, “One of the problems with the DMCA takedown mechanism is that there is no real penalty for making incorrect claims, which encourages mass submissions of URLs, including false ones.”
I Hate These Blurred Lines—Musicians And Re:Create Agree That Copyright Should Promote Creativity. After 200 musicians filed an amicus brief in the Blurred Lines copyright litigation expressing their support for greater distinctions between infringement and inspiration, Re:Create Coalition Executive Director Josh Lamel penned a post this week. Lamel writes that the letter “stands as a needed reminder that the balanced copyright movement is not anti-musician nor anti-copyright…The ‘Blurred Lines’ case is a great example of how copyrights, which are intended to promote creativity, can also be misused and stifle creativity when abused by overzealous creators or when they pass on to business interests or heirs who are less focused on creativity and more focused on the almighty dollar.”
How Fair Use Impacts Teachers And Students Returning To School. As students and teachers begin the 2016-2017 school year, Re:Create developed an infographic to demonstrate the many different ways they interact with fair use during the school day. From when the first period bell rings, to mid-term exams and musical recitals, the principle of fair use is a regular part of life at school. And, its prevalence is expanding as more teaching and learning is done online. Check out our third infographic in our “day in the life” series here!